5

This article focuses on the extremely popular figure of Alexander Kerensky, the “citizen minister” who was first appointed Minister of Justice and then Minister of War in the Provisional Government formed after the February Revolution. Even though Lenin appeared to hold a very negative view of this Russian Louis Blanc (in reference to the 1848 revolution in France), the Bolsheviks did not dare to criticise him publicly ; Kerensky was seen as “untouchable” – at least until the first signs of disaffection from the soldiers appeared. Comparing contemporary writings by Kerensky and Lenin with those that they penned a posteriori, this article challenges many of the received ideas regarding political culture in revolutionary Russia.