CBSE Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution Class 9 Notes Social Science History Chapter 1. CBSE Notes Class 9 History – Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution. CBSE Notes History Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution Class 9 Notes by Experienced Teachers.
Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution Class 9 Notes History Chapter 1
THE AGE OF SOCIAL CHANGE
THINGS TO ANSWER AFTER READING THE CONTEXT
- Describe briefly what do you understand by the terms radicals, liberals and conservatives?
- What were the different ideas put forward by people on the way through which a society can be run?
- What were the conditions of the people who migrated from villages to towns and cities in search of employment?
- The ideas that flowed from the French revolution reached many parts of the world. People began to realize their individual rights and found a ray of hope to change the structure of a society and redistribute the economic and political powers of a country, which initially resided only with the aristocrats.
- Not everyone welcomed the new and radical ideas. And those who wanted changes, there was debate whether the changes should be gradual or abrupt.
LIBERALS, RADICALS AND CONSERVATIVES
Liberals: Liberals were those people who believed in respect for all religions; wanted a government which was elected by the people; laws that were made by a judiciary that was independent from any influence. But, the liberals did not support universal adult franchise – where everyone has the right to vote. They thought men having property were eligible to vote. They were also against the voting of women.
Radicals: Radicals were those who supported universal adult franchise. They also wanted a government elected by majority of the population. Radicals were against the privileges enjoyed by landowners and factory owners. Though radicals were not against private property ownership, they did not the power to be controlled by only a few.
Conservatives: Conservatives were those who did not like the liberal and radical attitude displayed by the people. Initially, the completely opposed any type of change to be brought in the society. But gradually, by the nineteenth century, they accepted that some change was inevitable. But, they wanted the change to be gradual.
These different ideas led to clashes between them, and all tried to form a society where everyone benefitted. These clashes helped the people to realize the limits and potentials of the ideas.
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND SOCIAL CHANGE
The changes in political ideas was accompanied by change in social structure of a society. It was a time when cities and towns began to develop and industries were starting to be set up.
- Men, women and children moved to cities and towns in search of work. But work was only available when there was a demand for industrial goods. Unemployment was prominent, the working conditions severe, while the sanitation and housing issues were yet to be solved.
- Radicals and liberals were people, who either were owners of the industries or were employers.They thought that if the concentration of power was removed from the aristocracy and the people with capital be given freedom to run their business according to their strategies, a country would be more benefitted. Liberals and radicals also believed proper hygienic conditions for the workers as a healthy workforce will provide more output than an unhealthy population.
- Nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted to organize movements and bring revolutions by overthrowing the monarchy and bringing the economic and political powers to a group of elected representatives. They wanted to create a nation with equal rights and opportunities for everyone.
- Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian nationalist, conspired against the monarchy to achieve a people elected government.
THE COMING OF SOCIALISM TO EUROPE
- With the introduction of new political and economic ideas, came ideas of how a society should be structured. Among them, socialism gained importance.
- Socialists were people who were against private property ownership. Though the owners of the private property provided employment, the profits gained were retained by them and the employees were paid low wages.
- There were different ideas on how a society could function without private property ownership.
One was development of co-operatives. Co-operatives would be groups or associations where they would collectively work and the profit earned will be shared by the members depending on the input of work. Robert Owen (1771 – 1858), wanted to build a co-operative community called as New Harmony in Indiana.
Some believed that co-operatives would not be able to function on a large scale until government encouraged it. Louis Blanc (1813 – 1882), promoted such ideas.
Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) wanted workers to overthrow the capitalist ownership and control the property socially. He encouraged workers to form associations and fight against capitalism.
SUPPORT FOR SOCIALISM
- An international body – the Second International – was formed to co-ordinate the efforts and share the ideas of socialism.
- In Germany, Social Democratic Party (SDP) worked closely in associations with the socialist groups. It helped them win elections in the parliament.
- In Britain and France, a Labour Party and a Socialist Party was formed respectively, with the union of socialists and trade activists.
- Though many elections were won, but the socialists were not able to form a government till 1914. The government till then was mainly run by conservatives, liberals and radicals.
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
THINGS TO ANSWER AFTER READING THE CONTEXT
- What was the event that led to 1905 Revolution in Russia?
- Why was the formation of Duma unstable?
- What was the difference in opinions between the socialists and democrats of Russia?
- What were the adversities faced by the people of Russia during the First World War?
As was the case in other parts of Europe, Russia witnessed a different event. In Russia, it was the socialists that formed the government.
