Question 6

Russia under Lenin was not too dissimilar to Russia under the Tsars. Discuss.

There were many similarities in the two periods under the Tsars and under the Communists of Lenin. Both sought to maintain power through the use of terror, the suppression of political opposition and the failure to bring democracy. When considering the quality of life for ordinary people in Russia it is debateable whether they improved under the control of communism. However, there were also some differences during the reign of Lenin which could be seen as attempts at creating better lives for the workers, even if they were done for the strengthening of the Communists' position.

The first area of similarity must be the lack of democracy under both regimes. The use of the fundamental law gave the Tsar autocratic power and the ability to make centralised decisions without opposition. After the October manifesto of 1905 Tsar Nicholas II agreed to the introduction of the Dumas which would bring some form of democracy to Russia through an elected assembly. However, the Dumas were a failure as the tsar continued to retain his autocratic power and refused to accept any decisions he found unfavourable. Nicholas simply dissolved the Dumas if they acted unfavourably and eventually the fourth Duma was restricted to members chosen by the tsar himself. Democracy was also never allowed to fully enter Lenin’s Russia. After the Bolshevik seizing of power in the October revolution of 1917 they were forced to allow the previously decided elections for a constituent assembly in November. The Bolsheviks were never a widely popular party and only held support in the major cities of Moscow and Petrograd. The Social Revolutionaries were better known and more popular, this was shown by the Social Revolutionaries gaining 370 seats to the Bolsheviks' 175. Lenin was not going to allow the newly elected assembly to remove him from a position of power. After one day the assembly was dissolved by armed Red Guards acting under the influence of Lenin. Lenin argued that there was no need for an elected assembly as the workers had already risen up and placed a Soviet Committee in charge of the nation and he declared the elections had been corrupt and didn’t show the true wishes of the public. While the Tsarist position had been proclaimed appointed by God, Lenin was stating his position had been appointed by the proletariat and democracy was superfluous to both dictatorial positions. However, while the tsar held total autocratic power, Lenin, although holding an unchallenged position as the leader of the Bolsheviks, was part of a centralised committee of the Politburo which made decisions on national matters as a small group. This makes the Communists under Lenin a dictatorship of a few rather than an autocracy of one.

Lenin and the Tsars also removed government opposition. The tsars had not allowed the creation of political parties until the October Manifesto under Nicholas II. Political parties had illegally existed before but were restricted to underground meetings and never gained public notoriety. Under Lenin the Communists once again banned all other rival parties and turned Russia into a one party state.

Terror tactics were used by both regimes in their maintenance of power. The tsar’s secret police force was formed in the 1880s and later became known as the Okhrana. Okhrana agents worked in secret often infiltrating illegal revolutionary groups to root out political opposition to the tsar, before torturing, imprisoning, sending to Siberian exile or executing prisoners. Minority groups in Russia were forced to accept Russian nationality under the tsarist regime through Russification. Russian culture, identity and language were made compulsory to many non-Russians. This highlights another use of terror used to help keep the tsar in a position of power. Under Lenin the terror tactics of the Secret Police escalated. They had now been named the Cheka and are often likened to the Nazi Gestapo in levels of immorality. Lenin is known to have said terror is a means of keeping political power. The Cheka harshly dealt with revolts against the regime, burnt villages, attacked Churches, shot Orthodox Church clergy and suppressed political opposition. The terror stretched to the assassination of Nicholas II and his family through fear of political opposition returning him to the throne during the civil war. The Cheka must be seen as more severe than the Okhrana as they banned the exile of prisoners to Siberia or abroad through fear of political activists beginning rival parties while away from interrogation. This was highlighted by Lenin as he had gone through exile which had helped him gain the support and actions needed to help the Bolsheviks' seizure of power.

Propaganda was also a means of maintaining power utilised by both regimes. The Russian Orthodox Church held wide appeal with the large peasant population in Russia. The Tsar was portrayed as a holy being that must be obeyed for his word was God's. The tsar was shown to be the protector of the people and was known as the ‘little father’. The Communists also used much propaganda to keep Lenin in a position of power. Posters were placed throughout major cities proclaiming the replacing of the Orthodox Church with new Communist principles. Artwork was created showing the mighty struggle undertaken by the Communists during the October revolution to bring the proletariat to their righteous place, when in reality they had faced little opposition. Capitalists were shown as evil devils not to be trusted by the people when they had the Soviet Communists fighting for their rights. The public of Russia had been receiving propaganda documents for many years and this continued under Lenin.

