Theme 2: Socialism in Europe and The Russian Revolution

Very Short Question Answers

1. 18th century European society was divided into________________?

Ans. estates and orders
2. Liberals opposed to____________? Ans. universal adult franchise
3. In 19th century Europe, Conservatives accepted the idea of_____?
Ans. gradual change in society
4. Who were against private property? Ans. Socialists
5. Who believed in profit and private property? Ans. Capitalists
6. Which of the following were important socialists of 19th century
Europe?
Ans. Karl Marx and Engels
7. Which was Socialist International body? Ans. Second
International
8. What is normally called the Russian Revolution? Ans. Fall of
monarchy in February 1917 and events of October 1917.
9. Which of the following was the ruler of Russia during World War I?
Ans. Tsar Nicholas II
10. The majority religion of Russia was_____________? Ans. Russian
Orthodox Christianity
11. Who was majority of Russia's population? Ans. agriculturists
12. Which of the following owned majority of the land in Russia? Ans.
Nobility, Crown and Church
13. Which of the following group of workers were regarded as
aristocrats among worker?
Ans. Metal workers
14. Which Party fought for peasants’ rights in Russia? Ans. Socialist
Revolutionary Party
15. Who was leader of the Bolsheviks? Ans. Vladimir Lenin
16. What is name of the Russian Parliament? Ans. Duma
17. Which of the following was not a result of Russia's involvement
in World War 2?
Ans. Russia became a super power
18. When International Women's Day was celebrated? Ans. 22nd
February
19. Who was leader of Provisional Government in Russia? Ans.
Kerenskii
20. What was most significant result of the February Revolution?
Ans. Abdication of Tsar
21. When Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd was happened? Ans. 24th
October
22. The Military Revolutionary Committee was headed by? Ans. Leon
Trotskii
23. Which Ship shelled the Winter Palace? Ans. Aurora
24. Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area
by________________. Ans. December 1917
25. Which of the following is not a change introduced after October
(1917)?
Ans. Old titles of aristocracy were restored
26. Bolshevik party was renamed? Ans. Russian Communist Party
27. Bolsheviks made peace with Germany at which place? Ans. Brest
Litovsk
28. What was name of secret Police of Russia____________. Ans.
Cheka
29. Who were the 'Reds'? Ans. Bolsheviks
30. Who were the 'Greens"? Ans. Socialist Revolutionaries
31. Who were 'jadidists'? Ans. Muslim reformers within the
Russian Empire
32. What was reason for introducing Collectivisation? Ans. Acute
problem of grain supplies
33. What were Kulaks? Ans. Well-to-do peasants
34. Collective farms were known as? Ans. Kolkhoz
35. What was immediate consequence of collectivisation? Ans. No
increase in production
36. What was another name of International Union of Communist
parties? Ans. Comintern

Long Question Answers:

Q. Explain the views of socialists on private property. Name the

international body set up to spread and coordinate their efforts.
Ans. (i) Socialists saw private property as the root of all social evils.
(ii) Individuals owned property gave employment, but the owners of
property did not wanted welfare of workers.
(iii) They believed that if society-controlled property, then more
attention would be paid to collective social interests.
• Second International was the body formed in 1870, to coordinate
socialists’ efforts throughout Europe.
Q. 'Liberals of European states were not democratic'. Justify the
statement by giving three examples.
Ans. Liberals of European states were not democrats because:
(i) They did not believe in right of every citizen to vote.
(ii) They felt men with property should have the voting right.
(iii) They also did not want the voting right of women.

Q. In the context of Russia which group was the supporter of

Women Suffrage?
Ans. The Radicals.

Q. Who were the 'radicals"? Mention their any two demands.

Ans. Radicals were a group of people who believed in drastic change
of society. They wanted a nation in which government was based on
majority of the country's population. They were in favour of women's
suffragette.
They were opposed to privileges of great landowners and wealthy
factory owners.
They were not against the existence of private property, but were
against the concentration of property in few hands.

