Question

The provisional Government after the February 1917 revolution in Russia failed to spread unrest among peasants because:
1. Peasants realised that the Provisional Government was not serious about solving their problems
2. The Provisional Government was run by the less popular group, the Mensheviks 
3. All of the given options
4. The peasants revolts were increasing day by day

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : All of the given options

• Russian Provisional Government internationally recognized government of Russia from February to October 1917.
• It was formed by the Duma after the collapse of the Romanov dynasty and was initially composed entirely of liberal ministers, with the exception of Aleksandr F. Kerensky of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
• The Provisional Government was reorganized twice over its eight-month existence, each time as a coalition of several political parties. At no point, however, was it able to adequately address the major problems afflicting the country, and it was swept from power in a bloodless coup by the Bolsheviks in the second phase of the Russian Revolution.

• After the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty by the February Revolution in 1917, the Menshevik leadership led by Irakli Tsereteli demanded that the government pursue a "fair peace without annexations," but in the meantime supported the war effort under the slogan of "defense of the revolution." Along with the other major Russian socialist party, the Socialist Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks led the network of soviets, notably the Petrograd Soviet in the capital, throughout most of 1917.

• With the monarchy gone, many social democrats viewed previous tactical differences between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks as a thing of the past and a number of local party organizations were merged. When Bolshevik leaders Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin, and Matvei Muranov returned to Petrograd from Siberian exile in early March 1917 and assumed the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, they began exploring the idea of a complete re-unification of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks at the national level, which Menshevik leaders were willing to consider.

• However, Lenin and his deputy Grigory Zinoviev returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland on 3 April and re-asserted control of the Bolshevik Party by late April 1917, taking it in a more radical direction. They called for an immediate revolution and transfer of all power to the soviets, which made any re-unification impossible.

• In March–April 1917, the Menshevik leadership conditionally supported the newly formed liberal Russian Provisional Government. After the collapse of the first Provisional Government on 2 May over the issue of annexations, Tsereteli convinced the Mensheviks to strengthen the government for the sake of "saving the revolution" and enter a socialist-liberal coalition with Socialist-Revolutionaries and liberal Constitutional Democrats, which they did on 17 May. With Martov's return from European exile in early May, the left-wing of the party challenged the party's majority led by Tsereteli at the first post-revolutionary party conference on 9 May, but the right-wing prevailed 44–11. From then on, the Mensheviks had at least one representative in the Provisional Government until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution.

• With Mensheviks and Bolsheviks diverging, Mensheviks and non-factional social democrats returning from exile in Europe and the United States in spring-summer of 1917 were forced to take sides. Some re-joined the Mensheviks. Others, like Alexandra Kollontai, joined the Bolsheviks. A significant number, including Leon Trotsky and Adolf Joffe, joined the non-factional Petrograd-based anti-war group called Mezhraiontsy, which merged with the Bolsheviks in August 1917. A small yet influential group of social democrats associated with Maxim Gorky's newspaper Novaya Zhizn (New Life) refused to join either party.

• Hence, All the given options are true regarding the spreading of unrest among peasants during the provisional Government after the February 1917 revolution in Russia.