by Laurence Heads

Created on: March 26, 2009   Last Updated: March 28, 2009

"Men willingly change their lord if they believe they will be better off, and this belief makes them take up arms against him. In this, however, they deceive themselves, because they then see by experience that they have become worse off" (Machiavelli 43).

This quote suggests that a change in the power structure or leadership of a country often doesn't lead to any real change. The example of the transition between the Tsars and the Communists in 1917 illustrates this perfectly: the people rebel in order to gain a better quality of life, but ironically they arguably moved into a darker age whereby they were suppressed to an even greater level.

The Tsars were autocratic rulers with little regard for the welfare or opinions of their people. Since the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Russians had followed a fairly consistent policy of drawing more political power away from the nobility and into their own hands. They enforced their supreme power over the peasants by allowing serfdom, which was a form of slavery whereby the serfs received no rights and led an appalling life (Troyat 45-47). These peasants were the driving force between the October Revolution in 1917. Nicholas II was forced to make concessions to the peasants as they became restless during World War I (Read 128-130). This was, as Machiavelli says doing what you have to do to stay in power. Nicholas II did however try and take some of this power back after Russia withdrew from the war by dissolving the Dumas, which was a type of parliament in Russia. This worsened relationships between him and his people which ultimately lead to the October revolution.

The Tsars lost power because they were not able to follow the advice of the Machiavelli and avoid contempt and hatred. Machiavelli believes this to be the major cause of loss of power "a noteworthy lesson may be drawn: Princes should delegate unpopular duties to others while dispensing all favors directly themselves. I say again that a prince must respect the nobility, but avoid the hatred of the common people" (Machiavelli 74-76). Tsar Nicholas failed to do this because he insisted on reading out every decree himself. Which not only meant that laws took a long time to come into effect, but that he had to anger the public when passing laws that didn't benefit them. Machiavelli also argues that the princes of Italy lost power because they relied on their mercenary armies to support them. This can be seen within the Tsar's empire as well. They used the secret

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