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46-711: The Leningrad Soviet traces its history back to the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which was formed on February 27, 1917, during the February Revolution as an organ of revolutionary power. On August 2, 1920, the 10th Congress of Soviets of the Petrograd Province decided to merge the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet and the provincial executive committee. The Petrograd Soviet continued its work as

92-549: A decision to abolish the Council and transfer functions to the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg . Petrograd Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies ( Russian : Петроградский совет рабочих и солдатских депутатов , Petrogradsky soviet rabochih i soldatskikh deputatov ) was a city council of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), the capital of Russia at the time. For brevity, it

138-620: A front for the activities of the Bolshevik's Military Organization. Podvoisky would take official control of the committee on the day of the uprising, with Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko as secretary. The Ispolkom and the Provisional Government had been cut out of control of the forces in the Petrograd Military District, since very few of them remained loyal to them. The Military Staff was sidelined on

184-515: A person of similar look and surname was put on the same ballot in order to confuse voters. A remarkable case of Boris Vishnevsky  [ ru ] , a candidate of the Yabloko party, who run in the №2 Saint Petersburg circuit with two nearly indistinguishable doppelgängers alongside was widely reported. Both have changed their legal names to "Boris Vishnevsky" shortly before the elections, and returned to their original names shortly after it

230-810: A rival power center to the Provisional Government , creating what in Soviet historiography is known as the Dvoyevlastiye (Dual power). Its committees were key components during the Russian Revolution and some of them led the armed revolt of the October Revolution . Before 1914, Petrograd was known as Saint Petersburg , and in 1905 the workers' soviet called the St Petersburg Soviet was created. But

276-479: A situation described as dvoevlastie ( dual power ), in which the Petrograd Soviet competed for legitimacy with the Provisional Government until the October Revolution. The Ispolkom (the "executive committee") of the Petrograd Soviet often publicly attacked the Provisional Government as bourgeois and boasted of its de facto power over de jure authority (control over post , telegraphs ,

322-676: Is the regional parliament of Saint Petersburg , a federal subject ( federal city ) of Russia. It was established in 1994, succeeding the Leningrad Council of People's Deputies ( Lensovet ). It is a permanent body, and the supreme and only governing body in St Petersburg. It is located in the Mariinsky Palace . Its powers and duties are defined in the Charter of Saint Petersburg . Saint Petersburg's city duma

368-705: Is the government of St Petersburg, headed by the Governor of St Petersburg, who is the region's highest-ranking official. The Governor is elected for five years by Russian citizens who live in St Petersburg permanently. As of 2022 , the term of office of the incumbent Governor expires in September 2024. While non-systemic opposition was largely eliminated from the elections, those candidates (mostly of systemic opposition ) who were allowed to participate were targeted by various semi-legal intimidation or confusion techniques. The one includes "doppelganger candidates", where

414-637: Is usually called the Petrograd Soviet ( Russian : Петроградский совет , Petrogradsky soviet ). The Soviet was established in March 1917 after the February Revolution as a representative body of the city's workers and soldiers, while the city already had its well-established city council, the Saint Petersburg City Duma (Central Duma). During the revolutionary days, the council tried to extend its jurisdiction nationwide as

460-850: The 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union , adopted on December 5, 1936. After the elections, the Lensoviet became known as the Leningrad City Council of Workers' Deputies (Lengorsovet). With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War , it was effectively subordinated to the Military Council of the Leningrad Front , and was engaged in organizing defensive construction on the approaches to Leningrad, converting industry to weapons production, etc. In

506-619: The All-Russian Central Executive Committee ( CEC or VTsIK ) with over 70 members (but no peasant representatives). The mass meetings of the body tapered from daily in the first weeks to roughly weekly by April. The rise of the Bolsheviks throughout 1917 is known as the Bolshevization of soviets . The Bolsheviks rapidly assumed the mantle of the official opposition , and took advantage of

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552-808: The Ispolkom rejected the workings of the Congress and called on the Soviets and the army to defend the Revolution. But in the evening, the Congress dismissed the Ispolkom and replaced it with a new group of 101 members (62 Bolsheviks) under Lev Borisovich Kamenev . It also approved the Decree on Peace , the Decree on Land and the formation of a new government – the Council of People's Commissars ( Soviet Narodnykh Komissarov , abbreviated to Sovnarkom ) – until

