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The Provisional Government's chief adversary on the left was the Petrograd Soviet, a Communist committee then taking over and ruling Russia's most important port city, which tentatively cooperated with the government at first, but then gradually gained control of the Imperial Army, local factories, and the Russian Railway. [6]
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, [1] is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolution, civil war, or some combination thereof.
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.
With the Russian government moving from an autocracy to this system of "dual power" with the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet constantly vying for power, there was much confusion on how both could coexist and govern effectively. In this confusion, the Provisional Government realized the Soviet had the people's trust and enthusiasm. [4]
The Provisional Government had the formal authority in Russia but the Soviet Executive Committee and the soviets had the support of the majority of the population. The Soviet held the real power to effect change. The Provisional Government represented an alliance between liberals and socialists who wanted political reform. [citation needed]
The previous Provisional Government had agreed for a Constituent Assembly to be elected in November 1917; after taking power, Lenin – aware that the Bolsheviks were unlikely to attain a majority – wanted to postpone this election, but other Bolsheviks disagreed, and thus the election took place as scheduled. [1]
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky [b] (4 May [O.S. 22 April] 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 ().
There, Lenin attended a meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee on 10 October, where he again argued his case that the party should lead an armed insurrection of their supporters to topple the Provisional Government. This time, he was successful in his argument, and the motion was ratified with ten votes against two. [134]