Maybe so. Consider these quotes from "The Russian Revolution" by Alan Moorehead 1958
"… this was a predatory state which the Czar and a small group of noblemen and bureaucrats ruled for their own exclusive benefit...The ruling group owned all the wealth, enjoyed all the privileges and monopolized all the political power, and it did not intend to give up any of its prerogatives. It considered the peasants to be little better than animals..."
...He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance...