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Treatment of serfs in Russia
Impact of stalins rule on russia
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Treatment of serfs in Russia
Impact of stalins rule on russia
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Recommended: Treatment of serfs in Russia
The Russian government treated the working class terribly, leading to several protests and boycotts. S.I. Somov was a Russian Soviet who shared his emotions on his overwhelming experience in the demanding Soviet working class. At a protest, he wrote that there was a “...mystical, religious ecstasy...” that peppered the angry workers who fought for their freedom from the exhausting chains of overwhelming labor and inhumane working conditions (Document 4). He added that the working class was deprived of a lively human soul, and their bitterness and dissatisfaction had “overflowed.” Somov was a worker himself, who first hand experienced the cruelty described and developed his own reasonable emotions towards the topic.
Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
Lenin continued to give Stalin power and the people could not do anything to stop it. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin had complete control over the communist party. By the late 1920s, he was the dictator of the Soviet Union. Stalin kept finding way to get more power and the people were not able to do anything to fix
Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1914, Joseph Stalin took up his position as leader of the Soviet Union. After rising to power, Stalin made drastic changes to Russia that was still torn from war at the time. With his power, Stalin aimed to bring Russia to the top of the world. In the end, while he pushed the Soviet Union’s economy to new heights, his methods were cruel and had negative impacts. After the war, Stalin was determined to turn Russia into a great industrial power.
Throughout Russia’s history, there have been many rulers that tried to manage their country in different ways. Even though, all of these rulers had their own unique ways of ruling, all of them were seen as terrible by the people. This eventually led to a tipping point for the Russian citizens and the Russian Revolution took place. The goal for these people was to gain freedom from their oppressive czar but instead, they got an even worse leader. Joseph Stalin was a leader of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953 and he was known for his ability to strike fear into people.
This attitude, a product of an impoverished society, led Russian-communists to regard revolution as the only solution to this detrimental system. Kennan notes the use of Marxism as justification for the desire
The indigenous people were required to listen to the encomendero at all times. Similarly, Russia’s serfs were like slaves because the serfs also had to obey their nobles. Serfdom was hereditary, just like slavery. This kept the nobles with constant labor help and essentially kept them happy. In addition, serfs also had to work in agricultural areas, but also in mining and manufacturing.
This highlights the still present class system in Russia. Even though serfs had been freed they were still being treated as the lowest class, but in turn they were still free to vote and do everything any other free Russian citizen could do, in theory. Things were still unequal and life was hard for the serfs. Serfs who had recently been freed had no means for income and struggled to provide for their families. This arrangement worked in favor for the Russian government because the freed unemployed serfs would join the army and help Russia fight.
Fordham University entailed, "if there were a proletarian dictatorship not only in our country but in other, more advanced countries as well, Germany and France, say. If that were the case, the capitalist encirclement could not be so serious a danger as it is now, " With these three quotes excerpted thus far, it is clear to see that Stalin played the victim card, making the Soviet Union seemed completely doomed. To fix this awful problem, the answer lied in the rapid industrialization he desperately wanted and eventually achieved (Fordham University). Stalin also explained on the Soviet Unions issues internally. Fordham University stated, "But besides the external conditions, there are also internal conditions which dictate a fast rate of development of our industry as the main foundation of our entire national economy.
After achieving the position of power he had been working for all his life, Stalin’s first priorities were to “create the communist state that Lenin and the Bolsheviks had once envisioned” (“Joseph Stalin”). To fulfill that vision, he initiated the concept of collective farms and introduced the first of many five-year plans to industrialize the Soviet Union. Although these actions
Joseph Stalin had a profound and lasting impact on the Soviet Union prior to the start of World War 2 in 1939, however, his impacts came at a detrimental cost with his rule being characterised by his totalitarian regime. Stalin’s policies of collectivisation and industrialisation transformed the Soviet economy so that it could compete with other modern world powers. Stalin’s political approach used repression and purges to consolidate and retain power. Social reforms regarding education and the role of women provided social welfare, however, his cultural impact involved and developed the idea of socialist realism and the cult of personality.
With the newly utilized modernizations of the Russian military Napoleon was successfully pushed back after fighting his only decisive battle to a draw and defeated in direct combat over many skirmishes throughout his invasion in Vyazma and Vinkovo . Russian gained a sense of nationalism in its defeat of this great enemy that would shape its military policy for decades to come. As Napoleon put it "The Russians learned [how to win]" and gained a sense of invincibility towards future endeavours. Immediately following the invasion Russia wished to push back into continental Europe towards Paris. Tzar Alexander vowing he “shall not make peace as long as Napoleon is on the throne" and eventually pushing all the way to Napoleons stronghold to end the wars.
However, for Lenin the working class was incapable of achieving socialism and then communism without leaders. The transition from capitalist society, developing towards a communist society, is impossible without a ‘political transition period’ ” (6). We can see these stages that occur after capitalism: socialism and communism in Zamyatins’ We when D-503 refers to the ancient world. However, Lenin makes the observation that it is impossible to refer to the ancient contemporary world when factors are still brought up in the present “rationale” period.
War communism had a devastating impact on the peasants and proletariat in Russian society between 1918 and 1928. However, the New Economic Policy that followed the Civil War effects was opposite, raising living standards and reinstating support for the Bolshevik party. Vladimir “Lenin” Ulyanov, known as the head of the notorious Bolshevik party, introduced War Communism (1918-1921) and the NEP (1921-1928). As Martin McCauley states “If War Communism was a leap into socialism then the New Economic Policy was a leap out of socialism” The aims of War Communism and the NEP were both successful in a large number of areas, however, the effects of both policies were not all favourable.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) considered himself not to be a sociologist but a political activist. However, many would disagree and in the view of Hughes (1986), he was ‘both – and a philosopher, historian, economist, and a political scientist as well.’ Much of the work of Marx was political and economic but his main focus was on class conflict and how this led to the rise of capitalism. While nowadays, when people hear the word “communism”, they think of the dictatorial rule of Stalin and the horrific stories of life in a communist state such as the Soviet Union, it is important not to accuse Marx of the deeds carried out in his name.