Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

The age of social change

before the 18th century was divided into estates and orders — aristocracy and church controlled economic and social power. after revolution — seemed possible to change it.

europe and asia — ideas about individual rights and who controlled social power was discussed. india — raja rammohan roy and derozio talked about the significance of french revolution. development in colonies reshaped ideas of societal change.

not everyone in europe wanted a complete change in society. some accepted that change was necessary but wished for a gradual shift. some wanted to restructure society radically. they were — conservatives, liberals, radicals.

1. 1 Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives

LIBERALS -

• liberals wanted a nation that tolerated all religions.

• european states usually discriminated in favour of one religion. britain — church of england. austria and spain — catholic church.

• liberals also opposed to the uncontrolled rule of dynastic power.

• they wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against governments.

• they argued for a representative, elected parliament, subject to laws interpreted by a well trained judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials.

• they were not democrats. they did not believe in universal adult franchise (right of every citizen to vote).

• they felt that only men of property should be allowed to vote. they did not want women to be able to vote.

RADICALS -

• they wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of the countries population.

• supported women’s suffragette movement.

• they opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners.

• not against the existence of private property; disliked the concentration of property in the hands of a few.

CONSERVATIVES -

• opposed to radicals and liberals. but after revolution — they opened their minds to the need for change.

• in the 18th century — conservatives were generally opposed to the idea of change.

• by the 19th century — they accepted that change was inevitable, but the past had to be respected and change should be brought by a slow process.

1. 2 Industrial Society and Social Change

political trends were signs of a new time — a time of profound social and economic changes. new cities came up and industrialised regions were developed, railways expanded and industrial revolution occurred.

industrialisation — men, women and children worked in factories for long hours and low wages. unemployment was common during times of low demand for industrial goods. housing and sanitation was becoming a problem because towns were growing rapidly. liberals and radicals searched for solutions to these issues.

In the early 19th century, liberals and radicals, often property owners, valued individual effort and free enterprise. They opposed aristocratic privileges and believed that freedom, education, and a healthy workforce would lead to societal progress. Many workers seeking change supported these groups.

Nationalists were groups advocating for the independence and self-determination of various ethnic minorities within the Russian Empire — Ukrainian, Polish, Baltic and Georgian.

nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted revolutions to put an end to the kind of governments established in europe 1815. france, italy, germany, Russia — revolutionaries and worked to overthrow existing monarchs.

nationalists wanted revolutions that would create ‘nations’ where all citizens would have equal rights. after 1815, Giuseppe Mazzini (italian nationalist) wanted to achieve this in italy.

1. 3 The Coming of socialism to Europe

mid-nineteenth century in europe, socialism was very well known.

socialists were against private property — they believed that it was the root of all social ills.

Why? — Individuals owned the property that gave employment but the propertied were concerned only with personal gain and not with the welfare of those who made the property productive. So if society as a whole rather than single individuals controlled property, more attention would be paid to collective social interests. Socialists wanted this change and campaigned for it.

Basis of a socialist society — believed in the idea of cooperatives.

• Robert Owen (1771-1858) - leading english manufacturer wanted to build a cooperative community called New Harmony in Indiana (USA)

socialists felt that cooperatives can’t be built on a wide scale — only through individual initiative — they demanded governments to encourage cooperatives.

• Louis Blanc (1813-1882) — wanted the government to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises.

cooperatives — associations were groups of people who produced goods together and divided the profits according to the work done by members.

Karl Mark (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) added other ideas.

Marx argued that society was ‘capitalist’. Capitalists owned the ,capital invested in factories, and the profit of capitalists was produced by workers. The condition of workers could not improve as long as profit was accumulated by private capitalists. Workers had to overthrow capitalism and the rule of private property. Mark believed — to free themselves from private capitalists, workers had to construct a radically socialist society where all property was socially controlled. This would be a communist society. he was convinced that workers would triumph in their conflict with capitalists. A communist society was the natural society of the future.

1. 4 Support for Socialism

By 1870’s — socialist ideas spread through europe. socialists formed an international body — Second International.

