1533-1584 Essays - Political Philosophy, Politics, Socialism

1533-1584 The Russian Empire, covering over one-sixth of the world, is governed by the sovereignty of Czar Ivan the Terrible. The feudal system oppresses every man, woman and child as the Czar releases "Tax Collectors" to maintain support for the nobles in the land. Brigands and financial extortionists persecute any lower class citizen who refuses to help contribute to the Czar's regime. 1682-1725 Under Czar Peter I (Peter the Great), the Russian Empire begins to flourish with traces of traditional social structure modifications in the country. Observing the radical advances of western civilizations, Peter orders the modernization of the army, creation of a navy, encourages mercantilism and foreign trade, and gives women more rights. Nevertheless, the Empire remains stricken in poverty over slow reforms and the overbearing presence of feudalism. 1825-1861 The feudal system begins to fail when the goals and desires of the common peasant cannot be achieved through such an archaic doctrine. Various successive Czars attempt social reforms which do not leave an impact on the country's well-being. In December of 1825, an uprising from the populace occures when they demand changes to the economic system. With the development of the American, French and Spanish constitutions, the serfs now demanded the abolishment of the monarchy dictatorship, communal ownership of land and many other civil and social reforms. Unfortunately, their rebellion was quickly dismantled by the Czar's military faction and the system remained in tact. 1861-1905 Czar Nicholas II finally realized that his current economic monarchy was holding back the development of the empire. He therefore created a parliamentary system in 1905 which would decrease the number of strikes and violent outbursts generating from the peasants. This representative assembly (called a Duma) was convened a total of four times during the first World War and gave legitimacy to other political factions within the empire and would hopefully increase civil rights. 1917-1924 World War I led to the abdication (resignation) of the Czar as the people revolted against his useless monarchy. Famine, disease and death were spreading like wildfire as the Russians aided France against the militia of Germany during World War I. The population lost its faith in the monarchy and installed a provisional government that would keep the country from disintegrating. However, this government refused to intervene during the fragile years of the war and lost its power to a communist party called the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Nikolai Lenin), overthrew the provisional government and implemented their style of authority to the empire. Their objectives were to lead the Russian empire into prosperity while utilizing Karl Marx's proposed doctrine for a communal, classless environment where the workers will be using their abilities to satisfy their own needs. The Union was now born and the Communist Manifesto was finally going to be activated. The C zar and his family were captured and executed, thus ending the oppressive autocracy that had befallen the empire for hundreds of years. Eventually, the central government was overtaken by Lenin and his military leaders, Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin. Although a minority party, the Bolsheviks decided to implement capitalistic modifications to the fragile economy in order to aid the communistic backlash that would follow. The New Economic Policy (NEP) created by Lenin would allow peasants to keep a certain amount of profit for themselves, rather than having the government subsidize all of it. Unfortunately, Lenin died just as his policy had started to work. 1925-1953 The two apparent heirs to Lenin's regime were Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Although Trotsky was better suited for the position (with his strong political inclinations towards reasonable social adaptability), Josef Stalin assumed controlled and subsequently ordered the exile of all apposing cabinet ministers, including Trotsky. Anyone in the Union who objected to his decisions was sent to Siberian prison camps or murdered. He now had full control without any intervention from other liberal or moderate parties. He decided to concentrate on improving military strength and building on improving the Soviet economy, rather than follow Lenin's revolutionary goal of dominating the world. In order to obtain the immense amount of money needed to maintain his militia, he began a series of five year programs which would force the average farmer to meet a quota by the end of the harvest and then have the state subsidize all of the production. This system, aptly named collectivization, reprimanded all of the average worker's liberties and created great suffering during the Stalin regime. Such suffering was magnified during an anti-war treaty that Stalin had signed with Hitler's Germany in an effort to avoid a confrontation with the Nazi military. However, Hitler violated this treaty in an effort to dominate all