HISTORY (Class-IX)

CH-2 (Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution)

Question/Answer
Q1. Who controlled the economic and social power in the most European countries?
A1. The eighteenth century society was broadly divided into estates and orders and it was the aristocracy
and church which controlled the economic and social power.
Q2. Who propagated the ideals of French Revolution in India?
A2. Dezorio and Raja Rammohan Roy propagated the ideals of French Revolution in India.
Q3. Discuss the ideologies of Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives.
A3. Liberals:1) Liberals wanted a nation which tolerated all religions.
2) Liberals also opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers.
3) They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government, subject to a well trained
independent judiciary.
4) They felt men of property mainly should have the vote. They also did not want the vote for
women.
Radicals:1) Radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a countrys
population.
2) Many supported womens suffragette movements.
3) Unlike liberals, they opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners.
Conservatives:1) Earlier, in the eighteenth century, conservatives had been generally opposed the idea of
change.
2) By the nineteenth century, they accepted that some changes were inevitable.
3) They believed that the past had to be respected and change had to be brought about through
a slow process.
Q4. Mention how the society was changing as the industrial revolution occurred.
A4.Industrialization brought men, women and children to the factories.
1) Work hours were often long and wages were poor.
2) Unemployment was common.
3) Housing and sanitation were problems since towns were growing rapidly.
Q5. How did nationalists wanted to bring about a change in society?
A5. Some nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted revolution to put an end to the kind of governments
established in Europe in 1815.

1) Nationalists talked of revolutions that would create nations where all citizens would have equal
right.
2) After 1815, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Italian nationalist, conspired with others to achieve this in Italy.
Q6. Why were socialists against the private property?
A6. Individuals owned the property that gave employment but the propertied were concerned only with
personal gain.
Q7. What ideas were given by people to form a socialist society?
A7.Some believed in the idea of cooperatives.
1) Robert Owen (1771-1858), a leading English manufacturer, sought to build a cooperative
community called New Harmon in Indiana.
2) Other socialists felt that cooperatives could not be built on a wide scale; they demanded that
governments encourage cooperatives.
3) In France, for instance, Louis Blanc (1813-1882) wanted the government to encourage
cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises.
4) These cooperatives were to be associations of people who produced goods together and divided
the profits according to the work done by members.
Q8. What were the ideas of Marx and Engels regarding socialism?
A8.Marx argued that industrial society was capitalist who owned the capital invested in factories, and the
profit of capitalist was produced by workers.
1) The conditions of workers could not improve as long as this profit was accumulated by private
capitalists.
2) Workers had to overthrow capitalism and the rule of private property.
3) Marx believed that workers had to construct a radically socialist society where all property was
socially controlled.
4) He was convinced that workers would triumph in their conflict with capitalists.
Q9.List two difference between the capitalist and socialist ideas of private property.
A9. Socialist:-Property is owned by state.
Main aim of production is welfare of people.
Capitalist:-Property is owned by private individual.
Main aim of production is to earn profit.
Q10. Discuss the growth of socialism in Europe since 19 th century?
A10.By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through Europe. To coordinate their efforts socialist formed an
international body namely, the Second International.
1) Workers in England and Germany began forming association to fight for better living and working
conditions.
2) In Germany, these associations worked closely with the Social Democratic Party.
3) By 1905, socialists and trade unionists formed a Labour Party in Britain and a Socialist Party in
France.

4) However, till 1914, socialists never succeeded in forming a government in Europe.

Q11. Mention the religion found in Tsarist Russia.
A11. The majority religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity- which had grown out of the Greek Orthodox
Church- but the empire also included Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists and Protestants.
Q12. How were workers divided?
A12.Some had strong links with the village from they came.
1) Others had settled in cities permanently.
2) Workers were divided by skill also women made up 31% of the factory labour force by 1914, but
they were paid less than man.
3) Divisions among workers showed themselves in dress and manner too.
Q13. Discuss the conditions of agriculture and industry in Tsarist Russia?
OR
What was the economic condition in Tsarist Russia?
A13.Agriculture:1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

About 85% of the Russian empires population earned their living from agriculture.
This population was higher than in most European countries.
In the empire, cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs.
The nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties.
They pooled their land together periodically and their commune (Mir) divided it according to the
needs of individual families.

