"The First Provisional Government" (Izvestiia, March 3 1917)
Julia Cantacuzene, excerpt from Revolutionary Days
Following the abdication of Nicholas II and the refusal of his brother to assume the throne, leading Duma politicans scrambled to put together a coalition "Provisional Government." The announced goal of this caretaker cabinet was to pre-empt more radical solutions to Russia's problems by establishing some sort of liberal, democratically elected government. Assailed politically from both the left and the right, the Provisional Government had difficulty agreeing on what to do and little ability to carry out the measures it did come up with. The article reproduced below ran first in the Petrograd newspaper Izvestiia on March 3, 1917, i.e. immediately after the naming of the Provisional cabinet. It should be read as a general declaration of intent rather than as the elaboration of a concrete platform.
The second of the two sources here is excerpted from the memoirs of Princess Julia Cantacuzene, the granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant and niece of Chicago society matron Mrs. Potter Palmer (among other things, a founder of the Chicago Art Institute). Married to a minor Russian prince, she spent much of the early 1900s in and around the court in St. Petersburg/Petrograd. Though grown accustomed to privilege and a defender of the nobility, if not necessarily fond of certain members of it, she set down her observations in a remarkable memoir that offers a unique window into upper-class sentiment in late-Imperial Russia. The present excerpt gives her reaction to the formation of the Provisional Government.
1. Based on its composition and its professed principles, how would you characterize the Provisional Government? Who comprised it, and what did they hope to accomplish?
2. What important parts of Russia's political spectrum were left out of the Provisional Government? Who isn't represented in it?
3. How does Princess Cantacuzene characterize the Provisional Government and its popular reception? Is she sympathetic to it or opposed? How might her personal sentiments and position color her reporting?
4. According to Princess Cantacuzene, what is the relationship between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet (the "deputations" in the Catherine Hall)? Do the two would-be organs of power get along?
The First Provisional Government
The Temporary Committee of the members of the State Duma, with the help and the support of the army and the inhabitants of the capital, has now attained such a large measure of success over the dark forces of the old regime that it is possible for the Committee to undertake the organisation of a more stable executive power.
With this end in mind, the Temporary Committee of the State Duma has appointed the following persons as Ministers of the First Cabinet, representing the public. Their prior political and public activities assure them the confidence of the country:
The actual work of the cabinet will be guided by the following principles:
The Provisional Government wishes to add that it has no intention whatsoever of taking advantage of the military situation to delay -- in any way -- enactment of the reforms and measures outlined above.
Source: Unattributed translation from Izvestiia, 3 March 1917.
Princess Julia Cantacuzene, excerpt from Revolutionary Days, Including Passages From My Life Here And There, 1876-1917
It was immediately decided to form a provisional government to carry on the war and the administration of the country. That same Thursday a ministry was named. It included all the best liberal thinkers and theorists available. It put Prince L'vov at the head as prime minister; Miliukov took the portfolio of foreign affairs; Tereshchenko and his millions were set to guard our finances; while Kerenskii and his idealism occupied the chair of justice. Nearly all the men in this cabinet were honest and inspired with a fine ambition to set the country on its feet. The American ambassador, Mr. Francis, knowing their value, was anxious to strengthen their position; and he obtained, by Sunday evening, the recognition of the provisional government by the United States. England and France followed the example of the United States almost at once, and by Monday evening, the new chapter of Russia’s history was begun. Quiet reigned again in Petrograd.
The revolution had lasted but a week. When the old ministers had been arrested, none of them had been seriously ill-treated, though a few had suffered from exposure to the cold or from the hardships of poor lodging and inconvenience. The ministerial meeting rooms in the Duma were used to contain all the prisoners, whom the self-appointed revolutionary guards had arrested and brought in. There were an extraordinary number scattered about the rooms, where they were detained a few hours or a few days, after which they were liberated, like M. Bark and Kochubei, (10) or turned into the Fortress of Peter and Paul for a more permanent sojourn. Senators, members of the council of the empire, members of the ex-court and the government, about 200 of them, lived in these very crowded rooms for five or six long days. Each morning and evening Kerenskii made a tour of the rooms, chose out a few men to be liberated and a few more to be sent to the fortress. At one side of the impromptu prison could be heard the discussions and the movements of the Duma’s members, while from the other direction came the roar of bedlam let loose, for in the Catherine Hall the deputations of soldiers and workmen held forth -- criticizing, threatening, acclaiming; demanding reports of all that was being done and the right to veto or approve every measure presented. Many times the lives of all occupants of the palace hung by a thread, and always the situation was saved by Kerenskii’s eloquence and his clever handling of his clients. When he accepted a portfolio in so conservative a cabinet as was the provisional, he almost lost his hold on the ultra-Socialists, who feared he would no longer be their man. The first days after his nomination, as he circulated among the prisoners, he was attended by a “guard of honor,” one soldier, one sailor, and one workman as aides-de-camp; but he said afterward, these had really been spies, placed by the Catherine Hall crowd to watch his words and movements. During this time, he was severe and curt in manner with the prisoners, but as soon as he became free from supervision, he was quite unpretentious and human, trying to help and to liberate all those he could....
