LESSON-2

SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

CLASS - IX

NCERT TEXT BOOK QUESTIONS:

Q1. What were the social, economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905?
Political Conditions:
 Russia at the time of the revolution was under the conditions of autocratic rule-Tzar Nicholas II.
He believed in the Devine Right of Kings.
 The Russian Tzars had built a vast empire by conquest of various nationalist and based on feudal
system.
Social condition
 Before 1905, Russia was based on old world regime. The three classes were clergy, nobility and
the working class.
 Though the serfdom (feudal system) was removed, the peasants continued miserable life.
 For small holdings peasants has to pay heavy taxes.
 Vast estates were owned by the Russian nobility and the church.
Economic condition
 After the industrialization, many factories were set up by the industrialists. The wages were
minimum and the working hours were sometime 15 hours a day.
 The conditions of the workers were miserable and the state treasury was bankrupt due to the
heavy expenditure.
Q 2. In what way was the working population in Russia different from other countries in
Europe before 1917?
 At the beginning of the 20th century, about 85 percent of the Russian empire’s population earned
their living from agriculture as compared to Germany and France. The percentage of
agriculturists in Russia was higher than most European countries.
 The cultivators in Russia produced for the markets as well as for their own means.
Industrialization stated late in Russia and industries were only found in small areas.
 The workers were divided into social group and maintained strong links with the villages they
had come from.
 Metal workers considered themselves aristocrats among other workers. Sometime the working
hours was 15 hours as compared to 10 to 12 hours in Europe.
 Russian peasants wanted the land of the nobles and refused to pay rent and even murdered
landlords, incident took plain in 1902 and also in 1905. Whereas French peasants respected
nobles and also fought for them.
 Peasants in Russia, collective pooled their land and divided the profit according to the family
needs. But in the rest of the world individual farming was done by the peasants.
Q3. Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in1917?
 The social reason reflected in First world war by the defeat of Russian army was shocking and
demoralizing.
 There were 7 million causalities and 3 million refugees by 1917. The rest of the population were
hostile to the Tsar.
 The participation of able-bodied men in war created the shortage of labour in factories resulted to
shut down.
 Large quantity of grains was sent to deed the army. For the people in cities, bread and flour
became expensive, scarcity led to riot at bread shops.
 Impose of Russian language and culture, autocratic, inefficient and weak ruler, believe in the
divine right of the king discredited the government and brought about the end of Tsarist
autocracy.
Q4. Make two lists: One with the main events and effects of the February Revolution and
the other with main events effects of October Revolution. Write a paragraph on who was
involved in each and who were the leaders and what was the impacts of each on Soviet
history.
Events of the February Revolution
 22nd February 1917- Lockout of a factory on the right bank of the Neva river. 50 factories went
on strike.
 24th and 25th February – Demonstrators came back on the streets and were dispersed by imposing
curfew.
 25th February The government suspended the Duma. Politicians criticized the measure.
 26th February Demonstrators returned the Police to the streets.
 27th February Workers ransacked the Police Headquarters
 2nd March Tsar gave up his power. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provincial
Government to run the country.
Effects of the February Revolution:
 Restriction on public meeting and association were removed
 Soviet were set up every where but no common system of election was followed.
 Factory committees were formed which began questioning the way industrialists ran their
factories.
 Trade union grew in numbers
 Government ‘s power reduced and Bolshevik influences grew. The Bolshevik were repressed.
 Land committee was formed, peasants seized land between July and September 1917 by the
encouragement of the socialist revolutionaries.

Events and effects for the October revolutions:

 16th October 1917-Lenin became the leader and he persuaded the Petrograd soviet and Bolshevik
Party to agree to a socialist seizure of power.
 It led to the formation of a Military Revolutionary Committee for seizure of power.
 24th October Uprising began on 24th October. The buildings of two Bolshevik newspaper were
seized by the military men who were loyal to the government. On the same day, Pro-government
troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace.
 Military Revolutionary Committee seized the government offices and arrested the ministers.
 The navy played a significant role in the assault on the Winter Palace. The revolutionaries took
over different military points.
Q5. What were the main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the
October Revolution?
Ans:
 The Bolsheviks opposed private properties, thus nationalized most industries and banks.
 Lands of the clergy and nobility were seized and land was declared state property.
 In cities the large houses were partitioned to accommodate other families.
 The use of old titles of aristocracy was banned. To assert the social change, new uniforms. The
Bolshevik Party was named as Russian Communist Party. Russia became a one party.
 All Russian Congress of Soviet Became the Parliament of the country. Trade unions ere kept
under party control.
 The secret police kept vigilance on citizens and punished those who criticized the Bolshevik.
Q6. Write a few lines to show what you know about the followings:
Kulaks: Well to do peasants of Russia were called Kulaks. In 1927 to 1928 Stalin took the
decision to develop modern farms. For this purpose, he eliminated Kulaks. Under the
collectivization programme, land of Kulaks was taken away. Resistance from Kulaks was met
severely. Many were deported and exiled.
Duma: The Duma was the elected consultative Parliament set up after the Revolution of 1905.
Its members were given the responsibility of making laws. But the friction between its members
allowed the power to slip back into the Tsar’s hand. Tsar Nicholas II dissolved the first Duma
within 75 days. Although three more Dumas were elected before 1914, they wielded little power.
Duma was packed with conservatives and during the World War I Duma was not consulted and
finally on 25th February 1917, Duma was suspended.
Women Workers between 1900 and 1930: In Russian the women workers constituted 31
percent of the factor labour force. They were paid less than their men counterparts. In most of the
factories, they were paid between half and three quarters of a men’s wage. During the February
Revolution- 23rd February 1917 women led the way to strikes in many factories.

The Liberals:
 One of the groups which looked power of the Monarch. They favoured religious toleration.
 They were opposed to unrestricted absolute power of the monarch.
 They wanted to safeguard individual rights through an elected parliamentary system and
supported elected representative from the government.
 They wanted voting rights to be restricted to men of property.
Stalin’s collectivization programme:
 From 1929, the party forced all peasants to collective farms. -Kolkhoz.
 The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
 Peasants worked on the land, the kolkhoz profit was shared.