Editing Russian Republic (1917–1918)

{{Distinguish|[[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)]]}}{{Infobox country|name=Russian Republic|native_name=Российская Республика|image_flag=Flag of Russia.svg|image_coat=Coat of arms of the Russian Republic.svg|capital=Petrograd|largest_city=Petrograd|government_type=Federal parliamentary bourgeois republic|life_span=1917–1918}}

The '''Russian Republic''' was a bourgeois republic founded after the [[February Revolution]] and the fall of the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian monarchy]].

== February Revolution ==
{{Main article|February Revolution}}

== Provisional Government ==
In March 1917, the Provisional Government sent [[Alexander Guchkov|Guchkov]] and [[Vasily Shulgin|Shulgin]] to meet with the former tsar. Guchkov and most of the bourgeoisie wanted to make Nicholas's brother [[Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov|Michael]] the new tsar.

The Provisional Government continued Russia's involvement in the [[First World War]]. In April 1917, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] returned from exile in [[Swiss Confederation|Switzerland]] and called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the creation of a [[soviet republic]].

On 2 May 1917, after Foreign Minister [[Pavel Milyukov]] released a note saying that Russia would continue fighting the war until it won. 100,000 [[Proletariat|workers]] and soldiers protested in response, and General [[Lavr Kornilov]] ordered his soldiers to shoot the protestors, but they refused. Milyukov and Guchkov were removed from the government, and a new government that included [[Mensheviks]] and [[Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries|SRs]] formed. At its Seventh Conference, the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik Party]] met, representing 80,000 members, and adopted the slogan "All power to the [[Soviet (governmental body)|soviets]]." [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]] and [[Alexei Rykov|Rykov]] opposed Lenin and believed Russia could not have a [[Proletarian revolution|socialist revolution]], and [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]] and [[Georgy Pyatakov|Pyatakov]] opposed self-determination for non-Russians in the empire.

When the [[First All-Russian Congress of Soviets]] met in June 1917, the Mensheviks and SRs still had more delegates than the Bolsheviks.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Preparation and Realization of the October Socialist Revolution|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch07.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch03.htm}}</ref>

=== July Days ===
After a failed offensive in the war, workers in Petrograd began armed protests on 16 July. The Bolsheviks were not ready for an armed revolution yet and encouraged peaceful protests. [[Counterrevolution|Counterrevolutionary]] soldiers shot at the workers. Soon after, various reactionary groups destroyed ''[[Pravda]]''<nowiki/>'s headquarters and issued an arrest warrant for Lenin.

In August 1917, the Bolsheviks secretly held their [[6th Congress of the Bolshevik Party|Sixth Congress]]. Lenin was not able to attend. [[Dual power]] was over and the soviets had lost power to the Provisional Government, so the party prepared for an armed revolution.<ref name=":0" />

=== Kornilov affair ===
In August, the Council of State met in [[Moscow]] with General Kornilov and representatives from [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922)|Britain]] and [[French Republic (1870–1940)|France]] and planned to suppress the revolutionary movement and abolish the soviets. In September, he sent General [[Aleksandr Krymov|Krymov]]'s Third Mounted Corps to attack Petrograd. [[Alexander Kerensky|Kerensky]] worried that an uprising against Kornilov would overthrow him as well and tried to dissociate himself from Kornilov. Workers dug trenches around Petrograd, and sailors from Kronstadt arrived to defend the city. They defeated Kornilov's forces, leading Krymov to kill himself, and arrested Kornilov and [[Anton Denikin|Denikin]]. However, Kerensky soon released them. These events greatly increased the Bolsheviks' popularity, especially among the [[peasantry]]. The SRs and Mensheviks split into left and right factions.<ref name=":0" />

== Republic ==
In September, the Mensheviks and SRs convened the [[All-Russian Democratic Conference]] to create a Provisional Council or "pre-parliament." In October 1917, the Bolsheviks met and sent [[Felix Dzerzhinsky|Dzerzhinsky]], [[Mikhail Frunze|Frunze]], [[Lazar Kaganovich|Kaganovich]], [[Valerian Kuibyshev|Kuibyshev]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]], [[Sergo Orjonikidze|Orjonikidze]], [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]] to lead the revolution in other parts of the former Russian Empire. They decided not to begin the revolution until the [[Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets]] met. Kerensky tried to move the capital from Petrograd to Moscow and surrender Petrograd to [[German Empire (1871–1918)|Germany]] in order to prevent the revolution. However, after [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]] exposed the date of the planned uprising, the Bolsheviks decided to start the revolution one day early before Kerensky could make plans to stop it.<ref name=":0" />

== October Revolution ==
{{Main article|October Revolution}}

== References ==
[[Category:History of Russia]]