One of the main reasons for this opposition was the economic and social hardships Russia was going through particularly in the months after the October revolution. Food shortages plagued Russia due to problems of distribution, problems of inflation and problems of production. The railway system in Russia had virtually collapsed. This meant that food supplies or any other necessary supplies couldn’t be distributed efficiently around Russia which caused massive food shortages. Food shortages were a key problem in Russia as it meant the people were starving and desperate.
* Lost terriorty in Poland & Western Russia – PG were blamed for losses just like the Tsar was when took charge. * War made finical problems – Inflation still a problem and food shortages were high. * Russia expected these things to be stored out – PG short-lived because they were full of empty promises. Promised land reform to the peasants ( made up a large amount of the population , Bolshevik priority was to keep them on their side) no action was taken * Couldn’t guarantee food supplies as because soviet controlled the railways. * Political reform also promised political reform in an attempt to stop the revolutionaries but no action was taken.
This made him very unpopular. With such a huge empire Russia struggled with agriculture. ‘Even when the harvests were good, yields were poor compared with the rest of Europe’. Russia couldn’t keep up with the rapid growth of agriculture in Europe; it didn’t even make enough food to feed its large population. As a result of this many peasants were in poverty.
The disposition that Nicholas brought to the role of Tsar (he was incredibly close to his family) led to huge flaws in his leadership skills. He would rather spend time with family than deal with any government matters, often leaving his ministers in control to make decisions. Nicholas was inexperienced and easily influenced, and lacked the authority to lead effectively, especially given the unstable social and economic nature of the time, such as the Lena Goldfields incident of 1912, and the bread riots in the cities, mainly Petrograd in 1917. Possibly the worst mistake that the Tsar made was appointing himself Commander in Chief of the Russian military in 1915, as he became personally responsible for any defeat in World War One. Since Russia performed poorly against nations like Germany, the people of Russia felt let down, and all sense of pride was lost.
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.
When Nicholas was first crowned Tsar in 1894, the whole country rejoiced and had a new hope for a brighter future, that things would be better than they were before. However, if anything, maybe things got worse. Peasants living in the countryside made up 80% of Russia and their living/working conditions were horrendous. Those who supported the opposition, the Social Revolutionaries, mainly opposed the Tsar because of land. Some peasants left to work in the cities as the Tsar wanted Russia to be an industrial power, however the living conditions there hardly improved, which matched their dreadful working conditions.
This meant trade to other countries went down bringing the economy to yet another low and this lack of agricultural workers meant a lack of food across Russia, especially in towns and cities where there was no easy access to farms; and as is with most things in demand, the prices went through the roof, leaving peasants starving on a mass scale. The only short term fix that was established for this whole issue, was a series of loans from Russia’s allies, Britain and France; these loans are especially important when it comes to the provisional government’s role in the second revolution in 1917. The other major issue that was gained from the World War is the amazing show of incompetence from Russian military leaders, most notably Nicholas II. This led to a decreasing
This made the government not original so the country could not benefit from it. Also political parties were banned so the government had little incentive to work to their potential as there is no competition. This relatively useless government made Russia unproductive and inefficient as there was little reform from their government. Following this most important point is the second most important factor of the 1905 Revolution which is the depression between 1899 and1903. The depression damaged Russia’s economy quite badly.
He was a bad decision maker, people thought of him as weak. If a tsar was likely to be over-throned it would be because he did not put enough effort in maintaining his position and fulfilling the people’s wishes. Which was exactly what Nicholas did, he failed to understand his people, failed to make political, economic and social changes for improvement, refused to accept advice, and eventually lost respect and control of his people, especially because the average working hour was 11 hours on week days and 10 on Saturdays. Because Nicholas had little knowledge and no intelligence of how to operate such a large empire, he could barley manage it at all. He had always listened to his wife Alexandra and occasionally asked advice from her.
Unemployed parents could not pay for food or water, nor could they pay for clothing and shelter, and as a result, innocent children suffered. Incapable of providing for their families, many fathers became frustrated, and simply abandoned them, leaving them to fend for themselves. Other times, young children were left homeless, having no one to care for them. During the height of the Great Depression, at least 200000 young people and 25000 families roamed the country, in search of food. These alarming statistics show just how greatly the Depression did actually impact