Politically, there was no voting system as the Tsar had say over the whole of Russia. The Russian Empire was enormous in size stretching over 6000 miles from west to east. It has a totally population of 125 million which was made up of 22 different nationalities. Many of them hated being ruled by Russia. This is what made the country so hard to govern. As there were no elections, as Russia was led by autocracy, people did not get their say in how the government was run.
Socially, many of the peasants struggled to grow crops, as much of Russia’s land was not suitable for farming as the soil was very poor, or the climate was too cold. It was often impossible for Russia to provide food for the whole population. Also very few Russian people received any sort of education at all.
Compared to England, Russia was a very backwards society as whilst English farmers had been using machinery for over 100 years, Russia’s peasants still harvested crops by hand, which was very inefficient.
Why was Russia losing the war?
Russia was having great difficulties in keeping up with the First World War. Russia had a lack of factories to produce munitions. The factories that did exist were very out dated and inefficient. This led to poor supply of weapons for the Russian army. Often troops had very few weapons and ammunition or even no weapons at all.
Also, at the Russian front, there was a lack of medical supplies, which led to great problems. The majority of the injured could not be returned to the front, as they could not be helped. Soldiers would be left for days without treatment. Some soldiers also died from wound infections, as there was no equipment to help them,
Lack of transport also did not help the Russians during the war. The railways were inadequate, which didn’t help the supplying of munitions and soldiers to the front. The railways were far from efficient.
There were also many deserters who left the Russian front; this led to decreased force. If deserters were caught, they were likely to be shot.
As Russian’s forces were led by the Tsar and the Tsar was not a very good war leader. Many unnecessary deaths were caused by Tsar’s stupid moved on the war field.
All of these problems did not help Russia on the war front. They all played a part in not helping Russia to win the war.
The effect of losing the war on the Russian people
As Russia was loosing the war, this greatly effected Russian people. As most of Russia’s small industry was dedicated to the war effort, the Russian people at home has a lack of surplus goods.
There was a lack of food as rationing was taking place. As there was not a lot of food in the first place, it didn’t help to have rationing. Also the majority of food was going to the Russian front the feed the fighting soldiers. This deprived much food from the Russian people.
Inflation occurred as many things became limited, the items that people most needed such as bread became more expensive as there was not a lot of bread. Inflation effected every Russian person, whether they were rich or poor!
The majority of Russian workers were also very badly paided. This did not help the food situation as there was already a limit of food and the food that was available could not be bought as Russia workers were poorly paid.
These effects had a huge impact on the Russian people. They were hungry, badly paided. Strikes were taking place and there was inflation. This impacted the Russian people very strongly.
The role of peasants
80% of Russia’s population were peasants. They mostly owned small farms and struggled to get by or pay for the land they owned. The peasants were drafted into the army as they as this was an easy option for the Russian leaders. The peasants saw the army as an opportunity and enrolled as soon as the opportunity came.
The peasants were very fed up with their government, as the government seemed to ignore them. The government felt that peasants were only really important for farming and producing goods. The peasants wanted ‘Peace, bread, Land’. The government did not seem to provide them with food or land, or peace for that matter. The peasants felt left out of Russian society. This led to conflicts, which made the matter worse! The government and peasants seemed to have no option but to carry on the way they were as no one would compromise.
Sum up what the problems were and answer the question “What problems did Lenin face?”
In conclusion, Lenin faced many problems. There were food shortages, which had a great impact on Russia, as many people had next to no food to eat. At the time there was also a lot of strikes going on. This crippled the country's food production of things. I.e. iron production was greatly needed in Russia and the strikes greatly reduced the flow of raw materials.
As 80% of Russia’s population were peasants, Lenin had to try his best to cater for them. He needed to improve their living conditions and working conditions. The peasants also needed say in the way Russia was run, as the peasants played an important role in Russia’s society. They were the producers of the majority of Russia’s food and they owned most plots of land.
Lenin also faced the problem of war. He was not in a stage of readiness for war, and his army was badly equipped and very inefficient. His transport system could not supply all the necessary things for war. Also the small amount of factories which were producing goods for the war were no efficient enough, and could not produce enough munitions to keep the Russian army going. Many soldiers were without weapons or lack of weapons, as well as ammunition and medical supply’s.
Finally, Russia called for a democratic society. Russia was in need for a re-vamped society. This could only be done if Russia became democratic. Russia didn’t have any voting so a new leadership could not be elected. Russia needed a big change in the way their country was run. If this was not changed, the common problems Russia faced would not be changed either.
