To What Extent Was Stalin Russia's Most Successful Ruler?

In the context of the years 1855 to 1964, to what extent was Stalin Russia’s most successful ruler?

In the period 1855 to 1964 Russia had 7 different leaders. Of these 7 leaders 3 were members of the Romanov dynasty (1855-1917): Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. For a brief period after the collapse of the Tsarist rule, Russia was led by a provisional government headed by Prime ministers. The provisional government only ruled for a short period of time and from October 1917 till 1964 there were 3 main communist leaders, Lenin (Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov), Stalin (Josif Vissarionovich Dzugashvili) and Nikita Khrushchev.

Each of the Russian leaders in this period had a different background, although some were similar. The Tsars, Alexander …show more content…
Alexander II took over a country that was years behind other European powers in development. Russia was still very reliant on foreign business, there was growing discontent among the poor and limited communications across Russia’s vast landscape. Alexander II grew up with a more liberal and humane view of the world, he was particularly encouraged by the poet-tutor Zhukovsky. When Alexander III came to power in 1881 he faced very different problems to his predecessor. Serfdom had gone and the new Zemstvos offered political experience. Autocracy still dominated however, and since Alexander III was educated in strictly orthodox ways, the power of the nobility and the church remained strong. Tradition remained very big and the pan Slavs were larger in number than the liberals. Following Alexander III’s death Nicholas II took the crown. He was welcomed with rapid economic growth but there was still repression. The urban population of Russia’s major cities was rising. No policies were put in place to help the workers and a growing resentment amongst the people became apparent and this ultimately led to the 1905 uprising. There were still low levels of literacy and productivity as a survey had revealed and foreign expertise still dominated. A provisional government succeeded the rule of Nicholas II. Unlike the Tsars the government didn’t come to power with any legitimacy. The …show more content…
Alexander II wanted to put into place a massive modernisation plan. He began by asking the nobles for their opinion on emancipating the serfs. After the results of this were limited he formed a secret committee to draft proposals. However this too failed so he appointed his brother to head a reform commission. Eventually this led to the emancipation act which was signed by Alexander II in 1861. It meant that peasants no longer belonged to the people who owned the land they lived on and it took 2 years before it was fully implemented. Alexander III immediately made changes on becoming Russia’s new Tsar. After the emancipation act peasants were forced to pay redemption payments since the nobles had lost land and workers. Alexander III reduced these payments and established a peasant land bank to allow access for capital improvement. However Alexander III had a hunger for political and social control and largely led an oppressive reign which included anti-Semitic attacks on Jews and Russification. Nicholas II made the greatest changes of the Russian Tsars. However the major changes were brought in after a period of crisis to conserve autocracy. Nicholas II also continued to support the policy of state-supported industrial expansion, Russification and control of the nationalities in the empire. In March 1917 the provisional government began to make more liberal reforms. They allowed freedom of press, movement,