Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution – Key Vocabulary

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering essential terms, people, events, and concepts from the lecture on Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution. These cards help reinforce understanding of ideological movements, key figures, revolutionary milestones, and Soviet policies discussed in class.

French Revolution

The 1789–1799 uprising in France that promoted ideals of freedom and equality and inspired later social and political movements worldwide.

Estates and Orders

The pre-eighteenth-century hierarchical social divisions in Europe, dominated by aristocracy and the Church.

Liberals (19th-century Europe)

Political group favoring religious tolerance, constitutional government, and protection of individual rights, but opposing universal adult franchise.

Radicals

Reformers who wanted government based on the majority, supported women’s suffrage, and opposed large landowner and factory-owner privileges.

Conservatives

Those who valued tradition and advocated slow, respectful change rather than rapid or revolutionary transformation.

Suffragette Movement

Campaign that fought for women’s right to vote in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Industrialisation

The 18th–19th-century process of developing machine production of goods, leading to urban growth and social change.

Capitalist

An individual or system in which private owners hold capital and profit from industrial production.

Socialism

Ideology opposing private property and advocating collective or state ownership to promote social welfare.

Cooperative

An association where people jointly produce goods and share profits according to the work done by each member.

Robert Owen

English manufacturer (1771-1858) who tried to create a model cooperative community at New Harmony, USA.

Louis Blanc

French socialist (1813-1882) who urged government-supported cooperatives to replace capitalist enterprises.

Karl Marx

German thinker (1818-1883) who argued that workers must overthrow capitalism and establish a communist society.

Friedrich Engels

German socialist (1820-1895) who collaborated with Marx in developing communist theory.

Communist Society

Marx’s envisioned classless future where property is socially controlled and exploitation abolished.

Second International

Federation of socialist parties formed in 1889 to coordinate international socialist activities.

Labour Party (Britain)

Political party created in 1905 by socialists and trade unionists to represent workers in Parliament.

Social Democratic Party (SPD)

German socialist party that gained parliamentary seats with worker support in the early 1900s.

Tsar Nicholas II

Last emperor of Russia (ruled 1894–1917) who was overthrown during the 1917 revolutions.

Russian Orthodox Church

Dominant Christian church in the Russian Empire, derived from Greek Orthodoxy.

Duma

Elected consultative parliament created after the 1905 Revolution in Russia; frequently dissolved by the Tsar.

Bloody Sunday (1905)

Peaceful workers’ march to the Winter Palace that was fired upon, sparking the 1905 Revolution.

1905 Revolution

Wave of strikes and protests in Russia demanding constitutional reform after Bloody Sunday.

February Revolution (1917)

Mass uprising in Petrograd that toppled the monarchy and led to the Provisional Government.

Petrograd Soviet

Council of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies formed in 1917 that competed with the Provisional Government.

Bolsheviks

Lenin-led faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party advocating a disciplined, revolutionary party.

Mensheviks

Moderate faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party favoring a broad, open membership.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolsheviks who guided the 1917 October Revolution and headed Soviet Russia.

April Theses

Lenin’s 1917 program demanding ‘All power to the Soviets,’ end of war, land to peasants, and bank nationalisation.

Provisional Government

Temporary Russian government formed after the Tsar’s abdication; overthrown in October 1917.

October Revolution (1917)

Bolshevik seizure of power on 24–25 Oct (7 Nov Gregorian), establishing Soviet rule.

Military Revolutionary Committee

Body organized by Leon Trotskii to plan and execute the October uprising.

Cheka

Early Soviet secret police created in 1917 to suppress counter-revolution; later OGPU/NKVD.

Constituent Assembly (Russia)

Elected body dissolved by the Bolsheviks in 1918 after it rejected their measures.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1918 peace treaty between Soviet Russia and Germany ending Russia’s involvement in World War I.

Reds

Forces loyal to the Bolshevik government during the Russian Civil War (1918-1920).

Whites

Anti-Bolshevik forces—monarchists, liberals, and others—during the Russian Civil War.

Greens

Peasant-based Socialist Revolutionary or local forces fighting both Reds and Whites in the Civil War.

USSR (Soviet Union)

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, multinational state created by Bolsheviks in 1922.

Planned Economy

Economic system where the state sets targets and controls production through Five Year Plans.

Five Year Plan

Centralised economic blueprint setting production goals for a five-year period (first launched 1928).

Magnitogorsk

Model steel-producing city built rapidly during the First Five Year Plan, symbolising Soviet industrialisation.

Stalinism

Policies under Joseph Stalin characterised by centralised control, rapid industrialisation, and political repression.

Collectivisation

Forced merging of individual peasant farms into large, state-controlled collective farms (kolkhozes) from 1929.

Kulak

Label for relatively prosperous peasants targeted during grain requisition and collectivisation campaigns.

Kolkhoz

Collective farm where land and resources were pooled and profits shared among member peasants.

Budeonovka

Distinctive pointed woollen cap chosen in 1918 as part of the Red Army uniform.

Comintern

Communist International (1919-1943) aimed at coordinating worldwide communist parties.

jadidists

Muslim reformers in the Russian Empire who sought modernised Islam and supported constitutional change.

mir

Traditional Russian peasant commune that periodically redistributed land among households.

Second World War Influence

Period when the USSR’s role against fascism boosted global prestige of Soviet-style socialism.

Collective Security (Soviet)

Concept of uniting worker and peasant power across nationalities within the USSR to defend socialism.

Central Powers

Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey opposing Russia, France, and Britain in WWI.

International Women’s Day (Russia 1917)

22 Feb/8 Mar strike led by Petrograd women workers that ignited the February Revolution.

OGPU / NKVD

Successor organisations to the Cheka, responsible for state security, surveillance, and political repression.

Second Congress of Soviets

Assembly that ratified Bolshevik takeover immediately after the October Revolution.

Trade Unions (early USSR)

Worker organisations brought under Communist Party control after 1917 to direct labour policy.

Conference of the Peoples of the East

1920 Baku meeting encouraging anti-colonial movements to adopt Bolshevik ideas.

Communist University of the Workers of the East

Moscow institute training Asian and colonial activists in Marxist theory during the 1920s.