History IX:

Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution:

Industrial Revolution:
● The Industrial Revolution first began in the eighteenth century in England. Later, it
spread to the other parts of Europe.
● Industrialisation also resulted in large-scale migration of people from the villages to
the cities in search of work opportunities.
● Workers worked for long hours at extremely low wages.
● Housing and sanitation facilities were not given to workers.
● Unemployment was also growing.
● Many workers worked in very dangerous situation during the Industrial Revolution

Coming of Socialism:

● By the mid-nineteenth century, ideas of socialism had become well known in Europe.
Socialists believed that factory owners earned profits because of the hard work being
put in by workers, but the factory owners did nothing to look after the welfare of
workers.
● Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were well-known socialists who believed that the
profits earned by factory owners are produced by workers. Marx contented that all
property should be ownedby society. Such societies would be communist societies.
● These ideas spread to Europe by the mid-nineteenth century. Socialists over
different regionsformed the Second International to coordinate their efforts to spread
socialist ideas.
● In Germany, the Socialist Democratic Party was formed. Socialist Party was formed
in France and Labour Party was formed in Britain. These parties were however not
able to form governments in their countries

Conditions which led to the Revolution:

● Russia was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II.

● About 85% of the Russian population was engaged in agricultural activities.
Industries were located only at few places such as in St Petersburg and Moscow. It
was in the 1890s that many industries began to be set up in Russia.
● Sometimes, the workers had to work for 15 hours at low wages.
● Workers in Russia came from different backgrounds. The workers formed unions and
declared strikes whenever the working conditions in the factories deteriorated.
● Most of the lands in Russia belonged to the nobility and the Church.
● Russian peasants had no respect for the nobility and wanted the lands of the nobles
to be given to them.
● The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by the socialists.
However, because political parties were illegal in Russia, the party had to work as an
illegal organisation.
● The Socialist Revolutionary Party was formed in 1900 which struggled for the rights
of peasants.
● The Social Democrats differed from the Socialist Revolutionary Party on the issue of
farmers.

_Swapnil Chatterjee
 ● The latter under Lenin believed that peasants cannot be part of the socialist
movement as some peasants were poor, some were rich and some even employed
workers on their fields
The Revolution of 1905
● In 1904, the prices of bread rose and the real wages declined
● Over the next few years , more than one lakh workers went on strike in
St.Petersburg, demanding reduction in working hours an increase in wages.
● When the procession of workers Led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace of
the Tsar,they were attacked by the police.
● About 100 workers were killed and more than 300 wounded. This was known as
“Bloody Sunday “.
● 'Bloody Sunday' marked the beginning of strikes in the cities with students, lawyers,
doctors and engineers staging walkouts complaining about the lack of civil liberties.
● Under such circumstances, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected Parliament
called the Duma. He however tried to control the Duma.

Impact of First World War:

● In 1914, the First World War broke out between Germany, Austria and Turkey on one
hand and France, Britain and Russia on the other hand. Initially people of Russia
supported the Tsar but as the war progressed, the Tsar refused to consult the Duma.
● During the war, anti-German feelings ran high and Tsarina Alexandra's German
origins and poor advisors, especially a monk named Rasputin, made the autocracy
unpopular in Russia.
● Russian armies suffered greatly in the hands of the German and Austrian armies.
● As they retreated, the Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent the
enemy from being able to live off the land.
● The destruction of crops and buildings led to over 3 million refugees in Russia.
● Russia's own industries were few in number and the country was cut off from other
suppliers o industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea
● As a result, there were labour shortages and small workshops producing essentials
were shut down.

February Revolution :
● In February 1917, there were food shortages in Russia. While the working class was
disgruntled because of the shortages of food supplies, the Parliamentarians opposed
the decision of the Tsar to dissolve the Duma.
● On22 February, there was a lockout at a factory by the workers. More workers from
other factories joined them. Many women led the strike in factories. In many
factories, women led the way to strikes. This came to be called the International
Women's Day. This came to be known as International Women's Day. Curfew was
imposed by the Government.
● In next few days, more people joined the revolution. Politicians, workers and middle
class people began demonstrations demanding less working hours, more wages and
democracy. They were later joined by the cavalry and soldiers. Workers formed a
'soviet' which later came to be known as the Petrograd Soviet.

_Swapnil Chatterjee
 ● The Tsar abdicated the throne, and a new provisional government was formed by the
Soviet leaders. The Petrograd Revolution finally brought an end to the Russian
monarchy in February 1917.

Lenin :
● In April 1917, Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia. He had earlier demanded that the
war should be brought to an end, land should be distributed among the peasants and
banks should be nationalised. This came to be known as Lenin's 'April Theses'.
● During this time in Russia, the committees of workers were formed to look into the
working of the industries. Similarly, peasants under the Socialist leaders formed their
own groups and land committees were formed to handle the distribution of lands to
peasants.
● While the February Revolution led to the end to monarchy in Russia, October
Revolution led to an end of provisional government. Russia was declared as a
socialist country after the October Revolution

The Civil War:

● The Bolshevik uprising was criticised by socialists, liberalists and nobility. The leaders
of these groups moved to South Russia and organised troops to fight against the
Bolsheviks. They were supported by France, Britain, Japan and America as these
countries were worried over growth of socialism in Russia.
● As a result, a civil war began in Russia.
● Supporters of private property among 'whites' took harsh steps with peasants who
had seized land. Such actions led to the loss of popular support for the
non-Bolsheviks.
● By January 1920, the Bolsheviks controlled most of the former Russian empire. They
succeeded due to the cooperation with non-Russian nationalities and Muslim faddists
● The mechanism of centralised planning was introduced, and five-year plans were
made. This led to the industrial growth of Russia. This also led to poor working
conditions.
● The schooling system supported by the state developed, and peasants and workers
were encouraged to enrol into the universities. Cheap public health care was
provided to the workers.
● Many housing quarters were also set up for workers.
● Since the government's resources were limited, the effects of these measures were
uneven.

October Revolution:

● The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party.

● After the Bolsheviks held power in Russia, land was declared as a social property
and peasants were allowed to capture the lands of the nobility.
● Most of the industries and banks were nationalised by 1917.
● In cities, large houses were divided into several quarters according to the size of the
family.
● Later, the Bolsheviks conducted elections to the Constituent Assembly, but they
failed to gain majority votes. Lenin dismissed the Assembly.

_Swapnil Chatterjee
 ● The Bolsheviks became the only party in Russia which could contest the elections.
Thus, Russia became a one-party state. Police sentenced and punished those
people who criticised the
● Bolsheviks. While on one hand, many people supported the Bolsheviks as they stood
for socialism, on the other hand, people were also disillusioned with the party
because of the censorship imposed by them

Collectivisation

● Russia was facing a crisis of shortage of food grains. The peasants refused to sell
grains at the prices fixed by the Government, resulting in the shortage of grain
supplies in many cities.
● Stalin took over the reins of the party after the death of Lenin. He introduced strict
measures. In 1928, the party members visited many villages and raided rich
peasants known as the 'kulaks'.
● The party converted small landholdings of many peasants into one collective large
farm. All large, collectivised farms were cultivated by the farmers with the help of
tools pooled together. The profits of the farms were shared among the cultivators.
● Many peasants resisted the policy of collectivisation. They were severely punished
by the state.
● Many of them were deported and exiled. Stalin allowed only some independent
cultivations.
● Many party leaders who criticised the policy of collectorivization with punish and
executed.
● Stalin put many of his critics into labour camps & prisons
● Many professionals were also executed under the pretext of opposing the
government.

Effect on the world:

● Many people across the globe criticised the capture of power in Russia by the
Bolsheviks.
● However, many workers and peasants in other parts of the world supported the
Russian Revolution. The Bolsheviks founded Comintern an international communist
union of people supporting the Bolsheviks.
● Many non-Russians from outside the USSR participated in the Conference of the
Peoples of the East (1920) and the Bolshevik-founded Comintern.
● By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, the USSR had given socialism
a global face and world stature
● By 1950, it was realised that the Russian Government was not working according to
the principles of socialism.
● Although Russia had become an industrial power and agricultural activities improved,
it was contended that basic freedoms of the people, such as the right to speech,
were denied and that development was a result of repressive policies of the Russian
Government.

_Swapnil Chatterjee