Workers in england and germany formed associations to fight for better wages and working conditions. They set up funds to help members in times of distress / demanded a reduction in working hours / demanded the right to vote.

Germany — these associations worked closely w/ the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and helped it win Parliamentary seats. 1905 — socialists and trade unionists formed a Labour Party in Britain and a Socialist party in France.

till 1914 — socialists never succeeded in forming a government in France. represented by strong figures — their ideas shaped legislature — but government continued to run by conservatives, liberals and radicals.

The Russian Revolution

Socialists took over the government in russia through the october revolution of 1917. The fall of monarchy in February 1917 and the events of October are normally called — Russian Revolution

2. 1 The Russian Empire in 1914

In 1914 - Tsar Nicholas II - ruled Russia and its empire.

What did russia’s empire include?

Territory around moscow, current day finland, latvia, lithuania, estonia, parts of poland, ukraine and belarus. stretched to the pacific and compromised todays central asian countries — georgia, armenia, azerbaijan.

Majority religion was russian orthodox christianity — grown out of the greek orthodox church — the empire also included catholics, protestants, muslims and buddhists.

2. 2 Economy and Society

beginning of twentieth century — vast majority of russias people were agriculturists. 85% earned their living from agriculture. higher than other european countries — 40% in france and 50% in germany. cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs — russia was a major exporter of grain

prominent industrial areas were — st petersburg and moscow. craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large factories existed alongside craft workshops.

1890s — many factories were set up and russias railway network was extended and foreign investment in industry increased. coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled.

1900s — in some areas the amount of factory workers and craftsmen were almost equal in number.

most industry were the private property of industrialists. government supervised larger factories to ensure minimum waged and limited hours of work. they could not prevent rules from being broken. in craft units or workshops the working day was sometimes 15 hours — compared to 10-12 hours in factories. accomodation varied from rooms to dormitories.

Workers were a divided social group. Some had a strong link w/ the village from where they came from. others had settled in the city permanently.

Workers were divided in skill. Metalworkers were considered aristocrats as they required more skill and training.

Women made up 31% of the factory labour force by 1914 - but they were paid less than a man’s wage (between half and three-fourths).

Division among workers was also seen in dress and manners. Some associations were formed to help members during unemployment or financial hardship — but such associations were few.

Workers did unite to strike work (stop work) when they disagreed with employers about dismissals or work conditions.These strikes took place frequently in the textile industry during 1896-1897, and in the metal industry during 1902.

in the countryside — the peasants cultivated most of the land. but the nobility, the crown and the orthodox church owned large properties. the peasants had no respect for the nobility — they got their power through their services to the Tsar, not through local popularity. they wanted the land that the nobles had given them. they refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords. 1902 — occured in large scale in south russia. 1905 — occurred all over russia.

russian peasants were different from other european peasants. they pooled their land together periodically and their community (mir) divided it according to the need of each family.

2.3 Socialism in Russia

all political parties in russia were illegal before 1914 — Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists who respected Marx’s ideas. operated as an illegal organisation. it set up a newspaper, mobilised workers and organised strikes.

russian socialists felt that the custom of peasants to divide land periodically made them natural socialists. so peasants, not workers would be the main force of the revolution. socialists were active in the countryside in late 19th century. They formed Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900 — struggled for peasants rights and demanded that the land owned by nobles have to be transferred.

Social Democrats disagreed with Socialist Revolutionaries about peasants — Lenin felt that peasants were not one united group. Some were poor and others rich, some worked as labourers while others were capitalists who employed workers. Given this ‘differentiation’ within them, they couldn’t all be part of a socialist movement.

Vladimir Lenin - led the bolshevik group - in a repressive society like Tsarist Russia the party should be disciplined and control the number and quality of its members.

Mensheviks - thought that the party should be open to all

2. 4 A turbulent time: The 1905 Revolution

Russia was an autocracy. Tsar was not subject to parliament.

Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries worked with peasants and workers during the revolution of 1905 to demand a constitution.

