Class 9 History Notes: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

1. The Age of Social Change

The French Revolution introduced ideas of freedom and equality, inspiring global discussions on societal change. In India, thinkers like Raja Rammohan Roy and Derozio debated these ideas, reshaping colonial perspectives.

Suffragette Movement: A movement to secure voting rights for women.

1.1 Liberals, Radicals, and Conservatives

Group	Beliefs	Key Features
Liberals	Tolerated all religions, opposed dynastic power, favored elected parliaments.	Supported voting rights for propertied men, not universal suffrage or women's vote.
Radicals	Advocated majority-based government, supported women's suffrage.	Opposed privileges of landowners and wealthy factory owners.
Conservatives	Initially resisted change, later accepted gradual reforms.	Respected tradition, preferred slow transformation.

1.2 Industrial Society and Social Change

The Industrial Revolution led to new cities, railways, and factories.
Long work hours, low wages, unemployment, and poor housing plagued workers.
Liberals and radicals, often property owners, promoted individual effort and education to improve society.
Nationalists like Giuseppe Mazzini in Italy pushed for revolutions to create equal nations.

1.3 The Coming of Socialism to Europe

Socialists opposed private property, viewing it as the root of social inequalities. They proposed collective ownership for societal welfare.

Robert Owen promoted cooperative communities like New Harmony.
Louis Blanc advocated government-supported cooperatives in France.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued for overthrowing capitalism to create a communist society where workers control property.

Cooperatives
Associations for collective production and profit-sharing.

Workers' Red Flag
Symbol of socialist revolution from the Paris Commune.

Marseillaise
Patriotic song symbolizing liberty.

1.4 Support for Socialism

By the 1870s, socialists formed the Second International to coordinate efforts.
Workers in England and Germany created associations for better conditions, influencing the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Germany and the Labour Party in Britain.
Despite shaping legislation, socialists did not form governments before 1914.

2. The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution (1917) saw socialists seize power through the February and October Revolutions, toppling the Tsarist monarchy.

2.1 The Russian Empire in 1914

Ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, the empire spanned Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
Russian Orthodox Christianity dominated, but Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Buddhists coexisted.

2.2 Economy and Society

85% of the population were agriculturists, higher than Europe's 40-50% (e.g., France, Germany).
Industry was concentrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow, with significant factory growth in the 1890s.
Workers faced long hours (15 in craft units, 10-12 in factories), low wages (women earned half to three-quarters of men's), and poor housing.
Peasants, owning little land, were divided; the mir (commune) periodically redistributed land.
Peasants distrusted nobles, often refusing rent or attacking landlords (e.g., 1902, 1905).

Mir: Russian peasant commune that periodically redistributed land.

2.3 Socialism in Russia

The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (1898) followed Marx's ideas, operating illegally with strikes and newspapers.
The Socialist Revolutionary Party (1900) focused on peasant rights, demanding noble land transfers.
Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) favored a disciplined party; Mensheviks wanted an open party.

2.4 The 1905 Revolution

Triggered by economic distress and autocratic rule, the revolution began with Bloody Sunday (January 1905).

1904

Economic Crisis

Rising prices reduced real wages by 20%.
Strikes at Putilov Iron Works demanded better conditions.

1905

Bloody Sunday and Revolution

January: Police and Cossacks killed over 100 workers at the Winter Palace.
Nationwide strikes, university walkouts, and the Union of Unions demanded a constituent assembly.
Tsar created the Duma, but dissolved it quickly, restricting political activity.

Real Wage: Reflects the actual purchasing power of wages.
Jadidists: Muslim reformers in the Russian empire advocating modernized Islam.

2.5 The First World War and the Russian Empire

Russia joined France and Britain against Germany, Austria, and Turkey in 1914.
Initial support for Tsar Nicholas II faded due to defeats (7 million casualties by 1917) and Tsarina Alexandra’s unpopularity.
Industrial shortages, railway breakdowns, and food scarcity (bread riots in 1916) discredited the government.

3. The February Revolution in Petrograd

In February 1917, food shortages and cold weather fueled unrest in Petrograd.

1917

Key Events

February 22: Factory lockout sparked strikes.
February 23: Women-led strikes on International Women's Day.
February 25: Duma suspended; demonstrators defied curfew.
February 27: Police Headquarters ransacked; soldiers mutinied, forming the Petrograd Soviet.
March 2: Tsar abdicated; Provisional Government formed.

