CBSE - Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

The Social, economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905 was backward:

→ Social Conditions: 85% of Russia's population was agriculturist. The industry was existent, but rarely in which most of was privately owned. Workers were divided on the basis of their occupation. They mainly migrated to cities for employment in factories. The peasant community was deeply religious but did not care much about the nobility. They believed that land must be divided amongst themselves.

→ Economic Condition: Russia was going through bad period economically. Prices of essential good rises while real wages decreased by 20% leading to the famous St.Petersburg strike. This strike started a series of events that are together known as the 1905 Revolution. During this revolution, there were strikes all over the country, universities closed down, and various professionals and workers established the Union of Unions, demanding the establishment of a constituent assembly.

→ Political Condition: Political parties were illegal before 1914. The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists who respected Marx’s ideas. In 1903, this party was divided into two groups - Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, who were in majority, were led by Lenin who is regarded as the greatest thinker on socialism after Marx.

The working population in Russia was different from other countries in Europe before 1917 because not all Russian workers migrated from the villages to work in the industrial sector. Some of them continued to live in villages and went to work daily, to the towns. They were a divided group, socially and professionally, and this showed in their dress and manners too. Metal workers were the "aristocrats" of the working class because their occupation demanded more training and skill. Nevertheless, the working population was united on one front - strikes against work conditions and employer tyranny

The Tsar first dismissed the initial two Dumas and then packed the parliament with the conservatives. During the First World War, the Tsar took decisions without consulting the Duma. Large scale casualties of Russian soldiers in the war further alienated the people from the Tsar. Burning of crops and buildings by the retreating Russian armies created a huge shortage of food in Russia. All of these led to the collapse of the Tsarist autocracy in 1917.

February Revolution:
→ 22nd February: Factory lockout on the right bank took place,
→ 25th February: Duma was dissolved.
→ 27th February: Police Headquarters ransacked. Regiments support the workers. Formation of Soviet.
→ 2nd March: The Tsar abdicated his power. The Soviet and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government for Russia.
The February Revolution had no political party at its forefront. It was led by the people themselves. Petrograd had brought down the monarchy, and thus, gained a significant place in Soviet history. Trade Unions grew in number.

October Revolution:
→ 16th October: A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by Soviet.
→ 24th October: The uprising against provisional government begins. Military Revolutionary Committee controls the city by night and ministers surrender. The Bolshevik gained power.
The October Revolution was primarily led by Lenin and his subordinate, Trotskii and involved the masses who supported these leaders. It marked the beginning of Lenin's rule over the Soviet, with the Bolsheviks under his guidance.

The main changes which were brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution:
→ Banks and Industries were nationalised.
→ Land was declared social property, thereby allowing peasants to seize it from the nobility.
→ In urban areas, houses were partitioned according to family requirements
→ Old aristocratic titles were banned, and new uniforms were designed for the army and the officials.
→ New uniforms were introduced for the army and the officials.

(i) Kulaks
(i) It is the Russian term for wealthy peasants who Stalin believed were hoarding grains to gain more profit. By 1927-28 the towns of Soviet Russia were facing an acute problem of grain supplies. Kulaks were thought to be partly responsible for this. Also to develop modern farms and run them along industrial lines the Party under the leadership of Stalin thought it was necessary to eliminate Kulaks.

(ii) The Duma
(ii) During 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative parliament in Russia. This elected consultative parliament in Russia was called Duma.

(iii) Women workers between 1900 and 1930.
(iii) They made up 31% of the factory labour force by 1914 but were paid almost half and three-quarters of the wages given to men. However, interestingly, it was the women workers who led the way to strikes during the February  revolution.

(iv) The Liberals.
(iv) They espoused a nation that was tolerant towards all religions; one that would protect individual rights against the government. Although the liberals wanted an elected parliamentary form of governance, they believed that the right to vote must only belong to men, and that too the ones who were property holders.