Censorship was another form of maintaining power utilised by both regimes. The tsars had used restrictions before Alexander II’s reign. Once Alexander began reforms to help bring Russia forward and into line with rival European nations he allowed the relaxation of censorship. The relaxation helped the growth of opposition to the regime and allowed the public assembly of political rivals. After Alexander II had been assassinated by the political activist ‘People's will’ the tsar’s son Alexander III reinstated censorship. The censorship stretched into all aspects of life, libraries had restrictions on books, public meetings were banned, university students faced the prospect of non-academic life being monitored by inspectors while prisons were made more severe to prevent assassination and violent attack attempts on the government and tsar. Once the Communists seized power they too continued censorship to retain power. Lenin called this the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ and a necessity until Russia became a total Communist nation. This restricted political freedom which totally ended with the abolition of rival political parties. Censorship and secrecy were used as a means of terror infiltrating all aspects of life leaving the population in fear. This remained a part of life throughout Communist Russia until its fall in 1991.

Both regimes found difficulty in forcing leadership on the entire nation due to the large land mass and diversity of nationalities. This eventually fuelled public unrest and opposition politically, militarily and socially. The tsars had struggled to unite the different nationalities and classes in the Russian Empire through the use of Russification. The lack of adequate transport system had also weakened the national identity. As the Communists seized power they also found problems in forcing their new position on the rest of the country. Outside of the major cities of Petrograd and Moscow the Bolsheviks were little known and held no authority. This led to uprisings against both regimes. The tsars had failed to end years of backwardness and poverty which came to a head during the First World War. The public became disillusioned with Nicholas and an uprising took place in February 1917 when the tsar was forced to abdicate. He had lost the backing of the army who had become disillusioned with his tactics in continuing the war when Russian civilians were suffering greatly and many refused to continue the fight some even shooting their commanding officers. However, this was not the first mutiny the Tsar had faced; in the revolution of 1905 the sailors of the Kronstadt naval base had been part of the anti-tsar uprising. In the February revolution of 1917 they shot many officers and declared independence from the tsar and later provisional government. The Kronstadt soldiers had always shown loyalty to the Bolsheviks and had fought as part of the Red Guard in the Russian Civil war of 1917-21. However, after the failure of War Communism and the inability of Lenin and the Communists to end famine in the country while the Communist leaders received special privileges. The Sailors declared a revolution, which was ended bloodily by the Red Guard. This was a major turning point for the Communists as one of the groups who had been their most ardent supporters had turned against Lenin. This did have the desired effect as War Communism was soon ended and replaced by the New Economic Policy at the Ten Party Congress of 1921, which saw benefits for those suffering and a major growth in the economy. The amount of public discontent was lowered after the congress as Lenin also introduced new measures which prevented factionalism in the party and banned rival political parties whilst the Cheka increased oppression.

Both regimes initiated economic intervention. However, whilst the Tsars looked for foreign investment to help fund economic growth the Communists brought mainly nationalisation. The appointment of Sergei Witte as Minister of Finance in 1893 saw Russia looking to Western nations for investment in Russian industry. This helped the spread of railways as this would help modernise Russia as well as helping internal supplies and trade. Under the leadership of Nicholas II Witte changed the Russian Rouble’s worth by placing the Russian currency on the gold standard in 1897. This helped gain further foreign investment and stabilised Russian economy. However, this left many Russians in difficulty through being unable to afford foreign goods at high prices and the growing cost of Russian goods through the rising Rouble value. Witte used much of the foreign investment to further improve the rail system, which in turn helped raise annual production and trade figures higher than they had ever been. However, although Witte had vastly improved the industry of Russia the agrarian community was once again overlooked. This may have been addressed had Witte remained in position or had full support of the tsar and government. He was forced into excessive spending on armaments as Nicholas had strong connections with the military. Witte was forced to resign in 1906 by the tsar having failed to gain the support of Nicholas through his want for change. To raise capital for economic growth the country became dependent on loans from France, foreign investment and trade leaving difficulties in hard times especially during World War One.

Under Lenin the Communists introduced War Communism during the Civil War years of 1918-21 as an attempt at rectifying the economic instability brought about during the war. All aspects of life became controlled by the Bolsheviks as the government became centralised and supported through the means of terror tactics of the Cheka and Red Guard. Political Commissars had been placed in factories to oversee and control factory output; this was supported by the Decree on Nationalisation in June 1918 which centralised all major industry under government control. However, nationalisation had little effect on output as it was imposed during difficult economic times after the disruption of World War One. Many workers were conscripted into the army, many more fled the cities and returned to the countryside seeking jobs and food. This left the cities heavily understaffed and unable to create industrial output to stimulate economic growth. The arming of military for the Civil War against the Whites took precedence over all other matters and stopped the essential resources needed to improve industry from reaching those areas requiring it the most. Agriculture was also placed under government control as peasants were failing to meet the demands on food for the nation. Cheka officials were sent into the countryside to requisition grain from peasants. However, while peasants were thought to be storing excess grain to sell at a later date when prices were higher, many were only producing necessary amounts to feed their families as the prices were so low. Kulaks were badly treated as Lenin ordered them to be ‘mercilessly suppressed’. When 100 Kulaks were hanged in public it had a detrimental effect as peasants produced even less food through fear of execution. This led to a nationwide famine where the Bolsheviks were forced to accept foreign intervention, mainly from America, to feed the starving population.

