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

• This was a period of profound social and economic changes. The ill effects of the 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 society.In realizing these possibilities, three different ideologies developed:LiberalsRadicalsConservatives

• 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.

• 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 the concentration of property in the hands of a few.

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

Socialism

• Socialists were against private property but had differing ideas on how a society without property could operate. Some of the 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- 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.Marx believed 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.

• New cities came up and newly 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 nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted revolutions for removing the governments established in Europe in 1815.

• 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 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

• 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.

• Nationalization of banks and industriesAvailability of cheap public health careCrèches was established in the factoriesModel living quarters for the workersAn extended schooling system developed; arrangements were made for factory workers and peasants to enter universitiesCentral planning, beginning of Five Years PlansCollective farming

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 worker’s strike in fifty factories. Women led the strikes in many factories and this day came to be known as 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 from the government in Russia.

• 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.

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

• Private property eradicatedMost industries and banks were nationalizedThe land was declared social property land of nobility was seized.Censorship in all aspects of life was imposedBạn on use of old titles of aristocracyRussia became a one-party state and the Russian Communist Party was the only partyRussia signed a peace pact with GermanyBeginning of the civil war in Russia

• After the Revolution, entire Russia was divided in three groups– viz.The Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’),Socialist Revolutionaries (the ‘greens’) andThe 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 on collective farms.

• The idea of a state of workers inspired many people. The Communist Party was formed in many countries.

Many non – Russians participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East (1920), and the Bolsheviks 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 essential freedom to its citizens and developmental projects were being carried out through repressive measures.The USSR as a socialist had declined.