...the 1949 Chinese Revolution, in which Mao Zedong the leader of the Communist Party, attempted to implement his vision of a modern industrialized China. The Party won the support of the peasants, the largest class of people in China, as they were the first government party to try and improve peasant’s lives. Before the victory of the revolution, the Party focused on improving the lives of peasants by giving them land and an education. But after they gained power, the needs of peasants was no longer their focus as the Party was focusing on the rest of the country. The Chinese Communist Party represented the needs of peasants but not their independence, choices or wishes. The Communist Party gave the peasants land, but when the focus of...
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...The 1905 Revolution in Russia took place under the reign of Nicholas II and was caused by a range of long and short term factors, some of which had a greater impact than others. Reformist groups did have an effect in Russia; however it is debatable whether they were the main cause of the revolution, or whether they were a contributing factor along with other factors such as peasants, the middle class, the urban proletariat and the army/navy. The reformist groups operating in Russia from the years 1881 were the Social Revolutionaries, Social Democrats, Populists and the Liberals (split into the Octoberists and the Kadets). Each of the reformist groups were acting in response to the continuous repressive Tsarist system in which they did not have the right to meet and operate , and were monitored by the Okhrana prior to 1905, however, some parties acted more radically than others. The Social Revolutionaries had the main aim of redistributing land to the peasants. In 1896, they formed the Union of Social Revolutionaries and murdered over 2000 aristocrats and ministers (including the assassination of Minister of the Interior Plehve in 1904) and were supported by the Peasantry. The Social Democrats were a Marxists party which organised strikes in St.Petersburg, in 1900 founded a newspaper called ‘Iskra’ (the Spark), but the two sides of the party meant that they split into the Bolsheviks led by Lenin and the Mensheviks led by Martov in 1903. This split made it difficult for the party...
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...the most intelligent, power driven emperors in French history. During the French revolution, the people were at war with their government because the peasants overthrew every form of government that was made. Peasants were getting tired of social classes and being taxed so heavily. During this time, the reign of terror had begun. The reign of terror was made of radicals (a group of peasants) who killed people who did not agree with the revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor which ends the French revolution. Napoleon was a hero to the citizens of France because he did great things for their country. The way Napoleon used the power he had and gained more embodies the ideals of the French revolution because he did everything in his power to make things fair. Napoleon embodies the ideals of the French revolution because of his treatment towards the peasants. After the French revolution, Napoleon wanted to give more rights to peasants in other countries. For example, Napoleon issues an imperial decree in Spain that outlaws feudal rights (document 2). To give the peasants more land, the number of convents in Spain are eliminated. Napoleon also wanted the peasants to be taxed less so he made it illegal to tax imports with in Spain (document 2). Napoleon wanted to...
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...Mao’s approach to political leadership as a revolutionary was summed up in the phrase, “Correct leadership must come from the masses and go to the masses.” What was Mao’s philosophy of how to lead a revolution, before and after 1949? Initially a radical revolutionary then a committed Marxist, Mao’s philosophy on how to lead a revolution was bathed in Nationalism. It is Mao’s love for China’s independence coupled with agrarian reforms that put Mao on the road to power. After 1949, Nationalism would reappear in Mao’s cultural policies, his relationship with Moscow and underdeveloped countries. Mao feared nothing and no one. Using Marxism-Leninism as a framework, Mao proposed the use of peasants to create his revolutionary elite. His innovative thinking was unpopular among many of Mao’s Communist comrades; they believed the proletariat to be the key group (Cheek, 11). Mao also championed women’s liberation from masculine authority of husbands as well as clan, temple, and general religious oppression (Cheek, 11) also unacceptable position for a Communist to take. Mao’s breakdown of the rural classes into poor, middle and rich peasants demonstrated the Nationalist impulse rooted in his personality. His attachment to China led him to cooperate with the Guomindang, a nationalist group (Cheek, 10) and in the resistance war against Japan guided Mao to power (Cheek, 13). After standing up to his abusive father Mao said, “…I learned that when I defend my rights by open rebellion...
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...wine to spill. All the peasants rushed to drink, and soak up the wine. This showed how much poverty there was in the city of St. Antoine Paris. The red wine was cleverly symbolized by Dickens as the blood that would soon be all over France. This set the eerie mood throughout the book. The mood of the scene starts as a joyful scene, but quickly takes a turn. The poverty is quickly shown. The second the wine is spilled, everyone within sight immediately stops there activities and starts drinking the wine. They also use handkerchiefs to soak up the wine and feed it to their kids. “ There was little roughness in the sport, and much playfulness. Their was a special companionship in it, an observable inclination on the part of everyone to join some other...
