HISTORY CH-2

SOCIALISM IN EUROPE &

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
 AGE OF SOCIAL CHANGE
 The French Revolution of 1789 gave momentum to the ideas of
freedom and equality in Europe.
 In India, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
popularized the ideals of the French Revolution.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

 But not all people were in favour of complete transformation of society .
 Responses varied from those who accepted that change was necessary to those
who wanted to restructure the society radically.
 The 3 categories of people included :

LIBERALS EUROPE CONSERVATIVES

RADICALS
 RADICALS
LIBERALS • They were opposed to
CONSERVATIVES
concentration of power in
• They were opposed to the few hands.
• They were opposed to • They were opposed to
absolute power of the
privileges of landowners & the liberals and radicals.
monarch.
wealthy factory owners. • They accepted some
• Wanted to safeguard
• They were not against the change was inevitable in
individual rights through existence of private 19th century.
an elected parliamentary property. • They believed the past
system of government & • They wanted a nation in had to be respected &
independent judiciary. which government was
change had to be brought
• They did not believe in based on majority of the
about through a gradual
universal adult franchise. country’s population.
• Favoured women’s process.
• Wanted voting rights for
men of property only. suffragate .
 INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND CHANGE
 This was the period of industrialization when new cities and new
industrial regions developed, railways expanded and the Industrial
Revolution started .
 Men , women and children worked in the factories.
 The working hours were long and wages were low.
 The main problems faced were :
1. Unemployment 2. Housing 3. Sanitation
 The Liberals and Radicals who were factory owners opposed
the privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy on the basis of birth.
 They stressed that the benefits of industrialization should be
passed on to the workers.
 COMING OF SOCIALISM TO
EUROPE
 The idea of Socialism attracted widespread attention in mid 19th
century Europe.
 Socialists were against private property and saw it as the root of all
social evils.
ROBERT OWEN
 Socialists had different visions of the future.
 Robert Owen sought to built a cooperative community called New
Harmony in Indiana (U.S.A.).
 In France, Louis Blanc wanted the government to encourage co-
operatives to replace capitalist enterprises.
 Co-operatives were associations of people who produced goods
together and divided the profits amongst the members according to
the work done by them.
LOUIS BLANC
 COMING OF SOCIALISM TO
EUROPE

 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels added their own ideas.

 Karl Marx argued that industrial society was capitalist,
where the capitalists owned the capital invested in
factories. They were the ones who earned all profits.
KARL MARX
 Marx argued that to free themselves from capitalist
exploitation , workers had to construct a radically socialist
society where all property was socially controlled.
 This would be a Communist Society – considered as the
natural society of the time.

FREDERICK ENGELS
 SUPPORT FOR SOCIALISM
 By the 1870s, Socialist ideas spread throughout Europe.
 To co ordinate their efforts, Second International – an international body was
formed.
 Workers in England and Germany began to form associations to fight for
better living and working conditions.
 They demanded reduction of working hours
and the right to vote.
 Example –Social Democratic Party in Germany
Labour Party In England in 1905
Socialist Party in France in 1905
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN 1914
 In 1914, the Russian Empire was ruled by Tsar
Nicholas II, who was a corrupt & oppressive ruler.
TSAR NICHOLAS II
 The Russian empire included Moscow, Finland,
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland,
Ukraine and Belarus.
 Russian empire stretched to the Pacific and
comprised Central Asian states like Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
 The majority religion was Russian Orthodoxy
Christianity.
 Empire also included Catholics, Protestants,
Muslims & Buddhists.
 ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
 At the beginning of the 20th century, 85% of the Russian population
were agriculturists.

 Russia was a major exporter of grain.

 Prominent industrial areas were Moscow and St. Petersburg.

 In 1890s Russia’s railway network expanded and foreign

investment in industry increased .

 Industries were controlled by industrialists.

 Workers were divided into groups on the basis of their skill.

 Women made up 31% of the factory labour force by 1914.

