Alevel, History A, Russia and its Rulers
Thematic/Synoptic Question
‘The Tsars wanted to reform the nature of government more than the communists’. To what extent do you agree with this view of the period .
Themes: Ideology, Local and Central Government and Control
Full Marks 25/25
‘The Tsars wanted to reform the nature of government more than the communists’. To what extent
do you agree with this view of the period 1855-1964.
The view that ‘the Tsars wanted to reform the nature of government more than the communists’
can be seen as largely invalid. The desire to reform in many sectors of the Russian nature of
government, such as in ideology, structure of local and central government and state control can be
for the most part seen in the time of the communists under, Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev who
wanted to implement reform in order to move away from Tsarist autocracy and move towards
communism. It is largely seen that the Tsars, whilst many of them did implement some key reforms,
the nature of government under Tsarist control in terms of ideology, structure of government and
control stayed largely the same as the Tsars wanted to keep their autocratic power and thus it
cannot be said that they wanted to reform the nature of government. Overall, the Tsars did not want
to reform the nature of government more than the communists.
It can be said that the Tsars did not want to reform Russian ideology at all, going as a far as
implementing legislation which reinforced and cemented the Russian ideology of autocracy,
orthodoxy and nationality in order to preserve their autocratic powers. This can be seen through the
issuing of the Fundamental Laws under Nicholas II, which worked to undermine the powers given to
the people by the October Manifesto in a bid to re-establish and remind the people of the Tsars
autocratic power. This showed that Nicholas II wanted to avoid reform which would change Russia’s
ideology of autocracy because such reforms would destabilise his position as the Tsar and supreme
leader. This contrasts greatly to the communists who did want to reform Russia’s ideology in order
to move away from Tsarist autocracy and orthodoxy and bring about Marxist-Leninist communist
ideology which ultimately aimed to move Russia from capitalism to socialism by establishing the
dictatorship of the proletariat which was considered to be the intermediate stage between a
capitalist economy and a communist economy. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin and his
new communist government initiated many reforms. They took land from the Tsar, the church and
the nobility, and redistributed it among the peasants through the passing of the Decree on Land, this
not only worked to weaken and undermine previous ideology of autocracy and but also worked to
strengthen Lenin’s communist ideology and give more power to the Russian people, power they id
not have under Tsarist rule. From this it is clear that the communists under Lenin wanted to reform
the nature of government through the reformation of Russia’s ideology far more than the Tsars
wanted to.
In terms of the structure of Russia’s local and central government it can also be said that the
communists wanted to implement reform far more than the Tsars. However, it is cannot be said that
the Tsars failed to introduce any reform. The most significant reforms to the structure of
government occurred in the rule of Alexander II with the establishment of the Zemstvo in 1864
which was the first democratic reform made in Russia, establishing a form of local government. This
also served as a precursor to the creation of the State Duma in 1906 under the October Manifesto.
However, these reforms were limited in impact as they remained under control of the Tsar who
could dissolve or veto at will, as seen by the suspension of the St. Petersburg Zemstvo and the
dissolving of the first and second Dumas. This would suggest that whilst the Tsars did implement
some reform, they did not actually want to reform the nature of reform for fear of changing Russia’s
autocratic system. This can also be evidenced by the fact that Alexander III abandoned the Loris-
Melikov agreement which his father had agreed to before his death, an agreement which contained
plans for a representative assembly which would have reformed the Russian nature of government.
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