Fall of monarchy on 17 February and the vents that followed in October is called the “Russian Revolution”.
THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN 1914
- Tsar Nicolas was the emperor of Russia in 1914, and the empire included current day Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. It extended to Pacific and comprised today’s Central Asian states, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
- The major religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity, and it also included Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists.
ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
- Agriculture was the major occupation of Russia till the beginning of the twentieth century. Almost 80 percent of the population was engaged in agriculture. Russia produced food to fulfill its own needs as well as for export.
- Industries were few. Craftsmen took up much of the work. There were few large factories along countryside. With the expansion of railway network, investment in industries increased. Coal production doubled while iron and steel production quadrupled.
- Though most industries were owned by private industrialists, government supervised such industries to control and regulate minimum wages and working hours. But despite regulations, the working hours exceeded and the living conditions varied from rooms to dormitories.
- Workers were divided into social groups. Metal workers considered them aristocrats among other workers as their work required training and skill. Women constituted 31 percent of the workforce in factories but were paid less than males. Workers also organized themselves into associations to help each other in times of need.
Though workers were divided, but if they disagreed with some policies or methods of the employers, they united to strike work. These strikes were frequent occurrences in textile industries during 1896-97 and occurred in metal industry in 1902.
- Peasants were also divided into social groups. Peasants cultivated most of the land, but the land was owned by nobility. Peasants hated the nobles and wanted the lands owned by them. Many a times, peasants refused to pay rents to the nobles and also murdered the landlords. This occurred on a large scale in 1902, and in 1905.
- A unique feature of Russian peasants was that they periodically pooled up their lands for cultivation and then their earning or commune (mir) was divided according to the needs of the families.
SOCIALISM IN RUSSIA
- Before 1914, all political parties were illegal. So, the formed associations or parties had to work illegally or in disguise to carry out their plans.
- Russian Social Democratic Party was founded in 1898 and Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900.
- Socialists wanted the peasants to be the main driving force for the revolution. They thought that the practice of peasants of diving land and then their earnings made them natural socialists. So, the socialists fought for the transfer of lands from nobles to the peasants.
- Democrats thought otherwise. They thought that peasants were a divided class where some were poor while others rich; some worked as labourers while others employed workers to work under them. This differentiation between them, the democrats thought, would not be suitable to make them the driving force.
- Vladimir Lenin (Bolshevik group leader) proposed that only selected people should be allowed to join the party while others (Mensheviks) thought that a party should be open to all.
A TURBULENT TIME: THE 1905 REVOLUTION
- Revolution started in Russia by the liberals with the help of socialists and democrats. Peasants and workers all joined the movement in 1905 to form a constitution. Muslim dominated areas were supported by jaddidists as they wanted their nation to be led by modernized Islam.
- The year of 1904 was harsh for the Russian workers. Goods price increased rapidly while the real wages declined by 20 percent.
- Four members of Assembly of Russian Workers were dismissed at Putilov Iron Works. This led to mass strike of workers where around the next few days 110,000 workers went on strike. The strikers demanded an increase in wages, reduction in working hours and improved working conditions.
- Later Father Gapon led a procession of workers to Winter Palace. The procession was attacked by police where 100 died and almost 300 were wounded. This incident is known as Bloody Sunday, and the event started the 1905 Revolution.
- Universities closed down; lawyers, doctors, engineers all demanded construction of a constituent assembly. There were strikes all over Russia.
- The 1905 Revolution caused Tsar to allow an elected consultative Parliament or Duma to be formed. But the formation of Duma was unstable. Because of questioning and restricting his authority, Tsar dismissed the first in 75 days, second Duma in 3 months and the third was formed with conservatives, keeping liberals and radicals away.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
- First World War was fought between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria and Turkey) and France, Britain, Russia later joined by Italy and Romania.
- Initially the war was supported by the Russians. But as the war continued, the anti-German sentiments became so strong that St. Petersburg was renamed to Petrograd. And the German origin Tsarina Alexandra and monk Rasputin further deteriorated Tsar’s support in war.
- Russian war was fought on two fronts – eastern and western. The western front faced large casualties. Apart from defeat in Germany and Austria, Russia faced 7 million casualties. While retreating back, Russian armies burnt down entire crops so that the enemies don’t live on that land. This further added another 3 million refugees. Such conditions demotivated and demoralized Russian soldiers.
- Russian industries also faced severe losses. As the supplies were cut off by the Germans by gaining control over the Baltic Sea, industries began to shut down very easily.