Industry:1)
2)
3)
4)

Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St.Petersburg and Moscow.
Many factories were set up in the 1890s, when Russias railway was extended.
Most industry was the private property of industrialists.
Government supervised large factories to ensure minimum wages and limited hours of work. But
factory inspectors could not prevent rules being broken.
5) Wages were low and the working hours were very long.
Q14. How was the relationship between Nobles and peasants in Russia different from that in France?
A14.During the French revolution in Brittany, peasants respected nobles and fought for them but in
Russia, peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them.
1) Frequently, they refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords.
Q15. Discuss the growth of socialism in Russia?
A15.The Russian Social Democratic Worker Party was founded in 1898 by socialist who respected Marxs
ideas.
1) The party was divided over the strategy of organization. Vladimir Lenin thought that the party
should be disciplined and should control the number and quality of its members.
2) Others (Mensheviks) thought that the party should be open to all.

3) Peasants also formed the socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900.

4) This party struggled for peasants rights and demanded that land belonging to nobles be
transferred to peasants.
Q16. Why did Russian farmers called themselves as true force of revolution?
A16.Some Russian socialists felt that the Russian peasant custom of dividing land periodically made
them natural socialists. So peasants, not workers, would be the main force of the revolution.
1) Social democrats disagreed with socialist revolutionaries about peasants. Lenin felt that the
peasants were not one united group. Some were poor and other rich.
2) Given this differentiation within them, they could not all be part of a socialist movement.
Q17. Discuss the political condition in Tsarist Russia?
A17. Russia was an autocracy.
1) Unlike other European rulers, even at the beginning of 20 th century, the Tsar was not subjected to
parliament.
2) Liberals in Russia campaigned to end this state of affairs.
3) They worked with peasants and workers during the revolution of 1905 to demand a constitution.
Q18. Why were there revolutionary disturbance in Russia in 1905? What were the demands of
revolutionaries?
OR
What was bloody Sunday and what were its impacts?
A18. The year 1904 was a particularly bad one for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose so
quickly that real wages decline.
1) 10000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike demanding reduction in the working day to 8
hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions.
2) When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace, it was attacked
by police.
3) Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 were wounded.
4) The incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known as the
1905 revolution.
IMPACTS
1) Strikes took place all over the country and universities closed down when student bodies staged
walkouts.
2) Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle class workers established the union of unions and
demanded a constituent assembly.
Q19. What were the immediate consequences of 1905 revolution?
A19. During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative parliament or
Duma.
1) For a brief while during the revolution, there existed a large no. of trade unions and factory
committees.
2) But after 1905 severe restrictions were placed on politically activity.

3) The Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and then re-elected second Duma within 3
months.
4) Tsar packed the third Duma with conservative politicians.
Q20. Who were Jadidists?
A20. Jadidists are Muslim reformers within Russian empire.
Q21. Name the two groups during World War 1?
A21. Germany, Australia and Turkey (the central powers) and France, Britain and Russia (later Italy and
Romania).
Q22. How did World War I made Tsar more unpopular?
A22. Russias army lost badly in Germany and Australia.
1) Able-bodied men were called up to the war. As a result, there were labour shortages.
2) For the people in the city, bread and flour became scarce. By the winter of 1916, riots at bread
shops were common.
Q23. What were known as Fashionable areas?
A23. On the left bank were the Fashionable areas, the winter palace, official buildings including the
palace where the Duma met.
Q24. State the immediate cause of February revolution, and also list the main events of February 1917
revolution.
A24. IMMEDIATE CAUSE
In February 1917, food shortages were deeply felt. The winter was very cold, there had been
exceptional frost and heavy snow.
EVENTS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

On 22nd February, a lockout took place at a factory on the right bank.

The next day, workers in 50 factories called a strike.
The govt. called out the cavalry and police to keep an eye on them.
On Sunday, 25th February, the govt. suspended the Duma.
On 27th, the police headquarters were ransacked.

Q25. What was Womens Day?

A25. In many factories on 23rd February women led the way to strikes. This came to be called the
International Womens day.
Q26. Describe the immediate impacts of February revolution.
OR
Was socialism established in Russia soon after revolution?
A26. Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed.

