Were the people of Russia better off with Lenin or the Tsar?

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Were the people of Russia better off with Lenin or the Tsar?

The beginning of the 20th century saw a great change in the political structure of Russia. A country once lead under an autocracy leadership was suddenly changed into a communist state over night. Dictatorship and communism are at separate ends of the political spectrum but as this study so clearly shows both involve the oppression of society and a strict regime in which people are unable to voice there opinions without vicious threats and action from the government.

In 1894 the Tsar Nicholas 2nd was crowned. He was to start an autocracy leadership in which he ruled alone. The Tsar had great support from the Catholics because he declared he had divine right therefore meaning he was put on earth by God to rule the people.  Consequently they were not susceptible to some of the Tsars discriminations. Also the Nobility who made up just one 1% of the 128 million population owned 25% of the land therefore meaning they had a large amount of power within the country.  To try and console his power the Tsar banned all political parties thus allowing him to do what ever he wanted. Similarly Lenin also destroyed all political opponents. At the start of the revolution Lenin aimed to get into power through democratic procedures although when elections were held in 1917 and he did not win he closed down the Assembly and called in his army (red army) to destroy political opposition. He believed this was necessary in order for communism to work and promised that in time there would be no need to have any leader at all. It is clear that under the rule of both Lenin and the Tsar the people were unable to have any political opinions as they were ruled under a dictatorship power.

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Under the Tsars leadership freedom was limited. There was a lot of discrimination against small minorities such as the Jews. The Tsars control was varied, in central Russia he had a lot of power and his laws were enforced by the Okhrana (his secret police) and he also relied heavily on his army. He dealt with many situations undiplomatically. For example on Bloody Sunday his army opened fire on 200000 protestors.  Although as Russia is so vast it was hard for him to control what people did further away from the capital. There was only one National railway that ...

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