SPRINGDALES SCHOOL ,PUSA ROAD

(CLASS IX)- HISTORY

SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
UNIT -1
LIBERALS-
Liberals were those thinkers who wanted a nation where-
1. All religions co-existed.
2. Rights of individuals were safeguarded.
3. Liberals opposed the uncontrolled powers of the dynastic rulers.
4. They wanted the elected parliamentary government where only rich men could vote.
5.They were not democrats because they did not demand for universal adult franchise.

RADICALS-
Radicals were those thinkers who wanted a nation where-
1. Government would be based on the majority of the country's population, including women.
2. They opposed big land owners and wealthy factory owners.
3. They disliked concentration of property in the hands of few.

CONSERVATIVES-
1. Conservatives supported monarchy.
2. They were opposed to radicals and liberals.
3.After the French Revolution, they accepted that some changes were needed but it had to be a slow process.

SOCIALISTS-
1. They were opposed to private property and saw it as a cause of all social ills.
2. This was because property owners were only concerned about their profits and not with the welfare of others.
3. Believed that society as a whole should control property.

COOPERATIVES-
Cooperatives were association of people who produced goods together and divided the profits according to the work
done by members.
Examples of Cooperatives-

I. Robert Owen- built a cooperative community in USA.

II. Louis Blanc-Wanted government to encourage cooperatives.

Karl Marx-
1. He believed that industrial society was a capitalist society.
2. Profits of the industrialists were produced by the workers.
3. Condition of workers would not improve if money went to the industrialists.
4. Believed that property should be socially controlled by the workers.
5. He urged the workers to rebel and take control of the factories.
5. This would make a communist society.
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INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND SOCIAL CHANGE--

1. Industrialisation brought men, women and children to factory cities.
2. Working hours were long and wages were very low.
3. Housing, sanitation and unemployment were problems since towns were growing very fast.
4. Radicals and liberals were opposed to aristocrats and the idea of privileges by birth.
5. They believed that workforce needed to be educated and healthy.
6. They believed that only individual freedom could lead to development of society.
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 UNIT -2

THE COMING OF SOCIALISM TO EUROPE PAGE-2

FEBRUARY 1917 REVOLUTION OCTOBER 1917 REVOLUTION

fall of Monarchy Victory of the Russian communist party

Russian Revolution-The fall of Monarchy in Russian in February 1917 and the events of October 1917 are normally
called as the Russian Revolution.

Russia before 1917-(Economy and society of Russia before the Russian Revolution)
I. Majority of the people in Russia before the revolution were agriculturists. 85 % of Russians were farmers.
II. Industries were located in areas like St. Petersburg and Moscow.
III. These factories were private properties of industrialists.
IV. Crafts workshops existed alongside large industries.
V. In factories, working hours were long and wages were poor.
VI. Craft workers were divided by their skill.
VII. Women workers were paid lesser than men.
VIII. In the countryside, peasants were deeply religious.
IX. Peasants did not respect nobility.

Russian peasants VS other European peasants-

Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in two ways-
1. In Russia, peasants had no respect for the nobility. But in France, in some centres, peasants fought for and with the
nobility during the French Revolution.
2. Russian peasants pooled their land together periodically and their commune divided it according to the needs of
individual families.

GIVE BRIEF ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS-

QUESTIONS ANSWERS

1. Russian Tsar in 1914

2. Extent of the Russian Empire in 1914
3. Religions in Russia in 1914
4. Majority religion in Russia
5. Cities having factories in Russia
6. 85% of Russian were-
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SOCIALISM IN RUSSIA

POLITICAL PARTIES WERE ILLEGAL IN RUSSIA BEFORE 1914.

1. The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party - (workers in the cities)

 founded in 1898 by socialists who respected Marx’s ideas
 operate as an illegal organisation
 set up a newspaper, mobilised workers and organised strikes
 Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik party.
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2. The Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900- (Peasants in the villages)
 struggled for peasants’ rights
 demanded that land belonging to nobles be transferred to peasants.

REVISION-
COMPLETE THESE STATEMENTS-
1. Russian peasants were different from other European peasants – __________
2. All political parties were illegal in Russia in 1914- _____________________
3. The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party got divided into _________
4. Lenin wanted his party to be ______________________________________
5. Lenin did not support peasants in his socialist party because___________
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THE 1905 REVOLUTION

CAUSE-
The year 1904 was a bad year for the workers. Wages did not match with the rising prices. Also four (4) workers were
dismissed from the Putilov Iron Works. 110,000 workers went on a strike in
St. Petersburg demanding-
a) Reduction of working hours
b) An increase in wages
c) An improvement in working conditions.

EVENTS-
1. BLOODY SUNDAY- When the protesters reached the winter palace led by Father Gapon, they were attacked by the
police. Over 100 workers were killed and 300 wounded. This event is known as the Bloody Sunday.
This event started a series of events known as the 1905 Revolution.
2. Strikes took place all over the country.
3. Unions of Unions were established by the middle class workers, doctors etc. demanding a Constituent Assembly.

