Tsar Nicholas II wasn’t much of a good ruler for Russia; he ignored the fact that Russia wasn’t doing so good and overlooked the industrialization and nationalism that was occurring throughout Russia. Nicholas II disregarded the troubles the Russians were facing and seemed to only care about himself and him staying in power. This caused people to revolt as they needed a good strong leader to help Russia survive. The main leader who started China’s revolution was Sun Yat-sen who believed China should adopt a democratic government if it were to survive. The revolutions led by him eventually led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China.
In the case of the Provisional Government they changed it from autocratic to democratic and Lenin changed it to a one party state; although the result was different the basis was the same. In some cases all of the rulers passed reforms that they had no choice whether to or not, it was simply necessary. All of the Tsars wanted to uphold their autocratic position, Alexander III most of all due to what happened to his father, so keeping absolute control was essential. Nicholas II was the only tsar to make any major political reforms due to the Tsar’s wanted to keep their power. However, Nicholas II had no choice to create the Duma because of the 1905 revolution; so he reluctantly did so he did not completely lose his position.
Many historians have said Alexander II was considering the formation of a parliament in Russia. Furthermore, the assassination caused Alexander III to rule in reactionary nature in which many counter-reforms were created to limit the impact of the Great Reforms done by his father. This supports the view that the People’s Will were highly unsuccessful, even in the taking out of Alexander II. It can be said that the only example in this period of effective political opposition was the October 1917 revolution, where, unquestionably, the Bolsheviks took power and let their political vision be known. They were extremely successful in both the short term and the long term.
This disagreement arose because of a profound difference in their beliefs of the role of the party. The Bolsheviks believed that the revolution should be organised by a small group of dedicated and skilled revolutionaries who should lead the party and make all the decisions. On the contrary, the Mensheviks believed that the Party should be a mass party with as many working class members as possible. They argued it should be run democratically, with the members electing the leaders and deciding on its policies. For Lenin, the party was to be a group prepared to seize power as soon as possible yet on the other hand, for Martov, the main purpose of the party was to spread propaganda and raise the level of consciousness of the proletariat.
The Tsars believed that they ruled by divine right; so they believed that they were God’s appointed ruler on earth. Lenin did not have a legitimate claim to ruling Russia. The Tsars were brought up knowing that one day they would rule over an empire, whereas Lenin had no training or experience in government. The Tsars inherited the throne when their fathers died whereas Lenin was the leader of a minority party who seized control by force and then forced their will upon the Russian people. This indicates how there would have been a distinct difference in the way the Russian people saw who was governing them.
Hence, The Tsars never took the use of taking help from an elected parliament to maintain the nation effectively. The way in which the Tsars ruled Russia only drew attention to the general population and made it even more unstable situation. The Russian Orthodox Church was a major supporter of Tsars. The Church had a purposely secured position in Russian life but other Russian people saw their local priests as selfish and corrupt individuals of the nation who did not live up to Biblical standards and were just faithful to the Tsar because of his power. Alexander II was born on 17th April 1818, became the sixteenth Romanov Tsar who came to the throne in 1855 after the death of his father.
Communism sounds like a rational theory however it was portrayed to the American public as an evil ideology that sought to abolish any form of freedom. In the USSR for example everything was run by the government which meant there were no private television or radio stations, any news that reached the
Script: Simran: Nicholas the Second (NII) was the last Imperial Ruler of Russia he came at a point, when Russia desperately needed a great visionary to reform and industrialize her, while NII was known to be a poor leader who was not equipped with knowledge to handle a political reform. Born in 1868 to Alexander III, he was the heir to Russian throne which he attained 1894. Ewalina: It is important to note that NII was a poor leader but he was not a weak character. This means that he did have a vision for Russia, which was to maintain traditions of stardom, Nicholas was a firm believer in autocracy; he was virtually unmovable in this belief. -His stern faith in stardom stemmed from his upbringing, because he was brought up by Konstantin
According to Historian Malone, the Tsar “believed totally in the tsarist system and argued that a democracy and elections would result in political collapse.'' His reluctance to alter the system of authority and introduce representatives reinforces his lack of ability in knowing 'the business of ruling'. However, in response to pressure from the discontented Proletariat group, Nicholas II implemented an Imperial Council, Cabinet of Ministers, a Senate and the Okhrana. These parties however, were merely a tokenistic response, as Nicholas II still retained ultimate power. He ensured that he had the right to choose half the members of the council, declare
The most basic characteristics of a Totalitarian state, are lack of free speech and state control over the media. This is important to establish social control over the state. Lenin's described free speech as 'bourgeois prejudice'. Understanding the role of propaganda to strengthen his rule, he established the Pravda (this word means Truth in Russian), which was a newspaper published in St. Petersburg 1912. The Pravda controlled what media was available to the public and who could utilize it.