Class 9 History Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe

and the Russian Revolution Notes

9 Class Social Science History Chapter 2 Socialism in

Europe and the Russian Revolution Notes

Textbook NCERT

Class Class 9

Subject History

Chapter Chapter 2

Chapter Name Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

Category Class 9 History Notes

Medium Hindi

Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian

Revolution Notes In which we will find about liberal, conservative, Radicals, socialis

ideology, civil war, Russian revolution, Russian society etc.

Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian
Revolution Notes
📚 Chapter = 2 📚
💠 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution 💠
❇️ The Age of Social Change :-
🔹 This was a period of profound social and economic changes. The ill effects of
industrial revolution like long working hours, low wages, unemployment, lack of

housing, sanitation system forced people to think about it.

🔹 The French Revolution opened up the possibility of creating a dramatic change

the society.
🔹 In realizing these possibilities, three different ideologies developed:
Liberals

Radicals

Conservatives

❇️ Liberals :-
Tolerance of all religions.

Opposed the uncontrolled powers of the king.

Supported the rights of the individuals.

Supported a representative, elected parliamentary government and independent

judiciary.

Did not support universal adult franchise (right of every citizen including women)

Supported private property.

❇️ Radicals :-
Government based on majority.

Opposed the privileges given to great landowners and wealthy factory owners.

Many of them also supported women’s suffragette movements.

Supported private property but disliked concentration of property in the hands of a

few.

❇️ Conservatives :-
Opposed liberals and radicals.

Asserted that past must be respected.

Change should be slow.

❇️ SOCIALISM :-
🔹 Socialists were against the private property but had differing ideas on how a
society without property could operate. Some of visions of socialists are as follows
 Robert Owen :- sought to build a cooperative community.

Louis Blanc :- He wanted the government to encourage cooperatives and replace

capitalist enterprises.

Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels- They argued that the industrial society was ‘capitalis
The capitalists owned the capital invested in the factories, and the profit of capitalist
was produced by workers. Thus, capitalists exploit the workers.

Marx believed that this capitalist system would be triumphed by the workers and a
socialist society would be established where all property would be socially controlled

❇️ Autocracy :-
🔹 The rule by the king with absolute powers.
❇️ Industries and Social Change :-
New cities came up and new industrialised regions developed and railways expanded

Industrialisation brought-men, women and children to factories.

Working hours were often long and wages poor.

Unemployment was common.

Housing and sanitation problems were growing fast.

Almost all industries were the property of individuals.

The liberals and radicals wanted that the workforce should be educated and healthy.

Many workers who wanted changes rallied around liberals and radicals.

Some nationalist, liberals and radicals wanted revolutions for removing the
governments established in Europe in 1815.

❇️ Coming of Socialism in Europe :-

 Socialism was well known by the mid 19th century in Europe.

Socialists opposed private property.

Believed that if a society as a whole controlled property, more attention would be pa

to collective social interests.

Some socialists like Robert Owen believed in the idea of cooperatives.

Others like Louis Blanc felt that cooperatives could be built only if the governments
encouraged them.

Cooperatives were associations of people who produced goods together and divided t
profits equally.

Karl Marx argued that an industrial society was capitalist which exploited the worke
and kept the profits for themselves. He believed that the workers had to construct a
radically socialist society where all property was socially controlled.

❇️ Support for Socialism :-

Socialists formed an international body, namely the ‘Second International‘.

They set up funds for helping members in times of distress and demanded a reductio
of working hours and the right to vote.

In Germany these associations worked with the Socialist Democratic Party and helpe
it in winning the parliamentary elections.

1905: Socialists and trade unionists formed a Labour party in Britain and a Socialist
Party in France.

Socialism however could not precede the influence of the radicals, liberals and
conservatives.

❇️ Russian Revolution :-
🔹 The events from the fall of the monarchy in February 1917 to the Socialists’
capture of power in Russia in October 1917 are called the Russian Revolution.

❇️ The Russian Empire in 1914 :-

🔹 1914: Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia.
🔹 The Russian empire included current day Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, pa
of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Central Asian states, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and

the territory outside Moscow.

🔹 The majority religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity.
❇️ Economy and Society in Russia
About 85% of the Russian population practiced agriculture.

Cultivators produced for both, market and their own needs.

Industries were few in number. St Petersburg and Moscow were the prominent
industrial areas.

1890s: Many factories were set up when the Russian railway network was extended.

Foreign investment in industry increased.

Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled.

Government supervised large factories for ensuring minimum wages and limited hou
of work.

The working hour for the craft units and small workshops was 15 hours and that of t
factory was 10 to 12 hours.

Women made up 31% of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid between
half and three-quarters of a man’s wage.

Workers associations were formed for helping members in times of financial hardshi
or unemployment.

1896-1897: Workers strike in the textile industry.

1902: Workers strike in the metal industry.

The crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties.

The peasants disliked the nobility.

Nobles got their power and position through their services to the Tsar.

1902-05: In Russia, peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them; they
refused to pay the rent and also murdered the landlords.

Peasants in Russia pooled their land together periodically and their commune (mir) w
divided in accordance to the needs of individual families.

❇️ Socialism in Russia :-
 Before 1914 all political parties were illegal in Russia.

1898: The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded which operated
illegally due to the government policing.