The famine led to the end of War Communism as it had failed in its ultimate aim of feeding the nation whilst continuing the Civil War. It was replaced by the New Economic Policy in 1921. Lenin decided to offer incentives to the peasant farmers as the terror tactics used under War Communism had failed to meet needs. The NEP saw the relaxation of nationalisation and reintroduced some capitalism and foreign investment in a mixed economy. The Communists retained control over large industry, railways and mines while allowing some entrepreneurs to take responsibility for small businesses and in particular the agricultural community. Grain requisitioning was abandoned and farmers were allowed to sell surplus grain for their own profit creating some wealthier farmers and a massive increase in agricultural production. The factory output in urban areas also increased dramatically between 1921–24. These vast improvements had proven that the Communist government could not create a stable and wealthy economy through a truly ideological communist system. This showed similarities between the two regimes as capitalism and foreign investment once again became part of the Russian economy. However, Lenin insisted that the relaxation on Communist ideology was short-term and would return once the economy had stabilised.

One of the greatest differences between the regimes was the treatment of the wealthy aristocracy. The land owning classes had been unhappy with the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 under Tsar Alexander II. However, they were compensated for the loss of both slaves and land by the excessive redemption payments forced on the newly formed agrarian peasant class. This clearly indicates the support the higher classes received from the tsar. The educated class, along with the aristocracy, was extremely important under the tsarist regime and held over 90% of the nation’s wealth in less than 1% of the population. The Communists attempted to rectify the situation and create a more equal society. Quickly after seizing power the Communists approved the seizing of land by peasants during the First World War by instigating the ‘Decree on Land’ which legalised the actions. The decree only supported Lenin’s slogan of ‘Land to the peasants’ and would have been difficult for him to revoke the land seizures. The ‘Decree on Workers’ Control’ also sought to legalise the seizing of businesses by the proletariat. The Communists did give some guidelines through which they expected the workers' councils to offer more efficient factories but did offer once again legalisation of workers' actions. Many new members of the leading classes now came through the Red Guard, bringing with them a strict military loyalty to Lenin along with violence. However, some members of the old aristocracy remained in positions of wealth and power especially after the arrival of the NEP brought a return to some capitalist ventures.

The Communists under Lenin did offer better opportunity for agricultural growth. While the tsars had been mainly reactionary, Alexander III did introduce some reforms for the good of the people. The abolition of poll tax and the introduction of Peasant Land Banks were aimed at creating a more stable agrarian community able of improving agriculture and sustaining food quantities needed for the growing population. However, as no agricultural reforms were introduced the farming community did not modernise and were continuing to fall behind the western European nations. Under the Communists Lenin offered the chance for agricultural entrepreneurs to take charge of their own land. This created wealthy Kulaks who did relatively well when compared to tsarist times. They retained much control free from government intervention as the Communists remained poorly supported in the rural community. Overall the peasants were given the chance of better lives under Lenin’s regime and many succeeded.

In conclusion I believe that Russia improved very little during the regime of Lenin’s Communism from tsarism for average people. The wealthy were perhaps the most affected as many were removed from their land with force by peasants; the communists accepted and legalised the actions to help gain rural support. The peasantry were given more opportunities to create a far better farming community under the communists as they were given the chance to become independent farmers, many took this up and became relatively wealthy compared to average farmers. However, the proletariat urban working class were not given the changes they believed Lenin would bring. They were allowed to run the factories seized during the civil war but were constantly monitored by Commissars reporting back on dropping output. The living and working conditions improved very little as the economic climate was still recovering from the slump ensued during the war years. However, this had begun to improve considerably before Lenin’s death in 1924 and perhaps under Lenin we saw the first signs of Russia becoming an economic equivalent to leading nations. Terror tactics were utilised by the tsars but this was massively increased during Lenin’s leadership. All aspects of life came under scrutiny through the excessive use of censorship and terror tactics by the Red Guard and Cheka resulted in much torture and death.