Study questions on Ronald
Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment:
Russia, the USSR, and the Successor
Week 3
Chapter 2, The Double Revolution, pages 39-52.
What events triggered the February Revolution?
How did liberals respond to the February crisis?
What was the difference between socialist defensism, internationalism, and defeatism in February 1917?
How did the tsarist government respond to the February crisis, and what were the results of its response?
What does Suny mean when he says that 1917 was "actually a series of overlapping revolutions"?
Explain the relationship between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet in March 1917.
What did "dual power" entail?
According to Suny, what was the essence of Lenin’s "April Thesis"?
What was the affair of the "Miliukov Note," and what were the results?
Explain what Suny says about the significance of the following in early summer 1917:
the Kerensky Offensive
inflation and food shortages
the debate over state regulation of the economy
Lenin’s speech at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets
the 18 June demonstrations
the July political crisis
the "July Days"
What was Kerensky’s strategy in July 1917?
According to Suny, what paths might have been open to Russia in Fall 1917?
Which paths does he consider most viable, and why?