(v) Stalin’s collectivization programme.
(v) Stalin believed that collectivization of agriculture would help in improving grains supplies in Russia. He began collectivization in 1929. All peasants were forced to cultivate in collective farms (kolhoz). The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of the collective farm. Many peasants protested such attempts and destroyed livestock to show their anger. Collectivization did not bring the desired results in the food supply situation turned even worse in subsequent years

1. Society in 18th century Europe was divided into

(a) castes and classes

(b) estates and orders

(c) liberals, radicals and conservatives

(d) religious groups

2. In 19th century Europe, Conservatives

(а) favoured radical restructure of society

(b) toleration of all religions

(c) opposed uncontrolled dynastic rulers

(d) accepted the idea of gradual change in society

3. Liberals ware opposed to

(a) secularism

(b) rights of individuals

(c) representative form of government

(d) universal adult franchise

4. On which of the following issues did Liberals and Radicals defer?

(a) Property and privileges

(b) Dynastic rule

(c) Individual rights

(d) Representative form of government

5. Which of the following was not a feature of 19th century Europe?

(a) New cities

(b) High wages

(c) Industrial Revolution

(d) Expansion of Railways

6. Socialists

(a) favoured private property

(b) Were against private property

(c) favoured individual controlled property

(d) regarded private property as a solution of all problems

7. Capitalists believed in

(a) control of property by society

(b) workers rights

(c) sharing of profits with workers

(d) profit and private property

8. Which of the following were important socialists of 19th century Europe?

(a) Rousseau and Voltaire

(b) Lenin and Stalin

(c) Charles Darwin and Spencer

(d) Karl Marx and Engels

9. Socialist International body

(a) Socialist Democratic Party

(b) Socialist Party

(c) Labour Party

(d) Second International

10. Which of the following was the ruler of Russia during World War I?

(a) Louis XVI

(b) Tsar Nicholas II

(c) Tsar Nicholas I

(d) Louis XTV

11. The majority religion of Russia was

(a) Greek Orthodox Church

(b) Protestantism

(c) Russian Orthodox Christianity

(d) Catholicism

12. Majority of Russia's population was

(a) industrial workers

(b) craftsmen

(c) artisans

(d) agriculturists

Answers:

13. Which of the following owned majority of the land in Russia?

(a) Peasants, Nobility and Workers

(b) Workers' Crown and Church

(c) Tsar, Peasants and Workers

(d) Nobility, Crown and Church

14. Leader of the Bolsheviks

(a) Kerensky

(b) Vladimir Lenin

(c) Stalin

(d) Gorbachov

15. Which of the following was not a factor in the Revolution of 1905?

(a) October Manifesto

(b) Bloody Sunday

(c) Condition of Workers

(d) Russo-Japanese War

16. Which of the following groups of workers were regarded as aristocrats among workers?

(a) Metal workers

(b) Ship builders

(c) Weavers

(d) Textile workers

17. Party which fought for peasants rights in Russia

(a) Social Democratic Workers Party

(b) Socialist Revolutionary Party

(c) Social Democratic Party

(d) Socialist Party

18. The Russian Parliament:

(a) Reichstag

(b) National Assembly

(c) House of Commons

(d) Duma

19. Which of the following was not a result of Russias' involvement in World War II?

(a) War exposed Russia as incapable of carrying out modern warfare

(b) Breakdown of economy

(c) Discredit of government

(d) Russia became a super power

20. Most significant result of the February Revolution

(a) Suspension of Duma

(b) Abdication of Tsar

(c) Petrogad Soviet

(d) Women's Participation

21. Which of the following was not a feature of the October Manifesto?

(a) Freedom of speech, press and association

(b) Power to make laws conferred on the Duma

(c) Authority of the Tsar was reduced

(d) Final decision-making power was vested in the Tsar

22. International Women's Day is celebrated on

(a) 22nd March

(b) 24th February

(c) 8th May

(d) 22nd February

23. Which of the following was not a part of the 'April Thesis'?

(a) Land to be transferred to the tiller

(b) Banks to be nationalised

(c) Withdrawal from World War I

(d) Establishment of political democracy through constitutional reforms

24. Provisional Government in Russia was led by

(a) Lenin

(b) Stalin

(c) Kerenskii

(d) Bolsheviks

ANS :

13. (d)

14. (b)

15. (a)

16. (a)

17. (b)

18. W)

19. (d)

20. (b)

21.(id)

22. (d)

23. (d)

24. (c).

