"Discuss how the nature of the new society compared with the original goals of the revolution".
In respect to the nature of the new society formed in Russia compared with the original revolutionary aims at the beginning of the century, many goals were left unrealized, and in fact the society of post-revolutionary Russia closely resembled that of the autocratic regime previously endured in Tsarist Russia. The definition of Russia's "new society" is troublesome, and it could be said that Russia's new society began after the 1917 revolution and ended in 1928, when Joseph Stalin came into power. Conversely, it could be argued that the different governments between 1917 and 1928 (Provisional Government, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries) were political transitional periods, and although were not long-lived were stages of the new society in Russia. In terms of economical, social and political structure, although there was much initiative from the different political groups, overall little change was seen at the end of this period.
Economically speaking, there were many goals set out by the various revolutionary groups, which were not met in the new society of Russia. Despite the obvious communist incentives of the revolutionary thought such as the abolition of redemption payments, such economic policies only brought Russia into " a state of ruin" as Lenin claimed. For example the annual production of coal in Russia fell from 29 million tones to just 6.9 million tones from 1913 to 1921, this being due to war and also the newly implemented communism. War communism was introduced to ensure that the Red Army was fed and equipped during the Civil War and to introduce a system of communism. This succeeded in its goal to feed and equip an army eventually numbering 5 million. But because the peasants stopped producing surplus food since they were no longer aloud to sell it for profit, this caused food shortages in 1919-1920 and in 1921 full scale famine made worse by bad weather and disease, 7 million died.
