An assembly of the Petrograd Soviet, 1917

The Petrograd Soviet, or the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, was the council set up in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg, Russia) in March 1917 as the representative body of the city's workers. Image File history File links 1917petrogradsoviet_assembly. ... Image File history File links 1917petrogradsoviet_assembly. ... A soviet (Russian: сове́т) originally was a workers local council in late Imperial Russia. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland...

A workers' soviet had been created in St. Petersburg in 1905, see St. Petersburg Soviet. But the precursor to the 1917 Soviet was the Central Workers' Group (Tsentral'naya Rabochaya Grupa -- Центральная Рабочая Група), founded in November 1915 by the Mensheviks to sit between workers and the new Central Military-Industrial Committee in Petrograd. The group became increasingly radical as the war progressed and the economic situation became worse – encouraging street demonstrations and issuing 'revolutionary' proclaimations. St. ... The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1903 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. ...

On January 27, 1917 (all dates O.S. unless stated) the entire leadership of the Central Workers' Group was arrested and taken away to the Peter and Paul Fortress on the orders of Aleksandr Dmitrievich Protopopov, the Minister of the Interior. They were freed by a crowd of disaffected soldiers on the morning of February 27, the beginning of the February Revolution, and the chairman declared a meeting to organise and elect a Soviet of Workers' Deputies that day. In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... The Peter and Paul Fortress (Петропавловская крепость) is in St. ... The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. ...

That evening between fifty and three hundred people attended the meeting at the Taurida Palace. A provisonal executive committee, an Ispolkom, was chosen with Nikolai Semyonovich Chkheidze as head and mostly Menshevik deputies (Chkheize was replaced by Irakli Tsereteli in late March). Izvestiya was chosen as the official newspaper of the group. The following day, February 28, was the plenary session; elected representatives from factories and the military joined the Soviet, and again moderates dominated. Non-representative voting and enthusiasm gave the Soviet almost 3,000 deputies in two weeks, of which the majority were soldiers. The meetings were chaotic, confused and unruly – little more than a stage for speechmakers. The party-based Ispolkom quickly took charge of actual decision-making. Ispolkom (исполком) is an Russian language abbreviation for Ispolnitelny komitet (исполнительный комитет), which may be translated as executive committee. In the Soviet Union an ispolkom was a local organ of executive and regulatory power, an office of the local soviet. ... Nikoloz Chkheidze (Georgian: ნიკოლოზ ჩხეიძე) commonly known as Karlo Chkheidze (Nikolay Semyonovich Chkheidze in Russian manner) (1864 - June 13, 1926) was a Georgian social-democrat (Menshevik) politician who played a prominent role in the revolutions in Russia (1917) and Georgia (1918). ... Irakli Tsereteli (also spelled Irakly Tsereteli) (Georgian: ირაკლი წერეთელი) commonly known as Kaki Tsereteli (1881–1959) was a Georgian politician, one of the leaders of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and the Georgian Mensheviks. ... Izvestia (the name in Russian means news and is short for Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR, Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР, the Reports of Soviets of Peoples Deputies of the USSR) functioned as a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in the Soviet Union. ...

The Ispolkom members came only from politcal groups, with every socialist party given three seats (agreed March 18). This created an intellectual and radical head to the peasant-, worker-, and soldier-dominated body. The Ispolkom meetings were more intense and almost as disorderly as the public meetings and often extremely long.

On March 1 the Ispolkom resolved to remain outside any new Duma-created government. This allowed the group to criticize without responsibility and kept them away from any potential backlash. A Duma (Д́ума in Russian) is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. ...

On March 2 the Soviet received the eight-point program of the Provisional Committee and appointed an oversight committee (nabliudatel'nyi komitet) and issued a decidedly conditional statement of support. Worse, the Soviet undermined the Provisional Government by issuing its own orders, beginning with the (in)famous seven-article Order No. 1 to the military on March 1 - attacking and reducing the authority of military officers and the Provisional Government, putting anti-Government socialist Soviets throughout the military structure. The Soviet was not opposed to the war - internal divisions produced a public ambivalence – but was deeply worried about counter-revolutionary moves from the military and was determined to have garrison troops firmly on its side.

