[1880–1885] Russia → Socialist Run (Eleventh Update): On the verge of revolution

Hi everyone,

I stopped publishing for a while because I got quite busy with college, and I decided to use the little free time I had for rowing and socializing. As a result, it has been a long time since my last A.A.R. However, it is now winter recess here in the Southern Hemisphere, so I finally have some free time to play more Victoria 2.

The Revolutionary Strategy

To recap: the ultimate objective of this campaign is to form the Soviet Union and spread communism worldwide. In the previous updates, I focused on the imperial expansion necessary to outcompete the other Great Powers, ensuring I would have the strength to export socialism as quickly as possible once the Russian Empire is transformed. However, I was struggling to achieve the desired socialist or communist uprising because I couldn't generate enough militancy.

This brings us to this five-year period. I decided to intentionally crash the economy by raising taxes and tariffs to the absolute maximum, while strictly refusing to pass any social reforms. The goal was to generate as much socialist militancy and as many rebels as humanly possible.

And it worked perfectly. The economy contracted by 49%, while my national savings skyrocketed to 23 million.

Geopolitical Standstill

During this period, I decided to avoid all foreign conflicts and sphere-of-influence competition. Whether in Central Europe or any other strategic region, I literally didn't do a single thing abroad, focusing entirely on our internal collapse.

Now, the country is completely overrun by rebels, and it is only a matter of time before the Soviet Union is officially born. You don't have to worry about my soldiers turning on the rebellion either; they are completely unwilling to fire a single shot to save the regime. They are currently holding defensive positions along the borders, simply waiting for the government to collapse so the greedy Tsar is finally gone.

Economic Statistics

year	Population	GDP	GDP per capita	population growth	GDP growth	GDP per capita growth
1830	53.851.000	5.131	9,528	0%	0%	0%
1835	64.926.000	4.342	6,688	21%	-15%	-30%
1840	68.189.000	5.004	7,339	5%	15%	10%
1845	69.574.000	3.413	4,905	2%	-32%	-33%
1850	76.374.000	4.428	5,797	10%	30%	18%
1855	79.281.000	5.365	6,767	4%	21%	17%
1860	89.008.000	6.832	7,675	12%	27%	13%
1865	92.898.000	9.193	9,896	4%	35%	29%
1870	112.646.000	14.849	13,182	21%	62%	33%
1875	121.015.000	16.882	13,950	7%	14%	6%
1880	134.706.000	22.271	16,533	11%	32%	19%
1885	134.421.000	11.359	8,451	0%	-49%	-49%