Asides from the obvious ideological differences between the Tsars and the communists, they do not differ all that much in other ruling aspects such as use of repression and the role of themselves as a ruler. Over the 100 year period between 1855 and 1964 all Russian leaders used state repression to some extent. From the definition of Communism it would be suggested that post 1917 Russia would have become less repressive as it would have formed a democratic society however this was not the case which indicates that Russia did simple exchange one form of autocracy for another. The secret police, although used under various names by the Russian rulers, was a reoccurring factor of repression used by all the Russian leaders over this period. Nicholas was debatably the least repressive Russian
To what extent had Russia’s problems been solved by the time of Lenin’s death in 1924 ? Since the start of the 20th century Russia had a vast range of problems, which had to be sorted if Russia had any ambitions to be a powerful nation. These problems included a collapse of a whole social system as Tsarism was abolished in 1917. Nicolas ii was forced to abdicate because of his inability to make decisions and the critical economic state, Russia’s failure in the First World War didn’t help his popularity. This naturally led on to a power struggle.
In turn this would destroy Britain commercially and their industrial economy allowing Napoleon to take over Britain however did not work and left Napoleon worse off then he was before. His next mistake was the Peninsular war and as a result weakened his empire even more by the Spanish guerrillas, Germans, and Italians turning against him. Lastly his third mistake lost him most of his soldiers and the tactic used to defeat him was the scorched-earth policy, by the Russians. These mistakes greatly weakened Napoleons Empire. The empire was then declared war on by Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Austria.
The long-term policies of Russification imposed by the Tsar in the 1880s, caused a lot of political unrest within Russia and these contributed to the 1905 revolution. Russia was the only country within Europe with no elected national parliament. The only form of elected representation (what the Tsar referred to as ‘senseless dreams’) was the “Zemstva”. The Union of Liberation demanded in December 1904, that a parliament should be set up because they felt the Russian population needed an outlet to express their views. At the time, the formation of political parties was illegal but despite this, they still existed.
This was probably due to their authoritarian ideology. It can be considered a fact that for the majority of the 1855-1964 period, the Russian citizens had little if any political freedom. Despite the legalization of political parties in 1905, this was a very short lived concession as Lenin revoked this in 1920. A similar approach was taken by Alexander III in reversing the reforms of Alexander II, including a reduction in power for the Zemstva. A recurring theme throughout the period is the regime’s desire to maintain autocracy, which Lenin’s disregard for democracy in any area and opposition shows.
When his rivals were expelled from the Politburo, they were removed because the majority of the members voted for this. Therefore, Stalin’s action in order to gain power were quiet legal. After he was invited into the main committee of the Bolsheviks, he then gained other beneficial minority posts such as being an executive of the committee and becoming head of their party newspaper “Pravda”. Stalin, did not take part in any major roles during the October rising. During the civil war, he was consistent in disobeying orders made from Lenin and Trotsky, as they were the main organisers.
Even though the ordinary Russian citizen initially saw little difference between Nicholas II and the new Provisional Government, the authoritarian regime of the Tsar had not simply been exchanged for another in the short term. However in the long term Lenin's Bolsheviks had seized power in the October Revolution. This was a significant turning point as the totalitarian Government of the Communist party were little different to the autocratic regime of the Tsar to some extent, especially under Stalin. His version of communism differed from that of Lenin before him which resulted in Stalin effectively being a 'red Tsar', devoted to his vision of Russia no matter what the cost
By 1929, Joseph Stalin who was one of the members of the ‘collective leadership’, defeated the rest and became the dominant force of the USSR. His success was part of a power struggle which began even before Lenin’s death. Stalin’s victory was not inevitable, nor was it a result of his political skills alone. There was a whole list of factors which combined to assist his victory. When Lenin was alive he made several criticisms about Stalin which were not made public.
Causes of the Russian Revolution, Feb 1917 With a complex dynamic such as that of 1917 Russia there cannot be one single cause, we must examine whether it was the long term, medium term or short term causes that was the biggest catalyst in causing the revolution. The Tsarist Autocratic system had failed to industrialize Russia and prevented it from becoming a major European power. In 1905 the Russian people were not happy with every aspect of their life, which caused social unrest leading to a year of “revolution”. The war was not going well for Russia and with the Tsar in charge of the army, leaving the Tsarina to rule at home matters were only made worse. The War also had massive social and economic impacts on Russia that resulted in a strike that ended with a revolution.
With Stolypin’s death, all hope of reform in Russia came to an end. The Tsarist state reverted to its traditional behaviour, failing to take any account of the grievances that were being expressed from almost every section of Russian society. Russia’s poor performance during the First World War exacerbated the gulf that existed between state and society, as the government - and especially Nicholas II himself - became identified as responsible for the disasters that befell Russian armies. But on the other hand his reforms eased the situation of Russian peasants. Due to them in November 1905 redemption payments were abolished.