To what extent do the sources agree that Russian Government policy consistently failed and that the peasants resisted it under both Tsar and Communist rule?

The first 200 words of this essay...

History Coursework

a) To what extent do the sources agree that Russian Government policy consistently failed and that the peasants resisted it under both Tsar and Communist rule?

Throughout Tsarist rule there was intense pressure to modernise Russia. Thus the tsars introduced government policies on agriculture. This was also a feature of communist rule. There was an ulterior motive behind modernising Russia, which was for Russia to be able to compete with the western countries.

This has led to a historical debate ever since regarding how successful government policy was.

Under Tsarist rule came the Emancipation Act of 1861, which was "one of the most beneficent pieces of legislation on record" according to Ronald Hingley who wrote source 1 in his book A Concise History. This straight away suggests explicitly that Alexander II's government policy was a success. It is when Hingley uses the description of " a cunning hypocrite" when referring to Alexander II that you see that Hingley is implying that Alexander II was clever in emancipating the peasants of Russia as they weren't really freed but were still legally bound to their village communes in different ways. This is a success to