Alexander Kerensky

Alexander Kerensky Алекса́ндр Ке́ренский
2nd Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government
In office 21 July 1917 – 7 November 1917 [8 July – 26 October 1917 Old Style]
Preceded by	Georgy Lvov
Succeeded by	Office abolished (Vladimir Lenin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars)
Personal details
Born	Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (1881-05-04)May 4, 1881 Simbirsk, Simbirsk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	June 11, 1970(1970-06-11) (aged 89) New York City, United States of America
Resting place	Putney Vale Cemetery, London, England
Nationality	Russian
Political party	Socialist Revolutionary (Trudovik Parliamentary breakaway group)
Profession	Lawyer, politician
Signature

Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ˈkʲerʲɪnskʲɪj]; Russian: Александръ Ѳедоровичъ Керенскій; 4 May 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who was a key political figure in the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the February Revolution of 1917 he joined the newly formed Russian Provisional Government, first as Minister of Justice, then as Minister of War, and after July as the government's second Minister-Chairman. A leader of the moderate-socialist Trudoviks faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, he was also vice-chairman of the powerful Petrograd Soviet. On 7 November, his government was overthrown by the Lenin-led Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. He spent the remainder of his life in exile, in Paris and New York City, and worked for the Hoover Institution.

Early life and activism

Alexander Kerensky was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) on the Volga River on 4 May 1881 and was the eldest son in the family. His father, Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky, was a teacher and director of the local gymnasium and was later promoted to Inspector of public schools. His maternal grandfather was head of the Topographical Bureau of the Kazan Military District. His mother, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna (née Adler), with the first-named Nadezhda (meaning "Hope"; her patronymic last or "maiden" name was Kalmykova), was the daughter of a former serf who had had to purchase his freedom before serfdom was abolished in 1861. He subsequently embarked upon a mercantile career, in which he prospered, allowing him to move his business to Moscow, where he continued his success, becoming a wealthy Moscow merchant.

Kerensky's father was the teacher of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), and members of the Kerensky and Ulyanov families were friends. In 1889, when Kerensky was eight, the family moved to Tashkent, where his father had been appointed the main inspector of public schools (superintendent). Alexander graduated with honours in 1899. The same year he entered St. Petersburg University, where he studied history and philology. The next year he switched to law. He earned his law degree in 1904 and married Olga Lvovna Baranovskaya, the daughter of a Russian general, the same year. Kerensky joined the Narodnik movement and worked as a legal counsel to victims of the Revolution of 1905. At the end of 1904, he was jailed on suspicion of belonging to a militant group. Afterwards he gained a reputation for his work as a defence lawyer in a number of political trials of revolutionaries. In 1912, Kerensky became widely known when he visited the goldfields at the Lena River and published material about the Lena Minefields incident. In the same year, Kerensky was elected to the Fourth Duma as a member of the Trudoviks, a moderate, non-Marxist labour party founded by Alexis Aladin that was associated with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, and joined a Freemason society uniting the anti-monarchy forces that strived for the democratic renewal of Russia. In fact, the Socialist Revolutionary Party bought Kerensky a house, as he otherwise wouldn't be elective for the Duma, according to the Russian property-laws. He then soon became a significant Duma member of the Progressive Block, which included several Socialist Parties, Mensheviks, and Liberals - but not the Bolsheviks. He was a brilliant orator and skilled parliamentary leader of the socialist opposition to the government of Tsar Nicholas II.

On May 28, 1914 Kerensky appealed to Rodzianko with a request from the Council of elders to inform the Tsar that to succeed in war he must: 1) change his domestic policy, 2) proclaim a General Amnesty for political prisoners, 3) restore the Constitution of Finland, 4) declare the autonomy of Poland, 5) provide national minorities autonomy in the field of culture, 6) abolish restrictions against Jews, 7) end religious intolerance, 8) stop the harassment of legal trade union organizations.

Kerensky was an active member of the irregular freemasonic lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia’s Peoples, which derived from the Grand Orient of France. Kerensky was Secretary General of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples and stood down following his ascent to government in July 1917. He was succeeded by Menshevik, Alexander Halpern.

Rasputin

In response to bitter resentments held against the imperial favorite Grigori Rasputin in the midst of Russia's failing effort in World War I, Kerensky, at the opening of the Duma on 2 November 1916, called the imperial ministers "hired assassins" and "cowards", and alleged that they were "guided by the contemptible Grishka Rasputin!" Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, Prince Lvov and general Mikhail Alekseyev attempted to persuade the emperor Nicholas II to send away the empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Rasputin's steadfast patron, either to the Livadia Palace in Yalta or to England. Mikhail Rodzianko, Zinaida Yusupova (the mother of Felix Yusupov), Alexandra's sister Elisabeth, Grand Duchess Victoria and the empress's mother-in-law Maria Feodorovna also tried to influence and pressure the imperial couple to remove Rasputin from his position of influence within the imperial household, but without success. According to Kerensky, Rasputin had terrorised the empress by threatening to return to his native village.

