Communism: A 70-Year Experiment

Communism is a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state. This system has been enacted in Russia for many years and was live and well, until of course the 20th century. Many things have happened since the last Czar of Russia was crowned up until Communism in Russia fell, such as famine, civil war, revolution, political war, and many other events. All of these things are greatly beneficial to your understanding of communism and also the History of Russia.

Nicholas II was born in 1868 and died in 1918. Unknown to many, he was not only the last Czar of Russia, but also King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland. Nicholas Commanded the Russian army in World War I, but his rule came to an end in 1917, a year before he died. On the Night of 16/17, Nicholas was shot along with his family by Bolsheviks. Nicholas was an autocratic ruler who loved his wife dearly. She had a strong influence on his rule. His rule also benefited Russia’s transportation system. For instance, he highly influenced the build of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Unfortunately, Nicholas II helped cause the Russo-Japanese War. Pyotr Stolypin, his prime minister, attempted reforms, but Alexander and Grigory Rasputin influenced Nicholas to oppose him. After the setbacks Russia had suffered in to World War I, Nicholas replaced the grand duke Nicholas as commander in chief of Russian as advised by Alexandra and Rasputin.

Nicholas’ absence from Moscow and Alexandra’s mishandling of the Russian government caused a substantial amount of sedition and culminated in the Russian Revolution of 1917. In March 1917 Nicholas Abdicated and he and his family were detained by George Y. Lvov’s provisional government. Nicholas and his family were to be sent to England but this option was brazenly overruled by local Bolsheviks. He and his family were instead sent to the city of Yekaterinburg. This was the place of their deaths in 1918 when they were brutally executed. Peasants under the rule of Nicholas II had miserable, agonizing, and often abrupt lives. Although the Industrial Revolution did not begin until the 1880’s, Russia had the fifth largest economy by 1900. They had some of the largest factories in the world and produced more oil than any other nation. Despite this, Russia was said to still be living in the past. Eighty percent of Russia’s population was peasants that lived in villages and used outdated methods such as wooden ploughs in order to farm, and approximately fifty percent of the population was illiterate. These peasants where not freed until 1861.