LOTUS VALLEY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NOIDA

ASSIGNMENT SHEET (2024-25)

CLASS IX
SUBJECT: HISTORY
CHAPTER 2 RISE OF SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

A. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS:

Q1. Who were liberals? Why they were not considered as democrats?
Ans. Liberals were the group which wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. They opposed the
uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers. They wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against
governments. They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government.
But Liberals were not democrats because they were against universal adult franchise i. e. the right of
vote to every citizen. They felt that only men of property should have the right to vote. They also didn't
want the vote for women.

Q2. Who were radicals? What were their ideas? How were they different from liberals?
Ans. Radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s
population. Many supported women’s suffragette movements.
Unlike liberals, they opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners. They
were not against the existence of private property but disliked concentration of property in the hands of
a few.

Q3. Who were conservatives? What were their viewpoints?

Ans. Conservatives were opposed to radicals and liberals. Earlier, in the 18th century, they had been
generally opposed to the idea of change but by the 19th century, they accepted that some change was
inevitable. They believed that the past had to be respected and change had to be brought about through
a slow process.

Q4. How were the peasants in Russia different from other peasants in Europe?
Ans. In Russia, peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them. Frequently, they refused to
pay rent and even murdered landlords. Thus, they did not respect nobles. But in Europe, peasants
respected nobles and fought for them.
2.Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in another way. They pooled their land
together periodically and their commune (mir) divided it according to the needs of individual families.
Q5. Write a short note on the following:
(a) Kulaks
ans. 1. Kulaks were the wealthy peasants who Stalin believed were hoarding the grains to gain more
profit.
2. When the towns faced acute shortage of grains, Kulaks were thought to be responsible for it.
3. Stalin thought it was necessary to eliminate them so that farms could be modernised.
(b) The Duma
Ans. In 1905, Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament called the Duma. The Tsar
dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and re-elected the second Duma within three months. The Tsar did
not want anyone to question his authority or undermine and reduce his powers.
(c) Stalin’s Collectivisation Programme
Stalin hoped to solve the problem of food shortage by combining small farms with large and modern farms.
This was collectivisation programme that began in 1929. Peasants were forced to work in these state-
controlled collective farms called Kolkhoz.
(d) Kolkohz
ans. Kolkhoz is a collective farm of the Soviet Union. The main idea of this farm is that the peasants
voluntarily participate in agriculture to co-operatively obtain crops out of it.

Q6. Why were socialists against private property and saw it as the root of all social ills?
Ans. According to the socialist’s individuals owned the property that gave employment but the propertied
were concerned only with personal gain and not with the welfare of those who made the property
productive. So, if society as a whole rather than single individual’s-controlled property, more attention
would be paid to collective social interests. Socialists wanted this change and campaigned for it.

Q7. What did Karl Marx want workers to overthrow? Why?

Ans. Karl Marx argued that industrial society was ‘capitalist and the profit of capitalists was produced by
workers. He believed that the conditions of workers could not improve as this profit was accumulated by
private capitalists. He wanted the workers to overthrow capitalism and the rule of private property. Marx
believed 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.

B. LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS:

Q8. What were the social, economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905?
Ans. The Social, economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905 was backward:
Social Conditions:
1. The majority religion was Russian orthodox Christianity, with other religion like Islam, Buddhism.
2. Workers were divided on the basis of their skill and mainly migrated to cities for employment in
factories.
3. The peasant community did not care much about the nobility and believed that land must be divided
amongst themselves (mir system).
Economic Condition:
1. Majority of Russians were agriculturists with few industries at St. Petersburg and Moscow.
2. Prices of essential good rise while real wages decreased by 20% leading to the famous St.
Petersburg strike.
3. Many factories were set up in the 1890s when Russia’s railway network was extended, foreign
investment in industry increased.
Political Condition:
1. Russia was a monarchy under Tsar Nicholas II.
2. Political parties were illegal before 1914.
3. The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists who respected
Marx’s ideas. In 1903, this party was divided into two groups - Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.

Q9. Describe the incident known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. State the events after the Bloody Sunday which
led to the Revolution of 1905 in Russia.
Ans. The procession of striking workers on 22nd January 1905, led by Father Gapon reached the Winter
Palace, it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300
wounded. This incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that came to be known as the
1905 Revolution.
1. Strikes took place all over the country.
2. Universities closed down when student bodies staged walkouts, complaining about the lack of civil
liberties.
3. Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers established the Union of Unions and
demanded a constituent assembly.
Q10. What was the impact of World War I on the Russian economy?
Or
What effects did the First World War have on industry of Russia?
1. The country was cut off from suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea.
2. Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia.
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.
 5. Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army therefore in the cities, bread and flour became
scarce.
Thus, by the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops were common.

Q11. Why did the Tsarist autocracy in Russia collapse in 1917?

1. After 1905, most trade unions and factory committees were declared illegal. There were restrictions
on political activity.
2. The Tsar first dismissed the initial two Dumas and then packed the parliament with the
conservatives.
3. During the First World War, the Tsar took decisions without consulting the Duma.
4. Large scale casualties of Russian soldiers in the war further alienated the people from the Tsar.
5. Burning of crops and buildings by the retreating Russian armies created a huge shortage of food in
Russia.
All of these led to the collapse of the Tsarist autocracy in 1917.

Q12. Describe the main events and effects of the February Revolution.
Ans. Events of February Revolution:
1. In February 1917, there was a shortage of food items in workers quarters.
2. On February 23, a lockout took place at a factory on the right bank. The workers in fifty factories
called a strike and women played a very critical role in these strikes.
3. On February 25, the government suspended the Duma.
4. On February 27, Police headquarters were ransacked, people were demonstrating and raising
slogans about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.
5. Petrograd Soviet was formed.
6. The Tsar abdicated on 2nd March 1917, bringing an end to the Monarchy.
7. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country.
Effects of the February Revolution:

1. Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed.

2. ‘Soviets’ like the Petrograd Soviet, were set up everywhere.

3. The number of trade unions increased.
4. In Industrial areas, factory committees were formed and soldiers’ committees were formed in the
Army.
5. The Bolsheviks’ influence kept growing, and the provisional government saw its power reducing.
6. Land committees were formed to handle redistribution of land, which was a popular demand for
peasants and their socialist revolutionary leaders in the countryside.
Q13. Describe the main events of the October Revolution.
Ans. 1. On 16th October 1917, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to agree to a
socialist seizure of power.
2. A military revolutionary committee was appointed by the Soviet under Leon Trotsky to organize the
seizure.
3.The uprising began on 24th October 1917 with military men loyal to the government seized the buildings
of two Bolshevik newspapers.
4. In retaliation, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices
and arrest ministers.
5. A ship named Aurora bombed the Winter Palace and other ships took over various military positions.
6. By December, Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.

Q14. What were the main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October
Revolution?
Or
Describe the effects of the October Revolution.
Ans. Effects of the October Revolution.
1. Industries and banks were nationalised by November 1917.
 2. The land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
3. Old titles of the aristocracy were banned.
4. New uniforms were designed for the army and officials.
5. Bolshevik Party was renamed as the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)
6. All Russian Congress of Soviets became the Parliament of the country. Russia became a one-party
state.
7. Trade unions were kept under party control and the Secret Police like CHEKA were created.

C. Mapwork:
Q15. On the political map of world locate and label the following:
(a) Central Powers of the First World War: Germany, Austria- Hungary, Turkey (Ottoman Empire)
(b) Allied Powers of the First World War: France, England, Russia, United States of America.