📘 Chapter: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution
🔹 1. The Age of Social Change
✳️Impact of the French Revolution
Introduced powerful ideas of freedom and equality.
Challenged aristocratic and church power.
Inspired global debate, including in India (e.g., Raja Rammohan Roy,
Derozio).
Spread awareness about individual rights and who should hold
power.
✳️Different Ideologies in 19th-Century Europe
Liberals:
o Wanted religious tolerance, representative government,
independent judiciary.
o Opposed monarchy but didn’t support universal suffrage (only
propertied men).
o Did not support women’s right to vote.
Radicals:
o Wanted government based on majority rule.
o Supported women’s suffrage.
o Opposed aristocratic and capitalist privileges.
o Supported private property but not its concentration.
Conservatives:
o Originally opposed change.
o Later accepted gradual reform while preserving traditions.
🔹 2. Industrial Society and Social Change
The Industrial Revolution led to:
o New cities, railways, and factories.
o Harsh working conditions (long hours, low wages, poor housing).
Liberals and radicals searched for solutions.
They valued:
o Individual labour, effort, enterprise.
o Supported education and health for workers.
Many nationalists, liberals, and radicals attempted revolutions (e.g.,
Giuseppe Mazzini in Italy).
Workers began to demand rights and representation.
🔹 3. The February Revolution of 1917
✳️Fall of the Monarchy
Petrograd Soviet formed by striking workers.
Tsar abdicated on 2 March 1917.
Provisional Government was formed.
Plans for a Constituent Assembly with universal adult franchise.
✳️Role of Women
Women workers were crucial (e.g., Marfa Vasileva led a spontaneous
strike).
Inspired men to join the movement.
🔹 3.1 After February
Soviets formed across the country; no uniform election system.
Lenin returned in April 1917; introduced April Theses:
1. End the war.
2. Transfer land to peasants.
3. Nationalise banks.
Bolsheviks gained support from workers and peasants.
Provisional Government grew weaker, Bolshevik power grew.
July Days: Bolshevik protests were repressed.
Peasants started seizing land with support from Socialist Revolutionaries.
🔹 3.2 The October Revolution (24 Oct 1917)
Lenin feared a dictatorship by the Provisional Government.
Bolsheviks organized a secret uprising via the Military Revolutionary
Committee (led by Trotsky).
Bolsheviks:
o Took over telegraph offices, Winter Palace, and government
buildings.
o Gained support of the All Russian Congress of Soviets.
By December, Bolsheviks controlled Petrograd and Moscow.
🔹 4. What Changed After October?
✳️Immediate Reforms
Private property abolished.
Industry and banks nationalised.
Land redistributed to peasants.
Titles of nobility were banned.
Army uniforms redesigned (e.g., Soviet hat - budeonovka).
Bolshevik Party renamed Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
✳️Politics and Control
Elections held, but Bolsheviks lost majority.
Lenin dissolved the Assembly in Jan 1918.
Only Bolsheviks could participate → One-party state.
Cheka (secret police) silenced critics.
Artists and writers initially supported the regime but were later censored.
🔹 4.1 The Civil War (1918–1920)
Whites (Tsarists and liberals) and Greens (Socialist Revolutionaries)
opposed Bolsheviks.
Backed by foreign powers: Britain, France, USA, Japan.
Peasants supported Bolsheviks due to land reforms.
Bolsheviks (Reds) won by Jan 1920.
✳️Effect on Central Asia
Mixed responses:
o Some groups welcomed the revolution (e.g., Kirgiz youth).
o Others feared dictatorship, violence, and loss of autonomy.
USSR formed in Dec 1922.
Gave autonomy to ethnic regions but imposed unpopular policies (e.g.,
ban on nomadism).
🔹 4.2 Making a Socialist Society
✳️Planned Economy
Introduced Five-Year Plans (1927–1932, 1933–1938).
Production targets set by officials.
Prices fixed to boost industrial growth.
Oil, coal, and steel production doubled.
✳️Worker Conditions
Poor living conditions in industrial cities (e.g., Magnitogorsk).
Strikes and hardships common.
Government built schools, healthcare, and model housing.
Factory crèches and university access for workers/peasants.
✳️Child Worker’s Letter (1933)
A 13-year-old quit school to work due to poverty.
Reflects economic hardships despite reforms.
🔹 4.3 Stalinism and Collectivisation
✳️Reason for Collectivisation
Grain shortages in 1927–28.
Stalin blamed kulaks for hoarding grain.
Farms forcibly collectivised into kolkhozes.
Kulaks eliminated; land and tools transferred to collectives.
✳️Resistance and Famine
Peasants destroyed livestock.
Harsh punishment: arrest, exile, and execution.
Led to famine (1930–1933); over 4 million deaths.
✳️Repression
Party members who criticised were purged.
By 1939: Over 2 million imprisoned.
False confessions and executions were common.
🔹 5. Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and USSR
✳️Worldwide Impact
Bolshevik revolution inspired many globally.
Comintern formed to spread socialism internationally.
Many attended the Communist University of the Workers of the East.
✳️Indian Response
Indian visitors impressed:
o Shaukat Usmani: Saw real equality and brotherhood.
o Tagore: Amazed by literacy and empowerment of the poor.
Indian Communist Party formed in 1920s.
Books, articles, and visits promoted Soviet ideals in India.
✳️Legacy and Decline
By 1950s: Acknowledged that USSR denied freedoms.
Achievements: Industrialisation, social services, equality.
Criticism: One-party rule, repression, censorship.
By end of 20th century: USSR’s reputation declined, but socialist ideals
remained respected.
📅 Important Dates (Timeline)
Date Event
1850s–1880s Debates on socialism in Russia
1898 Russian Social Democratic Workers Party
formed
1905 Bloody Sunday and First Russian
Revolution
2 March Tsar abdicated (February Revolution)
1917
April 1917 Lenin’s April Theses
24 October Bolshevik seizure of power (October
1917 Revolution)
1918–1920 Civil War in Russia
1922 USSR formed
1927–1938 First and Second Five-Year Plans
1929–1933 Stalin’s collectivisation and famine
1939 Over 2 million imprisoned in purges
📝 Key Terms to Remember
Soviet – Workers’ council.
Duma – Russian Parliament.
Kulaks – Wealthy peasants, targeted during collectivisation.
Kolkhoz – Collective farm.
Cheka – Soviet secret police.
Comintern – Communist International organisation.
Five-Year Plan – Central economic plans in USSR.
