SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

FACTORS LEADING TO SOCIALISM IN EUROPE

INEQUALITY AND CONCENTRATION OF POWER Socialists were against private property ,they

saw it as root cause of all the problems at that time. Because the owners used the property only for personal gain and not for public welfare.

The conditions of poor workers did not improve as the profit was accumulated by the private capitalists.

Karl Marx believed that the workers had to construct a radical socialist society for unity and where all property was socially controlled.

By 1870s socialist ideas spread throughout Europe and the socialists formed an international body – namely the Second International.

Workers started forming associations for better living and working conditions.

They demanded Rights to vote and Equality.

Not everyone in Europe wanted complete transformation of society.

The people are mainly divided as ‘conservatives’ , ‘liberals’ and ‘radicals’ .

Europe

Conservatives

Liberal

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CONSERVATIVES

The conservatives thought that change was inevitable but believed that the past had to be respected and change had to be brought about through slow process.

LIBERALS

Liberals wanted nation which tolerated all religions and opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers.o They argued for representative, elected parliamentary government and well trained judiciary, independent of rulers and officials.

RADICALS

Radicals wanted nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s population.

Many supported suffragette movements. They disliked the concentration of property in

few hands.

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN 1914THE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia in 1914. The majority religion in Russia was Russian

Orthodox Christianity. About 85% of Russian population earned their

living from agriculture. Setting up of many factories led to establishment

of railway network, Doubling of coal production and the Iron and steel output quadrupled.

Workers were divided by their skills. This division showed themselves in dresses and manners too.

In countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility , the Orthodox church and the crown owned large properties.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

In Russia the peasants wanted the lands of nobles to be given to them. They refused to pay the rents frequently and eventually murdered the landlords.

All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914.

Some socialists thought that peasants, not the workers would be the main force of revolution.

In an incident known as Bloody Sunday, 100 workers were killed and 300 were wounded. This started a series of events that came to be known as 1905 revolution.

Strikes took place all over the country complaining about the lack of civil liberties.

In the First world War the Tsar Nicholas II refused to discuss the matters with the main parties in the Duma.

The casualties of more then 7 million soldiers, addition of 3 million refugees in Russia led to discredit to the government and Tsar.

All the Able-bodied labourers and workers led to shutdown of small workshops producing essential commodities.

By the winter of 1916 riots at bakeries for bread were common. The railway lines started to disintegrate.

THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION

In the winter of 1917, the conditions in Russia worsened. The workers started many strikes.

The capital city of Petrograd got divided, on the left side of the River Neva were the fashionable areas and on the right side there were all the workers and factories.

On 22nd February workers in fifty factories called strike.

On 25th February the government suspended the Duma. The police Headquarters were ransacked.

AFTER FEBRUARY

Army officials, landowners and industrialists were influential in the Provisional Government formed. The liberals as well as socialists worked towards an elected government.

Vladimir Lenin returned from his exile. He and the Bolsheviks declared war to be closed, land to be transferred to peasants and the banks to be nationalized.

Through the summer workers’ movement spread. Traders unions grew in number. Soldiers, committees

were formed in the army. In June 500 Soviets sent their representatives to all

Russia Congress of Soviets. The Provisional government started to arrest groups’,

strikes’ and unions’ leaders. The Bolsheviks and the Petrograd Soviet agreed to a

socialist seizure of power. They led seizure of power of Russia.

AFTER OCTOBER

The private property, banks and most of the industry were nationalized.

The trade unions were kept under party control.

In the years followed, the Bolsheviks became the one party to participate the elections, making Russia one-party state.

The All Russia Congress became the parliament of the country.