*History lesson -2*
*Socilism in Europe and Russian revolution*
Q-Mention any three factors responsible for the Russian Revolution of 1905.
Answer
(i) Political: The rule of Tsar was autocratic as he was not subject to parliament.
(ii) Economical: In the year 1904, prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20 percent.
(iii) Immediate: The Bloody Sunday incident took place in which more than 100 workers were killed.
(iv) Poor condition of the working class.
Q-Describe the events that happened in 1905 revolution in Russia?
Answer
(i) The attack of police on the procession of workers at the Winter Palace started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.
(ii) Strikes took place all over the country and universities closed down when student bodies staged walkouts, complaining about the lack of civil liberties.
(iii) Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.
Q.Who were the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks?
Answer: The Bolsheviks were the majority group led by Vladimir Lenin who thought that in a repressive society like Tsarist Russia, the party should be disciplined and control the number and quality of its members. They were the group who conducted the Russian Revolution Mensheviks, on the other hand, were the minority group who thought that the party should be open to all. They did not believe in revolution but wanted to bring changes through democratic means.
Q. Discuss Lenin's 'April Theses.
OR
What were the demands referred to in Lenin's 'April Theses?
Answer: The following were the demands referred to in Lenin's April Theses,
(a) World War I should be brought to an end.(b) Land should be transferred to the peasants.
(c) Banks should be nationalised.
Q. Describe the sequence of events responsible for the Revolution of 1905 in Russia.
Answer: The sequence of events responsible for the Revolution of 1905 in Russia was as given below
(1) Autocracy: There was autocracy in Russia. Liberals, Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries demanded a constitution,
(ii) The year 1904: Prices rose and wages declined.
(iii) Dismissal of four workers of the Assembly of Russian Workers was the immediate cause that led to workers' strike.
(iv) Demands: They demanded a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions
(v) Bloody Sunday: A procession of workers led by Father Gapon was attacked by the police killing 100 workers. This led to a series of events that became known the 1905 Revolution.
(vi) Results: (a) The Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma.
Q. Why were socialists against private property and saw it as the root of all social ills?
Answer: The people who propagated socialism said that individuals who owned property, did provide employment to many people but they were concerned with personal gains only and did not bother about the welfare of the people. They felt that if society controlled property, more attention would be paid to collective social interests
Q- Describe the incident known as 'Bloody Sunday.
Answer: Over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike in 1905, demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvements in working conditions. When this procession reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded. This incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution
Q. What effect did the war have on the industry of Russia.
Answer: Russian industries were very few in number and the country was cut off from other suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea. Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe. By 1916 railway lines began to break down. Able bodied men were called up to the war. As a result, there were labour shortages and small workshops producing essential commodities were shut down.
Q-What steps were taken to improve the condition of factory workers and peasants in Russia after the civil war?
Answer: Five year plans were made to promote industrial growth. Industrial production was increased by 100 percent in oil, coal and steel. New factories were built. In Magnitogorsk a new steel plant was built in three years. Extended schooling system developed, creches were established in factories for the children of women workers, cheap public health care was provided. Model living quarters were built up for workers.
Q-Who was Karl Marx? What were his views about capitalism?
Answer
(i) Karl Marx was socialist.
(ii) He was against capitalism.
(iii) According to Marx, the profit of capitalists was produced by workers.
(iv) He wanted to construct a radically socialist society.
Q-Mention the main events of the February Revolution of 1917.
Answer
Main events of the February Revolution were:
(i) In February 1917, there was a severe food shortage in the workers’ quarters.
(ii) All the factories and workers’ quarters were located on the right bank of the River Neva. On the left bank, there were Winter Palace, official buildings and the palace where Duma met.
(iii) On 22nd February, a lockout took place at a factory leading to a strike by the workers. The next day, workers in fifty factories called a strike in sympathy.
(iv) The demonstrating workers ultimately crossed the river and surrounded the official buildings in Petrograd.
(v) The Government imposed a curfew and called out the cavalry and police to keep check on them.
Q-Explain the collectivisation programme of Stalin.
Answer (i) From 1929, Stalin forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms, kolkhoz.
(ii) The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
(iii) Peasants worked on the land, and the kolkhoz profit was shared.
(iv) Those who resisted collectivisation were severely punished. Many were deported and exiled.
(v) As they resisted collectivisation, peasants argued that they were not rich and they were not against socialism. They merely did not want to work in collective farms for a variety of reasons.
(vi) Stalin’s government allowed some independent cultivation, but treated such cultivators unsympathetically.
