CBSE CLASS 9 : HISTORY - CHAPTER 2 : Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

1. The Age of Social Change

Liberals: Wanted a nation that tolerated all religions and argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government but did not believe in Universal Adult Franchise.
Radicals: Wanted a government based on the majority of a country’s population and supported women’s suffragette movements.
Conservatives: Opposed both liberals and radicals initially but later accepted that some change was inevitable, provided it was slow and respected the past.
Industrial Change: Industrialization brought men, women, and children to factories, but resulted in long hours, low wages, and housing/sanitation problems.

Socialists: Were against private property, seeing it as the root of all social ills, and wanted a society where property was controlled socially.
Robert Owen: A leading English manufacturer who sought to build a cooperative community called New Harmony in Indiana.
Louis Blanc: Wanted the government to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises.
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels: Argued that workers must overthrow capitalism and private property to create a "Communist Society" where all property was socially owned.

Tsar Nicholas II: Ruled the vast Russian Empire in 1914, which included modern-day Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and parts of Poland and Ukraine.
Economic Base: About 85% of the Russian population were agriculturists, making Russia a major exporter of grain.
Worker Division: Workers were a divided social group based on skill, with metalworkers considering themselves "aristocrats" among workers.
Peasant Uniqueness: Russian peasants were different from European peasants because they periodically pooled their land and had it divided by their commune (Mir).

Political Parties: All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1904.
RSDLP: The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (founded 1898) followed Marx’s ideas but had to operate as an illegal organization.
The Split: The party split into Bolsheviks (led by Lenin, wanting a disciplined party) and Mensheviks (wanted the party open to all).

Bloody Sunday: In 1905, a procession of workers led by Father Gapon was attacked by police, killing over 100, sparking a series of strikes and the 1905 Revolution.
The Duma: Under pressure, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma, though he soon dismissed the first two.

Initial Support: The war was initially popular, but support waned as the Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma.
Military Defeat: Russian armies suffered heavy defeats against Germany and Austria, leading to 7 million casualties and 3 million refugees by 1917.
Economic Impact: The war led to labor shortages, the shutting down of small workshops, and bread riots in cities.

The Uprising: Food shortages in Petrograd led to a massive strike by factory workers, supported by soldiers who refused to fire on demonstrators.
End of Monarchy: The Tsar abdicated on March 2, and a Provisional Government was formed by Soviet and Duma leaders to run the country.

April Theses: Vladimir Lenin returned from exile and demanded: an end to the war, land to be transferred to peasants, and banks to be nationalized.
The Takeover: Fearing a dictatorship by the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks organized an uprising on October 24 and seized control of Petrograd.
Bolshevik Rule: By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.

Nationalization: Most industries and banks were nationalized in November 1917.
Land Reform: Land was declared social property, and peasants were allowed to seize land from the nobility.
Totalitarianism: The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party, and Russia became a one-party state.

The Civil War: Fought between the "Reds" (Bolsheviks), "Whites" (pro-Tsarists), and "Greens" (Socialist Revolutionaries).
Centralized Planning: The Bolsheviks introduced Five-Year Plans to promote rapid industrial growth.
Collectivization: Stalin introduced forced collectivization of agriculture (Kolkhoz) to eliminate "Kulaks" (well-to-do peasants) and solve grain shortages.
Global Impact: The Russian Revolution inspired many worldwide and led to the formation of Communist parties in various countries, including India.

ELITE TUTORIALS ~ by NIKHIL sir