Rasputin was murdered in December 1916 by monarchists and buried near the imperial residence in Tsarskoye Selo. Shortly after the February Revolution of 1917, a group of soldiers were ordered by Kerensky to re-bury the corpse at an unmarked spot in the countryside, but the truck broke down or was forced to stop because of the snow on Lesnoe Road outside of St. Petersburg. It is likely the corpse was incinerated (between 3 and 7 in the morning) in the cauldrons of the nearby boiler shop of the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University, including the coffin, without leaving a single trace. Anything that had to do with Rasputin disappeared permanently.

February Revolution of 1917

Kerensky as Minister of War (sitting fourth from the left)

When the February Revolution broke out in 1917, Kerensky together with Pavel Milyukov was one of its most prominent leaders. As one of the Duma's most well-known spacers from the monarchy and as lawyer and defender of many revolutionaries, Kerensky became a member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and was elected vice-chairman of the newly formed Petrograd Soviet. These two instances, the Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, or their respectively executive committees rather, soon became each other's antagonists on most matters except regarding the end of the Tsar's autocracy. The Petrograd Soviet counted 3000-4000 members, and as their meetings drowned in a blur of everlasting orations, soon the Executive committee of Petrograd Soviet or Ispolkom was formed. Ispolkom was a self-appointed committee, with three members from all parties represented in the Soviet. Kerensky was one of them, representing the Social Revolutionary party. On 1.March 1917, without any consultation with the government, Ispolkom declared the infamous Order No. 1, intended for the 160.000 men strong Petrograd garrison only, but which became interpreted to be valid also at the front. The order stipulated that all military units should form committees like the Petrograd Soviet. This lead to confusion and "striping of officers", further "Order number 3" stipulated that the military, in every political perspective, was subordinated to Ispolkom. The ideas came from a group of Socialists, and aimed to make the officers without power aside of the war. The socialist intellectuals believed the officers to be the most likely counterrevolutionary elements. Kerensky's role in these orders are unclear, but he participated in the decisions. But just like he before the revolution had defended many who disliked the Tsar, he now saved the lives of many of the Tsar's civil servants about to be lynched by mobs Also the Duma formed an executive committee which eventually became the so called Russian Provisional Government. As there was little trust between Ispolkom and this Government, and as Kerensky was about to accept becoming Attorney General in the Provisional Government, he held a most passionate speech, not to the Ispolkom, but to the entire Petrograd Soviet. He then swore, as Minister never to fail the democratic values, and ended his speech with the words "I cannot live without the people.. In the moment you begin to doubt me, then kill me". The huge majority (workers and soldiers) gave him great applause, and Kerensky now became the first and the only one that participated in both the Provinsial Government and the Ispolkom. As a link between Ispolkom and the Provisorial Government, the quite ambitious Kerensky could benefit from this position.

After the first government crisis over Pavel Milyukov's secret note re-committing Russia to its original war aims on 2–4 May, Kerensky became the Minister of War and the dominant figure in the newly formed socialist-liberal coalition government. On 10 May (Julian calendar), Kerensky started for the front and visited one division after another, urging the men to do their duty. His speeches were impressive and convincing for the moment, but had little lasting effect. Under Allied pressure to continue the war, he launched what became known as the Kerensky Offensive against the Austro-Hungarian/German South Army on 17 June (Julian Calendar). At first successful, the offensive was soon stopped and then thrown back by a strong counter-attack. The Russian army suffered heavy losses, and it was clear from the many incidents of desertion, sabotage, and mutiny that the army was no longer willing to attack.

Kerensky in May 1917

Kerensky was heavily criticised by the military for his liberal policies, which included stripping officers of their mandates and handing over control to revolutionary inclined "soldier committees" instead; the abolition of the death penalty; and allowing revolutionary agitators to be present at the front. Many officers jokingly referred to commander-in-chief Kerensky as "persuader-in-chief."

On 2 July 1917, the first coalition collapsed over the question of Ukraine's autonomy. Following the July Days unrest in Petrograd and suppression of the Bolsheviks, Kerensky succeeded Prince Lvov as Russia's Prime Minister. Following the Kornilov Affair, an attempted military coup d'état at the end of August, and the resignation of the other ministers, he appointed himself Supreme Commander-in-Chief as well.

Kerensky's next move, on 15 September, was to proclaim Russia a republic, which was contrary to the non-socialists' understanding that the Provisional Government should hold power only until a Constituent Assembly should meet to decide Russia's form of government, but which was in line with the long proclaimed aim of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. He formed a five-member Directory, which consisted of himself, minister of foreign affairs Mikhail Tereshchenko, minister of war General Verkhovsky, minister of the navy Admiral Dmitry Verderevsky and minister of post and telegraph Nikitin. He retained his post in the final coalition government in October 1917 until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks.

Kerensky in office

Kerensky's major challenge was that Russia was exhausted after three years of its participation in World War I, while the provisional government offered little motivation for a victory outside of continuing Russia's obligations towards its allies. Russia's continued involvement in the war was not popular among the lower and middle classes, and especially not popular among the soldiers. They had all believed that Russia would stop fighting when the Provisional Government took power, and now they felt deceived. Furthermore, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik party were promising "peace, land, and bread" under a communist system. The army was disintegrating owing to a lack of discipline, leading to desertion in large numbers. By autumn 1917, an estimated two million men had unofficially left the army.