There was no move at first in the revolution against officers or aristocrats, except in individual cases. The whole drama was made on a seemingly patriotic basis -- “For the war and for national liberty,” as against the tyranny of the German or Occult party (11) at court. It was an attack on the form of government: autocratic and bureaucratic.
Thursday morning, after the abdicating proclamation was placarded everywhere, suddenly order seemed to emerge from the chaos. People went freely about the city; shooting ceased. It was almost uncanny to see, for underneath the surface nothing was yet established on a secure basis. There was no organization or real power, and no disciplined force could be counted on. Yet all the streets and churches were crowded with smiling people, most of whom were beribboned or cockaded with scarlet; and the town was decorated with red flags. The Imperial arms were removed from shops and palaces, and this without much show of violence or hatred. There had been comparatively little destruction of property and little drunkenness or loss of life. Suddenly, now, there was food and fuel; and the thoughtless public never realized they were living on precious reserves but went about their business, trusting all was well with Russia, since they had what sufficed for immediate needs....
Notes:
1. George Evgenevich L'vov (1861–1925), chair of the All-Russian Union of Provincial Councils (Vserossiiskii zemskii soiuz) and a member of the "Zemgor," (a committee of rural and city leaders formed in 1915 to try to alleviate urban food-supply difficulties).
2. Pavel Miliukov (1849-1953), historian and founding member of the Cadet Party. See Pavel Miliukov, excerpt from Outlines Of The History Of Russian Culture in this syllabus.
3. Andrei Ivanovich Guchkov (1862-1936), industrialist and leader of the October Party. From 1915-1917 head of the Central War-Industry Committee. Emigrated after the October Revolution.
4. Nikolai Vissarionivich Nekrasov (1879-1940), civil engineer by training, one of the leaders of the Left Cadets and a leader of the "Zemgor" (a committee of rural and city leaders formed in 1915 to try to alleviate urban food-supply difficulties). From 1921 in Bolshevik service in grain procurement.
5. Aleksandr Ivanovich Konovalov (1875-1948). Textile manufacturer, leader of the Progressive Party and of the progressive bloc in the 4th Duma. Emigrated after the October Revolution.
6. Michael Ivanovich Tereshchenko (1886–1956), industrialist and financier, deputy to the Fourth Duma, member of the progressive bloc there, participant in the plot to remove Nicholas II. Miliukov’s successor as foreign minister in May 1917.
7. Andrei Appolonovich Manuilov (1861-1929). Economist, founding member of the Cadet Party, rector Moscow University 1908-1911. Taught in Bolshevik higher-educational system after the October Revolution; from 1924 in the central administration of Gosbank (the Bolshevik State Bank).
8. Andrei Ivanovich Shingarev (1869-1918), doctor and publicist; Duma deputy and one of the leaders of the Cadets. Assassinated by anarchists in 1918.
9. Alexander Fedorovich Kerenskii (1881–1970), a lawyer and member of both the Duma and, in 1917, the Petrograd Soviet, was the only socialist (Socialist-Revolutionary) to enter the first provisional government in March 1917, as justice minister. In May he was appointed war minister; in the wake of the July Days crisis, retaining the war portfolio, he became prime minister, which post he held until the Bolshevik revolution in October 1917.
10. Peter Lvorich Bark (1869–1937), minister of finance, 1914–1917; Prince Victor Sergeevich Kochubei (1860–1923) was a general and member of the Imperial suite, director-general of Imperial domains from 1899 to 1917; a Cantacuzene in-law.
11. "German or Occult Party" is a reference to the Rasputin circle, which was rumored to be in league with the Devil and/or with Imperial Germany (in popular sentiment, there was some overlap).
Princess Julia Cantacuzene, excerpt from Revolutionary Days, Including Passages From My Life Here And There, 1876-1917, Terence Emmons, ed. (The Lakeside Press, 1999). Web version annotated and posted by R. R. Donnelly & Sons Press to commemorate their original publication of the volume. Extremely minor emendation by Jon Bone. For the full, illustrated text see: http://www.rrdonnelley.com/elakeside/downloads/html/revdays.html.