In t he beginning of XX century the autocratic regime remained to be the enemy of any democratic remaking.  Russia continued to be a colonial state with backward social and political system. Its military and technical backwardness resulted in defeat of Russia in the war with Japan in 1904. As before in the agrarian country there prevailed large landlord properties. Both peasantry and proletariat, being formed, were subjected to brutal exploitation

   Under pressure of the revolution of 1905 Tsar Nicholas II had summoned the State Duma. He to such extend had limited its powers that it can be called a Russian parliament only conditionally. Questions about implementing of a true parliamentary system and about universal suffrage had not been even raised. There gained an impression that the ruling regime purposely did all in its power to create in country a revolutionary situation, and as history had showed, it paid for this in a severe way.

  The last emperor of Russia Nicholas II, was a good husband, loving and kind father of his children. But at the same time he was an improvident and politically weak-willed person. The emperor couple completely lost its authority, having connected its fate with illiterate Siberian muzhik Rasputin, who had bent to his influence not only the emperor, but also a certain part of the aristocratic circles.

  He surrounded himself with feeble generals and corrupted ministers. Having entered the First World War, Russian army had sustained heavy losses and experienced constant difficulties with war supplies. Military defeats resulted in that society began in open to blame the government for betrayal and corruption.

   February revolution of 1917 had thrown down the power of Tsar. But the Provisional Government, which came to power in the country, proved to be incapable and irresolute in the most crucial moment of history of Russia. The leadership of Bolshevist (later renamed in Communist) party had taken advantage of the weakness of a new regime. November 7 (October 25, Julian calendar) it made a coup d’etate, arrested members of the Provisional Government and handled power over to the Soviet of People’s Commissars. The Soviet power at the earliest possible dates had approved a number of important decrees that met the expectations and demands of the people.

·     The Decree on Peace (it proposed an immediate truce; it was concluded at the beginning of March, 1918 );

·     The Decree on Land (expropriation of lands of big landowners and of church and their hand over to peasants without ransom)

·     The Decree on Nationalities, that proclaimed the equality of all nations of the empire, including the colonial ones, and their right to self-determination up to separation (only Poland and Finland took advantage of this freedom )

   The ruling Bolshevist leadership pretended to come out on behalf of the whole party and the whole people. The regime cooked goose of the gentry and bourgeoisie, having robbed these classes, and forced them to leave the country as quick as possible. The expropriation of private properties, nationalization of industries, banks and railroads had begun. All state institutions had been taken under control. Abolition of estates and class privileges had taken a form of blunt robbery of the nobility and bourgeoisie. Aristocracy and major part of noblemen had been forced to escape to Europe, Asia and America. So called “dictatorship of proletariat” was transformed in the dictatorship the ruling communist clique, a “state of workers and peasant” – into a totalitarian system.

   Bolshevist leadership had unleashed the Civil war against Russia’s nations. Several millions of men had been killed in this war. The country had undergone foreign intervention and plunder. Agriculture had been destroyed. Hunger had begun.

   After the Civil war the Bolshevist leadership proceeded on to systematic annihilation of Russian intelligentsia. When Stalin, a Georgian, headed the party and the country he ordered to shoot the majority of Lenin’s companion-in-arms and had turned Russia into a great labor camp, brilliantly described by Solzhenitsin, a Russian writer, Nobel laureate, in his book “Archipelago GULAG”. According to the latest data available the total number of those who were condemned in 1923-1953 only in Russian Federation made up more than 40 millions. Taking into account the condemned and perished in all republics of the USSR in labor camps and in a long train of wars, including the World War II, the number of the perished in the USSR exceeded 100 millions.

   The 75-year rule of the Communist leaders in the USSR resulted in creation of a totalitarian state, absolutely incompetent to carry out truly democratic reforms. They were unable of establishing in the country conditions favorable for provision of the population with products, goods and normal habitation. The rulers failed to retain the proclaimed rights of free education and medical service, to respect human rights and freedoms.

   False and utopian goals – either preparation of the world socialist revolution, or creation of the world social system, or development of  “well-developed” socialism and transition to a Communist formation – in practice had led to creation of a mighty huge state, armed to the teeth with new military weapons and equipment, interested neither in reforming of social and political system, nor in the raising the level of life of the country population.

   First attempts of democratic reforms in the country, undertaken by Mikhail Gorbachov in the middle of 1980s displeased the ruling clique with his foreign and internal policy and resulted in the seizure of power in the country by a party functionary BorisYeltsin. Disintegration of the great state led to creation of a group of independent and politically and economically under-developed states, including independent Russia. People kept silent. That is why they were robbed without remorse in the course of reforms conducted in 1990s.

   Secret redistribution of so called socialist property among a small group of the former party leaders in the course of privatization resulted in that in Russia there appeared not numerous cliques of fabulously rich people, including Boris Yeltsin’s clan, and the ruined, impoverished population. Such unbridgeable gulf between income of the ruling clique and the population poverty-ridden and deprived of civil rights has not been known in Russia from the times of Mongolian yoke.

   Election of Vladimir Putin a new presidents of the Russian Federation has marked a new line in modern history of Russia.

   Perhaps in the millennium that has come Russia would manage to heal the bleeding wounds of the communist rule.

   Such is the result of the millennial development of Russia. One thing is obvious. If not to carry out urgent radical economical, political, democratic and legislative reforms and not to give the people back the wealth, taken away in 1917-1990s, for it there is in store the disintegration on smaller state formations and local wars, similar to the unpopular wars in Chechnya.           

In these essays you have read about…

The key events in history of Russia, which had defined its modern state and its complex problems.

Russia had a singular fate. Its millennial history can be conditionally divided into four major periods:

The First period (962-1237) is the Christianing of Kievan Rus. Rus had become an active partner of young European states. On adopting Orthodoxy and Byzantine aesthetics, Rus started remaking the Slavonic consciousness.

The second period (1237-1480) is Mongolian yoke. Rus sunk in the murk of dependent development for more that two centuries, cut from Europe, from its culture and art. All forces and means were used for survival, conservation of orthodoxy, reconstitution of the statehood and accumulation of energy for struggle for liberation and independence. Rus became an active partner of a number of Asiatic states and absorbed many elements of the Asian culture.

In the third period (1480-1701) Moscow princes succeeded in defense of its independence. Moscow principality was gradually transformed into an all-Russian state. Conquering nomadic nations in the Urals area and Siberia, Russia slowly advanced toward the Pacific Ocean. In defensive wars it strengthened its independence and developed relations with European and Asiatic states. It was the second marriage of the Russian people with the Asian culture and psychology.

In the fourth period (1701-2000) the Russian Empire was brought back to the European commonwealth. It borrowed many literature genres and arts from the European culture. It actively participated in all European events and traded with Europe and Asia. In the fight for the Russia attempted to achieve global power in 1917-1991. The USSR existed not so long. The communist rulers inflicted deep wounds to the Russian industry and agriculture. Standard of living of the Russian populations lags behind many developing countries of Asia and America.

The Russian people succeeded only in preserving the great cultural heritage of the tsarist Russia. This heritage is a guarantee of true achievements of new Russia in all spheres of life and creative work.