How Authoritarian was Lenin compared to the Tsars of Russia?
The start of the “Fundamental Laws” issued by Nicholas I in 1832 begins “The Emperor of all the Russians is an autocratic and unlimited monarch: God himself ordains that all must bow to his supreme power”, The Laws were designed to remove any doubt regarding the total power of the Tsars. The way in which the Tsar comes to power is by ‘divine appointment’. Nicholas expected his subjects to willingly accept his total authority without question. The Romanovs believed that this authority was theirs by right, because of their birthright. In his study on the Interior of Russia in 1844, which was commissioned by the Tsar, August von Haxthausen stated that “Russian society is very much like a colony of bees, in which royalty is a natural necessity……..Russian society (would) cease to exist without the Tsar.” In order to help him rule over 60 million people, the Tsar appointed Ministers to rule the 13 individual government departments, however the Tsar had the right to accept or ignore their adv
