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Study questions on Ronald Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment:  Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States (New York:  Oxford University Press, 1998)  

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?