The Menshevik Leaders in the Russian Revolution: Social Realities and Political Strategies

478 Pages·1989·8.606 MB·English

by  Ziva Galili

The Menshevik Leaders in the Russian Revolution
Studies of the Harriman Institute
Columbia University
Founded as the Russian Institute in 1946, the W. Averell Harriman
Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union is the oldest research
institution of its kind in the United States. The book series Studies of the
Harriman Institute, begun in 1953, helps bring to a wider audience some
of the work conducted under its auspices by professors, degree
candidates and visiting fellows. The faculty of the Institute, without
necessarily agreeing with the conclusions reached in these books,
believes their publication will contribute to both scholarship and a
greater public understanding of the Soviet Union. A list of the Studies
appears at the back of the book.
The Menshevik
Leaders in the Russian
Revolution: Social
Realities and Political
Strategies
Z I V A G A L I L I
P R I N C E T O N U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S
Copyright © 1989 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
Guildford, Surrey
All Rights Reserved
This book has been composed in Linotron Palatino
Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on
add-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Paperbacks, although satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually
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Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Galili y Garda, Ziva.
The Menshevik leaders in the Russian Revolution.
(Studies of the Harriman Institute)
Bibliography: p.
Indudes index.
1. Sodalism—Soviet Union—History. 2. Petrogradskil sovet
rabochikh i krasnoarmeiskikh deputatov—History. 3. Mensheviks.
4. Soviet Union—History—February Revolution, 1917.
1. Title. 11. Series.
HX313.G36 1989 335'.00947 88-32504
isbn 0-691T05567-X (alk. paper)
To Klara and Lasia Galili
of Kibbutz Afikim

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Author's Note XV
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction
3
ONE The February Revolution and Its Leaders
13
TWO The Origins of Dual Power
45
THREE Dual Power Tested: Workers, Industrialists, and the
Menshevik Mediators 69
FOUR Dual Power Reexamined: The Questions of the
Economy, the War, and Political Power H5
FIVE Toward a Coalition Government 156
SIX Labor Relations under Coalition: Social Conflict and
Economic Crisis 203
SEVEN The Menshevik Ministry of Labor: Socialists in a
Coalition Government
255
EIGHT The Coalition in Crisis 294
NINE Revolutionary Defensism at an Impasse 338
Conclusions 396
Appendixes 401
Bibliography 417
Index 43i
Studies of the Harriman Institute
449
VII

Illustrations
Unless otherwise indicated, the photographs are from the collec­
tions of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and
are reprinted with its permission.
Facing page 3:
Map of Petrograd in 1917 (Rutgers cartography)
Following page 142:
Social Democrats in exile, Irkutsk, 1914-1915
S. L. Vainshtein, L. O. Dan, and I. G. Tsereteli, Irkutsk, 1914-1915
A session of the Petrograd soviet in the early days of the revolu­
tion
N. S. Chkheidze addressing sailors at the Tauride Palace, February
1917
Members of the Provisional Government at the burial of victims of
the revolution
A session of the All-Russian Conference of Soviets, April 3, 1917
(reprinted from Vserossiiskoe soveshchanie sovetov rabochikh i soldat-
skikh deputatov, Moscow and Leningrad, 1927)
P. A. Garvi, 1915 (reprinted by permission of the Project on Men­
shevik History)
Iu. O. Martov and F. I. Dan, winter 1917-1918 (reprinted by per­
mission of the Project on Menshevik History)
May Day demonstration in Petrograd, April 18, 1917
A. N. Potresov, 1925
I. G. Tsereteli as minister of post and telegraph, May 1917
Demonstration in Petrograd, June 18, 1917
Presidium of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets
IX