It set up a newspaper, mobilized workers and organized strikes.

1900: Active socialists in the countryside formed the Socialist Revolutionary Party.

The party demanded for peasant’s rights and transfer of lands from the nobles to th
peasants.

Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik group and believed that in a repressive society, the
party should be disciplined and should control the number and quality of its member

The other socialist group named the Mensheviks advocated entry for all in the party

❇️ Bloody Sunday :-
🔹 over 100 workers were killed and 300 wounded, when the procession of worker
near Winter Palace was attacked by the police. This incident is known as Bloody

Sunday. It started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.

❇️ How was the Russian society Socialized?

Nationalization of banks and industries

Availability of cheap public health care

Crèches were established in the factories

Model living quarters for the workers

An extended schooling system developed; arrangements were made for factory

workers and peasants to enter universities

Central planning, beginning of Five Years Plans

Collective farming

❇️ The 1905 Revolution :-

Liberals in Russia wanted the abolition of autocracy of the Tsar.

1905: Liberals and the social democrats and the socialist revolutionaries along with t
peasants and the workers revolted for a constitution.

They were supported by nationalists in the empire and by jadidists (wanted moderniz
Islam to lead their societies) in Muslim-dominated areas.

❇️ The 1905 Revolution Causes :-

🔹 1904: Prices of the essential goods increased while the real income declined by
20%.

🔹 The dismissal of four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers at the Putil
Iron Works called for industrial action.

❇️ Consequences of the 1950 Revolution :-

Strikes took place all over the country, universities closed down, and student bodies
staged walkouts, complaining about the lack of civil liberties.

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 did not want any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power
he changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians

❇️ Duma :-
🔹 Russian Parliament.
❇️ The First World War and the Russian Revolution :-
🔹 1914: First World War broke out between two European alliances-Germany,
Austria and Turkey (the Central Powers) and France, Britain and Russia (later Italy

and Romania).

🔹 1914-1916: Russian armies lost badly in Austria and Germany.

🔹 Industries and industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than
elsewhere in Europe.

🔹 Labour shortages and small workshops producing essentials were shut down as
ablebodied men were called for the war.

🔹 By 1916, at bread shops were common owing to the bread and flour scarcity.
❇️ February Revolution :-
🔹 In February, 1917, there was acute shortage of food in the workers’ quarters. Th
led to many protests. Soldiers also joined the striking workers. Sensing trouble, the
Tsar abdicated and a Provisional Government was formed. Thus, the monarch was

brought down in the February Revolution of 1917.

❇️ The February Revolution in Petrograd :-

🔹 February, 1917: Food shortages were deeply felt in the worker’s quarters.
The Tsar wanted to dissolve the Duma, but the revolutionaries opposed this.

🔹 22nd February, 1917: A lockout took place at a factory which was followed by a
workers strike in fifty factories. Women led the strikes in many factories and this

day came to be known as the International Women’s Day.

🔹 25th February, 1917: The government suspended the Duma.

🔹 Striking workers and soldiers gathered to form a ‘soviet’ or ‘council’ in the sam
building where the Duma met. This was the ‘Petrograd Soviet‘.

🔹 2nd March, 1917: The Tsar abdicated on the advice of the military commanders
🔹 The Soviet leaders and the Duma leaders formed a provisional Government for
running the country.

🔹 A Constituent Assembly was elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage for
government in Russia.

❇️ April Theses :-
🔹 In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his
exile. He presented three demands which are known as Lenin’s April Theses.

🔹 These were:
The war (First World War) must be brought to a close.

Land must be transferred to the peasants.

Banks must be nationalized.

❇️ The Revolution of October, 1917 :-

🔹 As the conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Lenin
emphasized the uprising against the government.

🔹 The uprising began on 24 October. By the nightfall, the city was under Bolshevi
control and the ministers had surrendered. Uprisings took place in other cities as

well. This revolution is known as the October Revolution.

❇️ After the Revolution of October, 1917 :-

Private property eradicated

Most industries and banks were nationalized

Land was declared social property land of nobility seized.

Censorship in all aspects of life was imposed

Bạn on use of old titles of aristocracy

Russia became a one-party state and the Russian Communist Party was the only par

Russia signed peace pact with Germany

Beginning of civil war in Russia

❇️ Civil War :-
🔹 After the Revolution, entire Russia was divided in three groups– viz.
The Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’),

Socialist Revolutionaries (the ‘greens’) and

The Tsarists (the ‘whites’)

🔹 A Civil War among these groups started in Russia. The ‘greens’ and the ‘whites’
were supported by France, USA, Britain and Japan. Looting, banditry, and famine

became common during the Civil War.

❇️ Collectivisation :-
🔹 Stalin started the Collectivisation programme in Russia. Under this, the peasan
were forced to cultivate in collective farms.

❇️ The Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR :-

🔹 The idea of a state of workers inspired many people. Communist party was
formed in many countries.

🔹 Many non-Russians participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East

(1920), and the Bolshevik founded the ‘Comintern‘ (an international union of the p

Bolshevik socialist parties).

🔹 In Russia, industries and agriculture had developed and the poor were being fed
but it had denied the essential freedom to its citizens and developmental projects

were being carried out through repressive measures.

🔹 The USSR as a socialist had declined.

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