Аннотация: The phenomenon of the Provisional Government of Russia in 1917. The modern representatives of the Belarusian people. The note.
The phenomenon of the Provisional Government of Russia in 1917. The modern representatives of the Belarusian people. The note.
The history of the Provisional Government demonstrates at least three fundamental problems.
1. An acceptance of responsibility by the Provisional Government as an organ of state power.
The question of the succession between the power of Emperor Nicholas II and the power of the Provisional Government is debatable.
It is well known that the Provisional Government - as a government body - assumed the rights and responsibility for the administration of Russia.
2. Democratic legitimization of the Provisional Government.
The Provisional Government came to power using the brand of the State Duma, through a link to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma. In reality, the State Duma did not organize a Provisional Committee. The Provisional Government was formed by a group of individuals who had a public reputation, but did not rely on the democratic expression of the will of the people or on a popularly elected state body. From the moment of the emergence of March 2 (15), 1917 and until the arrest of almost the entire Provisional Government on October 26 (November 8) 1917, this government combined the powers of the Emperor of Russia, the government, the State Duma ...
For example, the Bolsheviks took possession of such a quasi-democratic apparatus as the Soviets of Deputies. The Soviets, in contrast to the Provisional Government, were created in an outwardly democratic way - through the election of delegates from various organizational units (military units, enterprises, etc.).
The first government, formed by the Bolsheviks, was also called "Provisional" ("Provisional workers 'and peasants' government" - there any the difference? One Provisional Government was replaced by another ... You must not to attach importance ...).
Having mastered the quasi-democratic apparatus of the Soviets, the Bolsheviks could feel confident, relatively stable, without much difficulty refusing off the Constituent Assembly.
3. "Legitimization in the future" and the problem of maintaining public trust.
The Provisional Government (with Prince Lvov at its head) tried to legitimize itself through the prospect of convening a Constituent Assembly in the future.
Having discovered - according to a number of indications - a real prospect of losing the elections to the Constituent Assembly, the leaders of the Provisional Government, according to some memoirists, began to postpone the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. As a result, the Constituent Assembly was convened (and was dispersed) under the Bolsheviks.
If the Bolsheviks took possession of the quasi-democratic apparatus of the Soviets, then the leaders of the Provisional Government tried to create ersatz structures such as the Democratic Conference and the Pre-Parliament. (When convening the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR in 1989, the principles of the formation of the Democratic Conference in 1917 were partially used (repeated)).
As a result of the lack of effective forms of democratic legitimization, the Provisional Government faced a steady trend of a loss of public confidence in itself.
The Bolsheviks, constantly 'playing with democracy,' using the Soviets, enjoyed more or less stable trust from side of certain segments of the population.
The USSR Constitution of 1936, nevertheless, abandoned the electoral principles used in the formation of revolutionary and post-revolutionary Soviets (delegates from various kinds of organizational units were elected according to very confusing principles). The 1936 Constitution declared universal, equal, direct suffrage by secret ballot.
In general, the Bolsheviks, being a very authoritarian political party, loved all sorts of democratic events (in appearance) - party congresses, conferences, Central Committee meetings, etc. - which allowed them to maintain a certain semblance of democracy. External impression works on reputation, and reputation has a positive effect on the stability of political positions.
It can be assumed that the modern representatives of the Belarusian people face the prospects of solving all of the above problems.
Here is a list of the main problems:
1. Consideration of the acceptance of rights and responsibility as a public authority.
2. Democratic legitimization - finding forms of reliance on democratic expression of will.
3. The problem of maintaining public trust, when the "legitimization will be in the future".
A summation: It is especially important to build political structures on the basis of the results of the August 2020 elections and maximize the preservation of the legitimizing effect of these elections in the formation and development of political structures - until the moment when there are opportunities for free expression of the will of the Belarusian people.
The historical example of Charles de Gaulle's opposition to the Vichy government is also very useful. There is also the historical example of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a leader but he did not hold official government posts.
November 22, 2020 19:33
Translation from Russian into English: November 23, 2020 04:51.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Феномен Временного правительства России в 1917 году и современные представители белорусского народа. Заметка'.