Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested on October 24, 2003, by armed police forces in Novosobirsk. He was the wealthiest person in Russia with a billion dollars because of his management of Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos. Khodorkovsky rose as an oligarch easily because of his relationship with Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The reason Khodorkovsky was arrested was because of his failure to follow the government and pay $4. 5 billion in taxes. He was seen as an honest oligarchy but he had minimal access to attorneys and business colleagues for his trial in July, 2004.
He was even forced to stay in a cage for days during his trial for the entire world to see. The court of Russia deemed him “guilty until proven guilty” because according to the judiciary system, there were no chances of him not being found guilty. This leads to the opinions of Putin’s leadership. Although his intentions were to stabilize Russia, his sudden attack of oligarchs, Putin selecting members only loyal to him, and complete control of Russia’s media has led many critics to believe that Putin wasn’t creating a democracy, but a complete replica of the old Soviet regime.
Thinking about Russia Russia’s politics will always be at a higher stake compared to other countries mainly because of the actions of their leaders. People such as Putin and Khodorkovsky will change the economy and cut half of its production after the first decade of communist rule. Another thing is Russia’s shift into a democracy. Ever since Putin came into power, the country has become far less democratic than they say they are. The Basics Diversity The Russian Federation is the world’s largest country and ranks sixth with the highest population.
Although Russia is also the coldest country, it carries a ton of natural resources especially oil, natural gas, and minerals. However, the cold temperatures can sometimes have a negative effect on agriculture because crops have a hard time surviving from the harsh weather. Furthermore, the most important thing about Russia is their diversity. Unlike America’s melting pot, all the different racial groups were forced into the Russian empire. Most non-Russian groups were able to keep their cultures and language but they still protested against the government for more independence and rights.
By 1991, each republic declared a form of sovereignty in order to help but it only fueled the tension of the people since the fall of the Soviet Union. For example, the Baltic Republics restricted certain ethnic groups from getting their citizenship which caused a off and on again war between Russia and Chechnya. Poverty Russia is also one of the poorest countries. The life expectancy have been dropping rapidly over the years and surprisingly, it has nothing to do with medical reasons, but their living conditions. An average family usually live in a small apartment with horrendous living conditions.
Normal tasks would take even longer because of poorly organized stores and etc. Only a handful of families actual have labor-saving devices. The Environment Russia’s environment is a disaster. In 1986, a nuclear power plant accident in Chernobyl (Ukraine) occurred that vanquished hundreds of square miles of land. It was predicted that three generations of people will die from cancer and many other diseases caused by the radiation. To make matters worse, Russia has also dumped a ton of dangerous nuclear reactors into the ocean which has now polluted the air and water surface.
The water project that was suppose to help remove the pollution in the ocean has actually just shrunk the Aral Sea and left behind salt which ruined the soil for crops. Because of this, people were also affected heavily such as an increase in organ diseases and more children were born mentally impaired. The Evolution of the Russian State The Broad Sweep of Russian History Russia’s history started out with the ninth century Kievan Rus, which were one of the Slavic tribes in Yugoslavia. Russia was constantly being attacked during their evolution but finally became one of Europe’s major powers.
Even though they were one of the great powers, Russia was dominated by an orthodox church and autocracy. However, there were times of reform. New ideas and technologies were introduced and tried to modernize Russia but the Slavophiles were people who believed Russian traditions were the greatest in the entire world. They rejected anything new or foreign. Later the event that would ignite the revolution was the minor defeat in the Crimean war of 1854. Prelude to Revolution Marx actually expected a socialist revolution in the biggest capitalizes countries but instead took place in the poorest cities.
The difference between the two would be the main cause of the actual revolution and the outcome of Russia. Backwardness Russia began to industrialize but it didn’t develop to Marx’s expectation because businesses and factories were owned by the government. Around the 1860s, Russian serfs were slaves to their feudal lords. Most of them lived in rural areas and were very uneducated also despite of Marx’s expectations. Failed Reform Since Russia was far behind the West, a few limited democratic reforms were established.
Alexander II declares that serfs were liberated, censorship lessened, and schooling and civil services were opened to the commoners. However, right before he was about to give 5% of men the ability to vote, he was assassinated in 1881. All reforms stopped when his son came into power and tsar once again reinforced the autocracy. A Weak State Ever since the reign of Nicholas II, the Russian state was becoming weaker and weaker. However leaders ignored that fact and continued to believe it was the greatest nation ever. This would soon result in the Russo-Japanese War and world war I.