4. The October Revolution

Led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the Bolsheviks seized power on October 24, 1917.

Lenin-s April Theses demanded peace, land redistribution, and bank nationalization.
The Military Revolutionary Committee organized the uprising, capturing key government buildings.
By December, Bolsheviks controlled Moscow and Petrograd.

Budenovka: Soviet military hat designed in 1918.

1917

Key Events

April: Lenin returned, proposed April Theses.
July: Bolshevik demonstrations repressed.
October 24: Uprising began; Winter Palace shelled by the Aurora.
November: All Russian Congress of Soviets approved Bolshevik actions.

5. What Changed After October?

5.1 Immediate Changes

Industries and banks nationalized in November 1917.
Land declared social property; peasants seized noble estates.
Bolsheviks renamed as Russian Communist Party.
Cheka (secret police) suppressed dissent; one-party state established.

5.2 The Civil War (1918-1920)

Reds (Bolsheviks) fought Whites (pro-Tsarists) and Greens (Socialist Revolutionaries), backed by foreign troops.
Bolsheviks won by 1920, aided by non-Russian nationalities and jadidists.

5.3 Making a Socialist Society

Five Year Plans (1927-1938) centralized economic planning, boosting industrial production (e.g., oil, coal, steel doubled).
Collective farms (kolkhoz) established; workers and peasants accessed universities and healthcare.
Poor working conditions persisted, e.g., Magnitogorsk steel plant workers faced harsh lives.

5.4 Stalinism and Collectivisation

Stalin's collectivization (1929) forced peasants into kolkhoz, eliminating kulaks.
Resistance led to livestock destruction; famines (1930-1933) killed over 4 million.
Over 2 million were imprisoned or executed by 1939 for opposing policies.

Kulaks: Well-to-do peasants targeted during collectivization.
Kolkhoz: Collective farms where land and profits were shared.

6. Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR

The revolution inspired communist parties worldwide, e.g., Communist Party of Great Britain.
The Comintern (1919) and Communist University of the Workers of the East promoted socialism globally.
In India, figures like Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore admired Soviet experiments.
By the 1950s, the USSR's repressive policies damaged its socialist reputation, though its ideals remained influential.

7. Key Terms

Kulaks: Wealthy peasants targeted during collectivization.
Duma: Elected consultative parliament under the Tsar.
Women Workers (1900-1930): Made up 31% of factory labor, paid less than men.
Liberals: Advocated religious tolerance and elected government, limited to propertied men.
Stalin's Collectivisation: Forced peasants into collective farms, causing famines and resistance.

8. Important Dates

Year	Event
1850s-1880s	Debates over socialism in Russia.
1898	Formation of Russian Social Democratic Workers Party.
1905	Bloody Sunday and the 1905 Revolution.
1917	February Revolution; Tsar abdicates (March 2); October Revolution (October 24).
1918-1920	Civil War between Reds, Whites, and Greens.
1919	Formation of Comintern.
1929	Beginning of collectivization.

9. Activities and Questions

9.1 Activities

List two differences between capitalist and socialist ideas of private property.
Write a speech for a meeting discussing the socialist idea of collective ownership as a poor laborer, medium-level landowner, or house owner.
Explain why there were revolutionary disturbances in Russia in 1905 and the demands of revolutionaries.
As a Tsarist general in 1916, suggest government actions to improve the war situation.
Compare the mood changes in workers between Source A and Box 1; write an account as a woman witnessing both.
Write accounts of the October Revolution from an estate owner, a small peasant, and a journalist.
Explain why Central Asians responded differently to the Russian Revolution.
Draft a defense speech as a striking worker in 1905.
Write news items for the October 1917 uprising for a conservative French paper, a radical British paper, and a Bolshevik Russian paper.
As a wheat farmer post-collectivization, write a letter to Stalin about your conditions.
Compare impressions of the USSR by Shaukat Usmani and Rabindranath Tagore, noting what they overlooked.

9.2 Questions

What were the social, economic, and political conditions in Russia before 1905?
How was Russia's working population different from Europe's before 1917?
Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in 1917?
List main events and effects of the February and October Revolutions; describe leaders, participants, and impacts.
What changes did the Bolsheviks introduce after October 1917?
Explain: kulaks, the Duma, women workers (1900-1930), the Liberals, Stalin's collectivization program.