RESULT- During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed for the creation of an elected consultative Duma.
However, after the revolution the Tsar dismissed the first and the second Duma and created the third Duma with
conservative politicians.
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RUSSIA AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR-

In Russia, initially the population supported the Tsar, however when the Tsar refused to consult the Duma support wore
thin.

Eastern and Western front differed during the First world war-(HOW?)
1. In the west, armies fought from trenches; but in the east, the armies had to move a great deal and fight battles.
2. Casualties were more on the eastern side.
3. Defeats were shocking and demoralizing for the Russians who lost badly in Germany and Austria.
4. By 1917, over 3 million refugees were created in Russia
5. Buildings and crops were destroyed in Russia.
6.Soldiers did not wish to fight such a war.

IMPACT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ON RUSSIA-

1. Russia was cut off from other suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea.
2. Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe.
3. By 1916, railway lines began to break down.
4. Able-bodied men were called up to the war. As a result, there were labour shortages and small workshops shut
down.
5. Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army.
6. For the people in the cities, bread and flour became scarce.
7. By the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops were common.
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FEBRUARY REVOLUTION- (1917)

 In February 1917, food shortage was felt by the common people in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).
 On 22nd February 1917, a factory was shut down.
 ON 23rd February 1917-
-Workers in fifty factories called for a strike in sympathy.
-In many factories, women led the strikes. This came to be called the International Women’s Day.
-Demonstrating workers crossed the factory quarters and went to the centre of the capital.
-Demonstrators dispersed by the evening, but they came back on the 24th and 25th February.
-The government called out the cavalry and police to keep an eye on them.
-They gathered to demonstrate in front of the official buildings but were dispersed by the Tsar and the
police.
 th
On 25 February 1917, the king suspended the Duma. This was followed by the demonstration by the people on the
26th and 27th Febuary1917.
 On 27th February 1917, soldiers joined the demonstrators and formed Petrograd Soviet.
 On 2nd March1917, Tsar abdicated the throne which brought monarchy down in Russia.
 Russia was now governed by the Provisional Government.

FORMATION OF THE PETROGRAD SOVIET

1. The Police Headquarters were ransacked.
2. People raised slogans about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.
3. The government called out the cavalry once again.
4. However, the cavalry refused to fire on the demonstrators.
5. An officer was shot at the barracks of a regiment and three other regiments mutinied, voting to join the striking
workers.
6. By that evening, soldiers and workers had gathered to form a ‘soviet’ or ‘council’ in the same building as the
Duma met.
7. This was the Petrograd Soviet (later called The Provisional Government)
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DEVELOPMENTS BETWEEN FEBRUARY AND OCTOBER 1917 IN RUSSIA-

I. Lenin returned to Russia in April 1917 and brought out his famous "April Theses".
 In this "April Theses" he demanded three things-
a) World War I to be brought to an end.
b) Land to be transferred to the peasants.
c) Banks to be nationalized.
 He renamed his Bolshevik Party as the Communist party.
 He asked the Soviets to take power from the Provisional Government.

II. Factory Committees and Trade Unions were formed in Industrial Cities. In June, about 500 Soviets sent
representatives to an All Russian Congress of Soviets

III. In the countryside, peasants and socialists leaders pressed for a redistribution of land and they seized land of
peasants.

IV. Provisional Government decided to take stern measures to stop spread of discontent in Russia. It began arresting
Bolshevik leaders. Demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks were sternly repressed. Many Bolshevik leaders had to go
into hiding or flee.

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 OCTOBER REVOLUTION- (1917)

EVENTS OF 16TH 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 organise the seizure.
 The date of the event was kept a secret.

EVENTS OF 24TH OCTOBER 1917

THE PROVISIONAL BOLSHEVIKS

GOVERNMENT(DUMA)

 Prime Minister Kerenskii summoned  The Military Revolutionary Committee seized

troops. government offices and arrest ministers.
 At dawn, military men loyal to the  Late in the day, the ship Aurora shelled the Winter
government seized the buildings of two Palace.
Bolshevik newspapers.  By night, the city was under the committee’s control
 Pro-government troops were sent to and the ministers had surrendered.
protect the Winter Palace.

RESULT-
 The All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd approved the Bolshevik action.
 Uprisings took place in other cities.
There was heavy fighting – especially in Moscow – but by December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-
Petrograd area.

QUESTION BANK- REVISION QUESTIONS

1. What were some of the powerful ideas brought out by the French Revolution?
2. What kind of developments took place as a result of new political trends in Europe?
3. What were the effects of Industrial revolution?
4. Who was the revolutionary in Italy who fought for equal rights?
5. What were the different vision of socialist thinkers?
6. What wasThe Paris Commune?
7. 7. What was Second International? Why was year 1904 bad year for Russian workers?
8. What led to 1905 revolution?
9. Who was the leader?
10. What happened on a Sunday during protest in 1905 in Russia?
11. What was the result of this revolution in Russia?
12. What changes after 1905 in Russia? How was the First World War different on both war fronts?
13. Explain the impact of the First World on Russian side?
14. Why were supplies not coming to Russian towns?
15. Why were crops destroyed by the Russian soldiers while retreating?

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