For the sake of simplicity let's reference the Tsar in the 1900s and the Soviets in the 1930s, how similar were they institutionally and ideologically?
I admit that I'm just getting into Russian history but there seems to be so many similarities between the two. Sure the Tsar claimed divine power whereas Stalin claimed collective leadership, yet in practice they seem similar in their coercion.
There's the oppression of dissent, often through violence, the propaganda of the good old Tsar/father Stalin, the inequality between the old aristocracy/soviet bureaucrat and the peasantry/forced laborer, the degree of social control both attempted.