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IN a previous chapter, you have read about the rise and growth of
the socialist movement. By the early years of the twentieth century,
political movements based on the ideas of socialism had emerged
in a number of countries in Europe. With the outbreak of the First
World War, however, the socialist movement in most countries of
Europe suffered a setback. The Second International faced a split
on the question of attitude to the War and ceased to function.
During this period, however, unrest was brewing in Russia. The
Russian Revolution took place in 1917, affecting the course of
world history for many decades.
In the nineteenth century, almost, entire Europe was undergoing
important social, economic and political transformation. Most of the
countries were republics like France or constitutional monarchies
like England. The rule of the old feudal aristocracies had been
replaced by that of the new middle classes. Russia, however, was
still living in the old world under the autocratic rule of the Czars, as
the Russian emperors were called. Serfdom had been abolished in
1861, but it did not improve the condition of peasants. They still had
miserably small holdings of land with no capital to develop even
these. For the small holdings they acquired, they had to pay heavy
redemption dues for decades. Land hunger of the peasants was a
major social factor in the Russian society.
Industrialization began very late in Russia, in the second half of the
nineteenth century. Then it developed at a fairly fast rate, but more
than half of the capital for investment came from foreign countries.
Foreign investors were interested in quick profits and showed no
concern for the conditions of workers. Russian capitalists, with
insufficient capital, competed with foreign investors by reducing
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Besides the Menshevik and the Bloshevik parties, which were the
political parties of industrial workers, there was the Socialist
Revolutionary Party which voiced the demands of the peasantry.
Then there were parties of the non-Russian nationalities of the
Russian empire which were working to free their lands from colonial
oppression.
The revolutionary movement in Russia had been growing when the
1905 Revolution broke out. In 1904, a war had broken out between
Russia and Japan. The Russian armies had suffered reverses in
the war. This had further strengthened the revolutionary movement
in Russia. On 9 January 1905, a mass of peaceful workers with
their wives and children was fired at in St. Petersburg while on its
way to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the Czar More
than a thousand of them were killed and thousands of others were
wounded. This day is known as Bloody Sunday. The news of the
killings provoked unprecedented disturbances throughout Russia.
Even sections of the army and the navy revolted. The sailors of the
battleship Potemkin joined the revolutionaries. A new form of
organization developed in this revolution which proved decisive in
the upheaval of 1917. This was the Soviet, or the council of
workers representatives. Beginning as committees to conduct
strikes, they became the instruments of political power Soviets of
peasants were also formed.
In October, the Czar yielded and announced his manifesto granting
freedom of speech, press and association, and conferred the power
to make laws upon an elected body called the Duma . The Czars
manifesto contained principles which would have made Russia a
constitutional monarchy like England. However, the Czar soon
relapsed into his old ways. No longer could one hope for gradual
reform. The 1905 Revolution proved to be a dress rehearsal of the
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the revolution.
The most important demands of the people were fourfold: peace,
land to the tiller, control of industry by workers, and equal status for
the non-Russian nationalities. The Provisional Government under
the leadership of a man named Kerensky did not implement any of
these demands and lost the support of the people. Lenin, who was
in exile in Switzerland at the time of the February Revolution,
returned to Russia in April. Under his leadership, the Bolshevik
Party put forward clear policies
to end the war and transfer land to the peasants and advanced the
slogan All Power to the Soviets. On the question of non-Russian
nationalities, Bolsheviks were the only party then with a clear policy.
Lenin had described the Russian empire as a prison of nations
and had declared that no genuine democracy could be established
unless all tile non-Russian peoples were given equal rights He had
proclaimed the right of all peoples, including those under the
Russian empire, to self-determination. The unpopularity of the
Kerensky government led to its collapse on 7 November 1917,
when a group of sailors occupied the Winter Palace, the seat of the
Kerensky government. Leon Trotsky who had played an important
role in the 1905 Revolution returned to Russia in May 1917. As
head of the Petrograd Soviet, he was one of the most outstanding
leaders of the November uprising. An All Russian Congress of
Soviets met on the same day and assumed full political power. This
event which took place on 7 November is known as the October
Revolution because of the corresponding date of the old Russian
calendar, 25 October.
The Congress of Soviets on the next day issued a proclamation to
all peoples and belligerent states to open negotiations for a just
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played in world affairs from the time of its emergence till its
collapse.
In its impact on the world, the Russian Revolution had few parallels
in history. The ideas of socialism which the socialist movement had
been advocating and which the Russian Revolution espoused were
intended for universal application. The Russian Revolution was the
first successful revolution in history which proclaimed the building of
a socialist society as its objective. It had led to the creation of a new
state over a vast area of the globe. It was, therefore, bound to have
repercussions for the rest of the world.
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