Socialism in Europe and Russian Revolution

Class 9

The Age of Social Change (Part 1):

Giuseppe Mazzini (1815):
• An Italian nationalist.
• Asked other Italians to achieve democracy in Italy.
• His writings were also read by Indians.
Robert Owen (1771 – 1858):
• A big English manufacturer.
• Owner of New Harmony (USA).
Louis Blanc (1813 – 1882), Karl Marx (1818 –
1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820 – 1895):
• Capitalist – capitalists are those who hold share in a
factory.
• Profit of the capitalist were produced by the workers.
• Working conditions were poor.
• Working hours were long.
• Wanted to control all private property by a socialist
society where it is socially controlled.
• One said “A communist society was the natural society
of the future”.
Note:
Parties:
 • In Germany – Social Democratic Party (SPD)
• In Britain (1905) – Trade Unionist Formed Labours Party
• In France (1905) – Socialist Party
• Up to 1914, socialist was not successful in forming a
government in Europe.
The Russian Revolution (Part 2):
• In 1914, Tsar Nicholas 2 is the king of Russia and its
empire.
• Russian empire includes Moscow, current day Finland,
Latina, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and
Belarus. It stretches till Pacific and Central Asian states
Georgia and Azerbaijan.
• The government of Russia is called Duma.
• Prominent industrial areas were St. Petersburg and
Moscow.
• Craftsmen took more place in production.
• Women were 31 percent in factory by 1914.
• Women were paid lesser than that of men (about half or
three quarter).
• Many factories were set up in 1890s.
• Railways extended and foreign investment increased.
• In craft units and small workshops, the working hour is
about 5 hours but in big factories they were 10 – 12
hours.
• Factory inspectors were set up by government, but they
couldn’t prevent minimum wages and limited working
hours.
• In factories workers stayed in rooms and by 1914 they
lived in dormitories.
 • The workers couldn’t keep their family with them.
• Workers were sleeping in shifts.
• The metal factory workers of St. Petersburg once said
“The metal workers thought them as aristocrats and their
occupation needed more training and skills”.
• The division of labours showed them by their dresses.
• Some workers formed association to help members in
their time of unemployed and financial support.
• Strikes took place in industry during 1896 – 1897 and in
metal industry in 1902.
• The Russian peasants wanted the land of nobles.
• They even refused to pay rents and they even killed their
land lords.
• In 1902, this was being done largely on South Russia.
• In 1905, this took place all over Russia.
• Russian peasants were different from European peasant
in many different ways.
• Peasants joined all their land periodically and divide their
lands according to their family needs.

The February Revolution in Petrograd (Part

3):
• Workers in quarters met a food shortage.
• The workers made a strike in a factory in 23rd February,
1917.
• The next day workers of fifty factories called a strike in
sympathy.
• Women also came for this strike.
• This became the International Women’s Day on 23rd
February.
• Tsar Nicholas 2 dismissed the third Duma on 25th
February.
• Tsar first ordered cavalry to keep an eye on them.
• 26th February was when the demonstrators came again.
• The cavalry refused and joined with the demonstrators.
• The soldiers and workers formed Soviet.
• On 2nd March Tsar Nocholas 2 was asked to abdicate his
throne by army officials.
• The Provisional Government formed.
• Restrictions were everywhere.
• Soviets were everywhere.
• Vladmir Lenin returned from his exile.
• Vladmir Lenin formed the Bolshevik Party.
• The Bolshevik was renamed as Communist Party.
• Vladmir demanded 3 things known as the April Theses.
• The “April Theses” were
I. Banks to be nationalised.
II. Lands to be transferred to peasants.
III. And to end the war.

• The Bolshevik Party influence grew and Provisional

Government reduced. This made a conflict between
Bolshevik and Provisional Government.
• In result to this Lenin gathered Soviets and Bolsheviks
and made them protest against Provisional Government.
• And in result “Military Revolutionary Committee” was
formed by Lenin.
 • Lenin made Leon Trotskii as the leaded of Military
Revolutionary Committee.
• At this time Kerensky was the Prime Minister of Russia.
He guessed something was wrong and asked military to
protect Winter Palace.
• Military Revolutionary Committee took a ship aurora
and shelled at Winter Palace. Other vessels were at the
parts of river Neva. Other Bolshevik members caught the
other ministers.
• Now the city was in hands of Bolshevik.
What changed after October? (Part 4):
• Many banks and industries were nationalised.
• Bolsheviks opposed social property.
• They allowed peasants to seize the property of nobility.
• The houses were divided according to the family needs.
• A dressing competition was held in 1918.
• In this competition, (budeonovka) the soviet hat was
chosen.
• Bolshevik party was renamed as Russian Communist
Party.
• In November 1917, Bolsheviks conducted election.
• The Bolsheviks lose the election and Social
Revolutionary Party won.
• Bolsheviks dismissed them and said they won in unfair
conditions.
• Bolsheviks said All Russian Congress of Soviet was
more liberal.
• In March 1918, Bolsheviks made peace with Germany
and Brest Litovsk.
• Russia was made one Party state.
• Bolsheviks had secret police called cheka laterly called
as OGPU and NKVD.
• NKVD and OGPU punished who criticised Bolshevik
Party.
• The Russian army started to break up.
• Soldiers were mostly peasants.
• Soldiers like to move to their native and farm the land
which they got from redistribution.
• The reds were Bolshevik, greens were Non-Bolshevik
Socialist and whites were Pro Tsarists.
• Green and white opposed red.
• Red has people support.
• Green and white got support from Japanese, Americans
and British.
• Green and white ruled many parts in Russia.
• Reds ruled full Russia in January 1920.
• After the death of Lenin, Stalin took the power and ruled
the country.
• He introduced collectivisation.
• In this collectivisation, the lands were collected and
distributed. The Bolsheviks officials supervised them.
The peasants should work in land and were paid low.
• The price of grains was fixed by government.
• Because of the collectivisation, many peasants killed
their cattle.
• Russia met a famine during 1930-1933 in which 4
million peoples died.
• Between 1929 to 1931, the amount of cattle fell by one
third.
 • The collective farming is also called as Kolkborg.
• The peasants were allowed to independently cultivate but
they were treated unsympathetically.
• The people who oppose collectivisation were exiled.
• By 1939, over 2 million were in prison or labour camps.
• Most of the prisoners were innocent but nobody spoke
for them.
• Many of them were forced to make false confessions
under torture and were executed.
• Bolsheviks introduced first five years plan.
• The first 2 of the five years plan were during 1927-1932
and 1933-1938.
• Industrial production increased by 100 percent between
1929 and 1933.
The Global Influence of the Russian
Revolution and the USSR Part 5):
• Bolsheviks held a conference in eastern parts of Russia
in 1920.
• Many non-Russians participated in this conference.
• For representing India Jawaharlal Nehru and
Rabindranath Tagore were in the conference.
• Bolsheviks founded an International Union of Pro-
Bolshevik Socialist Parties.
• Some of them received education in USSR’s Communist
University of the workers.
• The first five years plan introduced in Russia and now
many countries follow that including India.