They were supported in the empire by nationalists (Poland) and in muslim dominated areas by Jadidists who wanted modernised islam to lead their societies.

1904 — prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20%. membership of workers associations rose dramatically. four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers (formed in 1904) were dismissed at Putilov Iron Works — there was a call for industrial action. 110,000 workers in st. petersburg — went on a strike demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions.

Workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace — they were attacked by the police and cossacks. 100 were killed and over 300 were wounded. This was known as the Bloody Sunday — led to the 1905 Revolution.

staged walkouts — complained about the lack of civil liberties. all middle-class workers, doctors, lawyers et cetera established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent Assembly.

During the 1905 revolution — Tsar allowed the creation of an elective consultative parliament or duma — large number of trade unions and factory committees — most of them worked unofficially as they were declared illegal.

Tsar dismissed the first duma within 75 days and the re-elected second duma within 3 months. He did not want any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power. He changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians. Liberals and revolutionaries were kept out.

2. 5 The First World War and the Russian Empire

1914 — war broke out between two European alliances – Germany, Austria and Turkey (the Central powers) and France, Britain and Russia (later Italy and Romania). In russia -

• war was initially popular and people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II.

• Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma.

• Support wore thin. Anti-German sentiments ran high

• renaming of St Petersburg – a German name – as Petrograd.

• Tsarina Alexandra’s German origins and poor advisers, especially a monk called Rasputin, made the autocracy unpopular.

• west — armies fought from trenches stretched along eastern France.

• east — armies moved a good deal and fought battles leaving large casualties.

Defeats were shocking and demoralising. Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916. There were over 7 million casualties by 1917. As they retreated, the Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent the enemy from being able to live off the land. The destruction of crops and buildings led to over 3 million refugees in Russia — discredited the government and tsar, soldiers did not want to fight such a war.

The war also had a severe impact on industry — the country was cut off from other suppliers of industrial goods by German control of the Baltic Sea. Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe.

1916 — railway lines began to break down. Able-bodied men were called up to the war — there were labour shortages and small workshops producing essentials were shut down. Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army. for people in the city, bread and flour became scarce. Winter of 1916, riots at bread shops were common.

The february Revolution in Petrograd

Winter of 1917 — conditions in the capital, Petrograd, were grim. The layout of the city seemed to emphasise the divisions among its people. The workers’ quarters and factories were located on the right bank of the River Neva. On the left bank were the fashionable areas, the Winter Palace, and official buildings, including the palace where the Duma met.

February 1917 — food shortages were deeply felt inthe workers’ quarters. The winter was very cold – there had been exceptional frost and heavy snow. Parliamentarians wishing to preserve elected government, were opposed to the Tsar’s desire to dissolve the Duma.

• 25 February, sunday — the government suspended the duma.

• 26th — Demonstrators returned in force to the streets of the left bank.

• 27th — Police Headquarters were ransacked

• people rallied raising slogans about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.

The government tried to control the situation and called out the cavalry once again. However, 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’ in the same building as the Duma met. This was the Petrograd Soviet.

Military commanders advised him to abdicate — He followed their advice and abdicated on 2 March. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country. Russia’s future would be decided by a constituent assembly, elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Petrograd had led the February Revolution that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.

3. 1 After February

• Army officials, landowners, industrialists — influential in the Provisional Government.

• Liberals, Socialists among them worked towards an elected government.

• Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed.

• ‘Soviets’, like the Petrograd Soviet, were set up everywhere, though no common system of election was followed.

April 1917 — the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He and the Bolsheviks had opposed the war since 1914. Now he felt it was time for soviets to take over power. 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’.

Others in the Bolshevik Party were initially surprised by the April Theses. They thought that the time had not yet come for a socialist revolution and the provisional government needed to be supported.

workers movement spread, in industrial areas — factory committees were formed. trade unions grew in number. soldiers committees were formed in the army.

