1Chapter 2

SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Q1) What were the view points of the liberals?
i) Liberals wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. Liberals also opposed the
uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers. They wanted to safeguard the rights of
individuals against governments.
ii) They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government, subject to laws
interpreted by a well-trained judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials.
iii) However, they were not ‘democrats’. They did not believe in universal adult
franchise,that is, the right of every citizen to vote. They felt men of property mainly should
have the vote. They also did not want the vote for women.
Q2) What were the view points of the radicals?
Radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s
population. Many supported women’s suffragette movements. Unlike liberals, they opposed
the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners. They were not against the
existence of private property but disliked concentration of property in the hands of a few.
Q3) What were the view points of the conservatives?
Earlier, in the eighteenth century, conservatives had been generally opposed to the idea of
change. They did not want any change in the existing system. By the nineteenth century, they
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.

Q4) To what changes did the socialists campaigned for? ( Explain the views of Socialist
on private property)
Socialists were against private property, and saw it as the root cause of all social ills of the
time. Individuals owned the property that gave employment but the propertied were
concerned only with personal gain and not with the welfare of those who made the property
productive. So if society as a whole rather than single individuals controlled property, more
attention would be paid to collective social interests. Socialists wanted this change and
campaigned for it.

Q5) What were the political , economic and social condition in Russia by year
1914?
i) Political Conditions: In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire. Besides the
territory around Moscow, the Russian empire included current-day Finland,
Lativia,Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. It stretched to the Pacific
and comprised today’s Central Asian states, as well as Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.The
Tsar believed in divine rights of kings. As a ruler, he did not solve the problem of the people.
ii) Social Conditions: The majority religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity – which had
grown out of the Greek Orthodox Church – but the empire also included
Catholics,Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists. The non- Russian nationalities were not
treated equal to that of Russian nationalities. They were not given freedom to follow their
culture and language.
iii) Economic conditions: Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St
Petersburg and Moscow. Craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large factories
existed alongside craft workshops. Many factories were set up in the 1890s,when Russia’s
railway network was extended, and foreign investment in industry increased. Coal production
doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled. By the 1900s, in some areas factory workers
and craftsmen were almost equal in number. The workers were exploited by capitalists which
made their life miserable.
Q6) How were the peasants in Russia different from that of other European
Countries?
i) About 85 per cent of the Russian empire’s population earned their living from
agriculture. This proportion was higher than in most European countries. For instance,
in France and Germany the proportion was between 40 per cent and 50%.
ii) Like workers, peasants too were divided. They were also deeply religious. But except in a
few cases they had no respect for the nobility. Nobles got their power and position through
their services to the Tsar, not through local popularity. This was unlike France where, during
the French Revolution in Brittany, peasants respected nobles and fought for them.
iii) Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in another way. They
pooled their land together periodically and their commune (mir) divided it according to the
needs of individual families. Thus they became natural socialists.

