Synthesis links - Govt

Question 1

what are the similarities and differences of the secret police throughout the period?

Answer 1

-Every period apart from dual power had a secret police. They were all repressive in nature, although, the communist secret police helped carry out huge purges on political opponents, a sight rarely seen on the scale of the communists under the Tsars. Under Lenin, the Cheka helped kill 500,000 people in the years from 1918-21 in the red terror, many of which were in the red army. Under Stalin, 90% of all generals were shot or imprisoned and 1/5 members of the party were expelled or shot. although, khrushchev was fairly opposed to the secret police, and diminished their power.

Question 2

what are the similarities over the nature of govt throughout the period?

Answer 2

The Tsars strongly believed in their god given right to rule and that they only were able to make decisions for Russia. Under the communists, they wanted to appear more democratic with the 1936 constitution, much like the Tsars when Nicholas enacted the october manifesto, attempting to appear as if elections would be held, although the ban on factions and opposition which Lenin passed and the fundamental laws would set the precedent for one party rule throughout the whole period.

Question 3

what were the periods where the nature of government changed from authoritarianism?

Answer 3

• The period of the PG was the first- and only-time multiple parties were allowed to feature in the system of government, with dual power also differing from the highly centralised system of the Tsars.
• Alexander the 2nd also could be seen as being less autocratic when he arguably listened to liberal opinions in the empire when he emancipated the surfs and implemented liberal reforms such as relaxing censorship or reforming the judiciary.
• this is similar to Khrushchev’s thaw which was a period of opening up to the west e.g., world youth festival

Question 4

what were the similarities and differences in the structure of government?

Answer 4

• The difference in the structure of government was similar as well. All ministers and bodies of the government were all answerable to the Tsar just as all bodies of the USSR were answerable to the Politburo.
• Although, post-1905 revolution, the committee of ministers was separated into the state council and the Duma – the first election based national assembly in the period.
• later on, it could be said that the fact that Khrushchev was simply sent into retirement and not killed shows the changes in the structure of government

Question 5

how was the rule of local govt inconsistent?

Answer 5

• Under Alexander, the introduction of the Zemstvo in 1864 was a period of greater autonomy to localities, much like NEP under Lenin which gave greater freedoms for villagers and peasants to own land and work on it themselves without fear of much government intervention.
• Although, there were also times of strict rule of localities. The land captains under alexander 3rd proved to be a repressive authoritarian style rule on the villages. Collectivisation also reached 91% in the 1930s, which was similar to the land captains in its brutal hold on the peasantry and their lives.

Question 6

how were there similarities in regards to economic approach?

Answer 6

• During the Tsars, there were measures to lead the country towards a freer market, much like the west. Alexander 2nd reduced tariffs on trade and negotiated trade agreements with the west. The peasant land bank was set up in 1883 under alexander 3rd and other measures to industrialise like starting building the trans-Siberian and encouraging foreign investment helped industrial output to increase 3-fold.
• This more capitalistic approach held similarities to the NEP under Lenin and the joint rule. The NEP allowed greater private ownership of property and business, resulting in factory output more than doubling, grain production rising by a third from 1921-24.

Question 7

how were there differences in how the govt ran the economy/

Answer 7

• Under Stalin and parts of Lenin, the government was far more involved in the economy. The 5-year plans were goals set by the government that all workers had to strive to achieve. The first 5 year plan resulted in industry output growing by 120%.
• Khrushchev also implemented many centrally direct economic programmes such the virgin land scheme