Organization of the Soviet
Organization of the Soviet. March 12, 1917
Original Source: Ia. A. Iakovlev, Petrogradskii sovet rabochikh i soldatskikh deputatov. Protokoly, zasedaniia ispolnitel'nogo komiteta i biuro I. K. (Moscow, 1925), p. 292.
In accordance with the resolution of the Provisional Executive Committee of March 12, the representation of workmen in the Soviet was one for every thousand, and for soldiers, one for every company. At this rate the number of deputies quickly reached 3,000, of whom more than 2,000 were soldiers. It became necessary to reconstruct the Soviet, for as it stood there was not room enough in the Duma and too many representatives to accomplish anything. Nothing came of the various projects of the Executive Committee, and the reduction of the number of delegates was brought about by a stricter verification of credentials. In this way the number of deputies was cut down to half.
Source: Frank Golder, ed., Documents of Russian History, 1914-1917 (New York: The Century Co., 1927), p. 291.