1) Soviets like the Petrograd soviet were set up, though no common system of election was
followed.
2) Thus these measures show that socialism was not established in Russia soon after February
revolution.
Q27. What was April theses?
A27. In April 1917 the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin returned to Russian from his exile.
He declared that:
1) The war be brought to close.
2) Land to be transferred to peasants
3) Banks be nationalized. These 3 demands were April theses
Q28. Discuss the condition in Russia after February revolution.
A28. In industrial area, factory committees were formed which began questioning in the way the
industrialists ran their factories.
1) Trade unions grew in number.
2) As the provisional govt. saw its power reduced and Bolshevik influence grows, it decided to take
resist attempts by workers to run factories and began arresting leaders.
3) Popular demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks in July 1917 were sternly repressed.
4) Many Bolshevik leaders had to go into hiding or flee.
Q29. Describe the events during and after the revolution of October 1917.
A29. Lenin persuaded the Petrograd soviet and the Bolshevik party to see its power.
1) A military revolutionary committee was appointed by the soviet.
2) Pro-govt. troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the winter
palace.
3) The ship aurora shelled the winter palace
4) There was heavy fighting especially in Moscow but by December, the Bolsheviks controlled the
Moscow Petrograd area.
Q30. What was the immediate consequence of October revolution of Russia?
OR
List the measures taken by Bolsheviks in an attempt to establish socialism in Russia?
A30. The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property.
1) Most industries were nationalized.
2) Land was declared social property.
3) Peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
Q31. How did Bolsheviks resort to dictatorship? OR Russia was becoming a socialist dictatorship.
Explain.
A31. In November 1917, the Bolsheviks conducted the elections, but they failed to gain majority support.

1) In January 1918 the new assembly rejected Bolshevik measures and Lenin dismissed the
assembly.
2) In March 1918 despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks made peace with
Germany.
3) In the years that followed, the Bolsheviks became the only party to participate in the elections to
all Russian congress of soviet.
4) Russia became the one party state.
5) Trade unions were kept under party control.
6) The secret police punished those who criticized the Bolsheviks.
Q32. Why did civil war break out in Russia soon after October revolution? What was their outcome?
A32. Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising.
1) Their leaders moved to south Russia and organized troops to fight Bolsheviks.
2) The greens and whites controlled most of the Russian empire.
ITS OUTCOMES
Such actions led to the loss of popular support for the non-Bolsheviks
Q33. Describe the steps taken to make Russia a socialist society.
A33. A process of centralized planning was introduced.
1) On the basis they made the five year plans. The govt. fixed all the prices to promote industrial
growth during the first 2 plans
2) Centralized planning led to economic growth.
3) Industrial production increased. New factory cities came into being.
Q34. Were the impacts of socialist measures taken in Russia all positive?
A34. Rapid construction led to poor working conditions.
1) Workers lived hard lives and the result was 550 stoppages of work in the 1 st year alone.
2) In living quarters in the winter time, at 40 degrees below, people had to climb down to the fourth
floor and across the street in order to go to the toilet.
POSITIVE POINTS
1) Centralized planning led to economic growth
2) Industrialized production increased (b/w 1929 and 1933 by 100% in the case of oil, coal and
steel)
Q35.what was Stalins collectivization programme? What were its outcomes?
A35. Peasants resisted the authorities and destroyed their livestock.
1) Those who resisted collectivization were severely punished, many were departed and exiled.
COLLECTIVIZATION PROGRAMME
1) All the peasants were forced to cultivate in collective farms.
2) The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms
3) Peasants worked on the land and the Kolkhoz profit was shared

Q36. Stalin continued the dictatorial regime like Lenin explain?

A36. Stalin and his sympathizers charged the critics with conspiracy against socialism.
1) Accusation were made throughout the country and by 1939, over 2 million were in prisons and
labour champs.
2) A large no. were forced to make false confessions under torture and were executed.
Q37. What was the global influence of Russian revolution?
A37. In many countries communist parties were formed like the communist party of Great Britain.
1) Many non Russians from outside the USSR participated in the conference of the people of the
east.
2) Some received education in USSR communist university.
3) It inspired many European countries for revolution.
Q38. Why did USSR disintegrated?
A38. Style of govt. in USSR was not in keeping with the ideals of Russian revolution.
1) It had denied the essential freedoms to its citizens and carried out in development projects
through representative policies.
2) By the end of 20th century, the inter-nation reputation of USSR as a social country decline.