Essay+bySula

Essay – Russia’s Tsarists Regime’s Fall – By: Sula Sidnell-Greene

“There is no justice among men.” This is a quote by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicolas II, who was murdered along with his family by the Bolsheviks party. There are many things that we can learn from the Russian Tsarist Regime’s fall. From the timeless art and music that arose from the oppressive regime, to the horrible classism in Russia, to of course, one of the most famous revolutions of all time and the fall of this powerful regime. We as a civilization now, need to look back and learn from the mistakes and flaws of other peoples and learn as much as we can from it so that it never happens again. Like the famous saying says: “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it”. The first thing we can learn from this empire is more of a positive thing. If you take a look at the art and music that came from this time (the fall of the Russian Regime) it is absolutely incredible. Some of the most creative minds of their time were working away in Russia. The oppression and hardships that the musicians, artists, composers, writers, and poets were facing at the time inspired a creative whirlwind. From the avant-garde art period, some artist like Malevich and Chagall, the golden age of literature in the 1800s, inspiring of course Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov. Of course, Tchaikovsky composed Swan Lake and the Nutcracker, two of the most famous ballets of all time during this time. These eras and artist drew upon the times hardships and inspired many with there novels, plays, and art. Even in desolate times people can manage to find away to break through and see a sliver lining, or a glimmer of hope, at least. The next important thing we can learn from this regime is that a society with no middle class does not work. Over 80% of the population in 1897 of Russia were peasants and the ruling class were a mere 0.5%. When you have such a great divide between the majority of the population, who were extremely poor, illiterate and immensely unhappy and the ruling class (who were very few) who had all the power of the country and more money they could dream of, unrest in inevitable. The ruling class hated the peasants and vice versa. They had no right to freedom of expression because the ruling class wouldn’t allow it. Life for peasants were filled with violence and although there were 5% of the population as either workers or entrepreneurs there was a divide between the peasants and workers. Another 12% were nobility. Although the tsar was still respected and looked upon with high esteem eventually the unrest would grow and grow to spark and revolution that would cause the fall of this regime. We can learn from this that a strong middle class is important and when so many people are out of jobs an uprising may not be far away. The last important thing that we can learn from this regime is the importance of avoiding absolute power. The tsar had absolute power and the peasants had none (even though they were the majority by a huge amount). The power that the tsars had was usually used to benefit the nobles and the ruling class and the peasants, having no work and being extremely poor resented this. The revolution of 1917 was caused by an extremely long build up of hatred and resentment toward the oppression and aggravation of the regime at the time. The Bolshevik party took control by murdering the tsar and his family and Lenin took control as head of state. Of course the system that would follow would be one of the most corrupt and horrible that Russia had seen but the point being that no absolute power has lasted and that’s why the majority of the successful governments today are based on a democratic system. We can learn many more lessons from Russia’s history as we can from any civilization: Great Zimbabwe, Ancient Rome, the Mayan and on and on. The important thing is that we look to the past and grow from it, do not repeat the mistakes that have been made, and learn from the greatness that came from those societies. The point of this essay was to state that we can learn immensely from the Russia Tsarist Regime’s fall and I think that is blatantly clear, we can learn as a society and move forward or we can learn as individuals and apply them to our own lives.