Soviet Rulers

Nicholas II (Romanov) - ruled 1894-1917

When Nicholas II became tsar, the people of Russia were hoping thatthis
tsar would improve their lives and living conditions. Unfortunately, hewas
not a leader, and he didn’t care more or less about the people ofRussia.
He made the economy grow, but this did not help the peasants much. Nicholas made promises he could not keep. For example he promised parliamentary government, land ownership, and freedom of religion, speech, andlanguage. Since he didn’t really care about the country at all, Nicholas II
influenced the revolution greatly. He really disappointed Russia, and
finally people decided that the tsarist government wouldn’t help them,and
they wanted an elected government.

Alexander III (Romanov) - ruled 1881-1894

While ruling, Alexander III made hardly any government changes to suitthe
country. He was against most Western ideas, such as culture, personal
freedom, and modernization. He believed only in one ruler, religion
(Orthodox), and language (Russian.) People that were not in the Orthodox
church and did not speak Russian were forced to convert. The tsareither
imprisoned revolutionaries or exiled them to Siberia. He had a secret
police force to help imprison these people. Alexander III was killed in
1881 by a bomb. He influenced the revolution, because when he was tsar,
people began to realize how terrible the tsarist form of governmentreallywas.
 
Joseph Stalin

Stalin used capitalist powers to increase industrial development in the
U.S.S.R. To help development even more, he used a series of five year
plans.  His plans for an increase in industrial development meant that
living standards would go up. Unfortunately, the lack of capital was a
serious problem, even though there was an abundance of natural
resources. Even though this problem held him back a bit, Stalin was able to
increase industry greatly. Under Stalin’s rule, two famines occurred because he ignored the agricultural industry and put all his effort into industry. Another agricultural problem was "collectivization." This collection of farms
meant that peasants were forced to give their crops and livestock to the
government. Many people killed their livestock so that they would have
nothing to give the government. These people, and many others that were
against the government were either exiled or killed. This mass killing
was known as the Great Purge. When the population went up in 1928, there were lots of new people to take jobs in the new factories.

Nikita Krushchev

When Krushchev began rule, he introduced something called
"destalinization" which meant he wanted to get rid of Stalin’s ways. All paintings, statues, and even Stalin’s body were removed. Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd. This new period was known as "the thaw." Kruschev believed that agriculture was more important than industry. Unfortunately, most his plans were unsuccessful. One of his most well-known plans was the mass planting of corn. It, too, was unsuccessful. Krushcev tried hard to improve living conditions of the people. One plan to do this was the release of thousands from labour camps. One good point for Krushchev was that he was against nuclear war. Krushchev allowed writers and artists to be more creative and critical of the Soviet System, unlike Stalin, who had limited writing and art to being only for the Soviet System. Restricitons on movement were removed. Victims of Stalin were rehabilitate. People were given freedom to do and say what they wanted. The rule of Krushchev was a good start for freedom in the U.S.S.R.

Leonid Brezhnev

Brezhnev introduced "restalinization." He was for most of Stalin’s
ways. People who criticized the government, called dissidents, were jailed or
sent to mental hospitals. Under Brezhnev’s rule, industrial growth
slowed down. As agriculture production had dropped drastically in the past few years, a lot of money was spent to modernize agriculture, leaving
people without jobs. People became very poor and below average living standards. Life expectancy was 68 years, which was much worse than other countries, but better than today’s life expectancy in Russia which is only 40-50 years. (Hey, we’re almost middle-aged!)

Gorbachev

Gorbachev introduced a policy called "perestroika." This new policy was
meant to adopt new ideas for the country. It means to "restructure" a
countr. It got people to give up the old ways and begin new ways. It
was not immediately successful. Soon, in 1986, people of the Communist Part
began discarding his plans. They were afraid the new ways would affect
their power. Ordinary workers also ignored the new ideas and continued
as they once had. The economy continued to work poorly. Fortunately, through artists’, writers’ and film makers’ work, perestroika was promoted. Two parts of perestroika were "glasnost" and "democratization." Glasnost meant openness and frankness. It told the truth of what had been going on with the Soviet System in the past, basically giving the truth to the people for the first time. Democratization was a plan to get people to have their say in the government. It wasn’t such a great idea because people
had no idea what to do. They were accustomed to people making decisions for them.