The ideologies of the radicals, liberals and conservatives:

Liberals-
 Wanted a nation which tolerated all religions
 Wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against governments
 Wanted a representative, elected parliamentary government
 Were AGAINST the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers
 Were AGAINST universal adult franchise and hence were not democrats
 Felt that men of property only should get to vote
 Did not opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners
 Were property owners and employers and promoted trade and industrial ventures
 Believed in the value of individual effort, labor and enterprise and were opposed to the
privileges the old aristocracy had by birth
 Wanted revolutions to put an end to the kind of governments established in Europe in 1815.
 Campaigned to end Tsar’s absolute power along with the Social Democrats and Socialist
Revolutionaries during the revolution of 1905. They were supported by the nationalists and the
jadidists

Radicals-
 Supported women’s suffragette movements
 Opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners
 Were not against private property but disliked concentration of property in the hands of a few
 Were property owners and employers and promoted trade and industrial ventures
 Believed in the value of individual effort, labor and enterprise and were opposed to the
privileges the old aristocracy had by birth
 wanted revolutions to put an end to the kind of governments established in Europe in 1815.

Conservatives-
 Opposed both radicals and liberals
 accepted that some change was inevitable but believed that the past had to be respected and
change had to be brought about through a slow process.
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY:
 Men, women and children came to factories due to industrialization.
 Work hours were long and wages were poor
 Unemployment was common
 There were housing and sanitation problems
 Industries were the properties of individuals

Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian nationalist

SOCIALISTS:
 Against private property and saw it as the root of all social ills of the time
 Some of them believed in the idea of cooperatives – Robert Owen built a cooperative
community called New Harmony in Indiana, USA

1889-Second International was an international body formed by socialists

Social Democratic Party (SPD) Germany

RUSSIA WITH TSAR NICHOLAS:

Russian Empire included- Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia,
and Azerbaijan
The majority religion in Russia was Russian Orthodox Christianity
About 85 per cent of the Russian empire’s population earned their living from agriculture.
Russia was a major exporter of grain
Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg and Moscow

WORKERS AND RELATED STUFF:

Metalworkers considered themselves aristocrats among other workers. Their occupations demanded
more training and skill
Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labor force by 1914, but they were paid less than men
Strikes Frequently took place in textile industry during 1896-1897, and in the metal industry during 1902

PEASANTS:
In the countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility, the crown and the Orthodox
Church owned large properties.
Peasant revolted all over Russia in 1905
They pooled their land together periodically and their commune (mir) divided it according to the needs
of individual families.
Peasants, not workers, would be the main force of the revolution

SOCIALISM:
All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914.
The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists who respected Marx’s
ideas.
Socialist Revolutionary Party was formed in 1900

1905 REVOLUTION:
Leading factors-
1904 was a bad year for workers because the prices of essential goods rose and real wages declined
The membership of workers’ associations rose dramatically
The procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police
and the Cossacks. This incident is known as Bloody Sunday. (January 22 nd 1905)
Strikes took place all over the country and lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers
established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly
The Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma

The Tsar dismissed the first duma within 75 days and then re-elected second Duma within three months.
He changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians. Liberals and
revolutionaries were kept out.
FIRST WORLD WAR STUFF:
In 1914, war broke out between two European alliances – Germany, Austria and Turkey (the Central
powers) and France, Britain and Russia (later Italy and Romania)
St Petersburg was changed to Petrograd because it was a German name
Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin were disliked
Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There were over 7 million
casualties by 1917
The war also had a severe impact on industry. Russia’s own industries were few in number and the
country was cut off from other suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea
By 1916 the railway lines began to break down
People were called for war which is why there were also shortages of workers
For the people in the cities, bread and flour became scarce. By the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops
were common

WINTER 1917:
The layout of the city seemed to emphasize the divisions among its people.
The workers’ quarters and factories were located on the right bank of the River Neva.
On the left bank were the fashionable areas, the Winter Palace, and official buildings, including the
palace where the Duma met
Food shortages were deeply felt in the workers’ quarters and the winter was very cold

THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION OF 1917: (march actually)

On 22 February, a lockout took place at a factory on the right bank.
Fifty factories called a strike in sympathy.
In many factories, women led the way to strikes. This came to be called the International Women’s Day.
On Sunday, 25 February, the government suspended the Duma.
The Petrograd Soviet was formed on 27th by soldiers and striking workers forming a council
The Tsar abdicated on March 2nd due to this revolution
Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country.
Russia’s future would be decided by a constituent assembly, elected on the basis of universal adult
suffrage.
Petrograd had led the February Revolution that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.