598-422: The 1994 elections with their changing participation threshold), two-round for the first and second convocations and single-round for the third one. On March 11, 2007, the fourth elections were held using a party-list proportional representation system with a 7-percent election threshold and no required threshold of participation for the first time according to the new city law accepted by the third convocation of

644-685: The 400-seat Council. About 120 deputies of the Leningrad City Council represented the Leningrad People's Front - the largest informal political organization in Russia in 1989-90. Over the next three and a half years, the city council determined the life of the city. In particular, it played an important role in organizing resistance to the State Emergency Committee during the August Putsch of 1991. In connection with

690-739: The Leningrad Soviet of Workers', Peasants', and Red Army Deputies (Lensovet). According to the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On the Formation of the Leningrad Region" of August 1, 1927, the Leningrad Governorate was liquidated, the provincial executive committee transferred its functions to the regional executive committee, to which

736-633: The Soldiers' Section, and ten the Workers' Section. All members were socialists, the majority Mensheviks or Socialist-Revolutionaries ; there was no Bolshevik representation. After the first All-Russian Congress of Soviets (June/July 1917), the Petrograd Soviet began adding representatives from other parts of Russia and the front lines, renaming itself the All-Russian Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies . The executive committee became

782-452: The Soviet Union , the Leningrad City Council of Workers' Deputies became known as the Leningrad City Council of People's Deputies. Elected as a result of direct elections held in two rounds on March 4 and 18, 1990, the Leningrad City Council of the 21st convocation became the first representative authority in the RSFSR where the participants of the democratic forces bloc "Democratic Elections - 90" had an absolute majority - approximately 2/3 in

828-475: The Soviets considered the creation of a Committee of Revolutionary Defense. The Bolsheviks and Trotsky amended the resolution to include security of Petrograd against both German and domestic threats. The Plenum of the Soviet voted for a committee to "gather... all the forces participating in the defense of Petrograd... to arm the workers... ensuring the revolutionary defense of Petrograd... against the... military and civilian Kornilovites." The Ispolkom approved

874-505: The assembly in 2006 and new federal legislation. The Assembly is a permanent body, and the supreme and only governing body in St Petersburg. It consists of fifty seats and is elected for a five-year term. Half of this number run in single-mandate constituencies, while the other half are in a single electoral district, with winners elected in proportion to the number of votes cast. The candidates are nominated by electoral associations. The highest executive body of state power in St Petersburg

920-760: The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of September 6, 1991 on returning the name St. Petersburg to Leningrad, on September 30, 1991 the city council was renamed the St. Petersburg City Council of People's Deputies (Petrosoviet). In accordance with the Decrees of the President of Russia "On the phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation" of September 21, 1993 and "On

966-645: The end of the Provisional Government and the transfer of power to the Petrograd Soviet. In the early afternoon, Trotsky convened an Extraordinary Session of the Petrograd Soviet, to preempt the Congress of Soviets. It was packed with Bolsheviks and Left SR deputies. That evening, the Second Congress of Soviets opened in the Assembly Hall in Smolny. The 600 or so delegates chose a Presidium of 3 Mensheviks and 21 Bolsheviks and Left SRs. The following day,

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1012-765: The entire leadership of the Central Workers' Group was arrested and taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress on the orders of Alexander Protopopov , the Minister of the Interior in Imperial Russia . They were freed by a crowd of disaffected soldiers on the morning of February 27, the beginning of the February Revolution, and the chairman convened a meeting to organize and elect a Soviet of Workers' Deputies that day. That evening, between 69 and 300 people attended

1058-470: The executive committee, called Ispolkom , came only from political groups, with every socialist party given three seats (agreed March 18). This created an intellectual and radical head to the peasant-, worker-, and soldier-dominated body. The executive committee meetings were more intense and almost as disorderly as the public meetings and were often extremely long. On March 1, the executive committee resolved to remain outside any new State Duma . This allowed

