Russian Republic

History

Following the February Revolution, Emperor Nicholas II abdicated his throne and a Provisional Government was formed, under the leadership of Prince Georgy Lvov. The status of the monarchy was left unresolved.

Officially, the Republic's government was the Provisional Government, although de facto control of the country was contested between it, the soviets (chiefly the Petrograd Soviet), and various ethnic-based separatists (such as the Central Council of Ukraine). Soviets were political organizations of the proletariat, strongest in industrial regions, and were dominated by left-wing parties. Soviets, whose influence was supplemented with paramilitary forces, were occasionally able to rival the Provisional Government which had an ineffective state apparatus.

During his first weeks as prime minister, Lvov presided over a series of fleeting reforms which sought to radically liberalize Russia. Universal adult suffrage was introduced, freedoms of press and speech were granted, capital punishment abolished, and all legal restrictions of religion, class and race were removed. Unable to rally sufficient support, he resigned in July 1917 in favor of his Minister of War, Alexander Kerensky.

The Government's control of the military was tenuous. Seamen of the Baltic Fleet, for example, had far-left views and openly engaged in political activism in the capital. Right-wing proclivities among the army officers were also a problem – Kerensky's attempt to dismiss Gen. Lavr Kornilov led to a failed coup.

Following the failure of Kornilov's coup, Kerensky proclaimed Russia to be a Republic on 1 September, establishing a Provisional Council as temporary parliament, in preparation to the elections of a Constituent Assembly. However, on 7 November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power and dissolved both the Provisional Government and the Provisional Council.

Nonetheless, a partially democratic election of the Constituent Assembly still took place later in November. On 18 January 1918, this assembly issued a decree, proclaiming Russia a democratic federal republic under the name "Russian Democratic Federative Republic", However, the next day the Assembly was dissolved by the Bolsheviks.

The Republic de jure continued to exist until the Bolsheviks proclaimed the creation of the Russian Soviet Republic on 25 January 1918. In response, anti-Bolshevik forces proclaimed the Russian State in September 1918, under the leadership of the Provisional All-Russian Government.

Principal institutions

• All-Russian Congress of Soviets
• Directorate (Russia)
• Provisional Council of the Russian Republic
• Russian Constituent Assembly
• Russian Provisional Government

Notes

References

References

1. [http://www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=1112 The Russian Republic Proclaimed] at prlib.ru, accessed 12 June 2017
2. "Round Table the Influence of National Relations on the Development of the Federative State Structure and on the Social and Political Realities of the Russian Federation".
3. Beevor, Antony. (2022). "Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917–1921". Penguin.
4. (2017). "A People's Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution". Random House.
5. (September 2017). "Коровин К.С. Идеологические основания Конституции РСФСР 1918 г.". Genesis: исторические исследования.