AFTER FEBRUARY REVOLUTION:

In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He and the
Bolsheviks had opposed the war since 1914
He declared that the war be brought to a close, land be transferred to the peasants, and banks be
nationalized
These three demands were Lenin’s ‘April Theses’
Trade unions grew in number. Soldiers’ committees were formed in the army
In June, about 500 Soviets sent representatives to an All Russian Congress of Soviets. As the Provisional
Government saw its power reduce and Bolshevik influence grow, it decided to take stern measures
against the spreading discontent
Popular demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks in July 1917 were sternly repressed. Many Bolshevik
leaders had to go into hiding or flee.
Meanwhile in the countryside, peasants and their Socialist Revolutionary leaders pressed for a
redistribution of land. Land committees were formed to handle this.
Encouraged by the Socialist Revolutionaries, peasants seized land between July and September 1917

THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION OF 1917:

On 16 October 1917, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to agree to a
socialist seizure of power.
A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviet under Leon Trotskii to organize the
seizure
The uprising began on 24 October
Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the city to summon troops.
In a swift response, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government
offices and arrest ministers.
At a meeting of the All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the majority approved the Bolshevik
action
By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.
AFTER OCTOBER REVOLUTION:
The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property. Most industry and banks were nationalized in
November 1917
In cities, Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family requirements.
They banned the use of the old titles of aristocracy
1918 – when the Soviet hat (budeonovka) was chosen
The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
In January 1918, the Assembly rejected Bolshevik measures and Lenin dismissed the Assembly.
In March 1918, despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany at
Brest Litovsk.
All Russian Congress of Soviets, became the Parliament of the country.
The secret police called Cheka punished those who criticized the Bolsheviks.

THE CIVIL WAR:

When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army began to break up. Soldiers, mostly
peasants, wished to go home for the redistribution and deserted
liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising
Red- Bolsheviks Green- Socialist Revolutionaries White- pro Tsarists
Their leaders moved to south Russia and organized troops to fight the Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’)
During 1918 and 1919, the ‘greens’ (Socialist Revolutionaries) and ‘whites’ (pro-Tsarists) controlled most
of the Russian empire.
By January 1920, the Bolsheviks controlled most of the former Russian empire and succeeded mainly
due to cooperation with non-Russian nationalists and Muslim jadidists
In Khiva, in Central Asia, Bolshevik colonists brutally massacred local nationalists in the name of
defending socialism
Due to this, most non-Russian nationalities were given political autonomy in the Soviet Union (USSR)
The Russian empire was changed to USSR by the Bolsheviks

MAKING A SOCIALIST SOCIETY:

During the civil war, the Bolsheviks kept industries and banks nationalized.
They made the Five-Year Plans. The government fixed all prices to promote industrial growth during the
first two ‘Plans’
Centralized planning led to economic growth.
However, rapid construction led to poor working conditions
An extended schooling system developed, and arrangements were made for factory workers and
peasants to enter universities
Crèches were established in factories for the children of women workers.
Cheap public health care was provided

COLLECTIVISATION:
By 1927- 1928, the towns in Soviet Russia were facing an acute problem of grain supplies.
The government fixed prices at which grain must be sold, but the peasants refused to sell their grain to
government buyers at these prices.
Stalin introduced emergency measures
In 1928, Party members toured the grain-producing areas, supervising enforced grain collections, and
raiding ‘kulaks’ – the name for well to-do peasants
After 1917, land had been given over to peasants.
To develop modern farms, and run them along industrial lines with machinery, it was necessary to
‘eliminate kulaks’, take away land from peasants, and establish state-controlled large farms.
What followed was Stalin’s collectivization programme. From 1929, the Party forced all peasants to
cultivate in collective farms
Enraged peasants resisted the authorities and destroyed their livestock. Between 1929 and 1931, the
number of cattle fell by one-third. Those who resisted collectivization were severely punished. Many
were deported and exiled
Stalin’s government allowed some independent cultivation, but treated such cultivators
unsympathetically.
In spite of collectivization, production did not increase immediately. In fact, the bad harvests of 1930-
1933 led to one of most devastating famines in Soviet history when over 4 million died.
Accusations were made throughout the country, and by 1939, over 2 million were in prisons or labor
camps by Stalin and his sympathizers

GLOBAL INFLUENCE:
Communist Party of Great Britain was formed
Many non-Russians from outside the USSR participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East
(1920)
The Bolshevik-founded Comintern (an international union of pro-Bolshevik socialist parties) (1919)