April Crisis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Government resignations
- Bolshevik popularity
 Lenin reading his April Thesis to the Petrograd Soviet. | |
| Date | April 1917 |
|---|---|
| Location | Russian Provisional Government |
| Cause | Russian involvement in World War I |
| Outcome |
|
The April Crisis, which occurred in Russia throughout April 1917, broke out in response to a series of political and public controversies. Conflict over Russia's foreign policy goals tested the dual power arrangement between the Petrograd Soviet and the Russian Provisional Government. The Executive Committee and the full Soviet endorsed Nikolai Sukhanov's "An Appeal to All the Peoples of the World", which renounced war and "acquisitionist ambitions." This appeal conflicted with the Provisional Government's position on annexations, and Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov responded with the Milyukov note on 18 April declaring Russia's right to Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
Newspapers printed Milyukov's note on 20 April. Milyukov's note united disparate groups of Russians against the Provisional Government and Russian involvement in World War I.[1] The public responded with mass demonstrations and violence in the streets of Petrograd, forcing Milyukov and War Minister Alexander Guchkov to resign. These events blurred the distinction between Dual Power, resulted in more governmental Soviet positions, and isolated the Bolsheviks as the only major Socialist party not affiliated with the Provisional Government.[2]
February Revolution
After the end of Romanov rule in February 1917, Russia's new Provisional Government, composed of State Duma members and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, governed Russia as halves of the Dual Power dynamic. Soviet participation in the Provisional Government swayed governmental policies, and cultivated the political issues of the April Crisis. At the time, Russia was embroiled in World War I, but was suffering catastrophic losses to German armies.[3]
On 23 February, working class women stormed the streets of Petrograd, indicating the beginning of the February Revolution. This day was the socialist holiday International Women's Day, and women gathered to protest food shortages and high bread prices. In the following days, the protests intensified as both men and women marched towards the center of Petrograd. Russian police, known as the Cossacks, and soldiers from the Volhynian regiment, attempted to disseminate the crowd, but had little success. Four days later, on 27 February, key Russian military units allied themselves with the protestors, arresting Tsarist ministers the following day. During this span of time, Tsar Nicholas II had taken personal command of the Russian army. Upon receiving news about the unrest in Petrograd, the Tsar made the decision to return to the capital and restore order. However, the Tsar's generals and a delegation of politicians from the State Duma, persuaded him that only by abdicating the throne could he achieve social peace.[4]
Dual power legitimizes Soviets
The Provisional Government and the Soviet of Workers' Deputies had conflicting plans for governance, and this disparity underlies much of the polarization and conflict of the April Crisis. Created from former representatives of the State Duma, the Provisional Government took power on 2 March. The Provisional Government questioned their own authority and was hesitant to exercise power. This created a void of decisive governance, and damaged the Provisional Government's standing among Russia's lower classes. But the Provisional Government was always somewhat distanced from workers, soldiers, and peasants. The Petrograd Soviet, on the other hand, possessed powerful street-level sway of worker and peasant opinions. This asset made cooperation with the Soviets imperative to the Provisional Government's success, as ignoring the Soviets meant relative isolation from large segments of the population, and greater unrest among lower classes. By cooperating with the Petrograd Soviet, the Provisional Government offered the Soviets a foundation from which they could draw power, and (to a certain extent) vindicated Soviet beliefs. It also gave them a powerful platform to voice their discontent with the Provisional Government's policies.[5]