How would I structure/answer a question on 'The Communist rulers were effective autocrats; the Tsars were not'

So first we would split this into areas in which to compare the Tsars and Communists in the bulk of our essay such as ideology, structure of government, repression, reforms, censorship and propaganda etc. Once these groups have been decided on you can look at the statistics for each Tsar and Communist leader which match these categories and group them together. These groupings will ensure that the paragraphs contain the essential comparison between rulers that the question demands as opposed to a paragraph on each ruler which could result in the loss of the comparison marks. The introduction should introduce the key areas of debate and introduce the topics you will discuss although not in too obvious a manner for example: ‘Russia from 1855 to 1964 is widely viewed as a period of autocracy whereby strong leadership was implemented top-down, supported by reforms made in the interest of preserving power, these were enforced with harsh repression of those detrimental to the rule, use of censorship and propaganda which became more effective as technology progressed and a structure of government which aided the implementation of those processes.’ You should then mention what you are going to discuss and form a viewpoint at the end of the introduction: ‘I am going to examine the effectiveness of the Communists and the Tsars by comparing the success of their reforms and the obedience by the people with regards to these policies which will help me explain why the Communists were the most effective autocrats.’

Your essay should then take this line of argument focusing on the issue of effectiveness in each paragraph, not just what the different rulers did to impose their autocracy. Instead of going through the rulers chronologically within each paragraph you should try and link them to achieve a better standard of comparison and give the essay some flow. Discuss the similarities and differences between the rules and methods of the Communists and the Tsars using examples, dates and statistics to back up your argument. For example, in the paragraph about the structure of government: ‘The Communists could be considered more effective autocrats due their tight control over their central government such as Lenin’s ban on factions 1921 or Stalin’s purge of 20% of the Bolshevik party to retain control. This contrasts with Nicholas II’s Duma which contained opposition to him such as the Progressive Bloc during World War One.’ The conclusion should then simply summarise your argument and the areas covered giving a succinct reason as to why your view is correct, supporting the view made in your introduction.