Others, the leaders of revolutionary democracy,
have insisted that this order prevented the immediate and complete collapse
of the whole army.
In preparing the slate for the new government, the Executive Committee of
the Duma selected one of the presiding officers of the Council, Kerensky.
When Miliukov, the Duma leader, announced the composition of the new
provisional government to the crowd, composed largely of workmen and
soldiers gathered in the main corridors of the Duma, he emphasized the
cooperation between Duma and Council, the consent of Kerensky to enter
the government, and also the fact that most of the members of the new
government had worked in and through institutions, in which peasants and
workmen also had been represented.
Though the word "coalition" was not used during the first weeks of the
revolution, one had constantly in mind the idea of "bringing together all
the vital forces of the country." In this last expression I quote one of
the first and most emphasized slogans of the revolution. But the problem
proved most difficult, complicated by the fact that one had to solve at one
and the same time two most stupendous tasks. One had to consolidate the
conquests of the revolution, and also prosecute the war. The prosecution
of the war required the acceptance of a strong authority, vested in the
Provisional Government.
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