Russia thought they could easily defeat Japan and Germany but their forces were brought down by better equipped soldiers and strategies. Lenin and the (Wrong? ) Revolution Russians were displeased with the country’s political and economic situations causing more outbreaks of revolutionaries. However, the State’s secret police has banned all reformist groups, putting all revolutionaries in exile. Among the group were some Marxists because they believed Russia has to establish capitalism before a socialist revolution.
Then V. I. Lenin realized that Russian couldn’t wait for the Marxist revolution and made a pamphlet that outlined his ideas for a new revolutionary organization. To escape the police, the party would be based on Democratic centralism, which is putting power in the hands of the elite. The party will have to obey made decisions, leaders and lower levels are not allowed to communicate, all members would be known as pseudonyms. During a Social Democratic Party, the debate between Lenin’s ideas has caused the split into the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.
The Bolsheviks represented Lenin’s ideas and was a larger group than the other group (Marxist). Since the Mensheviks had little support with their leaders still in exile, the Bolsheviks improved a lot as the tsarist regime weakened. After the defeat in world war I, autocracy finally collapsed in 1917. A provisional government was now in place but couldn’t hold back the counterrevolution by the tsarist people. On November 7, Lenin realized his chance and the Bolsheviks overthrew the government. Now, Marxists was in control.
However, even though they were in control, they would have to face the opposition of the other groups and the countryside. In the upcoming election of the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks only won one seventh of the seats but Lenin didn’t back down. He allowed a meeting in 1918 before closing up the ideas for a democratic outcome. During that time, the Bolsheviks also signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany. This caused revolutionary Russia to give up a lot of things like land, railroads, factories and many more.
This caused a huge drop in industrialization and a civil war that broke out in the same year. People who supported tsar or the provisional government joined with other revolutionaries in order to overthrow the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks once again reinforced democratic centralism that had the Communist Party of Soviet Union control all aspects of life. They also create their own secret police called Cheka to enforce discipline of the party in the city. To help with the controlling more, old members and the Red Army was recruited and constantly watched.
The Bolsheviks ruled the entire country by 1921 thus created the USSR. The USSR was a communist party that supervised everything happening in the country. Before the ruling of Stalin, representation still existed in parties, different kinds of culture and art were encouraged, and the New Economic Policy (NEP) allowed private ownership of small businesses. Stalin, Terror, and the Modernization of the Soviet Union Before Lenin’s death in 1924, he wanted to make sure the Bolshevik leader should not be Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
However, his warning was overlooked and Stalin soon took over control of the party. Then later, he was put in charge if the party organization which gave him the power to appoint members with any positions. The period that Stalin ruled the country was deemed the most painful in all of Russia’s history because many lives would be lost. Industrialization According to the country’s history, he was considered one of the most vicious men to lead a country. Stalin used the term “capital encirclement” which means USSR is surrounded by right wing governments.
Based on what was needed for Russia, he would have to try to create a modern industrial economy. This would especially harder since they are far behind compared to a democratic country. So the only option available that could industrialize Russia as soon as possible is adopting a laissez-faire economy. This means the government would stay completely out of economics. But Stalin decided to adopt a “two-pronged” strategy. The first strategy was to reconstruct rural life since most human labor come from the countryside.
Things that changed included farmers would receive bigger state farms, unemployed peasants were brought into the city to work in factories, and surplus food were finally being sold. However, some resisted and were forced into labor camps before being shot to death. The second strategy was to use the resources and crops to induce industrialization for the soviet economy, soon called the “five-year plan”. Between 1928 and 1932, production of all products such as coal and oil have doubled. However those who went against the state’s orders were treated brutally.
But in the end, Russia has modernized immensely. Foreign Policy Instead of raising a socialist state as Lenin has hoped, Stalin slowly transformed it into a form of a capitalist state when he came into power. Stalin first started by prohibiting Communist parties from joining anti fascist coalitions. But in 1934, he realized to go with the people and switched directions but then reversed back again after signing the nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany. However that pact ended when Germany invaded Russia in 1941, and soon led to other events.