Radicals were the one who wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s population. They opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners

Liberals were those who wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. They also opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers. 

Agriculture

The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party 

Ideology of Liberals 

1. One of the groups which aimed at changing society was that of the liberals. They wanted a nation which tolerated all religions.

2. They opposed religious discrimination and uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers.

3. The wanted a representative elected parliamentary government but did not believe in Universal Adult Franchise. They also did not want the vote for women. 

Ideology of Radicals 

1. They wanted a government based on the majority of a country’s population. They supported Universal Adult franchise, including the vote for women.

2. Unlike liberals, they opposed the privileges of the landlords and the industrialists.

3. They were not against the existence of private property but opposed concentration of property in a few hands. 

Ideology of Conservatives 

1. They opposed to liberals and radicals. In the 18th century, they were generally opposed to the idea of change.

2. By the 19th century, they accepted that some changes were necessary, but through a slow process.

3. They believed in old or past tradition and customs. 

1. Over 1, 10,000 workers under the leadership of father Gapon reached the winter Palace for their demands.  

2. The police and the Cossacks attacked them.

3. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded. D. This incident is known as Bloody Sunday. 
 
 

1. In Russia most industry was the private property of industrialists. Workers were exploited by industrialists. Wages were very low and working conditions very poor. Working hours were long. In the country side peasants cultivated most of the land.

2. But the nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties. In Russia peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them.

3. Tsarist Russia joined on the side of the Allied Power with the aim of making some military gain. Russian army lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There were 7 million causalities by 1917. Such huge defeats were humiliating and shocking for people of Russia. 

1. Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the party.

2. Lenin thought that in a repressive society like the Tsarist Russia, the party should be disciplined, and should control the number and quality of its members.

3. They wanted to transform Russian society through revolution. 

1. Socialists were against private property, and saw it as the root of all social ills of time.

2. Socialists favoured society as a whole rather than individually controlled property; more attention would be paid to collective social interests.

3. Marx argued that industrial society was capitalist. Capitalists owned the capital invested in factories, and the profit of capitalists was produced by workers.

4. Workers had to overthrow capitalism and the rule of private property.

5. Marx believed that to free themselves from capitalist exploitation, workers had to construct a radically socialist society where all property was socially controlled.

1. After the industrial revolution, many social and economic changes took place in European society.

2. Industrialization brought men, women and children to factories.

3. Unemployment was common, particularly during the times of low demand for industrial goods.

4. Workers were exploited by industrialists and their working hours were too long and wages were very low.

5. Housing and sanitation were problems since towns were growing rapidly due to migration of people or workers from rural to the urban areas. 

Austria, Hungry, Germany and Turkey 

1. On April-1917-Bolshevik leader Lenin returned to Russia.

2. In July demonstrations by the Bolsheviks against the Provincial Government.

3. July-September- Peasants seized land from the rich landlords.

4. 16th October 1917-Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviets and the Bolshevik Party to agree to a socialist seizure of power.

5. 24 October-The Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd. F. By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow- Petrograd area

1. Tolerance of all religions.

2. Safeguard of individual right against government.

3. A representative government, well-trained administration and independent judiciary.

4. They did not wasn’t universal adult franchise, but believed that only the propertied should be given the right to vote. 

After effects of the Petrograd Revolution

1. Army officials, landowners and industrialists were influential in the provincial government.

2. Soviets like Petrograd Soviet were set up everywhere.

3. Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia after exile.

