The Lives of the Peasants Was Uniformly Bleak

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Life of the peasants was uniformly bleak. How far do you agree with this view of the period 1855-1964? When assessing the view that the lives of the peasants was uniformly bleak throughout the period of 1855-1964, several main factors must be taken into consideration. These include their living and working conditions, reforms towards peasants, the educational opportunities available to them and the political representation they had under the Tsar or the Commissar. Once all the main factors are evaluated, it becomes clear that the life of the peasants did not improve so it remained uniformly bleak throughout the period of 1855-1964. For majority of the period, the living conditions for the average peasant remained uniformly bleak. Especially when considering 1917, under Nicholas II, accommodation was often a low standard as demand outstripped supply following an influx to the cities, such poor living conditions had a detrimental effect in their quality of life which was also the same under the communist leaders, where living conditions remained in an equally bad, if not worse when compared to the Tsars. Some may suggest that Nikita Khrushchev did try to improve the living conditions by building more social housing but he was more interested in competing in the Cold War than improving the living conditions of the peasants. Therefore, lack of care led to his housing policy to be unsuccessful and proving that live of the peasants under Khrushchev did not improve. Another reason was the financial cost of competing in the Cold War proved a barrier to the successful implementation of Khrushchev housing policy. So, he invested more in the Cold War than the housing programme. Stalin’s lack of care on peasants and their living conditions was very similar to Nikita Khrushchev although there was a lack of care for different reasons. Stalin was more focused on Five Year Plans
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