CHAPTER – 2

SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

 Content
1. Age of Social Change 5. Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR
• Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives
• The Industrial Society and Social Change
• Coming of Socialism in Europe

2. The Russian Revolution

• The Russian Empire in 1914
• Socialism in Russia
• A Turbulent Time: The 1905 Revolution
• The First World War and The Russian Empire

3. The February Revolution in Petrograd

• After February
• The Revolution of October 1917

4. Changes after October

• The Civil War
• Making a Socialist Society
• Stalinism and Collectivisation
1. Age of Social Change

Before the eighteenth century society was broadly divided

into estates and orders and it was the Aristocracy and Church
which controlled economic and social power. In many parts
of the world including Europe and Asia, new ideas about
individual rights and who controlled social power began to
be discussed.
• Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives
Liberals opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers
and wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against
governments.
Radicals wanted an elected majority government.
Conservatives accepted some change was inevitable but
believed that the past had to be respected and change had
to be brought about through a slow process.
• Industrial Society and Social Change
As Industrial Revolution occurred, it brought men, women and
children to factories. Work hours were often long and wages were
poor. Unemployment was common. Housing and sanitation were
problems since towns were growing rapidly. Liberals and radicals
searched for solutions to these issues. Liberals and Radicals believed
in the value of individual effort, labour and enterprise. If freedom of
individuals was ensured, if the poor could labour, and those with
capital could operate without restraint, they believed that societies
would develop. Some nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted
revolutions to put an end to the kind of governments established in
Europe in 1815. In France, Italy, Germany and Russia, they became
revolutionaries and worked to overthrow existing monarchs.
• Coming of Scoialism to Europe
Socialists were against private property, and saw it as the root of all
social ills of the time. They believed that if society as a whole rather
than single individuals controlled property, more attention would be
paid to collective social interests.
Robert Owen (1771-1858), English manufacturer, sought to
build a cooperative community called New Harmony in
Indiana (USA)
Louis Blanc (1813-1882) wanted the government to
encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises,
associations of people who produced goods together and
divided the profits according to the work done by members.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)
added other ideas to this body of arguments. Marx believed
that workers had to construct a radically socialist society
where all the property was socially controlled, a communist
society.
By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through Europe.
To coordinate their efforts, socialists formed an
international body – namely, the Second
International. Workers in England and Germany
began forming associations to fight for better living
and working conditions.
2. The Russian
Revolution
The Russian Revolution The fall of monarchy in February 1917 and
the event of October are normally called the Russian Revolution.
• The Russian Emipire in 1914
In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire. 85%
population were agriculturists, Russia was a major grain exporter.
Prominent Industrial were – St. Petersburg & Mosco Workers were
divided on the basis of skill. Women made up 31 per cent of the
factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid less than men.
Despite divisions, workers did unite to strike work (stop work)
when they disagreed with employers about dismissa or work
conditions. In the countryside, peasant cultivated most of the land
owned by the Nobility, Crown and the Orthodox Church. Russian
peasants were different from other European peasants (i) Pooled
their land together periodically (ii) Their commune divided it
according to the needs of individual families .
• Socialism In Russia
All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914. The Russian
Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists
who respected Marx’s ideas, it had to operate as an illegal
organisation. Socialists in the countryside formed the Socialist
Revolutionary Party in 1900. Social Democrats disagreed with
Socialist Revolutionaries about peasants. The party was divided over
the strategy of organisation. Vladimir Lenin (who led the Bolshevik
group) thought that in a repressive society like Tsarist Russia the
party should be disciplined and should control the number and
quality of its members. Others (Mensheviks) thought that the party
should be open to all (as in German y. )
A Turbulent Time: The 1905 Revolution
In the year 1904 prices of essential goods. Workers in St Petersburg
went on strike demanding a reduction in the working day to eight
hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions.
A procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter
Palace, here it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over
100 workers wer killed and about 300 wounded. The incident, know
as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known as
the 1905 Revolution.
During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the
creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma.
The Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and the
re-elected second Duma within three months. He
changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with
conservative politicians. Liberals and revolutionaries
were kept out.

