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

Welcome back to our Class 9 History study series! Today we are looking at Chapter 2: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution.

If the French Revolution was about liberty and democratic rights, the Russian Revolution was about economic equality and the rights of workers. This chapter explains how the ideas of socialism spread across Europe and how they eventually led to the fall of the mighty Russian Empire, changing world history forever.

Let’s dive into the age of social change!

1. The Age of Social Change

The French Revolution opened up the possibility of creating a dramatic change in the way society was structured. However, not everyone in Europe wanted a complete transformation. Society was divided into three main political groups:

Liberals: They wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. They opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers and wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against governments. They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government. (Note: They were not democrats; they did not believe in universal adult franchise and felt only men with property should vote).
Radicals: They wanted a nation in which the government was based on the majority of a country’s population. They supported women’s suffragette movements. Unlike liberals, they opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners.
Conservatives: They were opposed to radicals and liberals. After the French Revolution, however, even conservatives had opened their minds to the need for change. But they believed that the past had to be respected and change had to be brought about through a slow process.

2. Industrial Society and Social Change

This was a time of profound social and economic change. It was the era of the Industrial Revolution.

The Reality of Factories: Industrialization brought men, women, and children to factories. Work hours were often very long, and wages were incredibly poor. Unemployment was common, and housing and sanitation problems were growing rapidly as towns expanded.
The Search for Solutions: Almost all industries were the property of individuals. Many liberals and radicals were property owners and employers themselves. They felt that such effort should be encouraged—that its benefits would be achieved if the workforce in the economy was healthy and citizens were educated.

3. The Coming of Socialism to Europe

By the mid-19th century in Europe, socialism was a well-known body of ideas that attracted widespread attention.

What is Socialism?

Socialists were against private property, seeing it as the root of all social ills of the time. Why? Because individuals owned the property that gave employment, but the propertied were concerned only with personal gain and not with the welfare of those who made the property productive.

Key Thinkers:

Robert Owen: A leading English manufacturer, sought to build a cooperative community called New Harmony in Indiana (USA).
Louis Blanc: Wanted the government to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: They added other ideas to this body of arguments.

Marx's Argument:
Karl Marx argued that industrial society was "capitalist." Capitalists owned the capital invested in factories, and the profit of capitalists was produced by workers. The conditions of workers could not improve as long as this profit was accumulated by private capitalists. Marx believed that to free themselves from capitalist exploitation, workers had to construct a radically socialist society where all property was socially controlled.

4. The Russian Empire in 1914

In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its massive empire.

Economy: At the beginning of the 20th century, the vast majority of Russia's people were agriculturists. About 85% of the Russian empire's population earned their living from agriculture.
Society: Workers were a divided social group. Some had strong links with the villages they came from, while others had settled in cities permanently. Despite divisions, workers did unite to strike work when they disagreed with employers about dismissals or work conditions.
The Peasants: In the countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility, the crown, and the Orthodox Church owned large properties. Unlike French peasants, Russian peasants had no respect for the nobility. They frequently refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords.

5. The 1905 Revolution

Russia was an autocracy; the Tsar was not subject to parliament. Liberals in Russia campaigned to end this state of affairs.

The Spark: The year 1904 was a particularly bad one for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20%.
Bloody Sunday: Over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike, demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages, and improvement in working conditions. When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace, it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded. The incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.
The Result: During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma. However, the Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and re-elected a second Duma within three months. He did not want any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power.

6. The First World War and the Russian Empire

In 1914, war broke out between two European alliances: Germany, Austria, and Turkey (the Central powers) and France, Britain, and Russia (later Italy and Romania). This was the First World War.

The war initially was popular in Russia, but as it continued, the Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma.
The Russian army lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There were over 7 million casualties by 1917.
The war had a severe impact on industry. Russia’s own industries were few in number and the country was cut off from other suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea. By 1916, riots at bread shops were common.

7. The February Revolution in Petrograd (1917)

In the winter of 1917, conditions in the capital, Petrograd, were grim. The workers' quarters and factories were located on the right bank of the River Neva, while the fashionable areas, the Winter Palace, and official buildings were on the left bank.

Food Shortages: In February 1917, food shortages were deeply felt in the workers' quarters.
The Strike: On February 22, a lockout took place at a factory. The next day, workers in fifty factories called a strike in sympathy. In many factories, women led the way to strikes. This came to be called International Women’s Day.
The Fall of the Tsar: The government tried to control the situation by calling out the cavalry. However, the cavalry refused to fire on the demonstrators. Soldiers and striking workers gathered to form a "soviet" or council in the same building as the Duma. This was the Petrograd Soviet.
The Result: On March 2, the Tsar abdicated (stepped down from power). Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country. The February Revolution had brought down the monarchy in 1917.

8. The October Revolution (1917)

As the conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks grew, Vladimir Lenin (the Bolshevik leader) feared the Provisional Government would set up a dictatorship.

Lenin's Return: In April 1917, Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He declared that the war be brought to a close, land be transferred to the peasants, and banks be nationalized. These three demands were Lenin’s "April Theses."
The Uprising: On October 24, the uprising began. The Bolsheviks, supported by the Petrograd Soviet and the Red Guards (armed supporters), seized control of government offices and arrested ministers.
By nightfall, the city was under the committee's control, and the ministers had surrendered. The Bolsheviks (who later renamed themselves the Russian Communist Party) were now in charge.

9. What Changed After October?

The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property. Most industry and banks were nationalized in November 1917. This meant the government took over ownership and management.

Land was declared social property, and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
The Civil War: When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army began to break up. Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals, and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising. This led to a fierce and bloody Civil War between the "Reds" (Bolsheviks), the "Greens" (Socialist Revolutionaries), and the "Whites" (pro-Tsarists). The Bolsheviks eventually won by 1920.

Stalinism and Collectivization:

After Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin took over the party. By 1927-1928, the towns in Soviet Russia were facing an acute problem of grain supplies.

Stalin believed that rich peasants and traders in the countryside were holding stocks in the hope of higher prices.
He introduced the Collectivization Programme. From 1929, the party forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms (kolkhoz). Those who resisted collectivization were severely punished, deported, or exiled.

Quick Revision Summary 📝

Liberals, Radicals, and Conservatives had different views on how society should change after the French Revolution.
Karl Marx argued that capitalist society exploited workers and advocated for a socialist society where property was socially controlled.
1905 Revolution: Triggered by "Bloody Sunday," leading to the creation of the Duma (Parliament).
February 1917 Revolution: Led to the fall of the Tsar and the end of the monarchy.
October 1917 Revolution: Led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, establishing a socialist government.
Stalin later introduced forced collectivization of agriculture to solve grain shortages.

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