The Workshop Of The Revolution. I. N. Steinberg 1953

Chronological Table

February 27, 1917: Outbreak of Revolution in Russia.

February 27: Formation of the Provisional Committee of the Duma.

February 28: Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies comes into existence.

March 2: First Provisional Government formed under the non-party liberal, Count Lvov. Petrograd Soviet issues its famous “Peace Manifesto to the Warring Nations.”

March 25: Government appoints a commission to formulate law concerning elections for the convening of the Constituent Assembly.

April 21: Foreign Minister Paul Miliukov’s formulation of Russian war aims sent to the Allied governments.

April 22: Workers of Petrograd protest Miliukov’s war aims in the streets, forcing his resignation

May to July: Second Provisional Government-first coalition between the Liberals (Kadets) and the right-wing socialist parties: the Right Social-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.

May 4: First Peasant Congress assembles in Petrograd.

May 25: First legal Congress of the Social-Revolutionary Party.

May25: Commission to formulate law concerning the Constituent Assembly meets for the first time.

May 26: The Soviet in the city and fortress of Kronstadt proclaims that it has taken over power in Kronstadt.

June 3: First All-Russian Congress of Soviets assembles in Petrograd.

June 18: Russian offensive begun at the German and Austrian fronts.

July 2,3 and 5: “July revolt” in Petrograd, demanding for the first time: “All Power to the Soviets.”

July 7: Military catastrophe at the front.

July 10: Third Provisional Government, “government to save the revolution,” with Alexander Kerensky, of the right wing of the Social-Revolutionary Party, as Premier.

July 26: Commission concerning the Constituent Assembly publishes instructions for its election. Date set for its convening: September 17.

August 12: Kerensky calls a “State Conference” in Moscow to gain support from the “living forces in the country.” The fourth Government is in coalition with some liberals, but only as individuals, no longer representatives of the Kadet Party.

August 21: German armies break through the front at Riga.

August 26: General Kornilov’s rebellion against the Kerensky Government. Kerensky calls on the Soviets for help. Kornilov is stopped in his “march to Petrograd.

September 14: Central Executive of the Soviets and Kerensky call a “Democratic Conference,” this time consisting almost exclusively of representatives of the socialist parties. Kerensky’s fifth, and last, Government, giving him greater personal powers.

October 12: Petrograd Soviet appoints a “Military Revolutionary Committee.”

October 24: Kerensky asks the “Pre-Parliament,” created in September, when convening of the Constituent Assembly was postponed from September 17 to November 12, for powers to arrest the “Military Revolutionary Committee.” He did not get the powers.

October 24: That night the October Revolution flares in Petrograd.

October 26: Second All-Russian Congress of the Soviets meets in Petrograd, proclaiming the “Soviet Republic.” Right Social-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks leave the Congress. Bolsheviks alone establish a Council of People’s Commissars.

November 2: Bolsheviks invite the Left Social-Revolutionaries to participate in the Soviet Government. The Left Social-Revolutionaries reject, “for the time being.”

November 19: Conference establishing formally the Left Social-Revolutionary Party meets in Petrograd.

November 20: Peace negotiations with Germany begin in Brest-Litovsk.

December 10: Seven Left Social-Revolutionaries join eleven Bolsheviks in the formation of the first and only Coalition Government of the USSR.

December 20: Left Social-Revolutionary People’s Commissars introduce motion to convene the Constituent Assembly.

December 20: Felix Dzershinsky appointed chairman of the “Extraordinary Commission to combat the Counter-Revolution"-the Cheka.

December 20: Soviet Government sets January 5, 1918, as the date for the convening of the Constituent Assembly.

January 5, 1918: Constituent Assembly convenes in Petrograd.

January 6: Victor Chernov closes rump session of the Constituent Assembly in the early hours of January 6. It does not meet again.

January 8: Third Peasant Congress meets in Petrograd and formulates the Law of the Socialization of Land.

January10: Third Congress of Soviets convenes in Petrograd.

January 27:Law of the Socialization of Land ratified by the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviets.

February 10: Breakdown of negotiations with the Germans at Brest-Litovsk. Trotsky’s formula: No war, no peace.

February 25: Soviet Executive ratifies German ultimatum at Lenin’s insistence, by a slim majority.

February 18: German armies renew military offensive against Russia.

February 23: Germans present new, harsher conditions for peace in Russia.

February 25: Soviet Executive ratifies German ultimatum at Lenin’s insistence by a slim majority.

March 3: Peace signed in Bresk-Litovsk.

March 4: Left Social-Revolutionaries resign from the Soviet Government.

March 12: Fourth Congress of Soviets opens in Moscow.

July 4: Fifth Soviet Congress meets in Moscow.

July 6: German Ambassador to Moscow, Count von Mirbach, assassinated by two members of the Left Social-Revolutionary Party. The “July revolt” in Moscow against the Bolsheviks.

July 30: German General Eichhom, oppressor of the Ukraine, assassinated in Kiev by a Left Social-Revolutionary “combat units.

March 4, 1919: Admiral Kolchak starts his offensive on the eastern front.

May 4: The offensive of General Denikin on the southern front.

April 25, 1920: Offensive against Russia by Polish army under Pilsudsky.

November 15: Victory over the White Armies of General Wrangel in the Crimea.

February 28, 1921: Crew of the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk, stationed in Kronstadt, passes unanimous resolution that the Soviets no longer represent the will of the people.

March 2: Revolt flares in Kronstadt.

March 18: Bloody suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion.