Revision Notes for Class 9 History Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

NCERT Notes for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution NCERT Notes

Chapter Name	Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution Notes
Class	CBSE Class 9
Textbook Name	India and the Contemporary World I Class 9
Related Readings	Notes for Class 9 Notes for Class 9 History NCERT Solutions for Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

The Age of Social Change

• This was a period of profound social and economic changes. The ill effects of industrial revolution like long working hours, low wages, unemployment, lack of housing, sanitation system forced people to think about it.
• The French Revolution opened up the possibility of creating a dramatic change in the society. 
• In realizing these possibilities, three different ideologies developed:
• Liberals
• Radicals 
• Conservatives 

Liberals

• Tolerance of all religions.
• Opposed the uncontrolled powers of the king. 
• Supported the rights of the individuals. 
• Supported a representative, elected parliamentary government and independent judiciary. 
• Did not support universal adult franchise (right of every citizen including women) 
• Supported private property.

Radicals

• Government based on majority. 
• Opposed the privileges given to great landowners and wealthy factory owners. 
• Many of them also supported women’s suffragette movements. 
• Supported private property but disliked concentration of property in the hands of a few.

Conservatives

• Opposed liberals and radicals. 
• Asserted that past must be respected. 
• Change should be slow.

Socialism

Socialists were against the private property but had differing ideas on how a society without property could operate. Some of visions of socialists are as follows:-

Robert Owen

• Sought to build a cooperative community. 

Louis Blanc

• He wanted the government to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises. 

Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels

• They argued that the industrial society was ‘capitalist’. The capitalists owned the capital invested in the factories, and the profit of capitalists was produced by workers. Thus, capitalists exploit the workers. 
• Marxbelieved that this capitalist system would be triumphed by the workers and a socialist society would be established where all property would be socially controlled.

Autocracy

The rule by the king with absolute powers.

Industries and Social Change :-

• New cities came up and new industrialised regions developed and railways expanded. 
• Industrialisation brought-men, women and children to factories. 
• Working hours were often long and wages poor. 
• Unemployment was common. 
• Housing and sanitation problems were growing fast. 
• Almost all industries were the property of individuals.
• The liberals and radicals wanted that the workforce should be educated and healthy. 
• Many workers who wanted changes rallied around liberals and radicals.
• Some nationalist, liberals and radicals wanted revolutions for removing the governments established in Europe in 1815.

Coming of Socialism in Europe

• Socialism was well known by the mid 19th century in Europe. 
• Socialists opposed private property. 
• Believed that if a society as a whole controlled property, more attention would be paid to collective social interests. 
• Some socialists like Robert Owen believed in the idea of cooperatives. 
• Others like Louis Blanc felt that cooperatives could be built only if the governments encouraged them. 
• Cooperatives were associations of people who produced goods together and divided the profits equally.
• Karl Marx argued that an industrial society was capitalist which exploited the workers and kept the profits for themselves. He believed that the workers had to construct a radically socialist society where all property was socially controlled.

Support for Socialism

• Socialists formed an international body, namely the ‘Second International‘. 
• They set up funds for helping members in times of distress and demanded a reduction of working hours and the right to vote. 
• In Germany these associations worked with the Socialist Democratic Party and helped it in winning the parliamentary elections. 
• 1905: Socialists and trade unionists formed a Labour party in Britain and a Socialist Party in France. 
• Socialism however could not precede the influence of the radicals, liberals and conservatives.

Russian Revolution

• The events from the fall of the monarchy in February 1917 to the Socialists’ capture of power in Russia in October 1917 are called the Russian Revolution.

The Russian Empire in 1914

1914: Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia. 

• The Russian empire included current day Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Central Asian states, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the territory outside Moscow. 
• The majority religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity.

Economy and Society in Russia

• About 85% of the Russian population practiced agriculture. 
• Cultivators produced for both, market and their own needs. 
• Industries were few in number. St Petersburg and Moscow were the prominent industrial areas. 
• 1890s:Many factories were set up when the Russian railway network was extended.
• Foreign investment in industry increased. 
• Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled. 
• Government supervised large factories for ensuring minimum wages and limited hours of work. 
• The working hour for the craft units and small workshops was 15 hours and that of the factory was 10 to 12 hours. 
• Women made up 31% of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid between half and three-quarters of a man’s wage. 
• Workers associations were formed for helping members in times of financial hardships or unemployment. 
• 1896-1897:Workers strike in the textile industry.
• 1902:Workers strike in the metal industry. 
• The crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties. 
• The peasants disliked the nobility. 
• Nobles got their power and position through their services to the Tsar. 
• 1902-05: In Russia, peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them; they refused to pay the rent and also murdered the landlords. 
• Peasants in Russia pooled their land together periodically and their commune (mir) was divided in accordance to the needs of individual families.

Socialism in Russia

• Before 1914 all political parties were illegal in Russia. 
• 1898: The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded which operated illegally due to the government policing. 
• It set up a newspaper, mobilized workers and organized strikes. 
• 1900: Active socialists in the countryside formed the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
• The party demanded for peasant’s rights and transfer of lands from the nobles to the peasants. 
• Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik group and believed that in a repressive society, the party should be disciplined and should control the number and quality of its members. 
• The other socialist group named the Mensheviks advocated entry for all in the party.

Bloody Sunday

Over 100 workers were killed and 300 wounded, when the procession of workers near Winter Palace was attacked by the police. This incident is known as Bloody Sunday. It started

How was the Russian society Socialized?

• Nationalization of banks and industries
• Availability of cheap public health care
• Crèches were established in the factories
• Model living quarters for the workers
• An extended schooling system developed; arrangements were made for factory workers and peasants to enter universities
• Central planning, beginning of Five Years Plans
• Collective farming

The 1905 Revolution

• Liberals in Russia wanted the abolition of autocracy of the Tsar. 
• 1905:Liberals and the social democrats and the socialist revolutionaries along with the peasants and the workers revolted for a constitution.
• They were supported by nationalists in the empire and by jadidists (wanted modernized Islam to lead their societies) in Muslim-dominated areas.

The 1905 Revolution Causes

• 1904:Prices of the essential goods increased while the real income declined by 20%. 
• The dismissal of four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers at the Putilov Iron Works called for industrial action.

Consequences of the 1905 Revolution

• Strikes took place all over the country, universities closed down, and student bodies staged walkouts, complaining about the lack of civil liberties. 
• Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly. 
• The Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma. 
• The Tsar did not want any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power; he changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians.

Duma: Russian Parliament.

The First World War and the Russian Revolution

• 1914:First World War broke out between two European alliances – Germany, Austria and Turkey (the Central Powers) and France, Britain and Russia (later Italy and Romania). 
• 1914-1916: Russian armies lost badly in Austria and Germany. 
• Industries and industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe.
• Labour shortages and small workshops producing essentials were shut down as ablebodied men were called for the war. 
• By 1916, at bread shops were common owing to the bread and flour scarcity.

February Revolution

• In February, 1917, there was acute shortage of food in the workers’ quarters. This led to many protests. Soldiers also joined the striking workers. Sensing trouble, the Tsar abdicated and a Provisional Government was formed. Thus, the monarch was brought down in the February Revolution of 1917.

The February Revolution in Petrograd

• February, 1917:Food shortages were deeply felt in the worker’s quarters. The Tsar wanted to dissolve the Duma, but the revolutionaries opposed this. 
• 22nd February, 1917:A lockout took place at a factory which was followed by a workers strike in fifty factories. Women led the strikes in many factories and this day came to be known as the International Women’s Day.
• 25th February, 1917: The government suspended the Duma. 
• Striking workers and soldiers gathered to form a ‘soviet’ or ‘council’ in the same building where the Duma met. This was the ‘Petrograd Soviet‘.
• 2nd March, 1917:The Tsar abdicated on the advice of the military commanders. 
• The Soviet leaders and the Duma leaders formed a provisional Government for running the country. 
• A Constituent Assembly was elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage for of government in Russia.

April Theses

• In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He presented three demands which are known as Lenin’s April Theses. 
• These were:
• The war (First World War) must be brought to a close. 
• Land must be transferred to the peasants. 
• Banks must be nationalized.

The Revolution of October, 1917

• As the conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Lenin emphasized the uprising against the government. 
• The uprising began on 24 October. By the nightfall, the city was under Bolshevik’s control and the ministers had surrendered. Uprisings took place in other cities as well. This revolution is known as the October Revolution.

After the Revolution of October, 1917

• Private property eradicated
• Most industries and banks were nationalized
• Land was declared social property land of nobility seized.
• Censorship in all aspects of life was imposed
• Bạn on use of old titles of aristocracy
• Russia became a one-party state and the Russian Communist Party was the only party
• Russia signed peace pact with Germany
• Beginning of civil war in Russia

Civil War

• After the Revolution, entire Russia was divided in three groups– viz.
• The Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’), 
• Socialist Revolutionaries (the ‘greens’) and 
• The Tsarists (the ‘whites’)
• A Civil War among these groups started in Russia. The ‘greens’ and the ‘whites’ were supported by France, USA, Britain and Japan. Looting, banditry, and famine became common during the Civil War.

Collectivisation

• Stalin started the Collectivisation programme in Russia. Under this, the peasants were forced to cultivate in collective farms.

The Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR

• The idea of a state of workers inspired many people. Communist party was formed in many countries. 
• Many non-Russians participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East (1920), and the Bolshevik founded the ‘Comintern‘ (an international union of the pro- Bolshevik socialist parties).
• In Russia, industries and agriculture had developed and the poor were being fed but it had denied the essential freedom to its citizens and developmental projects were being carried out through repressive measures. 
• The USSR as a socialist had declined.