Existing as an alternate source of authority to Prince Lvov's Provisional Government created a situation described as dvoevlastie (dyarchy or dual power) which lasted from March until the October Revolution. The Ispolkom often publicly attacked the 'bourgeois' Government and boasted of its de facto power over de jure authority (to use a later quote from Trotsky) – it had control over post and telegraphs, the press, railroads, food supply, etc. A 'shadow government' with a Contact Commission (created March 8) to "inform... [the Provisional Government] about the demands of the revolutionary people, to exert pressure on the government to satisfy all these demands, and to exercise uninterrupted control over their implementation." On March 19 the control extended into the military front-lines with commissars appointed, with Ministry of War support. Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov, Knyaz (Prince) (Russian: Георгий Евгеньевич Львов) (November 2, 1861-March 7, 1925) was a Russian statesman and the first post-imperial prime minister of Russia, in the Russian Provisional Government from March 23 to July 21, 1917. ... State emblem of the Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd after the deterioration of the Russian Empire and the tsars abdication. ... Dual power is a concept first articulated in an article by Lenin, The Dual Power, (dvoevlastie) which described a situation in the wake of the February Revolution in which two powers, the workers councils (or Soviets, particularly the Petrograd Soviet) and the official state apparatus of the Provisional Government coexisted... The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. ...

The Ispolkom expanded to nineteen members on April 8, nine representing the Soldiers' Section and ten the Workers' Section. All members were socialists, the majority Mensheviks or SRs, there were no Bolsheviks. After the All-Russian Consultation of Soviets, the Petrograd Soviet began adding representatives from other parts of the nation and the front-lines, renaming itself the All-Russian Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The committee became the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (CEC or VTsIK) with over seventy members – including no peasant representatives. The mass meeting of the entire body were tapered off, being reduced from daily in the first weeks to roughly weekly by April. Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917 The Socialist-Revolutionary Party (the PSR, the SRs, or Esers; Партия социалистов-революционеров (ПСР), эсеры in Russian) was a Russian political party active in the early 20th century. ...

Disputes over war aims led to street protests on April 20 and 21, including military units protesting outside the Mariinskii Palace. The unrest was quickly directed by Bolshevik leaders into, what some interpret, as a putsch attempt. The Ispolkom issued proclaimations to restrain disorder and repeatedly quashed Lavr Kornilov's demands to put troops and artillery on the streets. There were riots in Petrograd, and also Moscow, but anti-Bolshevik and pro-Government groups soon stopped the agitators. Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (Russian: Лавр Георгиевич Корнилов) (1870-1918) was a Russian army general best known for the Kornilov Affair, an unsuccessful military coup he staged against Kerenskys Provisional Government during the 1917 Russian Revolution. ...

The riots deeply worried the Provisional Government. There were a number of resignations and on May 1 the Ispolkom voted to allow its members to take cabinet posts (the Bolsheviks and the followers of Martov opposed the move), in return for further concessions. After negotiations a new cabinet was chosen on May 6; Guchkov and Miliukov were out; Kerensky was moved to War; and six socialists took cabinet posts.

The Bolsheviks rapidly assumed the mantle of the 'official' opposition, while the socialist groups in cabinet could now be attacked for the failures of the Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks began a strong run of propaganda – in June 100,000 copies of Pravda (including Soldatskaya Pravda, Golos Pravdy, and Okopnaya Pravda) were printed daily. In July over 350,000 leaflets were distrubuted. The Bolsheviks attempted another uprising on July 3–5 – a further wave of riots without success. This article describes the Soviet/Russian newspaper. ...

The rise of Kerensky, and the later shock of the Kornilov Affair, polarized the political scene. The Petrograd Soviet moved steadily leftwards just as those of the centre and right consolidated around Kerensky. Despite the events in July the Ispolkom moved to protect the Bolsheviks from serious consequences, adopting resolutions on August 4 and August 18 against the arrest and prosecution of Bolsheviks. Still leery of the Ispolkom the government released many senior Bolsheviks on bail or promise of good behaviour. The Kornilov Affair was the failed military coup by General Lavr Kornilov against the Provisional Government of Aleksandr Kerensky in September, 1917, in between the fall of Tsar Nicholas II and the October Revolution. ...

In the August 20 municipal elections the Bolsheviks took a third of the votes, a fifty percent increase in three months.There was also a general falling away in the attendance of soviet meetings, indeed many of the smaller soviets no longer existed except on paper.

During the Kornilov Affair the Ispolkom was forced to use the Bolshevik's Military Organization as its main force against the "counter-revolution." Kerensky ordered the distrubution of 40,000 rifles to the workers of Petrograd, many of which ended in the hands of Bolshevik groups.

As other socialist parties abandoned the Soviet organizations, the Bolsheviks increased their presence. On September 25 they gained a majority in the Workers' Section and Leon Trotsky was elected chairman. He directed the transformation of the Soviet into an adjunct of the party, bypassing the Menshevik-SR Ispolkom and non-Bolshevik soviets to form a new Bolshevik control structure. (help· info) (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ...

