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Provisional Government within Dual Power
The Provisional Government's members primarily consisted of former Duma members under Nicholas II's reign. Its members were mainly members of the Kadets party, as the Kadets party was the only formal political party functioning in the Provisional Government at its conception. The ideological and political ideas differed wildly throughout the party's leadership and member,but were mostly comprised of moderates, offering both liberal and conservative views at times.The Kadets and the Provisional Government alike pushed for new policies including the release of political prisoners, a decree of freedom of press, cessation of the Okhrana (Russian Secret Police), abolition of the death penalty, and rights for minorities. The Provisional Government and the Kadets also wanted Russia to continue to be involved in World War I, much to the dismay of the Soviets. Despite certain political ideas, the Kadets became slightly more conservative overall with the rise of left-wing parties and left-wing thought within both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet. Aleksandr Kerensky, a former member of the Fourth Duma and a chairmen of the Soviet Executive Committee and eventually the Prime Minister for the Provisional Government, was brought into the Provisional Government as a way to gain support from left-wing parties and the Petrograd Soviet. Kerensky was a moderate socialist, and believed that cooperation with the Provisional Government was necessary. Historian S.A. Smith explains that after the appointment of Kerensky "Thus was born 'dual power', an institutional arrangement under which the Provisional Government enjoyed formal authority, but where the Soviet Executive Committee had real power."