 Despite divisions, workers united to strike work when they were WORKERS ON STRIKE
unhappy with the working conditions and working hours.
 RUSSIAN PEASANTS

 In the countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land.

 The Russian peasants had no respect for the nobility.
 They refused to pay rent.
 They wanted lands of the nobles to be given to them.
 The peasants even murdered the landlords, particularly
in 1902 and 1905.
 Russian peasants unlike the European peasants pooled
their land together periodically and the commune (Mir)
divided it according to the needs of the individual
families.
RUSSIAN MIR
 SOCIALISM IN RUSSIA
 All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914.
 The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898.

 It struggled to give peasants their rights over land that belonged to the
nobles.

 As land was divided among peasants periodically, it was felt that they were
the natural socialist and they were the main source of the revolution.

 Socialists founded the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900.

 But the Social Democrats disagreed with Social Revolutionaries about

peasants being one social group & were divided over the strategy of
organisation.

 The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was divided into 2 groups .
 RSDLP

LENIN

BOLSHEVIKS MENSHEVIKS

VLADIMIR ALEXANDER
LENIN KERENSKII

KERENSKII
 THE 1905 REVOLUTION

 Russia was an autocracy.

 The Tsar was not subject to the Parliament.
 The liberals wanted to end this state of affairs.
 They worked towards demanding a Constitution during the Revolution
of 1905.
 BLOODY SUNDAY
 Prices of essential goods rose so quickly by 1904 that the real wages
declined by 20 %.
 During this time, 4 members of the Putilov Iron Works were
dismissed.
 There was a call for industrial action.
 Over 110,000 workers went on strike demanding a reduction in
working hours and increase in wages.
FATHER GAPON
 The procession was led by Father Gapon.
 The procession was attacked by the police and Cossacks.
 Over 100 workers were killed and 300 wounded.
 This incident known as Bloody Sunday started a series of events
that became known as 1905 Revolution.
 REVOLUTION OF 1905

 People demanded the creation of 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 announced the election
of a Second Duma.

RUSSIAN DUMA
 FIRST WORLD WAR & RUSSIAN EMPIRE
 In 1914, First World War broke out between 2 European alliances-
Central Powers and Allied Powers .
 Central Powers – Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey
 Allied Powers – England, France, America and Russia ( later Italy
and Romania).
 In Russia, the war was popular at the beginning and people rallied
around the Tsar.
 But later the support grew thin
 There were 7 million casualties and 3 million refugees in Russia.
 Anti German sentiments ran high.
 Russian armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914
& 1916 .
EUOROPE DURING FIRST WORLD WAR
 FIRST WORLD WAR & RUSSIAN
EMPIRE
 The first world war (1914-18) had a severe
impact on industry.
 By 1916, railway lines began to break down.
 Able bodied people were called up to the war.
 Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the
army.
 So bread and flour became scarce in the cities.
 By 1916, bread riots became a common feature.

BREAD RIOTS
 FEBRUARY REVOLUTION IN
PETROGRAD IN 1917
 In the winter of 1917, conditions in the capital
Petrograd (St. Petersburg) were grim.
 In February 1917, acute food shortages were felt in
the worker’s quarters.
 On February 22, a lockout took place at a factory
on the right bank of the River Neva.
 Workers of 50 other factories joined in sympathy.
 Women also led and participated in the strikes.
This came to be called the International Women’s
Day.
 FEBRUARY REVOLUTION IN
PETROGRAD
 On 25th February, 1917 the government suspended the
Duma.
 On 27th February,1917 the police headquarters were
raided.
 The streets were crowded with people raising slogans
about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.
 On 2nd March, the Tsar finally abdicated his power and
the Soviet and Duma leaders formed a Provisional
government for Russia.
 EFECTS OF FEBRUARY REVOLUTION
1917
 Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed.
 Soviets like the Petrograd Soviet were set up everywhere.
 No system of election was followed.
 In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Lenin returned to Russia from his
exile.
 He made three demands known as the April Theses . These demands
were -
1 . War should be brought to an end.
2. Land should be transferred to the peasants.
3. Banks should be nationalized.
LENIN ADDRESSING THE
WORKERS
 EFFECTS OF FEBRUARY REVOLUTION

