The Russian Revolution - The World War I Primary Documents Archive

295 Pages·2006·13.34 MB·English

by  Isaac Don Levine

PRINCE GEORGE E. LVOV, PRESIDENT OF THE ALL-RUSSIAN UNION
OF ZEMSTV.OS AND PREMIER OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
THE
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
BY
ISAAC DON LEVINE
tOEEIQNNEWSEDITOR, NEWTORETmBUNE
WITH PORTRAITS
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK A$b LONDON
HARPER'S CONTEMPORARY BOOKS
LLOYD GEORGE: THIMANANDHisSTORY
ByFrankDilnot. Portrait. Post8vo
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
ByIsaacDonLevine. 12mo
WHY WE ARE AT WAR
ByWoodrowWilson. 16mo
CONFESSIONS OF A WAR CORRESPONDENT
ByWilliamG.Shepherd. Illustrated
HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK
[ESTABLISHED 18171
THSRUSSIANREVOLUTION
Copyright,1917,byHarper&Brothers
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
PublishedJune,1917
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAdE
I A CENTURY OF STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM . 1
n. RUSSIAN AUTOCRACY AND TEE GREAT WAR 19
El. RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY AND THE GREAT WAR 35
....
IV. THE BIRTH OF SOCIAL RUSSIA 51
V. THE DUMA AND SOCIAL RUSSIA .... 65
VI. THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE ARMY . . 79
......
VII. THE RULE OF GOREMYKIN 94
Vm. THE DARK FORCES 113
......
IX. WORKING FOR PRUSSIANISM 135
......
X. A TRAITOR TO DEMOCRACY 159
XI. THE CRISIS 172
XII. RASPUTIN AND PROTOPOPOV 193
XHL THE REVOLUTION 13
XIV. THE FALL OF CZARISM 240
XV. THE NEW RUSSIA 255
m
XVI. THE FUTURE

ILLUSTRATIONS
PRINCEGEORGEE.Lvov,PRESIDENTOFTHE
ALL-RUSSIAN UNION OF ZEMSTVOS AND
PREMIER OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERN-
MENT
Frontispiece
RASPUTIN AND A GROUP OP ADMIRERS . . Facingp. 12
PAUL N. MILIUKOV, LEADER OP THE CON-
STITUTIONAL DEMOCRATS AND FIRST
FOREIGN MINISTERINTHEPROVISIONAL
"
GOVERNMENT 178
ALEXANDERFEODOROVITCHKERENSKY,FIRST
MINISTEROFJUSTICEANDTHEN MINIS-
TER OF WAR IN THE PROVISIONAL GOV-
"
ERNMENT 257

FOREWORD
riiHE first six chapters of this book give a
A
general survey of the forces that underlay
theRevolution. Thefollowingsixchaptersdeal
with the events in the thirty months preceding
it. Thelastfour chapters coverthe Revolution
proper and its possibilities.
As this book is being completed, the clash
between the Provisional Government and the
Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies,
forecastintheconcludingchapter,hasoccurred.
It came through the Council's increasing as-
sumption of supreme power. At an extraor-
Duma
dinary session of the several leading
membersmadedesperateappealstotheradicals
to come to their senses and save the new
Russia from disintegration. Still the Council
continued its visionary activities, calling for
an international conference of Socialists to
discuss peace terms* Discipline in the army
began to decline at an alarming rate, threaten-
ingadissolutionofthecountry'sfightingforces.
General Kornilov resigned in protest from the
post of Petrograd commandant upon finding
that the Council was interfering with his
duties. GeneralsBrusilovand Gurko requested
FOREWORD
next to be relieved of their commands. After
that followed the resignation of War Minister
Gutchkov. As a climax came an impassioned
speechby Kerensky, who saidhewishedhehad
died two months earlier when Russian freedom
was still a beautiful dream instead of a dis-
tressing reality. The Council of Workmen and
A
Soldiers then realized the true situation,
weekbefore it had rejected a proposal to join a
coalition Cabinet, but now it adopted it by a
A
large majority. conference between the
Executive Committee of the Duma and the
Council resulted in an agreement providing a
plentitude of powers for the Provisional Gov-
ernment. Paul Miliukov retired as Foreign
Minister to appease the extremists, and was
succeeded by the youthful Minister of Finance
Terestchenko. Minister of Justice Kerensky
becameMinisterofWarinthecoalitionCabinet.
Prince George E. Lvov retained his Premier-
ship. Minister of Agriculture Shingarev was
slated for thepost of Minister of Finance, while
his portfolio was scheduled for a member of the
Social-Revolutionary party standing for the
division of all land among the peasants on a
communistic basis* Altogether the new Gov-
ernment was to include six Socialists*
THE RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION
A CENTURY OF STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
fTHHE struggle between autocracy and de-
JL mocracy in Russia, which culminated in
the successful revolution of March, 1917, was
one of the longest and bitterest contests of its
kind in history. For more than a century
Russia's progressive forces stubbornly and tire-
lessly labored for the destruction of the most
despotic governmental system on earth. Per-
haps no national movement for freedom has
undergone abloodierseries of experiences. Cer-
tain it is that no revolutionary movement has
had a harder task before it than the Russian;
for no autocracy in the modern world was as
firmly and powerfully intrenched as Czarism.
i