Q. Describe the theory of Karl Marx.

Or
Explain the views of Karl Marx on Capitalism.
Or
Explain the views of the socialists on private property with
special emphasis on Karl Marx.
Ans. (i) Karl Marx was of the opinion that an industrial society was a
capitalist society.
(ii) Capitalists owned the factories, and the capitalists earn profits
because of workers. So, the workers had the right over profits.
(iii) The main aim of the capitalist is to make profits. To increase
profits the capitalist uses two methods. Either they do this by
reducing wages of workers or by increasing the working hours.
(iv) Marx believed the conditions of the workers could not improve as
long as the profit was accumulated by private capitalists. Workers
had to overthrow capitalism. They should also overthrow the rule of
private property.
(v) The workers should construct a radically socialist society where
all means of production should be socially controlled.
(vi) He was convinced that workers would win in their conflict with
the capitalists.
(vii) As per Marx, this would be a communist society, a natural society
of the future. Similar Questions

Q. Explain any three main causes of the Revolution of 1905 in

Russia. Mention two important effects of the Revolution.
Ans. Events responsible for the revolution of 1905 were:
(i) Autocratic rule: Russia was under the autocratic rule of the Tsars.
Even at the beginning of the 20th century, there was no Parliament.
Tsar Nicholas II was an inefficient and corrupt ruler.
(ii) Role of liberals and socialists: Both liberals and socialists were
against the dynastic rule. They worked with workers and peasants to
demand a constitution. They were supported in Muslim dominated
areas by the Jadidists. Jadidists wanted modernised Islam.
(iii) Strike of the workers: The year 1904 was a bad year for Russian
workers. Prices of essential commodities rose so quickly that real
wages declined by 20%. The membership of workers, associations
rose dramatically. Four workers of the Assembly of Russian Workers
(1904) were dismissed at a factory, Then, over 110,000 workers in St.
Petersburg went on strike. They demanded reduction in working
hours, an increase in wages and improvement in the working
conditions.

Q. Petrograd had led the February Revolution that brought down

the monarchy in February 1917. Explain.
Ans. (i) In the winter of 1917, conditions in Petrograd were grim. The
city was divided in two parts. Workers quarters and factories i.e. the
poor were located to the right bank of River Neva. The official building
including the Palace and fashionable areas were on the left bank.
(ii) In February 1917, food shortage's were deeply felt in the workers
quarters (right bank). The winter that year was exceptionally cold. It
was heavy rain.
(iii) on 22nd February a lockout took place at a factory on the right
bank. Next day, workers of fifty factories called a strike, led by women.
-The fashionable quarters and official buildings were surrounded by
workers. The Government imposed a curfew. When the workers came
back on the 24th and 25th, the government called out the police and
cavalry provoking the workers.
(iv) On Sunday, 25th February the government suspended the Duma.
Demonstrators ransacked the Police Headquarters. Streets were full
of people raising slogans about bread, wages, better hours and
democracy.
(v) The government tried to control the situation but the cavalry
refused to fire on the demonstrators.
-An officer was shot by the revolting soldiers. Three regiments revolted
to join the strikers.
(vi) By the evening (Feb 25th) soldiers and striking workers gathered
to form a 'Soviet or 'Council' called the 'Petrograd Soviet' in the same
building as the Duma met.
(vii) Under the advice of the Military commanders, the Tsar left the
throne on 2nd March. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a
Provisional Government to run the country.
(viii) Russia's future was hence to be decided by a constituent
assembly, elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage.

Q. What was the 'April Theses'?

Or
Explain the major demands of Lenin's 'April Theses'.
Ans. The term April Theses relates to the three demands made by
Lenin on his return from exile to Russia in April 1917:
(i) war should be stopped.
(ii) land be transferred to the peasants.
(iii) banks be nationalised.
He wanted the Bolshevik party to rename itself the Communist Party
to indicate its radical aims.

Que. Describe the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia.

