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Russia and the USSR (1905-1941)
In 1905 Russia was a vast empire that included many nationalities however it was a backward country with almost no industry and ruled by an autocrat tsar.
Countryside
Most of the population of Russia were peasants who suffered harsh working conditions and where not educated, there were only little prosperous landowners called kulaks. Their farming techniqueswere ancient and their land was divided in many pieces. In spite of this situation they were loyal to the tsar, mainly due to its religion. This standard of living contrasted with the aristocratic life, they lived in the cities, controlled large proportions of land and dominated the local assemblies (zemtsva), this allowed the growth of the Social Revolutionaries in the countryside.
Beginning ofindustrialization
The tsar was obsessed with the idea of a industrialized Russia, so with the help of prime minister Witte they introduced policies that lead to a rapid industrial growth. So peasants moved to cities to improve their economical situations leading to a massive urban growth (mainly Moscow, St. Petersburg). However their standards of living and their economical situation didn’t changefor good, low pay, long working days, and brutal discipline and no Trade Unions. As a result of industrialization, a new class emerged, the middle class or the capitalists. It was formed mainly by the owners of factories, bankers and businessmen.
The tsar and his government
Russia was ruled by an authocracy, just one man with absolute power. Nicholas believes that he had been appointed by godas tsar, so he had the supreme power. He was a hard working ruler and pay lot of attention to details, yet he avoided making important decisions, he involved in every bureaucratic aspect of government, he felt threatened by capable ministers and encourage fights among them. However this regime was really strong, due to the regional governors that the tsar appointed, they were harsh against anyopponent to the regime. This opposition came mainly from two parties, the Social Revolutionary and the Social Democrats, which then divided into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The SR were a radical movement which main aim was to take the power from the nobility and hand it over the peasants, they were a violent party responsible for many assassinations. The SD was a smaller party which followed theideals of Karl Marx, however the party split in two, the Bolsheviks believed that they were the ones in charge of caring the revolution mention by Marx, while the Mensheviks argue that Russia was not ready for a revolution.

1905 Revolution
All the problems and misery that the people of Russia were suffering, starvation, censorship, exploitation of workers, where increased when the tsar decidedto make war with japan. After humiliating defeats the social and economical tension reached a climax and the 1905 revolution began. More than 200.000 protesters included women and children lead by father Gapon gathered around the Winter Palace two clear demands, reduce the working hours per day to eight and a minimum wage of 1 rouble per day. The protesters carried pictures of the tsar and showedrespect towards him, yet the tsar was not in the winter palace that day. Although the crowd was not violent, the army opened fire and the Cossacks charged against them. this was a turning point in the relationship between the tsar and his people, they finally lost the respect they had towards him. It seemed that the tsar would lose the power, general strikes were made, peasants murdered theirlords and soviets were created
However the tsar managed to survive and reestablished his total power. This was achieved by a series of actions from the tsar. He offered the people a Duma (an elected parliament) in his October Manifesto and announced economical support for peasants. The middle-class was delighted, but the Social Revolutionaries didn’t trust the tsar. While both groups were...