THE SOVIET UNION, 1917–1991 - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 33

T HE S OVIET U NION

1917-1991

Russia experienced two revolutions in 1917, a relatively spontaneous one in
February (March by the Western calendar) that resulted in the abdication of
Czar Nicholas II and an organized seizure of power in October (November by
the Western calendar) that brought the small Bolshevik Party to power, inau-
gurating the Soviet era that lasted until 1991.
In February, the accumulated tensions of the Great War and the widespread
perception of the government's incompetence and corruption led to a popular
uprising that overthrew the monarchy. A Provisional Government drawn from
members of the Fourth Duma attempted to rule Russia until a popularly elected
Constituent Assembly could convene to decide on more permanent political
arrangements. From the start the authority of the Provisional Government was
tempered by the power of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers'
Deputies, which drew its inspiration from the short-lived soviets of the 1905
Revolution and which claimed to speak for the downtrodden masses of the Rus-
sian Empire. In an arrangement later known as “dual power,” the Soviet agreed
not to challenge the Provisional Government's claim to power without actually
supporting it.
During the following months the country's problems only increased as the
Provisional Government failed to establish its authority. Alexander Kerensky, a
lawyer of moderate socialist sympathies, emerged as the main figure in the gov-
ernment, but his own deep commitment to Russia's continued participation in
the war further undermined the popularity of the Provisional Government and
opened the way to a more radical alternative, and a second revolution.
The revolutionary process found a much more decisive leader in Vladimir
Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic
Labor Party. As in 1905, the 1917 February Revolution took Lenin by surprise,
but this time he was prepared to seize this historical opportunity. While the Pet-
rograd Soviet and members of his own Bolshevik Party were initially willing to
cooperate with the Provisional Government, Lenin argued for an immediate
revolution that would transfer power to the soviets, as representative institu-
tions of Russia's working masses. Eager to create mischief for Russia, the Ger-
man government provided the famous “sealed train” that transported Lenin