The Tsar was simply a remaining vestige of the absolute monarchy or emperor that had been the rule in most countries for millienia.
Comparing a traditional political system of absolute authority to the brutality of the Communists who slaughtered and starved millions of innocents in a supposedly more enlightened regime and age is hardly fair and balanced.
Many (not all) Czars also committed unspeakable acts of cruelty and brutality. Ivan the Terrible is most notorious for this. Absolute monarchy may be a “traditional political system”, but it is also a dictatorship that stops at nothing to protect its own power. People who questioned the authority and abuses of communist dicators faced torture and murder. People who questioned the authority and abuses of czarist dictators weren’t treated any better. The Bolsheviks made the people slaves on farms and factories run by Bolshevik cronies. The Aristocracy made the people serfs on farms run by Aristocrats. The Bolsheviks justified themselves by appealing to “enlightment” and “progress”. The Romanovs justified themselves by appealing to the Gospel of Christ (even more galling).
It is for good reason that by the end of “Animal Farm”, the animals could no longer distinguish between Napoleon the Pig and Farmer Jones.