30 May 1917. Provisional Government

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Provisional Government

Mariyinsky Palace, Petrograd, Russian Empire

As the spokesman for the meaning and will of revolutionary democracy, the coalition Provisional Government must set before itself the tasks of the war and its consequences and the tasks of the planned organization of the national economy and labor, which are the results of the collapsed old regime’s failure.

All economic activities for the production, procurement and distribution of products for the army and the population are both monopolized and subject to regulation, and should be concentrated in the supply committee, which includes the Minister of Food, and all those bodies that handle the procurement and distribution of products. It is time to move from anarchic production and private syndicates to work as a national economic organism directed by the state, under its control and even direct leadership. The private entrepreneur and trader should be limited in the extraction of profit and even in the very direction of his private business. For many industries, the time has come for a state trade monopoly ( on bread, meat, salt, and leather), for others the formation of state-run trusts (in coal, oil, metal, sugar, and paper). And, finally, for almost all industries present conditions require state regulation in the distribution of raw materials and produced foodstuffs as well as fixing prices.

, and others

Vladimir Lenin

This program is magnificent. State control, the nationalization of trusts, and the fight against speculation, and labor obligation—my God, how does this differ from "terrible" Bolshevism? What do the "terrible" Bolsheviks really want? But the capitalists will accept this program in order not to fulfill it. But the Mensheviks "trust" the capitalists and teach this destructive trust to the people. This is the total essence of the entire political situation.

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✍ Also today

Marina Tsvetaeva

Borisoglebsky lane, 6, Moscow, Russian Empire

I can definitively feel a soul in the middle of my chest. It’s oval as an egg, and, when I sigh, it’s the one doing the breathing.

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Alexander Blok Lyubov Mendeleeva-Blok

Petrograd, Russian Empire

I miss you terribly and ever more often – this despite the fact that my life is filled to the brim (and I’m still writing to you about this – for the fifth or sixth time, it would seem). Sometimes I yearn so much for you that it’s hard to put into words – right now, for example; I’ve a quiet hour, if only I could spend it with you.

, and others

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Maria Feodorovna

Ai-Todor, Crimea, Russian Empire

The days are all alike – no news. I had a conversation with a certain hussar we encountered in the garden, he’d just returned from the front and was polite to boot. As for the rest, one mustn’t expect anything of them, even basic greetings – they’re insolent people.

, and others

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Nicholas II

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

A guard from the Reserve Battalion of the 2nd. Tsarist Infantry Regiment (commanded by Ensign Belyakovsky) conducted themselves as they should, not one of the guards was loafing about the garden, and the conduct of the sentry was decent . See more

, and others

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Alexander Kolchak

Sevastopol, Russian Empire

Upon his arrival in Sevastopol, Kerensky made a round of the ships; I was with him all the time. He was given a very grand welcome, but my impression was that he made no impression on the crews. Everything seemed to be going well. “You see, Admiral, everything is settled – after all, we have to turn a blind eye nowadays to many things; I’m sure these events will not recur in your fleet. The crews have assured me that they will do their duty…”

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29 May

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+20

in Petrograd

+19

in Moscow