Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: Provisional Government past papers.

June 2007 Question 11 (a) What problems did the Provisional Government face on taking over from the Tsar? [5] The Provisional government had to decide whether to continue fighting World War One or not. They decided to continue fighting the war, because they were bankrupt, and by continuing the Allied powers would pump in more money to Russia, therefore by keeping it running. They believed this would make them survive, however the majority of the Russian population grew more resentful towards the provisional government and lost their support. Another problem they faced as land. Due to the growing population of Russia, and the fact 84% of the population consisted of peasants, the issue of not enough land had to be solved. Because most of the members of the government were landowners, they couldnt agree on giving land to them, resulting in peasants seizing land and soldiers deserting the front to get their share of land; this was another troubling problem for the new government. Furthermore, the problem of Dual authority also distracted the government. The provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet originally worked together closely, however they began to be separated as the Soviet were under the control of the Bolsheviks and influenced them to oppose the Great War. Therefore they were fighting for control. (b) Why was the Provisional Government a failure? [7] The Provisional Government was seen as a failure because it was widely unpopular with the Russian people. In order to survive, they had to continue fighting World War One. This allowed the Allied to give them money in order to support them. However, this created more resentment against the government. For example, they set up death squads that executed soldiers who deserted the front. Furthermore, 60000 men were killed in a failed Russian attack on the Germans in June 1917. This created more anger. It could not solve the land problem with the growing majority of peasants because most of the provisional government did not understand their problem. They mostly consisted of landlords and the noble classes, whom deeply disagreed in giving more land to them. The provisional government was not people in the same class of most Russians and therefore did not stood up to their needs. The Provisional Government can be seen as a failure as it did not have the presence and support of an army to support its actions. The Petrograd Soviet issued the Order No. 1, which gave it control of the armed forces in Petrograd. This was seen as a threat towards the Provisional Government. Furthermore it did not stop the rise of the Soviet Power. Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, had arrived to Russia in April 1917 and began a speech known as the April Theses. Several main points in the speech included the war should be ended at once, the land should be given to the peasants, the Soviets should take power and urged others not to cooperate with the Provisional Government. He made slogans and said sentences that the Russian people wanted to hear, such as Bread, Peace Land, and All power to the Soviets. Given the degree of the poor conditions at the time, most peasants agreed with Lenin and won their support.

Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: Provisional Government past papers. Furthermore, he believed that it was time for a proletarian revolution, where the workers would revolt and start a revolution. He disagreed with others that the revolution of February was a revolution at all because the power continued to belong to the same class, who were the landlords.