 Slowly, the Bolshevik party

was becoming powerful .
 To reduce its power,
Provisional Government
arrested Bolshevik leaders. PRO BOLSHEVIK DEMONSTRATION
 Hence many Bolshevik
leaders had to go into hiding
or flee.
 OCTOBER REVOLUTION,1917
 On 16th October ,Lenin persuaded Petrograd Soviet and Bolshevik party to
agree to a socialist seizure of power.
 A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviets to
organise the seizure.
 The uprising began on October 24, 1917. KERENSKII
 Sensing trouble, Prime Minister Alexander Kerenskii left the city to summon
troops.
 Military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of two Bolshevik
newspapers.
 Pro government troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph
offices and protect the Winter Palace.
 Military Revolutionary Committee ordered to seize government offices and
arrest the ministers.
LENIN
 OCTOBER REVOLUTION IN 1917

 Aurora ship shelled the Winter Palace

in Petrograd.
 Other ships sailed down the Neva river
and took over strategic points.
 By night , the city was under the AURORA SHIP
Committee’s control and the ministers
had resigned.
 All Russian Congress of Soviets in
Petrograd approved the Bolshevik
action.

WINTER PALACE
 EFFECTS OF OCTOBER REVOLUTION
 Most industries and banks were nationalized in November
1917.
 Land was declared as social property and peasants were
allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
 Use of old aristocratic titles was banned.
 New uniforms were designed for the army and the officials.
 Russia became a one party state.
BUDEONOVKA
 Trade unions were kept under party control.
 The Secret Police ( called Cheka first, later OGPU and
NKVD) punished the anti Bolsheviks.
 CIVIL WAR
 When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army
began to break up.
 Non Bolshevik socialists, liberals, supporters of autocracy condemned
the Bolshevik uprising.
 The Socialist Revolutionaries formed their troops and were called
Greens, who would fought against Bolshevik Red.
 The Pro Tsar Whites controlled most of the Russian empire.
 They were supported by French, American, British and Japanese
troops.
 All these fought a war with the Bolsheviks.
 By January 1920, the Bolsheviks controlled the former Russian
Empire.
 In 1922, the Bolsheviks created the Soviet Union (USSR) from the
Russian empire in Dec 1922.
 MAKING OF A SOCIALIST
SOCIETY
 A process of centralized planning was introduced.
 Five Year Plans were introduced.
 This led to economic growth.
 Industrial production increased.
 An extended schooling system was developed .
 Arrangements were made for factory workers and
peasants to enter universities.
 Collectivisation of farms started.
 STALIN AND COLLECTIVE FARMING
 By 1927-28, towns in Soviet Russia were facing acute problem
of food shortage.
 Stalin who headed the party after Lenin introduced firm
emergency measures.
 He believed that rich peasants and traders stocked supplies to
create the shortage of grains.
 Hence Stalin introduced collectivization programme.
 Kulaks (well to do peasants ) were eliminated.
 From 1929, peasants were forced to cultivate in collective
farms .
 Bulk of land and implements were transferred to the JOSEPH STALIN
ownership of collective farms.
 Those farmers who resisted collectivization were punished,
deported or exiled.
 GLOBAL INFLUENCE OF
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION & USSR
 Russia became the first country to establish a communist state.
 Bolsheviks encouraged colonial people to follow their experiment.
 Many non Russians participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East
(1920) .
 Bolshevik founded Comintern, an international union of pro Bolshevik
socialist parties.
 By end of 2oth century, international reputation of USSR as a socialist party
had declined.
 But socialist ideas still enjoyed respect among people.
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