Alexander Kerensky

Alexander Kerensky was born in 1881 in Simbirsk, a town in the Volga region of Russia. He studied law at the University of St. Petersburg and became involved in the populist revolutionary movement. He joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party and became a prominent lawyer, defending many political activists. He was elected to the fourth Duma in 1912 as a member of the Labour Group. He was one of the leaders of the Progressive Bloc, a coalition of liberal and moderate parties that demanded political reforms from the tsarist regime. He was also a vice-chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, a council of workers' and soldiers' deputies that emerged after the February Revolution of 1917. He joined the provisional government that replaced the monarchy and held various positions, including Minister of Justice, Minister of War, and Minister-Chairman. He tried to balance the demands of the Soviet and the Allies, who wanted Russia to continue the war against Germany. He faced increasing opposition from the radical socialists, especially the Bolsheviks, who denounced him as a bourgeois politician. He attempted to rally the army and the public by launching a major offensive in June 1917, but it failed miserably and provoked a wave of desertions and mutinies. He also faced a coup attempt by General Lavr Kornilov, the commander-in-chief of the army, who wanted to restore order and discipline by force. Kerensky managed to defeat Kornilov with the help of the Soviet and the Bolsheviks, but he lost his credibility and authority. He was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution of 1917 and fled the country. He lived in exile in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He wrote several books and articles about the Russian Revolution and his role in it. He died in 1970 in New York City and was buried in London. He is remembered as a moderate socialist who tried to bring democracy and social justice to Russia, but failed to prevent the rise of the Bolshevik dictatorship.