4. Lenin put forward his three demands in April Theses  
 

1. Workers were divided into social groups.  

2. They were divided by skill.

3. They had strong ties with villages. 

Soviet was a council of striking workers and soldiers formed in the February Revolution. Their  role in the revolution -

1. The Petrograd Soviet led the revolution.

2. It helped the Bolsheviks to seize he power.

3. They gained victory in the civil war. 

Vision of different socialists regarding the future of Russia

1. Englishman Robert Owen wanted to build a cooperative community.

 2. Frenchman Louis Blanc wanted the government to create cooperatives.

3. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel put forward the view that the industrial society was capitalist. They wanted to overthrow capitalism and rule of private property.

4. They also wanted workers to construct a communist society where all property was socially controlled. 

Objectives of the Russian Revolutionaries

1. Revolutionaries demanded that Russia should withdraw from the World War.

 2. The demanded that land should go to the tiller.

3. The want to establish government farms.

4. The demanded that banks and industries should be nationalized.

5. The demanded an improvement in the working conditions of workers and wages also.

6   The demanded that non Russian should be given equal status so that they could work for the development of Russia. 

Effects of the Petrograd Revolution

1. On Sunday 25 February 1917, the government suspended Duma. Politicians spoke out against the measures.

2. The streets thronged with people raising slogans about bread wages, better hours and democracy.

3. The government tried to control the situation and called out the cavalry once again. However the cavalry refused to fire on the demonstrators.

4. An officer was shot at the barracks of a regiment and three other regiments mutinied, voting to join the striking workers.

5. By the evening soldiers and striking workers had gathered to form a soviet or council in the same building as the Duma met. This was the Petrograd Soviet. 

1. Russian followed The Julian calendar until 1 February 1918.

2. The country then changed to the Gregorian calendar, which is followed everywhere today.

3. The Gregorian dates are 13 days ahead of the Julian dates.

4. So by our calendar, the February revolution took place on 12 March and October revolution took place on 7th November. 

1. M.N. Roy was an Indian revolutionary. 
2. He was a founder of the Mexican Communist Party and prominent Comintern leader in India. 
3. He was in Central Asia at the time of civil war in the 1920s. 

1. Among those the Russian Revolution inspired were many Indians.

2. Several attended the communist University.

3. By the mid-1920s the Communist Party was formed in India.

4. Important Indian political and cultural figures took an interest in the Soviet experiment and visited Russia, among them Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindernath Tagore, who wrote about Soviet Socialism.

1. Many within the Party criticized the confusion in Industrial production under the planned economy and the consequences of collectivization.

2. Stalin and his sympathizers charge these critics with conspiracy against socialism.

3. Accusations were made throughout the country, and by 1939, over 2 million were in prisons or labour camps. Most were innocent of the crimes, but no one spoke for them. 

A. Economic equality  

B. Social Equality

C. Socialism

D. Anti capitalism.

E. International fraternity of all the peasants, craftsmen and workers 

1. Socialist society in which all people enjoy equal rights and duties.

2. Power should be equally divided among the people and different sections of the society.

3. All the properties should be managed by the state. This help in controlling the accumulation of wealth. 

1. In Russia most industry was the private property of industrialists. Workers were exploited by industrialists. Wages were very low and working conditions very poor. Working hours were long.

2. In the country side peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties. In Russia peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them.

3. Tsarist Russia joined on the side of the Allied Power with the aim of making some military gain. Russian army lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There were 7 million causalities by 1917. Such huge defeats were humiliating and shocking for people of Russia

4. Karl Marx’s theory of scientific socialism appealed to the people. He told the people to overthrow capitalism.

5. By the 1870s, socialist ideas had spread throughout Europe. Workers had formed associations to fight for better working conditions. 

1. The Russian revolution put an end to the autocratic Tsarist rule in Russia. The ruling Romanov Dynasty was abolished. 2. The new Soviet Government announced its withdrawal from First World War

3. It led to the establishment of world’s first socialist government.

4. There took place nationalization or acquisition of all industries, private property, banks, mines, telephones, and railways etc. All these declared government property.

5. It led to the beginning of planned economic development under the leadership of Stalin.

6    Under the leadership of Stalin USSR became one of the Super Power of the World.