Aleksandr Fedorovich Kerenskii in the February Revolution of 1917

Abstract Kerenskii was the most important actor in assuring the success of the February Revolution. He organized underground organizations to push the workers’ strike movement that began on February 23 in Petrograd, and appealed to his Duma liberal colleagues to support the strike. When the soldiers revolted on February 27, he led the insurgents into the Tauride Palace, thus turning the Duma building into the epicenter of the revolution. He ordered the arrest of tsarist ministers, and created Kerenskii’s headquarters to take revolutionary actions before the Duma Committee decided to take power. He helped create the Petrograd Soviet, and, after election as its vice-chairman, he straddled the Soviet and Duma Committee. Having learned of Nicholas ii’s abdication in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail, he played a major role in persuading Mikhail to renounce the throne, thus, in ending the monarchical system. The February Revolution elevated him to the pinnacle of power as the undisputed leader of the revolution.