Q7) How were the workers in Russia different from that of other European
Countries?
i) Workers were a divided social group. Unlike in other European countries. Workers
were divided by skill. Metalworkers considered themselves aristocrats among other
workers. Their occupations demanded more training and skill.
ii) Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid less
than men.
iii) Divisions among workers showed themselves in dress and manners too. Some workers
formed associations to help members in times of unemployment or financial hardship but
such associations were few.
.Q8) What were the conditions in Russia during the First World War?
i) 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). Each country
had a global empire and the war was fought outside Europe as well as in Europe. This was
the First World War.
ii) In Russia, the war was initially popular and people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II. As the
war continued, though, the Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma.Support wore
thin. Anti- German sentiments ran high, as can be seen in the renaming of St Petersburg – a
German name – as Petrograd.
iii) Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916.There were
over 7 million casualties by 1917.
iv) As they retreated, the Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent the enemy
from being able to live off the land. The destruction of crops and buildings led to over
3million refugees in Russia. The situation discredited the government and the Tsar.Soldiers
did not wish to fight such a war.
v) 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.
vi) Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe. By
1916, railway lines began to break down. Able-bodied men were called up to the war.As a
result, there were labour shortages and small workshops producing essentials were shut
down.
vii) Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army. For the people in the cities, bread and
flour became scarce. By the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops were common.
Q9) What were the ‘April Theses’?
Lenin the Bolshevik leader 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".
Q10) How did the Bolsheviks organize the October revolution? Or What were the
events preceding the October Revolution?
i) 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 date of the event was kept a
secret.
ii) The uprising began on 24 October. Sensing trouble, Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the
city to summon troops. At dawn, military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of
two Bolshevik newspapers.
iii) Pro-government troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect
the Winter Palace. In a swift response, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its
supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers.
iv) Late in the day, the ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace. Other vessels sailed down the
Neva river and took over various military points. By nightfall, the city was under the
committee’s control and the ministers had surrendered.
Q11) What were the main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after
the October Revolution? OR What were the effects of the October Revolution?
i) Most industry and banks were nationalized in November 1917. This meant that the
government took over ownership and management.
ii) Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the
nobility. In cities, Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family
requirements.
iii) They banned the use of the old titles of aristocracy. To assert the change, new uniforms
were designed for the army and officials, following a clothing competition organised in1918
– when the Soviet hat (budeonovka) was chosen.
iv) The Bolshevik Party was renamed as the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
v) In March 1918, despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks made peace with
Germany and withdrew from the 1st World War.
vi) In the years that followed, the Bolsheviks became the only party to participate in the
elections to the All Russian Congress of Soviets, which became the Parliament of the
country.
vii) A process of centralised planning was introduced. Officials assessed how the economy
could work and set targets for a five-year period. On this basis they made the Five Year
Plans. The government fixed all prices to promote industrial growth during the first two
‘Plans’. Thus they established a socialist society.

Q12) What were the effects of establishing a socialist society in Russia?

Centralized planning led to economic growth. Industrial production increased (between1929
and 1933 by 100 per cent in the case of oil, coal and steel). New factory cities came into
being. 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. Cheap public health care was provided. Model living quarters were set up
for workers. The effect of all this was uneven, though, since government resources were
limited.

Q14) Explain the Global influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR.
i) In many countries, communist parties were formed like the Communist Party of Great
Britain. It gave the world a new economic system known as socialism.
ii) The Bolsheviks encouraged colonial peoples to follow their experiment. Thus it inspired a
number of freedom movements in other countries.
iii) Many non-Russians from outside the USSR participated in the Conference of the
Peoples of the East (1920) and the Bolshevik-founded Comintern (an international
union of pro-Bolshevik socialist parties). Some received education in the USSR’s
Communist University of the Workers of the East.
iv) By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, the USSR had given socialism a
global face.

Q 15)Why was the Kerensky government unpopular in Russia?

( He did not implement the demands ( April Theses) of Russian Revolutionaries-
Explain the points. )

Q16) Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in 1917?

i) In the winter of 1917, conditions in the capital, Petrograd, were grim. In February
1917,food shortages were deeply felt in the workers’ quarters.
ii) On 22 February, a lockout took place at a factory. The next day, workers in 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.

iii) As the fashionable quarters and official buildings were surrounded by workers, the
government imposed a curfew. Demonstrations dispersed by the evening, but they cameback
on the 24th and 25th. The government called out the cavalry and police to keep an eye on
them.
iv) On Sunday, 25 February, the government suspended the Duma. Politicians spoke out
against the measure. Demonstrators returned in force to the streets of the left bank on the
26th.
v) On the 27th, the Police Headquarters were ransacked. The streets thronged with people
raising slogans about bread, wages, better hours and democracy. The government tried to
control the situation and called out the cavalry once again. However, the cavalry refused to
fire on the demonstrators.
vi) By the evening the soldiers and the striking workers had gathered to form a‘soviet’
or‘council’ in the same building as the Duma met. This was the Petrograd Soviet.
vii) The very next day, a delegation went to see the Tsar Military commanders advised him to
abdicate. He followed their advice and abdicated on 2 March. Soviet leaders and Duma
leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country. Petrograd had led the February
Revolution that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.