The Bolsheviks used their power in the Petrograd Soviet to set-up a 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 20 (agreed September 26), despite only eight of 169 soldiers' or workers' soviets expressing support. With elections to the Constituent Assembly looming the Bolsheviks had to use their power quickly to discredit the elections. The Ispolkom denounced the Congress and the steps the Bolsheviks were taking to create its delegates. Suddenly and without reason, on October 17, the Ispolkom Bureau approved the Congress.

On October 6, with a German advance threatening the city, the government - after advice from the military – made plans to evacuate to Moscow. The Ispolkom attacked the move and Trotsky had the still-Menshevik Soldiers' Section vote on a resolution condemning the evacuation. The Provisional Government gave way and delayed any evacuation plans indefinitely. Its attempts to dispatch Petrograd garrison untis to the front were resisted by the troops and by the Ispolkom.

On October 9 the Soviet considered the creation of a Committee of Revolutionary Defence. The Bolsheviks amended the resolution to create a Military Defence Committee, to control the security of Petrograd against both German and domestic threats. The Plenum of the Soviet voted in favour of a committee to "gather... all the forces participating in the defence of Petrograd... to arm the workers... ensuring the revolutionary defence of Petrograd... against the... military and civilian Kornilovites."

The Ispolkom approved the resolution, against Menshevik resistance, on October 12 and the measure was formally approved by the Soviet on October 16, despite warnings from the Mensheviks and SRs, creating the Military-Revolutionary Committee (Voenno-Revoliutsionnyi Komitet), also called the Milrevcom or Military Committee.

The Military-Revolutionary Committee was chaired by Pavel Evgenevich Lazimir, with Nikolai Ilich Podvoiskii as his deputy. It existed as little more than a fig-leaf for the activities of the Bolshevik's Military Organization. Podvoiskii would take official control of the Committee on the day of the uprising, with Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko as secretary. The Ispolkom and the Provisional Government had been cut out of control of the forces in the Petrograd Military District, and without orders the garrison would remain neutral. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko Vladimir Alexandrovich Antonov-Ovseenko (real lastname Ovseenko) (Russian: , Ukrainian: ) (March 9, 1883 - February 10, 1939), was a prominent Soviet Bolshevik leader and later Soviet diplomat. ...

The Military Staff was side-lined when the Milrevcom took exclusive control of the garrison troops in the name of the Soldiers' Section of the Soviet on the night of October 21-22. The commander of the District, Colonel Polkovnikov, refused to allow this control and he and his staff were condemned in a Milrevcom public statement as "a direct weapon of the counter-revolutionary forces." The military command responded with an ultimatum to the Soviet, which lead to delaying negotiations and meetings over October 23–24.

The Bolshevik uprising began on October 24, as "counter-revolutionary" forces took modest steps to secure the government. The Milrevkom sent armed groups to seize the main telegraph offices and lower the bridges across the Neva. Over the night of October 24-25 the Bolsheviks took control quickly and easily.

An announcement declaring the end of the Provisional Government and the transfer of power to the Petrograd Soviet was issued by the Milrevcom at 1000 hours on October 25 – in fact written by Lenin. In the early afternoon an Extraordinary Session of the Petrograd Soviet was convened by Trotsky, to pre-empt the Congress of Soviets. It was packed with Bolsheviks and Left SR deputies. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ...

The Second Congress of Soviets opened that evening in the Assembly Hall in Smolnyi. The six hundred or so delegates chose a Presidium of three Mensheviks and twenty-one Bolsheviks and Left SRs. The Ispolkom rejected the workings of the Congress the following day and called on the soviets and the army to defend the Revolution.

In the evening session of October 26 the Congress approved the Decree on Peace, the Decree on Land and the formation of a new government under Lenin - the Council of People's Commissars (Sovet Narodnykh Komissarov, abbreviated to Sovnarkom) – until the meeting of the Constituent Assembly. The Petrograd Soviet Ispolkom was dismissed and replaced by a new group of 101 members (62 Bolsheviks) under Lev Borisovich Kamenev. The Sovnarkom was accountable to the Ispolkom in theory, but the organization was in every aspect powerless. The Decree On Peace, written by Vladimir Lenin, was passed by the Second Congress of the Soviet of Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants Deputies on the 26 October 1917, following the success of the October Revolution. ... The Decree On Land, written by Vladimir Lenin, was passed by the Second Congress of the Soviet of Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants Deputies on 26 October 1917, following the success of the October Revolution. ... Sovnarkom (Russian language СовНарКом, the abbreviation of the phrase Совет Народных Комиссаров, Sovet Narodnykh Komissarov, the Council of Peoples Commissars, sometimes Russian СНК, the SNK), was the name of administrative arm of the Soviet governments until 1946. ... Categories: People stubs | Old Bolsheviks | Soviet politicians | Exonerated Soviet death sentences | Russian Jews ...