Autocracy In Russia Essay

A crisis of modernization was one of the many reasons that caused the collapse of the autocracy in Russia, and the first step to allowing Lenin and the Bolshevik party to eventually gain control of the state. In the 19th century, Russia was one of the largest and most backward states on the European continent. The peasants of the country remained serfs until the mid-1800s, and even when they gained their freedom, they were enslaved to debt and redemption payments to their landlords that they would never be able to pay back. When they gained their freedom and were given small plots of land, the legal ties peasants did have to the states were weakened as nobles enhanced their own rights. This left peasants feeling even more detached from their country, so much so that they did not even swear allegiance to the emperor during his accession to the throne. When modernization first came to the state, there weren’t many industrial centers around and the Tsar had absolute power, ruling through his aristocratic officials and military. Once modernization began to make its way more deeply into Russia, not only did it change the location of many peasants, but it played a large role in their thoughts and ideas as well, especially when it came to questioning the divine rule of their Tsar. Throughout the latter half of the 19th century the government tried hard to keep up with the military and economic advances of other the major European powers by modernizing Russia’s economy. And though Russia had become one of the largest industrial powers in the world by the 20th century, this sort of modernization was done by means of an external and internal environment that was threatening to the autocracy. Internally, modernization was jeopardized by the social tensions that arose from a bitter poverty stricken lower class that often consisted of peasants and workers. Modernization brought with it ideals of civil rights among the working class, hopes of closing the gap between the proletarian (working class) and the bourgeoisie …show more content…
For the first time, workers who were once peasants now had cultural opportunities like evening classes, clubs, libraries, theatres, and mass entertainment, and in addition to that they became exposed to the political ideas of Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries.4 These political ideas were captivating when the working class began to directly feel the crippling effects of modernization and the strains of WW1. Inflation had taken hold of the economy and as prices rose—sometimes tripled—wages remained unchanging, forcing a widespread hunger amongst the working class across the country. “The wretched conditions in which workers lived and their pitiful wages heightened their sense of separateness not only from the government but from privileged society in general,” and made the socialist ideas of regime change all too alluring. The government had a hope of introducing modernization while still keeping a firm hand of control over society, yet the effects of modernization which consisted of industrialization, urbanization, internal migration, and the introduction of various new social classes only served to further dismantle and wash away the autocratic foundations of the Tsarist regime.2 This collapse in the autocratic foundation through a crisis in modernization was the first step to allowing Lenin and the Bolshevik party to eventually gain control of the Russian