- Society as a whole was in crisis. People were dying. Those left, among them able- bodied were called for war. There was deficiency of labour. All the crops grown were sent to feed the army. For the common people, food became scarce. This led to riots by 1916.
THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION IN PETROGRAD
THINGS TO ANSWER AFTER READING THE CONTEXT
- What were the events that led to the overthrowing of the monarchy in Russia?
- What was Lenin’s “April Thesis”?
- Who was the leader of the Military revolutionary Committee? Why was it formed?
- How did Bolsheviks acquire the power over the government?
The city of Petrograd was such divided that, the left banks of the River Neva was occupied by the nobility, aristocrats, the Winter Palace, while to the right banks lived workers and peasants.The winter of 1917 was grim. There were shortage of food, and because of frost and heavy snow, the harvest that year was also minimal.
A factory got shut down on 22nd February. In sympathy, workers of fifty factories went on strike. They crossed the River Neva and surrounded the offices and buildings. On many a fronts, the strikes were led by women. Seeing such strike, government called the cavalry and imposed curfew. The crowd disintegrated by the evening. But it returned for two more days. Till then, no political party came in support of these strikes as they feared that any opposition against Tsar might lead to suspension of Duma.
Duma was suspended by the government on 25th of February. This suspension led the political parties to openly criticize the government and organize rallies. On 27th of February, Police Headquarters was attacked. Seeing the situation getting out of control, the government called the cavalry once again. But the cavalry refused to fire of demonstrators.
Soldiers and workers formed a ‘soviet’ or ‘council’ which was the Petrograd Soviet. This was formed n the same building were Duma meetings were held.
The next day, a delegation was sent to meet Tsar. Tsar was advised by his military commanders to leave his throne, which he consented on 2nd of March. The new government was formed by the Duma leaders and the Soviet leaders. An elected constituent assembly would make laws for the country. There would be universal adult suffrage.
AFTER FEBRUARY
After the formation of a Provisional Government, bans on formation of councils and unions were removed. So, many soviets and associations were formed with different aims and different election methods.
Bolsheviks leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia after his exile in 1917. He proposed three points in his ‘April Thesis’. The three points were:
- Nationalization of banks
- Redistribution of lands to the peasants
- The war that was in continuation to be brought to an end.
As mentioned before, many trade unions and association came into being after the formation of the provisional government. In factories and industries, unions questioned the owners and industrialists. Soldiers’ committees were also formed, peasants association were formed demanding redistribution of lands. The peasants, which were supported by the Socialist Revolutionaries, seized land between July and September in 1917.
Seeing so many demands and seeing the influence of Bolsheviks grow in the country, the Provisional Government started taking measures to repress the demands and demonstrations. The repressions were very strict and stern that the Bolsheviks had to go into hidings to avoid getting arrested.
THE REVOLUTION OF OCTOBER 1917
Fearing that the Provisional Government might turn itself into a dictatorship, Lenin began arranging support for an uprising against the government.
The Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik appointed a Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed with Leon Trotskii as its leader. A strategy was formulated, with the date of event kept a secret.
Uprising began on 24th of October. Seeing this, Prime Minister Kerenskii left the city to arrange and summon troops. The army officials who were loyal to the government took control of two Bolsheviks newspaper buildings. Telephone and telegraph offices and winter palace were sought out to be protected.
In response to the actions of the government, Military Revolutionary Committee ordered the seizing of government buildings and offices. Ministers were ordered to be arrested. Aurora ship shelled the Winter Palace. Many military points were taken under control. By the end of the day, ministers had surrendered.
Uprising took place in other cities as well. There was a lot of fighting, especially in Moscow. But by the end of December, the Bolshevik controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.
WHAT CHANGED AFTER OCTOBER?
THINGS TO ANSWER AFTER READING THE CONTEXT
- What were the changes made by the Bolshevik government?
- Who fought the civil the war in Russia? What was its outcome?
- What was Stalin’s collectivization programme?
- What were the features of a socialist society under Bolsheviks rule?
The ideals of Bolsheviks party were implemented.
- Banks and industries were nationalized, which meant that their ownership and management was undergovernment control.
- Peasants were allowed to seize the lands of the nobility
- Old titles of aristocracy was discontinued
- New uniforms for army and officials were designed, through a competition – where the soviet hat (budeonovka) was chosen.
