The Fall of Tsarism

"The Fall of Tsarism reveals to the world for the first time a unique selection of interviews with leading participants in the February Revolution in Petrograd, sources that have been hidden for most of a century. Focusing on the pivotal period between the outbreak of the popular uprising on 27 February 1917 and the fall of the Russian monarchy five days later, these gripping, plain-spoken testimonies take the reader directly to the revolutionary headquarters inside the Tauride Palace. The interviews present wide-ranging perspectives on the events, politics, and personalities of the February Days from a diverse group of key political figures as well as lesser-known activists, including: M.V. Rodzianko, the conservative president of the last Imperial Duma; P.V. Gerasimov, the liberal Duma deputy; N.S. Chkheidze, leading Menshevik and the first chairman of the Petrograd Soviet; A.F. Kerenskii, the future revolutionary premier; and M.I. Tereshchenko, the 'repentant capitalist' and Provisional Government minister. Recorded between 1 May and 7 June 1917, months before the Bolshevik takeover--at a time when the outcome of the revolution was far from obvious--the interviews are free of any post-1917 hindsight and represent the most significant contemporary testimony on the overthrow of Europe's last old regime."--Publisher's description.