Dual power, sometimes referred to as counterpower, refers to a strategy in which alternative institutions coexist with and seek to ultimately replace existing authority.

The term was first used by the communist Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) in the 1917 Pravda article titled "The Dual Power" (Двоевластие, Dvoyevlastiye), referring to the coexistence of two Russian governments as a result of the February Revolution: the Soviets (workers' councils), particularly the Petrograd Soviet, and the Russian Provisional Government. Lenin saw this unstable power dynamic as an opportunity for revolutionaries to seize control.

This notion has informed the strategies of subsequent communist-led revolutions elsewhere in the world, including the Chinese Communist Revolution led by Mao Zedong (1893–1976) after the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949) and in eastern Europe after World War II (1939–1945).

While the term was initially associated with Bolshevik strategy, its meaning has since expanded among anarchists, municipalists, and other libertarian socialists, where it describes the creation of directly democratic structures such as worker cooperatives, people’s assemblies, and mutual aid networks that challenge state and capitalist power while prefiguring a self-managed society.

After Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne, the resulting February Revolution led to the establishment of the Provisional Government and its counterpart, the Petrograd Soviet. The Provisional Government was composed of former State Duma representatives with approval from the Petrograd Soviet, whereas the Petrograd Soviet was made up of socialist leaders elected by a proletariat constituency. With the Russian government moving from an autocracy to this system of "dual power" with the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet constantly vying for power, there was much confusion on how both could coexist and govern effectively.

In this confusion, the Provisional Government realized the Soviet had the people's trust and enthusiasm. In the hopes of appeasing the Soviet and keeping the support of the population, the Provisional Government launched several very bold liberal acts and promoted civil liberties through means of freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Yet, other than strategic political motives, the Provisional Government understood that their power was illegitimate, due to the fact that they were not elected by the people. To solve the problem of illegitimacy, the Provisional Government was in the process of establishing the Constituent Assembly, whose members would be democratically elected by the people. The Constituent Assembly would never come to be under the Provisional Government's rule, as the elections were set after the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution.

After the February Revolution, Lenin published his April Theses and in it he expressed unhappiness with the February Revolution as he described it as a "Bourgeois Revolution". He pushed for the slogan "All Power to the Soviets". Lenin mentioned that a Proletarian Revolution was necessary, and expressed that he had no interest in cooperating with the Provisional Government or the other Soviet leaders who were willing to compromise. Other members of Soviet leadership were skeptical of Lenin's ideas since they were afraid that Lenin and the Bolsheviks were advocating for anarchism. Lenin also criticized the Petrograd Soviet for governing alongside the Provisional Government, and accused them of forgetting and abandoning socialist ideas and the proletarian revolution.

The Provisional Government's members primarily consisted of former State Duma members under Nicholas II's reign. Its members were mainly members of the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party and conservative Octobrist party, but also included one Progressivist and one Trudovik. The ideological and political ideas differed wildly throughout the party's leadership and members, but most were 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, 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. The Provisional Government realized that their power was not legitimate since they were former Duma members, and not elected by a general public. They knew that to be seen as a legitimate government body, they would need to be elected by the people, and they established the Constituent Assembly and scheduled popular elections to take place later in the year.