How Far Can It Be Argued That a Study of Russian Government in the Period 1855-1964 Suggests That Russia Simply Exchanged One Form of Autocracy for Another After 1917? [50]

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It can be argued to a certain extent that a study of Russian government in the period 1855-1964 suggests that Russia simply exchanged one form of autocracy for another after 1917. Between the period of 1855 and 1917 Russia was led by the Tsar’s, all born out of the Romanov family which meant they were born into power and followed autocracy, meaning one individual (the Tsar) had absolute power over everyone else. However, this changed after 1917 when the Russian revolution occurred. Leaders of Russia came from the Communist party which by definition claims that there is no powerful individual, everyone’s equal. Leaders from the communist party worked to claim power and weren’t born into it. By definition of the two types of rule it should be suggested that Russian government ought to have been completely different with no similarities. However, it can be strongly argued that this was not the case. All Russian leaders during this period were motivated by the need to maintain their power and their ideological views which is shown to be one of the main similarities between them. 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
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