The Provisional Government did effect some reform, most notably the freedom of expression. Without the fear that the Tsar’s, now-disbanded, Okhrana would descend on them, people suddenly could talk freely and debate. The election for the Constituent Assembly, when it came, would be open to all those over the age of twenty-one – including women. The death penalty was abolished. Even Lenin conceded that Russia was the ‘freest of all the belligerent countries’.