1104-482: The government - after advice from the military – made plans to evacuate to Moscow. The Ispolkom attacked the move, and Trotsky had the soldiers' section, who were mostly Mensheviks, vote on a resolution condemning the evacuation. The Provisional Government postponed evacuation indefinitely. Its attempts to dispatch Petrograd garrison units to the front were resisted by the troops and by the Ispolkom. On October 9,

1150-569: The government released many senior Bolsheviks on bail or promise of good behavior. In the August 20 municipal elections, the Bolsheviks took a third of the votes, a 50% increase in three months. During the Kornilov affair, the Ispolkom was forced to use the Bolsheviks' military as its main force against the "counter-revolution". Kerensky ordered the distribution of 40,000 rifles to the workers of Petrograd (some Red Guards ), many of which ended in

1196-520: The government. The Milrevcom sent armed groups to seize the main telegraph offices and lower the bridges across the Neva. That night, the Bolsheviks took control quickly and easily, since the vast majority of both the guard and the workers had sided with them, participating in the plans of the "Milrevcom". The following morning at 10 am, the Milrevcom issued an announcement written by Lenin , declaring

1242-551: The group to criticize without responsibility, and kept them away from any potential backlash. On March 2, the Soviet received the eight-point program of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma , appointed an oversight committee ( nabliudatel'nyi komitet ), and issued a decidedly conditional statement of support. Moreover, the Soviet undermined the Provisional Government by issuing its own orders, beginning with

1288-408: The hands of Bolshevik groups. As other socialist parties abandoned the Soviet organizations, the Bolsheviks increased their presence. On September 25, they gained a majority in the Workers' Section and Leon Trotsky was elected chairman. He directed the transformation of the Soviet into a revolutionary organ according to Bolshevik policies. On October 6, with a German advance threatening the city,

1334-518: The later shock of the Kornilov affair , polarized the political scene. The Petrograd Soviet moved steadily leftwards, just as those of the center and right consolidated around Kerensky. Despite the events in July, the Ispolkom moved to protect the Bolsheviks from serious consequences, adopting resolutions on August 4 and August 18 against the arrest and prosecution of Bolsheviks. Still wary of the Ispolkom,

1380-453: The legislative power body of this federal subject. However, in 2000 the federal legislation changed and the duties were delegated to a separate person to be elected by the regional legislature (not necessarily among its members). From June 13, 2001 until May 18, 2011, Sergey Mironov occupied this position. According to federal legislation from 2005, the governor of Saint Petersburg (as well as heads of other federal subjects of Russia )

1426-734: The main precursor to the 1917 Petrograd Soviet was the Central Workers' Group (Центральная Рабочая Группа, Tsentral'naya Rabochaya Gruppa ), founded in November 1915 by the Mensheviks to mediate between workers and the new Central War Industry Committee in Petrograd. The group became increasingly radical as World War I progressed and the economic situation worsened, encouraging street demonstrations and issuing revolutionary proclamations. On January 27, 1917 (all dates Old Style )

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1472-462: The meeting at the Tauride Palace . A provisional executive committee ( Ispolkom ) was chosen, named "Provisional Executive Committee of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies" and chaired by Nikolay Chkheidze , and with mostly Menshevik deputies. (Chkheize was replaced by Irakli Tsereteli in late March). Izvestia was chosen as the official newspaper of the group. The following day, February 28,

1518-670: The meeting of the Constituent Assembly. The Sovnarkom was meant to be an executive governing body directly accountable to the newly created Central Executive Committee (CEC/ VTsIK ) which would act as a standing-body of the (legislative) Soviet between full sessions of the Congress of Soviets, though in practice Sovnarkom would eclipse the CEC/TSiK in autonomy and power. Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg ( Russian : Законода́тельное собра́ние Санкт-Петербу́рга, ЗакС )

1564-461: The military front lines with commissars appointed with Ministry of War support. In March 1917, the Petrograd Soviet was opposed to the workers, which protested its deliberations with strikes. On March 8, the Menshevik newspaper Rabochaia Gazeta even claimed that the strikers were discrediting the soviet by disobeying it. The Ispolkom expanded to 19 members on April 8, nine representing