Bolshevik Party renamed itself as the Russian Communist Party. But in the elections that were held in November 1917, party was not able to gain majority. Again in January 1918, the ideas of Lenin were rejected and Lenin dismissed the constituent assembly. Despite opposition, Bolsheviks signed the peace treaty with Germany at Brest Litovsk.
In the coming years, the Communist party was the single party to participate in the elections of All Russian Congress of soviets – which became the Parliament. Russia became one party state. All trade unions were kept under control. Secret police force (initially cheka and then OGPU and NKVD) were appointed who arrested anyone who criticized the government.
Many students, young artists and writers supported and joined the party because they promoted socialism.
THE CIVIL WAR
Due to redistribution of land, the soldiers, who were mostly peasants, wished to go home and attain their land. Due to this, the army began to disintegrate. This led to criticism of the actions of the Bolsheviks.
Many leaders of different associations or ideologies moved to the south of Russia to organize troops to fight against the Bolsheviks (the reds). Socialist revolutionaries (greens) and pro-Tsarists (whites) occupied most of southern Russia during 1918 and 1919. They were supported by French, America, British and Japanese – these were worried with the growth of socialism in Russia. But, as the whites took very harsh steps to take back their lands, the non – Bolsheviks support began to lose ground.
By 1920, the Bolsheviks again gained most of Russia back with the help of non – Russian nationalists and Muslim jadidists. But there were places where local Bolshevik leaders took brutal steps in the name of socialism. This created confusion in the minds of people regarding the true intentions of the Bolsheviks.
Bolsheviks created Soviet Union (USSR) in December 1922. In this, the government gave the non Russian nationalists political autonomy. Along with this, there were other policies as well which made it difficult for the Bolshevik government to gain support of the nationalists.
MAKING A SOCIALIST SOCIETY
The Bolsheviks government nationalized banks and industries, thus controlling their ownership and management. Peasants were allowed to work on lands seized from the peasants.
A centralized planning system was adopted where the government officials made plans for the next five years. Such two “Five Year Plans” were made in 1927-1932 and 1933-1938.
- This planning increased production in the country – oil, coal and steel increased by 100 percent.
- This increase in production led to the working conditions of workers to get worse. Poor working conditions affected the health of the workers, making them ill frequently.
- A schooling system was arranged for factory workers and peasants so they can enter universities.
- Creche was established for the children whose mother worker in the factories and industries.
- Cheap public health care was provided.
STALINISM AND COLLECTIVISATION
During the Five Year Plans, prices for the grains were fixed. But the farmers were reluctant and resisted to sell their grains on such prices.
Stalin, who leaded the party after Lenin’s death, thought that the rich peasants (kulaks) were holding the stocks of grains in hope that the prices for grains will increase.Because of this, government officials began taking rounds and raids of such well-to-do peasants.
Stalin then thought the lands being used by peasants were small sized and were not adequate to implement modern machineries. So to modernize farms, Stalin decided to eliminate kulaks, take the lands away from peasants and make them state controlled.
Collectivisation programme started in 1929, in which peasants were forced to give up their land and work collectively in state controlled farms. The profits earned were shared. But many peasants did not want to work collectively. They resisted the authorities and destroyed their own livestock. Those who resisted were punished harshly. Some were also deported and exiled.
In the end, but, production did not increase. And along with that came bad harvest, leading to one of the most devastating famine of the Soviet where 4 million people died.
The effect of such was, Party members began to criticize the actions of Stalin. Stalin in return blamed the criticizers for speaking against socialism. The accusations led to arresting of over 2 million people. They were kept either in prisons or labour camps. The people were tortured and were made to accept false accusations, among were which many talented professionals. No one spoke for them.
THE GLOBAL INFLUENCE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE USSR
THINGS TO ANSWER AFTER READING THE CONTEXT
- How was socialism being received by the rest of the world?
The idea of socialism was very much sought after by the rest of the European countries. Though many disagreed with the way the Bolsheviks took over the government and the measures through which it kept its power, many communist parties were still formed in different countries.
Non-Russians participated in the Conference of the People of the east (1920) and the Bolsheviks also formed Comintern (an international union of pro Bolshevik socialist parties). Many received education in the USSR’s Communist University of the Workers of the East.
Despite the power the USSR attained, and despite the fact that industries and factories were developed, poor were fed, growth was observed: none could deny the fact that the basic rights of humans were denied. The ideals for which the Russian revolution was fought was never fulfilled. So, by the end of the twentieth century, many started redefining the ideals and definitions of socialism.
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