• The First World War and the Russian Empire

The Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma.
The Tsarina Alexandra’s German origins and poor
advisers, especially a monk called Rasputin, made the
autocracy unpopular. Russia’s armies lost badly in
Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There
were over 7 million casualties by 1917. Retreating
Russian army destroyed crops and buildings which led to
over 3 million refugees in Russia. The war also had a
severe impact on industry. Industrial equipment
disintegrated, by 1916, railway lines began to break
down. Labour shortages forced small workshops
producing essentials to shut down. Bread and flour
3. The February
evolution in Petrograd
In the winter of 1917, conditions in the capital,
Petrograd, were grim. In February 1917, food
shortages were deeply felt in the workers’ quarters.
The winter was very cold – there had been exceptional
frost and heavy snow. On 22 February, a lockout took
place at a factory on the right bank. The next day,
workers in fifty factories called a strike in sympathy. In
many factories, women led the way to strikes. This
came to be called the International Women’s Day. On
Sunday, 25 February, the government suspended the
Duma. On the 27th, the Police Headquarters were
ransacked. The cavalry refused to fire on the
demonstrators. An officer was shot at the barracks of
a regiment and three other regiments mutinied, voting
to join the striking workers. By that evening, soldiers
and striking workers had gathered to form a ‘soviet’ or
‘council’. This was the Petrograd Soviet. Tsar Nicholas
II followed his commanders advice and abdicated on 2
March. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a
Provisional Government to run the country. Petrograd
had led the February Revolution that brought down
the monarchy in February 1917.
• After February
Soviets’, like the Petrograd Soviet, were set up
everywhere, though no common system of election
was followed. In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader
Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He
declared that the war be brought to a close, land be
transferred to the peasants, and banks be nationalised.
These three demands were Lenin’s ‘April Theses’. He
also argued that the Bolshevik Party rename itself the
Communist Party to indicate its new radical aims.
In June, about 500 Soviets sent representatives to an
All Russian Congress of Soviets. As the Provisional
Government saw its power reduce and Bolshevik
influence grow, it decided to take stern measures
against the spreading discontent. Popular
demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks in July 1917
were sternly repressed. Many Bolshevik leaders had to
go into hiding or flee. Socialist Revolutionary leaders
pressed for a redistribution of land. Encouraged by the
Socialist Revolutionaries, peasants seized land
between July and September 1917
• The Revolution of October 1917
On 16 October 1917, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and
the Bolshevik Party to agree to a socialist seizure of power. A
Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviet
under Leon Trotskii to organise the seizure. The uprising began on
24 October. Sensing trouble, Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the
city to summon troops. The Military Revolutionary Committee
ordered its supporters to seize government offices and arrest
ministers. By nightfall, the city was under the committee’s control
and the ministers had surrendered. At a meeting of the All Russian
Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the majority approved the
Bolshevik action. By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the
MoscowPetrograd area
4. Changes
After October
The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property. Most industry and
banks were nationalised in November 1917. Land was declared social
property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility. In cities,
Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family
requirements, banned the old titles of aristocracy, new uniforms were
designed for the army and officials which was the Soviet hat “Budoeonveka”.
The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).
In November 1917, Bolsheviks conducted the elections to the Constituent
Assembly, but failed to gain majority support. In January 1918, Lenin
dismissed the Assembly. In March 1918 made peace with Germany at Brest
Litovsk. The Bolsheviks became the only party to participate in the elections
to the All Russian Congress of Soviets, which became the Parliament of the
country. Russia became a one-party state. Trade unions were kept under
party control. The secret police (called the Cheka first, and later OGPU and
NKVD) punished those who criticised the Bolsheviks.
• The Civil War
Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the
Bolshevik uprising. Their leaders moved to south Russia and organised troops to
fight the Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’). During 1918 and 1919, the ‘greens’ (Socialist
Revolutionaries) and ‘whites’ (proTsarists) controlled most of the Russian empire.
They were backed by foreign forces who were worried at the growth of socialism
in Russia. As these troops and the Bolsheviks fought a civil war, looting, banditry
and famine became common. Supporters of private property among ‘whites’ took
harsh steps with peasants who had seized land. Such actions led to the loss of
popular support for the non-Bolsheviks. By January 1920, the Bolsheviks
controlled most of the former Russian empire. Most non-Russian nationalities
were given political autonomy in the Soviet Union (USSR) – created from the
Russian empire in December 1922
• Making a Socialist Society
A process of centralised planning was introduced. Officials assessed how the
economy could work and set targets for a five-year period. The government fixed
all prices to promote industrial growth during the first two ‘Plans’. Centralised
planning led to economic growth. Industrial production increased. New factory
cities came into being. However, rapid construction led to poor working
conditions. The effect of all this was uneven, though, since government resources
• Stalinism and Collectivisation
The period of the early Planned Economy was linked to
the disasters of the collectivisation of agriculture. The
government fixed prices at which grain must be sold. In
1928, Party members toured the grain-producing areas,
supervising enforced grain collections, and raiding
‘kulaks’ – the name for well- to-do peasants. As
shortages continued, the decision was taken to
collectivise farms. From 1929, the Party forced all
peasants to cultivate in collective farms (kolkhoz). The
bulk of land and implements were transferred to the
ownership of collective farms. Peasants worked on the
land, and the kolkhoz profit was shared. Those who
resisted collectivisation were severely punished. Stalin’s
government allowed some independent cultivation, but
treated such cultivators unsympathetically. The Global
Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USS
5. The Global Influence of the Russian Revolution
And the USSR
• The possibility of a workers’ state fired people’s imagination across
the world. In many countries, communist parties were formed. Many
non-Russians from outside the USSR participated in the Conference
of the Peoples of the East (1920) and the Bolshevik founded
Comintern (an international union of pro-Boleshviks socialist
parties. . Yet by the 1950s it was acknowledged within the country
that the style of government in the USSR was not in keeping with the
ideals of the Russian Revolution. It had denied the essential
freedoms to its citizens and carried out its developmental projects
through repressive policies. By the end of the twentieth century, the
international reputation of the USSR as a socialist country had
declined though it was recognised that socialist ideals still enjoyed
respect among its people