1610-518: The new socialist presence in the Cabinet to attack them for the failures of the Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks began a strong run of propaganda . In June, 100,000 copies of Pravda (including Soldatskaya Pravda , Golos Pravdy , and Okopnaya Pravda ) were printed daily. In July, over 350,000 leaflets were distributed. The July Days riots from July 16–17, inspired but not led by the Bolsheviks, were without success. The rise of Kerensky, and

1656-610: The night of October 21, when the Milrevcom took exclusive control of the garrison in the name of the Soldiers' Section of the Soviet. The District Commander, Colonel Polkovnikov, refused to allow this control, and he and his staff were condemned in a Milrevcom public statement as "a direct weapon of the counter-revolutionary forces". The military command responded with an ultimatum to the Soviet, which led to delaying negotiations and meetings on October 23 and 24. The Bolshevik-popular uprising began on October 24, when "liberal" forces tried to shut down Pravda and take other steps to secure

1702-574: The presidium of the Leningrad City Council was subordinate. In accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union of December 3, 1931, Leningrad was allocated as an independent administrative and economic center with its own budget. In December 1939, elections to the city council were held in accordance with

1748-479: The press, railroads , food supply , and other infrastructure ). A "shadow government" with a Contact Commission was created on March 8 to "inform... [the Provisional Government] about the demands of the revolutionary people, to exert pressure on the government to dissatisfy all these demands, and to exercise uninterrupted control over their implementation." On March 19, the control extended into

1794-605: The reform of representative bodies of local self-government in the Russian Federation" of October 9, 1993, and with paragraph 2 of the Decree of the President of Russia "On the reform of state authorities of the city of St. Petersburg" of December 21, 1993 No. 2252 on the termination of the powers of the St. Petersburg City Council of People's Deputies and its deputies, the session of the City Council on December 22, 1993 adopted

1840-546: The resolution, against Menshevik resistance, on October 12, and the Soviet approved it on October 16 (despite warnings by the Mensheviks and SRs), creating the Military Revolutionary Committee ( Voenno-Revoliutsionnyi Komitet ), also called the Milrevcom or Military Committee. The Military-Revolutionary Committee was chaired by Pavel Lazimir , with Nikolai Podvoisky as his deputy. It was

1886-456: The seven-article Order No. 1 . The Soviet was not opposed to the war – internal divisions produced a public ambivalence–but was deeply worried about counterrevolutionary moves from the military, and was determined to have garrison troops firmly on its side. The Petrograd Soviet developed into an alternate source of authority to the Provisional Government under (Prince) Georgy Lvov and later Alexander Kerensky . This created

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1932-421: The spring of 1942, the Leningrad City Council organized the sanitary cleanup of the city after the first winter of the siege . In May 1944, the Leningrad City Council session adopted a plan for the restoration of the municipal economy . In the second half of the 1940s - early 1950s, the main efforts of the Leningrad City Council were focused on the restoration of the city. According to the 1977 Constitution of

1978-489: The supreme organ of power in the city. The supreme organ of executive power in both the city and the province was the provincial executive committee, which was subordinate to the Petrograd Soviet in the period between provincial congresses of Soviets. By the decision of the Second All-Union Congress of Soviets of January 26, 1924, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad, and the Petrograd Soviet became known as

2024-606: Was established in 1786 as part of Catherine II 's reforms on local government. In 1798, Paul I abolished the city duma and replaced it with the Ratusha (Rathaus) until the city duma was restored in 1802. The city duma was again abolished in 1918 with its functions devolved to the Petrograd Soviet . Initially it was the speaker of the Assembly who served as member of the Federation Council of Russia representing

2070-475: Was proposed by the President of Russia and approved by the regional legislature. On December 20, 2006, incumbent Valentina Matviyenko was approved as governor. In 2012, following the passage of a new federal law, which restored direct elections of the heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended. The first three convocations were formed by a single-member district plurality voting system with at least 20% participation required (except for

2116-445: Was the plenary session; elected representatives from factories and the military joined the soviet, and again moderates dominated. Non-representative voting and enthusiasm gave the Soviet almost 3,000 deputies in two weeks, of which the majority were soldiers. The meetings were chaotic, confused, and unruly, little more than a stage for speechmakers. The party-based Ispolkom quickly took charge of actual decision-making. The members of

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