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...French Revolution Essay. The French Revolution came about through many causes that included financial problems and food scarcity. France was in financial crisis due to their participation in the seven years war and American Revolution. By 1789, France encountered bankruptcy because of the country’s indiscriminate inequitable system of taxation. France at the time was a nation where society was dominated by class. The clergy and nobility were exempted from taxation leaving peasants who were barely scraping by to also suffer heavy taxation. This led to the system government not being able to levy enough tax to deficit. The second cause of this event; food scarcity was also a huge problem. Crop failure, famine and harsh winters led to high prices of bread, which was the main food source for peasants. The poor conditions in the rural had forced rural residents to move into Paris, and the city was overcrowded and filled with the hungry and disaffected. Therefore peasants suffered incredibly from economic and agricultural problems. The fact that the peasants were angered by the increased tax and agricultural problems had caused an even greater problem towards the financial crisis. Furthermore, French Revolution had not only caused catastrophe to the country, but had also affected the people involved in this event, especially the peasants in France. The French Revolution began because people of the Third Estate (poorest French citizens) wanted more share in government and fairer taxes...
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...What were the causes of the 1905 Revolution? Why did the Revolution fail to overthrow the Tsarist Regime? The Revolution of 1905 was the first time the Tsar had faced open opposition from so many groups in Russian society at the same time. It involved peasant disturbances, strikes, naval mutinies, nationalist uprisings and assassinations. This essay aims to examine the different causes of the Revolution of 1905. Short and long-term causes will be considered, and economic, political, military and social factors will be discussed. The essay will also explain why the Revolution ultimately failed to overthrow the Tsarist regime. A long-term social and economic cause of the 1905 Revolution was the continuing dissatisfaction of both peasants and landowners to the Emancipation Edict of 1861. Although this piece of legislation had brought an end to serfdom, peasants still remained tied to the village commune (mir) and were angry at the redemption payments they were expected to pay in return for the land they had received. They believed more, and better quality, land should have been given to them at no cost. Their anger was made evident during the peasant disturbances of 1902. The landowners were also unhappy with the terms of emancipation. They lost the free labour of their serfs and a large amount of land. As a result many were facing huge debts by 1905. Another long-term cause of the 1905 Revolution was the general disappointment with which many Russian people viewed the...
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...programs in many countries to assist them as well. During the French revolution, nothing was there to help the poorest of the poor who were starving, making it easy for the aristocrats to take advantage of their situation. In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens portrays the peasantry as the most oppressed people who are unfairly treated by the aristocracy. Charles Dickens has greater sympathy for the peasants and their poverty-stricken lifestyles however, once the aristocracy is overthrown, he foreshadows further mistreatment and ridicules them for their brutality by treating people the same as the former ruling...
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...The Bolshevik Revolution At the turn of the 20th century, Russia was a vast empire. The country spanned across the entire northern half of Asia, from the Pacific coast in the east, and into Western Europe. Tsar Nicholas II ruled the country as it had been ruled by his family for centuries before. The strict feudal traditions were upheld with brutality; Tsarist policies prolonged the agony of the lower classes and supported the opulence of the royal family. In the early 1900s, the poor social and economic conditions coincided with the spread and increased study of Karl Marx’s communist philosophy. The Russian people, determined to establish a new government, initiated a chain of events that climaxed with the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917. The Bolshevik Revolution transformed Eastern Europe and Asia and had a significant impact on the entire world throughout the twentieth century. The fallout of the Bolshevik Revolution still impacts Russia and the rest of the world today. There was no singular cause or event that sparked the Bolsheviks to take to arms in 1917, instead the action resulted from the culmination of a history of social, political, and economic issues. Prior to the Bolsheviks’ rise to power in October 1917, there were two Revolutions that set the stage for the Soviet takeover. The First was the revolution of 1905. This revolution resulted in Russia transitioning from a strict feudal system to a constitutional monarchy; the power of the Tsar was limited...
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...Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: Pro-Nobility or Pro-Peasant? During the infamous French Revolution, France was in a great divide and suffered the consequences of a country split up not by success or job titles, but by inherited power and social ranks. While the power-wielding nobels never went to bed hungry and lived lavish lifestyles, the peasants were slowly starving to death. Because of these less than ideal circumstances, a common misconception was thereby created that Charles Dickens blamed the French Revolution on the nobility in his famed book A Tale of Two Cities. However, this stands to be argued against because while the nobles may have committed wrongful acts, the peasants also committed violent crimes against the nobility...
