How far do you agree that a study of Russian government in the period 1855 to 1956 suggests that Russia did little more than exchange Romanov Tsars for Red Tsars(TM) from 1917?

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How far do you agree that a study of Russian government in the period 1855 to 1956 suggests that Russia did little more than exchange Romanov Tsars for ‘Red Tsars’ from 1917?

        This is a debate that many historians participate in on Russia’s government. There are two sides to the argument either that Lenin and Stalin had in fact created a new, radical communist party or whether they had both just continued the previous Romanov Tsars’ ideologies.

        One of the major differences between both Lenin and his predecessor Stalin, and the Romanov Tsars is that the first had to ‘take’ power. The Tsars claimed that they had been chosen by God to rule Russia so they, in effect, inherited there power. It was much harder for Lenin as he had to lead several uprisings such as the November Massacre. It was not until 25th October that Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized Petrograd and in turn took power for themselves. This is a key difference between the two powers as it shows how much Lenin was willing to go through in order to gain control. It also shows that if Lenin was comfortable to go to such an extent to gain power he must have believed his ideologies were radically different to the Tsar’s.

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        However, once in power, Lenin and then later Stalin, had created there own hierarchy in society, even though this was totally against the original Marxist theories. All the Bolshevik government officials and party members became communist elites and grew very rich whilst leading lavish lives in comparison to the average ‘man on the street’. This became very similar to the autocracy that was under the Tsar’s rule. In comparison to the previous difference this ‘higher’ communist elite group completely backfires on Lenin’s ideologies of equality and is a sign towards him just being a ‘Red Tsar’ hiding beneath a communist ...

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