What Role Does Loyalty Play In Russian Political Culture

Stalin’s policy priorities were not building a ‘worker’s paradise’ or a classless society, but protecting Russia from war and invasion. In 1928, Stalin launched the first of two ambitious five-year plans to modernize and industrialize the Soviet economy. These programs brought rapid progress – but also significant death and suffering. Stalin’s decision to nationalize agricultural production dispossessed millions of peasants, forcing them from their land to labor on gigantic state-run collective farms. Grain was sold abroad to finance Soviet industrial projects, leading to food shortages and disastrous famines in the mid-1930s. Soviet Russia was dragged into the 20th century, transforming from a backward agrarian empire into a modern industrial superpower – but this came at extraordinary human cost.

Mankind has always aspired to be the largest, biggest, strongest, highest, essentially the best in everything. This is not untrue for the Russians who have had the largest country in the world for quite some time now. Russia covers one-sixth of the entire world’s land mass and has had a significant part in modern history. However, in order to understand why a country has become what it is now, one must look at its culture. A country’s culture not only reflects its citizens now but also its history and future.

Russia emerged as a significant power during the 1500s through war. It fought its neighbors and expanded its territory aimlessly. Ivan the Terrible’s expansion brought him into contact with both Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Aiming to gain a port and outlet to the Baltic,

Finally, Peter the Great reformed Russia by reorganizing the country’s economic structure and altering the social scene to mirror Western culture. Historically, Russia was an agricultural country whose tiny middle class took on the tax burdens of the exempt nobility. After traveling abroad, Peter the Great saw the need for internal reform, wanting to apply ideas of western mercantilism to stimulate economic growth by developing industry and commerce. For “When Russian

Russia has many cultural characteristics that have shaped the country we know today. A nation 's culture can define its actions and make them more predictable as a state on the international level. Understanding a nation’s culture gives great insight into the motives and reasoning behind their aggression or acts of force. Factors such as geography, weather, political landscape, military, and key infrastructure provide a clear understanding of Russian culture and how it has shaped the nation over the past century.

In Russia, Westernization was nothing new as the late nineteenth century had rolled around, for they had already been immersed in political conflicts of Western Europe by the earlier parts of the century. Russia’s Westernization had even been started by Peter the Great. Being so well adapted to the politics of the West, the conservative Russian nobility had feared revolutions by the liberal West. Russia then had attempted to

community ownership. Russians didn’t like the idea of communism, but had to accept it, in

Russia, as a country, has had a long and proud history. However, for a small time starting in 1917, things started to take a turn for the worse. There was widespread famine, disease, and killing by the instituted government. There was also no Russia. Instead, there was the glorious United Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. This new country did not come around peacefully, but instead under the 1917 Russian Revolution and the revolting communist Bolsheviks. The Russian people were not in a better condition after the Russian revolution due to Stalin’s leadership of his country; the reason being the GULAGs that Stalin was sending his people to, the communes that the peasants were sent to, and the disastrous effects of his five year plans.

In this source it also explains how Russia changed traditionally, economically wise, and even military

But, the piece of land located on the northwestern part of Russia (in Figure 1) did much more than that. Not only did it make Russia bigger, but that section of land opened up much opportunity for Russia’s

We are shown how saints and pilgrimages intersected with national, religious, and regional identities with the peasants. Even though Chulos states that Russia didn't develop a sense of nation (78) a strong sense of cultural identity develop that was inseparable from Orthodoxy. I found this chapter to have greatly showed how religion was important to the peasants by showing just how intertwined it had become throughout the years, that without it the peasants would not have a major part of themselves that helped them live through their troubled

The reign of Peter the Great has been a source of considerable historical debate for many contemporary and traditional historians. Especially, the transformation he made to Russian culture, politics and economic, which arguably changed the foundations of society. Thus, the interval of some three hundred years has allowed us to access Peter the Great 's reforms more accurately but we must consider that Russia during the late 17th century existed in different ethical and social circumstances to our own contemporary society as to make it almost a foreign civilisation. Judgements about Peter the Great using today 's political and moral perspectives may have to be tempered unless we are accused of historical and cultural relativism. Therefore, we must be careful in analysing the impact that his many reforms caused and the lasting nature that they had on the very foundations of Russian society.

First of all, the class structure was one of the main causes of the revolution in Russia. In the early 1900s, about “90% of Russia’s population were serfs, peasant-slaves” (youtube doc.). They were owned by less than “7% of Russia’s population, the nobles” (youtube doc.). The nobles treated them like currency, even using them for gambling. These nobles were overprivileged and live in the complete opposite way of how serfs lived, dirt poor, illiterate, and virtually without rights. Meanwhile, less than “2% of the population were clergymen of the Eastern Orthodox church” (youtube doc.). They too lived considerably worse than the nobles. The clergy

When we hear the term Russian culture many Americans tend to have negative thoughts like the cold war, their government ruling with an iron hand, and the Red Scare. These thoughts do not do the justice to the Russian people or to their long history as a people dating back to INSERT DATE. One of the major themes throughout Russian history and this course is the idea that the Russian people value intangible things more than the tangible. The Russian people have a long rich heritage, they are deep in there Christian faith, and they pride themselves on hospitality and value there community, families, and fellow Russian people. They have learned how to sacrifice from the constant invasions and being forced farther and

All of Russia is our garden. The earth is great and beautiful; it is full of wonderful places. Think, Anya, your grandfather, your great-grandfather and all your ancestors were serf-owners, owners