Alexander Kerensky, leader of Russia's Cadet party and a member of the Provisional government in 1917 as Minister of Justice, War, and Prime Minister. From 'The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings Compiled from the Mid-Week Pictorial Published by the New York Times Co. New York City N.Y.' © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company 1914 - 1919
Alexander Kerensky, who was head of the Russian Government when the Russian front collapsed.
"Now at last the government began to take serious action. Kerensky called a cabinet meeting late in the evening of November 5, and an emergency was declared. Polkovnikov was put in command of all forces in the city, with orders to take drastic action against disturbances. The Soviet Military Revolutionary Committee was declared illegal, and an order was sent out for the arrest of Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders. Bolshevik newspapers were banned. Kerensky continued to be confident; he said he knew all about the Bolshevik plans. He would be glad if they did attempt a rising; he had ample forces to deal with it. Even now loyal troops were being summoned from outside the city. Yet Polkovnikov took no action on this night. He sent off a Women's Battalion to strengthen the guard inside the Winter Palace, but he made no attempt at all to attack the real center of the trouble, Smolny. And in fact the government had already suffered a major reverse on this day without a single shot being fired."
Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government of Russia, responded to the formation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, led by Leon Trotsky and the Bolsheviks and formed to defend the Revolution, but to do so by seizing power. Kerensky may have thought he had command of the situation on November 5 (October 23 Old Style), 1917, but he had lost control of the army. General Polkovnikov was in command in the Petrograd Military District. The Winter Palace was the seat of the Provisional Government, the Smolny that of the Bolsheviks.
The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, page 239, copyright © 1958 by Time, Inc., publisher: Carroll and Graf, publication date: 1989
1917-11-05, 1917, November, Kerensky, Alexander Kerensky, Trotsky, Leon Trotsky, Polkovnikov, Bolshevik, Smolny, Winter Palace
