Petrograd Soviet in the context of "Dual power"

Lev Davidovich Trotsky (né Bronstein; 7 November [O.S. 26 October] 1879 – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky, was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician and political theorist. He was a key figure in the 1905 Revolution, October Revolution of 1917, Russian Civil War, and the establishment of the Soviet Union, from which he was exiled in 1929 before his assassination in 1940. Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin were widely considered the two most prominent figures in the Soviet state from 1917 until Lenin's death in 1924. Ideologically a Marxist and a Leninist, Trotsky's ideas inspired a school of Marxism known as Trotskyism.

Trotsky joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898, being arrested and exiled to Siberia for his activities. In 1902 he escaped to London, where he met Lenin. Trotsky initially sided with the Mensheviks against Lenin's Bolsheviks in the party's 1903 schism, but declared himself non-factional in 1904. During the 1905 Revolution, Trotsky was elected chairman of the Saint Petersburg Soviet. He was again exiled to Siberia, but escaped in 1907 and lived abroad. After the February Revolution of 1917, Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks and was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. He helped to lead the October Revolution, and as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, by which Russia withdrew from World War I. He served as People's Commissar for Military Affairs from 1918 to 1925, during which he built the Red Army and led it to victory in the civil war. In 1922 Lenin formed a bloc with Trotsky against the growing Soviet bureaucracy and proposed that he should become a deputy premier, but Trotsky declined. Beginning in 1923, Trotsky led the party's Left Opposition faction, which supported greater levels of industrialisation, voluntary collectivisation and party democratisation in a shared framework with the New Economic Policy.

Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (4 May [O.S. 22 April] 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 (N.S.).

After the February Revolution of 1917, he joined the newly formed provisional government, first as Minister of Justice, then as Minister of War, and after July as the government's second Minister-Chairman. He was the leader of the social-democratic Trudovik faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Kerensky was also a vice-chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, a position that held a sizable amount of power. Kerensky became the prime minister of the Provisional Government, and his tenure was consumed with World War I. Despite mass opposition to the war, Kerensky chose to continue Russia's participation. His government cracked down on anti-war sentiment and dissent in 1917, which made his administration even more unpopular.

The Provisional Committee of the State Duma (Russian: Временный Комитет Государственной Думы) was a special government body established on March 12, 1917 (27 February O.S.) by the Fourth State Duma deputies at the outbreak of the February Revolution in the same year. It was formed under the jurisdiction of the Russian Provisional Government, established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II.

The committee declared itself the governing body of Russian Empire, but competed for power with the Petrograd Soviet, which was created on the same day. The Government of Golitzine as the Council of Ministers of Russian Empire retreated to the Admiralty building. The committee of the State Duma appointed 24 commissars to head various state ministries replacing the Imperial Government. According to Milyukov Chkheidze never participated in the work of the committee.

Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; 23 September [O.S. 11 September] 1883 – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to 1917 and a leading figure in the early Soviet government. He served as chairman of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.

Zinoviev joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1901 and sided with Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks in the party's 1903 split, forging a close political relationship with him. After participating in the failed Revolution of 1905, he served as Lenin's aide-de-camp in Europe. Zinoviev returned to Russia after the February Revolution of 1917 and joined with Lev Kamenev in opposing Lenin's "April Theses" and later the armed seizure of power which became the October Revolution. He lost the trust of Lenin, who began relying on Leon Trotsky. Zinoviev was nevertheless elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and the Comintern, and a full member of the Politburo in 1921.

In March [O.S. February] 1917, the Russian Army ceased to be the Imperial Russian Army when Emperor Nicholas II abdicated and the Provisional Government became the governing authority. It was officially a caretaker government until September 1917, when the Russian Republic was proclaimed. The army started to be referred to as the Revolutionary Army of Free Russia by the Provisional Government.

The Provisional Government shared power with the Petrograd Soviet, which issued Order No. 1 to the military garrison of Petrograd. When it reached the front lines it was misinterpreted to mean that soldiers no longer had to follow orders from officers and could elect their own commanders. The Soviet later clarified that military discipline had to be maintained, but the order began a decline in discipline and army effectiveness over the course of 1917. Still, the army remained intact and the majority of troops stayed at the front lines, with rear-echelon units in the Russian interior being more affected by revolutionary sentiment.

Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (25 February 1881 – 15 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 to 1930 respectively. He was one of the accused in Joseph Stalin's show trials during the Great Purge.

Rykov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898. After it split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions in 1903, he joined the Bolshevik faction led by Vladimir Lenin. Months prior to the October Revolution of 1917, he became a member of the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets and was elected to the Bolshevik Party Central Committee during the Sixth Congress of the Bolshevik Party. Rykov, a moderate, often came into political conflict with Lenin and more radical Bolsheviks but proved influential when the October Revolution finally overthrew the Russian Provisional Government. He served in many roles in the new government, starting October–November (Old Style) as People's Commissar for Internal Affairs on the first roster of the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) chaired by Lenin.