Class 9 History Chapter 2: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

The Age of Social Change

Q: Who were the 'Liberals' in 19th-century Europe?
- A: They were a political group who wanted a nation that tolerated all religions and opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers, but they did not believe in universal adult franchise.
Q: How did 'Radicals' differ from Liberals?
- A: Radicals wanted a government based on the majority of a country's population, supported women's suffragette movements, and opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners.
Q: Who were the 'Conservatives'?
- A: They generally opposed the ideas of both liberals and radicals, believing that the past had to be respected and that change should be brought about through a slow process.

Q: What was the fundamental belief of socialists regarding property?
- A: Socialists were strictly against private property, viewing it as the root cause of all social inequalities and ills of the time.
Q: Who sought to build a cooperative community called 'New Harmony' in Indiana (USA)?
- A: Robert Owen, a leading English manufacturer.
Q: Who argued that industrial society was 'capitalist' and that workers must overthrow it to construct a radically socialist society?
- A: Karl Marx (along with Friedrich Engels).

Q: Who was the ruler of Russia and its empire in 1914?
- A: Tsar Nicholas II.
Q: What was the primary occupation of the vast majority of Russia's population at the beginning of the 20th century?
- A: Agriculture (about 85% of the Russian empire's population earned their living from agriculture).
Q: Who was the leader of the Bolshevik group?
- A: Vladimir Lenin, who thought the party should be disciplined and control the number and quality of its members.
Q: What event is known as 'Bloody Sunday' in Russian history?
- A: The incident in 1905 where a peaceful procession of workers led by Father Gapon was attacked by police and Cossacks, resulting in hundreds of deaths and triggering the 1905 Revolution.
Q: What was the 'Duma'?
- A: The Duma was an elected consultative Parliament created by the Tsar during the 1905 Revolution to pacify the protestors.

Q: What was the 'Petrograd Soviet'?
- A: It was a powerful council formed by mutinying soldiers and striking workers in March 1917 in the same building where the Duma met.
Q: What was the immediate outcome of the February Revolution of 1917?
- A: It led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the fall of the monarchy in Russia.
Q: What were Lenin's 'April Theses'?
- A: Lenin's three demands upon returning from exile in April 1917: bring the war to a close, transfer land to the peasants, and nationalize banks.
Q: Which event officially brought the Bolsheviks to power in Russia?
- A: The October Revolution of 1917, led by Lenin and Leon Trotsky.
Q: What was the Russian secret police called under the Bolsheviks?
- A: It was initially called the Cheka, and later the OGPU and NKVD, which punished those who criticized the Bolsheviks.

Q: What new name was adopted by the Bolshevik Party after the October Revolution?
- A: The Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
Q: Who took over the leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union after the death of Lenin?
- A: Joseph Stalin.
Q: Who were the 'Kulaks' in Soviet Russia?
- A: The term used for the well-to-do (rich) peasants in Russia, whom Stalin believed were hoarding grain to earn higher profits.
Q: What was Stalin's 'Collectivisation Programme'?
- A: A brutal policy introduced in 1929 forcing all peasants to give up their individual land and cultivate in collective farms called 'kolkhoz' to solve the acute shortage of grain.

Would you like me to generate a set of fill-in-the-blank questions based on this chapter to help you practice active recall?

Class 9 Vinayak Study Junction Beawar