Petrograd Soviet Order No. 1

The order was issued following the February Revolution in response to actions taken the day before by the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, headed by Mikhail Rodzianko.

Officers were no longer to be addressed as "Your Excellency" but rather as "Sir" ("Gospodin", in Russian); nor were they to execute, corporally punish or even verbally abuse their soldiers.

[4] There is a widespread belief that Order Number 1 infamously allowed for the election of officers,[5] thus completely undermining military discipline.

The discrepancy is explained by the fact that a proclamation was issued by the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP – essentially the Communists, divided between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks) and the Petrograd Committee of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) at about the same time calling on "Comrade Soldiers" to "elect for yourself platoon, company and regimental commanders."

Part of the debate leading up to Order Number 1 included talk of "sorting out" unfriendly (pro-Tsarist or anti-revolutionary) officers and excluding them from units.

Thus, Michael Florinsky wrote that "it struck at the very heart of army discipline and contributed powerfully to the breakdown of the armed forces.