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...choice to use peasants, not workers, in his Communist Revolution. China, an unindustrialized country in the mid eighteenth century, did not have the working class required by Marxist theory to overthrow the state and begin Communism. That said, a large peasant and student population grasped to Mao’s leadership and started a new style of communist revolution. The creation of a cult of personality in which Mao Zedong was idealized as a supreme leader (and in some cases even a godlike emperor) enabled him to rule absolutely and extend his influence. After the Chinese Civil War (1927-1936), Mao and other Communist Party leaders moved to carry through a Marxist social revolution. However, Communism was expected to emerge out of the most industrialized stages of capitalism as a result of class struggle between worker and factory owner. That said, in China, factories and factory workers were not in abundance. Even so, Mao Zedong saw the revolutionary potential of peasants. In his report on the peasant movement in Hunan he stated, “The fact is that the broad peasant masses have risen to fulfill their historical mission, and that the democratic forces in the country side have risen to overthrow the forces of feudalism…” In another doctrine he remarks that the communist party must recognize the peasantry as a revolutionary body that before had not seen success only because the lack of an educated leadership. This idea would become the basis for the Communist Revolution in China. Starting...
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...In 1966, China’s Communist leader, Mao Zedong started a revolution. It became known as the Cultural Revolution to reaffirm his authority over China’s government. A significant part of the Cultural Revolution were the peasant communes. These communes were places where many poor families lived. Nothing was owned by an individual person, from cattle to kitchens, everything was shared by the members of the commune. Despite the positive ways the government propaganda displayed or described the communes, they were places of suffering. Feng Jicia, a former Chinese athlete who is now a writer, tells the story of his sister’s suffering in an article called “Feng Jicai on mistreatment in a peasant commune (1981)”. In this article, Feng talks about the...
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...were two revolutions in 1917? In Russia in 1917 there were two revolutions which took place. The first revolution was in February 1917 and the second in October 1917. There were many factors that led up to the first revolution as people were not satisfied with how the country was run. The people wanted to get rid of the Tsar and Tsarina and this had a large impact leading towards the first revolution. The second revolution took place because the Provisional Government (PG) was weak and did not stick to their promises. The reason for the February revolution was because the majority of Russian people were extremely unhappy. Tsar Nicholas II was an autocrat, this meant that he had all the power and made all of the country’s decisions. The Tsar also used the Okhrana (the secret police) to help him find out and deal with any opposition. The most important reason for the February 1917 revolutions was that the peasants were unhappy. The peasants in Russia made up 85% of the population and they were very poor. This is partly to do with the fact that they had to do subsistence farming. This meant that they only produced enough food for themselves and had little or nothing left over to sell, they had a very basic diet and many were left starving. The peasants had a very low life expectancy of just 40 years old as many died from typhus and diphtheria. The peasants hated aristocracy as they lived extravagant lifestyles whilst they were suffering. Another reason the peasants hated the...
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...Brett Hulliberger Professor Daniel Huisman HS215 February 6, 2016 Eastern Communist Revolution Immediately following the revolutionary period of World War I, leaders and governments made very strong arguments for the formation of a Communist rule. This gave all the powers of unity, finance, power over citizens and their skills, and laws out of the hands of society and into that of the countries governing authorities. As a selfish ruler, who would not want that? This keeps all the decision making, punishment, and, in general, the power in your hands. A prime example of this mentality is from Li Shaoqi, “Comrades, What is the most fundamental and common duty of us Communist Party Members? As everybody knows, it is to establish Communism, to transform the present world into a Communist world.” (24.4 “How to Be a Good Communist” (1939)). Just out of a war torn repressive state the government has its stride back, and can continue to climb from a new beginning. The people, however, suffer under a communist rule. Total control of their lives, families, homesteads, and career paths. Li Shaoqi was truly a communism believer and did not hold the individual accomplishments or successes of man accountable; only “man” and a unity and how they can be of service to the society as a whole, being an integral part of a whole – and what really matters is the outcome of the “whole” not the individual contribution. The last sentence of his indoctrination tract sums up his way of...
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...Topic – Russia : Assignment Question – Evaluate Petr Stolypin’s Reforms P.A. Stolypin was a pivotal political figure in the 1906-11 period. He became Minister of Internal Affairs in Russia from the spring of 1906, after the revolution of 1905. He combined this position with Russian Premier (Prime Minister) from 23rd July 1906 until his assassination in September 1911. Peter Waldron claims that after the "near downfall of the tsarist regime in 1905" Stolypin's reforms could "have changed the face of politics and society, yet they left the unreformed autocracy to face the onslaught of the First World War and it's attendant social and economic strains". Despite the latter, it seems erroneous to attribute total failure to Stolypin's reforms. After the devastating actions of Bloody Sunday in 1905, the Tsar Nicholas II had been given two choices, which was to repress or reform. To stay in control, he had chose to reform, as he thought that he could control the situation by creating useful reforms. The pressure of the revolution on the autocracy made the Tsar take drastic political action to appease the revolting classes. He had started of with the October Manifesto, a legislation which consisted of a number of points of reform drawn up under Weete, promising the people Civil liberties, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of assembly, and the promise that no laws were to be introduced without the agreement of the Duma. However, it was not necessary that the Duma should introduce legislation...
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