Or
Describe the main events of the October Revolution in Russia.
Ans. (i) On April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Lenin returned from exile
to Russia.
(ii) In July 1917, demonstrations were held by the Bolsheviks against
the Provisional Government.
(iii) Between July and September, peasants seized land from the rich
landlords.
(iv) On October 16, 1917 Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and
the Bolshevik Party to agree to a 'Socialist Seizure of Power'. The date
of the event was kept a secret.
(v) On 23rd Oct 1917 a Military Revolutionary committee under Leon
Trotskii organised the seizure. The uprising began on 24th October.
(vi) Provisional government under Kerenskii resisted. At dawn, loyal
military men seized buildings of two Bolshevik newspapers, telephone
and telegraph offices and protected the Winter Palace.
(vii) In a swift response, the Military Revolutionary Committee
ordered its supporters to seize government officers and arrest
ministers. The seizure was complete within a day.
- The Navy, the Ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace and played a
significant role in the assault of the Winter Palace.
- Kerenskii however escaped.
(viii) At a meeting of the All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd,
the majority approved the Bolshevik action.
(ix) Uprising took place in other cities.
(x) There was heavy fighting-especially in Moscow-but by December
(1917), the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow Petrograd area.
(xi) The Bolshevik party was renamed the Russian Communist Party.
In November 1917, in the elections conducted to the Constituent
Assembly, the Bolsheviks failed to gain majority support. Lenin
dismissed the assembly and assumed leadership.

Q. 4.3.6. What is collectivisation? How did Stalin use the

programme?
Or
What were the major changes introduced in agriculture by
Stalin? Explain.
Ans. (i) Collectivisation policy was introduced by Stalin in Russia.
Under this policy, land was taken away from the peasants. Kulaks
eliminated and large state-controlled farms or collective farms called
'kolkhoz' established.
(ii) After 1917, land had been given to peasants but they were small
sized farms that could not be modernized. To develop modern farms
and run them using modern techniques and machinery, it was
necessary to establish state controlled large farms.
(iii) From 1929, the government forced all peasants to cultivate on
collective farms (kolkhoz). The bulk of the land and implements were
transferred to the ownership of collective farms. Peasants worked on
the land and kolkhoz profits were shared.
(iv) Many peasants resisted this and destroyed their livestock.
Between 1929- 1931, the number of cattle stocks fell to one third.
(v) Peasants argued they were not against socialism but did not want
to work on collective farms for a variety of reasons. Stalin's
government allowed some independent cultivation but treated such
cultivators unsympathetically.
(vi) By 1937 almost all cultivable land was brought under collective
farms. While initially the peasants were given an option to join or not
to join, later it became compulsory. Thousands of wealthy peasants
(kulaks) were executed if they tried to withhold their land. Many
others were imprisoned or exiled.

Q. 4.2.1. Describe the role and importance of Lenin in the history

of the USSR.
Ans. (i) Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Party. He was a
committed revolutionary, and prepared to take various measures to
defend the revolution.
(ii) When the Mensheviks under Kerenskii lost popular support,
Lenin, on his return from exile, organised the Bolshevik Party to take
over the reins of the government.
(iii) He put forward clear policies:
- to end Russia's participation in World War I,
- transfer of land to the tiller,
- and popularied the slogan 'All power to the Soviets'.
(iv) Lenin introduced a New Economic Policy whereby lands of nobles
and church were confiscated and given to peasant societies. Land was
made state property.
(v) While major industries were under government control; small
businesses and home industries could be privately owned. Private
trade was allowed in a limited measure.
(vi) Foreign capital was welcomed for the development of state
industries.

Q. Name two famous Socialists who introduced a Communist

system.
Ans. (i) Vladimir Lenin (ii) Stalin.

Q. State two objectives of Five Year Plans of Russia.

Ans. Stalin's Five Year Plans had the following objectives:
(i) Sought to overcome the economic and political problems which
destroyed the Soviet economy.
(ii) Aimed at revive all sectors of the economy particularly industry
and agriculture.

Q. What were the major changes introduced in industry by

Stalin? Explain.
Ans. (i) A process of centralised planning was introduced. Officials
set targets for a five year period. They made the Five Year Plans.
(ii) The Government fixed all prices to promote industrial growth
during the first two 'Plans' (1927-1932 and 1933-1938).
(iii) Centralised planning led to economic growth.
- Industrial production increased between 1929 and 1933 by 100%
in the case of oil, coal and steel.
(iv) New factory cities came up.