Cloudstreet
...d to strict autocratic and reactionary rule, however he could not deny the seeds had been planted for revolution, and in turn lost control of the industries and economy. Russia was modernising at an increasingly alarming rate. By 1881 Russia had established over 83,000 km of rail networks including the Trans-Siberian railway which opened up the North of the nation to trade with the rest of Europe. However, Russia’s modernisation came at a huge cost to the nation. Russia had by this time, huge foreign debts as European entities had invested in such large scale projects such as the updating of the rail system. The economy was booming, however, reform in this area was needed to save it for the future. Not only had Russia improved its transport system it had also increased its foreign trading; with half the worlds oil coming from Russian oil reserves by 1900. This huge burst of new industry and a thriving scene in the cities encouraged the newly freed peasants to come to the city to test their fortunes in the new industries. At the time peasants made up one third of Russia’s population and in 1861 under the Edict of Emancipation the freedom of these serfs meant that they could no longer be financially independent off the land. As the working class in the cities grew and grew, a new class began to emerge, they were the Bourgeois’. Wealthy new factory owners, financiers and merchants who made terrible working conditions for the workers, with a common working day over thirteen hours. The Tsars failed to attend to problems of agricultural issues, rather focussing on the industries, contributing to the eventual downfall of the Tsar’s reign, his successor Nicholas II at the hands of the people. Ironically these failures were the causes of the change and neglect of Russian society. The two men that would lead Russia towards a revolution and the abolition of the autocratic capitalist sanctuary were Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin. Both men came from totally different backgrounds and shared opposing views in many areas of Russia’s state of affairs. Trotsky wanted the revolution to follow as closely as possible with Marxian theory and placed the emphasis on the industrial proletariat to revolt, like Marx. However, in Lenin, Trotsky faced a hurdle to overcome, as Lenin saw urgency of revolution as the key, unlike Marx’s theory of slow change. Marxist ideas began to grow within Russian revolutionary circles, though Karl Marx’s preaching seemed to have little relevance to Russia. A young Leon Trotsky was captured by the writings of Karl Marx and became increasingly involved in extreme Marxian circles. What was seen as the key to a successful Russian revolution was, the industrial proletariat. What existed before, was populism, another form of anarchism...