Progressive Bloc (Russia)
Progressive Bloc was an alliance of political forces in the Russian Empire. It was formed when the State Duma of the Russian Empire was recalled to session during World War I, the response of Nicholas II of Russia to mounting social tensions. In July 1915, the Progressist Party combined with the Kadet Party, Left Octobrists, and Nationalists to form a political front in the Duma that supported a social-chauvinist stance towards the continuation of World War I and called for a responsible parliamentary government. In the lead up to the February revolution 1917, it is often argued to play a crucial role in the uprising's success through the suggestion to Tsar Nicholas II that he should establish a 'government of public confidence'. The Tsar instead made little attempt to make political reform or slip into a constitutional monarch that, potentially, could have saved the Romanov dynasty.[1]