To what extent were conditions for workers and peasants better under the Bolsheviks than they had been under the Tsars?

judicial reforms were made in order to make the system fairer and end class privileges, and in 1882 the Peasant’s land bank was set up enabling enterprising farmers to acquire more land. Reforms were also made under the rule of Nicholas II who bettered conditions for workers by introducing a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions. Also in October 1906, the Tsar’s Chief Minister, Stolypin introduced legislation that enabled peasants to have further opportunity to acquire land. Peasants were also given more freedom in the selection of their representatives to the local government councils, the Zemstva. Under the rule of Tsars peasants and workers had fewer reasons to live in fear than under the Bolsheviks. The proletariat had more liberty and opportunity to express their views, and protest against iniquitous decisions made by the Tsar, as was outlined in the October Manifesto in 1905 which granted the peasants and workers freedom of conscience, speech, meeting and association. The Tsar’s Okhrana (state police) did successfully stop considerable worker/peasant protests such as Bloody Sunday and the October Revolution, but their terror is unparalleled to the fear the callous Bolshevik secret police force, the Cheka, brought to Russian peasants and workers, especially during the period of ‘Red Terror’. The Cheka were known to not only capture rebels, but often their families and friends as well. It is reported that entire villages were executed by the Cheka for being even vaguely associated with counter-revolution.                                                                                                                                              Due to the reforms of the Tsars, peasants’ landholdings increased at a slow pace but without violent disturbances, which ensured a steady growth of production and prosperity. This cannot be said about peasant life under the Bolsheviks.                                                                                   Under Bolshevik rule peasants faced appalling famine with over 30 million soviet citizens in danger of death by starvation in 1921 leading to massive depopulation of the cities, as workers journeyed back to the country desperately trying to get enough food to live off. Conditions were appalling during and after WW1 as the Bolsheviks were forced to employ a rationing system due to substantial shortages, of which most of the peasants and workers did not have enough food to survive on. The peasants were the worst affected by Bolshevik rule, as food and grain shortages throughout and after WW1 meant the government passed a law asserting that all grain the producer had left over after satisfying his own personal needs and providing for seed, belonged to the state and had to be sold to its agencies at predetermined prices. The urban workers also suffered from this policy as the peasants opted not to sell their grain to the cities as there was no advantage in doing so. As the peasants lost their incentive to produce and began resisting to give their food and grain, the Bolsheviks employed even more unreasonable policies of peasants having to give their food away for free. Lenin sent the Cheka and Red Army in to seize grain worsening the already pitiful conditions the peasants were made to endure and forcing many onto the very edge of death from starvation, waging a “Bread War” in which hundreds of peasants were brutally massacred by members of the Cheka and Red Army, whilst fighting for the means to survive.                                                                                                                                                             Life as an urban worker under Bolshevik rule was equally as miserable. Conditions worsened for the urban workers as the Bolsheviks introduced the policy of compulsory labour, forcing some workers to labour 14 hour days on pitiful wages and outlawing worker’s strikes. Increasingly as the economic situation in Russia worsened workers were forced to receive their wages in kind as hyperinflation had made the ruble practically worthless, whilst some were simply left unpaid. Despite having no incentive to work, workers were still forced to labour away under the threat of harsh punishment for slacking or not meeting factory standards as military discipline was introduced to the factories. In conclusion under the Tsars the average Russian peasant/worker was incomparably better fed and clothed than under Bolshevik rule. Peasants had more firewood in the winter and sufficient food to live off, and workers worked shorter hours and did not have the threat of severe punishment for slacking burdening them. Lenin and the Bolsheviks forced the Russian peasants and workers to live in constant fear of the brutal Cheka and led Russia into a devastating famine that wiped out thousands of the Russian proletariat.