Kerensky and the other political leaders continued Russia's involvement in World War I, thinking nothing but a glorious victory was the only road forwards. Fearing that the economy, already under huge stress from the war effort, might become increasingly unstable if vital supplies from France and the United Kingdom were cut off. The dilemma of whether to withdraw was a great one, and Kerensky's inconsistent and impractical policies further destabilised the army and the country at large.

Furthermore, Kerensky adopted a policy that isolated the right-wing conservatives, both democratic and monarchist-oriented. His philosophy of "no enemies to the left" greatly empowered the Bolsheviks and gave them a free hand, allowing them to take over the military arm or "voyenka" of the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets. His arrest of Lavr Kornilov and other officers left him without strong allies against the Bolsheviks, who ended up being Kerensky's strongest and most determined adversaries, as opposed to the right wing, which evolved into the White movement.

October Revolution of 1917

During the Kornilov Affair, Kerensky had distributed arms to the Petrograd workers, and by November most of these armed workers had gone over to the Bolsheviks.^{[citation needed]} On 6–7 November [O.S. 25–26 October] 1917, the Bolsheviks launched the second Russian revolution of the year. Kerensky's government in Petrograd had almost no support in the city. Only one small force, a subdivision of the 2nd company of the First Petrograd Women's Battalion, also known as The Women's Death Battalion, was willing to fight for the government against the Bolsheviks, but this force was overwhelmed by the numerically superior pro-Bolshevik forces, defeated, and captured. It took fewer than 20 hours for the Bolsheviks to seize the government.^{[citation needed]}

Kerensky escaped the Bolsheviks and fled to Pskov, where he rallied some loyal troops for an attempt to re-take the city. His troops managed to capture Tsarskoe Selo, but were beaten the next day at Pulkovo. Kerensky narrowly escaped, and he spent the next few weeks in hiding before fleeing the country, eventually arriving in France. During the Russian Civil War he supported neither side, as he opposed both the Bolshevik regime and the White Movement.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Kerensky at the National Press Club in 1938

Kerensky was married to Olga Lvovna Baranovskaya and they had two sons, Oleg and Gleb, who both went on to become engineers. Kerensky's grandson (also named Oleg) played his grandfather's role in the 1981 film Reds.^{[citation needed]} Kerensky and Olga were divorced in 1939 and soon after he settled in Paris, and while visiting the United States he met and married 1939 the Australian former journalist Lydia Ellen "Nell" Tritton (1899–1946). The marriage took place in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania.

When Germany invaded France in 1940, they emigrated to the United States. After the Nazi-led invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Kerensky offered his support to Joseph Stalin. When his wife Nell became terminally ill in 1945, Kerensky travelled with her to Brisbane, Australia, and lived there with her family. She suffered a stroke in February 1946, and he remained there until her death on 10 April 1946. Kerensky returned to the United States, where he spent the rest of his life.

Kerensky eventually settled in New York City living in Upper East Side on 91st Street near Central Park but spent much of his time at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California, where he both used and contributed to the Institution's huge archive on Russian history, and where he taught graduate courses. He wrote and broadcast extensively on Russian politics and history.

The graves of Alexander Kerensky and of his son and wife at Putney Vale Cemetery, London, 2014

Kerensky died of arteriosclerotic heart disease at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City in 1970, one of the last surviving major participants in the turbulent events of 1917. The local Russian Orthodox Churches in New York City refused to grant Kerensky burial, because of his association with Freemasonry and because they saw him as largely responsible for Russia falling to the Bolsheviks. A Serbian Orthodox Church also refused burial. Kerensky's body was flown to London, where he was buried at the non-denominational Putney Vale Cemetery.

Works

• The Prelude to Bolshevism (1919). ISBN 0-8383-1422-8.
• The Catastrophe (1927)
• The Crucifixion of Liberty (1934)
• Russia and History's Turning Point (1965)

In popular culture

Kerensky was portrayed in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra by John McEnery.

In the Hearts of Iron 4 modification Kaiserreich, Kerensky appears as the leader of the Russian Republic. He is assassinated in early 1936.

See also

• Jailbirds of Kerensky

Further reading

• Abraham, Richard (1987). Kerensky: First Love of the Revolution. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06108-0. 
• Lipatova, Nadezhda V. "On the Verge of the Collapse of Empire: Images of Alexander Kerensky and Mikhail Gorbachev." Europe-Asia Studies 65.2 (2013): 264-289.
• Thatcher, Ian D. "Post-Soviet Russian Historians and the Russian Provisional Government of 1917." Slavonic & East European Review 93.2 (2015): 315-337. online
• Thatcher, Ian D. "Memoirs of the Russian Provisional Government 1917." Revolutionary Russia 27.1 (2014): 1-21.

External links

• Alexander Kerensky Archive at marxists.org
• An account of Kerensky at Stanford in the 1950s
• Alexander Kerensky at the Internet Movie Database