Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

Textbook question answers

Q 1.   What were the social economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905?

Ans: 

Economic condition:

1. The vast majority of Russia’s people were agriculturists. About 85 percent of the Russian empire’s population earned their living from agriculture.
2. Cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs and Russia was a major exporter of grain.
3. The industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg and Moscow.
4. Large factories existed alongside craft workshops.
5. Many factories were set up in the 1890s when Russia’s railway network was extended and foreign investment in industry increased.
6. Most industries were the private property of industrialists.

Social condition:

1. Workers were divided into social groups on the basis of skill. The division was also visible in dress and manners also.
2. Some workers formed associations to help members in times of unemployment or financial hardship.
3. Despite divisions, workers united themselves to strike, work when they disagreed with employers about dismissals or work conditions,
4. Like workers, peasants too were divided. They also had no respect for the nobility,
5. Peasants pooled their land together periodically and their commune divided it according to the needs of individual families.

Political condition:

1. Russia was under the control of Tsars, who believed in the Divine Right Theory of Kings.
2. The general people had no say in the administration of the country.
3. All political parties were illegal.

Q 2. In what ways was the working population in Russia different from other countries in Europe before 1917?

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Ans:

 The working population in Russia was different from other countries in Europe before 1917 in the following ways

Industrial Workers

1. Many workers had settled in cities permanently but many had strong links with the villages from which they came and continued to live in villages. They went to the towns to work daily and then returned to their villages in the evenings.
2. Workers were a divided social group. Workers were divided by skill. Divisions among workers were visible in their dress and manners also.
3. Metal workers considered themselves aristocrats among workers as their occupations demanded more training and skill.
4. Women made up 31 percent of the labour force by 1914, but they were paid less than men.
5. Some workers formed associations of help in times of unemployment or financial hardship.
6. Workers got low wages and they had long working hours. They had very few political rights; in short, their life was miserable.

Agricultural Workers

1. About 85 percent of Russia’s population earned their living from agriculture but most of them were landless farmers.
2. Most of the land was owned by the nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church.
3. In France, during the French Revolution in Brittany, peasants respected and fought for the landowners, but in Russia peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them.
4. They refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords.
5. Russian peasants were different from European peasants in another way. They pooled their land together periodically and their commune divided it according to the needs of individual families.
6. Like industrial workers, the condition of the agricultural workers or farmers was also very miserable because of low wages, doing free labour and paying high rent and revenue.

Q 3. Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in 1917?

Ans:

The Tsarist autocracy collapsed in 1917 due to the following reasons

(a) Miserable Condition of the Workers

1. The industrial workers in Russia got very low wages. They had very long working hours, sometimes up to 15 hours.
2. A large number of workers were unemployed.
3. The workers demanded higher wages and the reduction in working hours but their demands were not met and they became dissatisfied.

(b) Miserable Condition of Peasants

1. Most of the peasants were landless and very poor.
2. The small farmers who possessed land had to pay high land revenue.
3. The landless farmers demanded that the land of the nobles should be given to them.

However, their demands were not fulfilled and they too became dissatisfied.

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(c) Russia’s Defeat in the First World War

1. Initially, the people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II; however Russian armies suffered defeats and a large number of soldiers were killed in the war.
2. The Russian population wanted to withdraw from the war, but the Tsar was not willing to do so. This turned the Russian people against him and encouraged them to revolt.

Q 4. Make two lists: one with the main events and the effects of the February Revolution and the other with the main events and the effects of the October Revolution. Write a paragraph on who was involved in each. Who were the leaders and what was the impact of each on the Soviet history?

Ans:

• February, Revolution

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 deciding the nature of government in Russia.

Effect

1. The liberals and the socialists along with the influential army officials, landowners and industrialists in the Provisional Government worked towards an elected government.
2. Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile
3. In Industrial areas, factory committees were formed.
4. Trade unions grew and soldier’s committees were formed in the army.
5. Land committees were formed and peasants seized land between July and September 1917.

Who were Involved; the Leaders and Its Impact

Both men and women workers were involved. There were no particular leaders. The effect was that it brought down the autocratic monarchy.

October Revolution

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October 1917: Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party for a socialist seizure of power.

A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviet under Leon Trotskii for organizing the seizure.

24th October 1917: The uprising began. Prime Minister Kerenskii left the city for summoning troops. Military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of the two Bolshevik newspapers; troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace.

The Military Committee ordered the seizure of government offices and arrest of ministers.

By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.

Results of the October Revolution

1. Most industries and banks were nationalized.
2. The land was declared to be a social property and the peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
3. Large houses were partitioned as per the requirements of the family.
4. The use of old titles by the aristocracy was banned.
5. New uniforms were designed for the army and officials.
6. The Bolshevik party was renamed the ‘Russian Communist Party’.

Who was Involved, the Leaders and Its Impact

Bolsheviks were the main people involved. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky were the main leaders. The effect was that it brought the Bolsheviks to power to form a communist government for the first time in the world.

Question 5. What were the main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution?

Answer

The main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution were

1. The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property.
2. Therefore most industries and banks were nationalised.
3. The land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
4. In cities, Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family requirements.
5. They banned the use of old titles of the aristocracy.
6. New uniforms were designed for the army and officials.
7. The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
8. Russia became a one-party state and trade unions were kept under party control.
9. For the first time, the Bolsheviks introduced a centralised planning on the basis of which Five Year Plans were made for the development of Russia.

Q 6. Write a few lines to show what you know about

1. Kulaks
2. The Duma
3. Women workers between 1900 and 1930
4. The Liberals

Ans:

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(a) Kulaks

Kulaks were the well to do peasants of Russia. The members of the Bolshevik party raided the Kulaks and their goods were seized. It was believed that the Kulaks were exploiting the peasants and hoarding grain to earn higher profits and thus leading to grain shortages.

(b) The Duma

1. During the 1905· Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma as it was called in Russia.
2. The Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and the second Duma was elected within three months.
3. The third Duma was packed with conservative politicians. Liberals and revolutionaries were kept out of the Duma.

(c) Women Workers between 1900 and 1930

1. Women made up 31 percent of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid less than men.

In the February Revolution in many factories, the women led the way to strikes. Thus, 22 February came to be called the International Women’s Day.

(d)The Liberals

1. They wanted secularism, safeguarding the rights of individuals against governments and opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers.
2. They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government.
3. They wanted the interpretation of the laws by a well-trained judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials.
4. They did not believe in a universal adult franchise and wanted the right to vote for only the men of property.
5. They did not support the granting of voting rights to women.

 (e) Stalin’s collectivization programme

Stalin introduced a programme of collectivization.

1. Peasants worked on the lands of the owners of collective farms and the profit was shared.
2. Those who resisted collectivization were severely punished or deported and exiled.
3. Stalin treated independent cultivation unsympathetically.