In june — 500 Soviets sent representatives to an All Russian Congress of Soviets. Provisional Government saw its power reduce and Bolshevik influence grow, it decided to take stern measures — resisted attempts by workers to run factories — began to arrest leaders. Popular demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks in July 1917 were sternly repressed — Bolsheviks were forced to go into hiding or flee.

Peasants and Socialist Revolutionary Leaders pressed for a redistribution of land. land committees were formed to handle this. they seized land between july and september 1917.

3. 2 The Revolution of October 1917

conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks grew — Lenin feared the Provisional Government would set up a dictatorship.

16th 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 date of the event was kept a secret.

Uprising began 26th October — Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the city to summon troops.

• military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of two Bolshevik newspapers

• Pro-government troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace.

• Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers.

• Vessels sailed down the Neva and took over various military points.

• city was under the committee’s control and the ministers had surrendered.

• All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the majority approved the Bolshevik action.

• by December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.

What changed after October?

The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property. Most industry and banks were nationalised in November 1917 — government took over ownership and management. 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. They banned the use of the old titles of aristocracy. To assert the change, new uniforms were designed for the army and officials, following a clothing competition organised in 1918 – when the Soviet hat (budeonovka) was chosen.

The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). November 1917 — the Bolsheviks conducted the elections to the Constituent Assembly, but they failed to gain majority support.

January 1918 — the Assembly rejected Bolshevik measures and Lenin dismissed the Assembly. He thought the All Russian Congress of Soviets was more democratic than an assembly elected in uncertain conditions.

March 1918 — despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks 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.

4. 1 The Civil War

When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army began to break up. Soldiers, mostly peasants, wished to go home for the redistribution and deserted. 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’ (pro-Tsarists) controlled most of the Russian empire.

• They were backed by French, American, British and Japanese troops – all those 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 — led to the loss of popular support for the non-Bolsheviks.

January 1920 — Bolsheviks controlled most of the former Russian empire — they succeeded due to cooperation with non-Russian nationalities and Muslim jadidists. Cooperation did not work where Russian colonists themselves turned Bolshevik.

In Khiva, in Central Asia, Bolshevik colonists brutally massacred local nationalists in the name of defending socialism. In this situation, many were confused about what the Bolshevik represented.

non-Russian nationalities were given political autonomy in the Soviet Union (USSR) – the state the Bolsheviks created from the Russian empire in December 1922.

But since this was combined with unpopular policies that the Bolsheviks forced the local government to follow – like the harsh discouragement of nomadism – attempts to win over different nationalities were only partly successful.

4. 2 Making a Socialist Society.

During Civil War -

• Bolsheviks kept industries and banks nationalised.

• They permitted peasants to cultivate the land that had been socialised.

• Bolsheviks used confiscated land to demonstrate what collective work could be.

process of centralised planning — officials assessed how the economy could work and set targets for a five-year period — they made five year plans — the government fixed all prices to promote industrial growth during the first two plans. (1927-1932 and 1933-1938). this led to economic growth. Industrial production increased (between 1929 and 1933 by 100% in the case of oil, coal and steel). New factory cities came into being.

Rapid Construction led to poor working conditions. Magnitogorsk — construction of steel plant was achieved in 3 years. workers lived hard lives — 550 stoppages of work in the first year alone.

• Extended Schooling System — arrangements were made for factory workers and peasants to enter universities.

• Crèches were established in factories for the children of women workers.

• Cheap public health care was provided.

• Model living quarters were set up for workers.

4. 3 Stalinism and Collectivisation

Early Planned Economy was linked to the disasters of the collectivisation of agriculture.

1927-1928 — Towns in Soviet Russia were facing an acute problem of grain supplies. The government fixed prices at which grain must be sold, but the peasants refused to sell their grain to the government at these prices.

Stalin (headed the party after the death of lenin) — introduced firm emergency measures. He believed that rich peasants and traders in the countryside were holding stocks in the hope of higher prices.

1928 — Party members toured the grain-producing areas, supervising enforced grain collections, and raiding kulaks (well-to-do peasants). As shortages continued, the decision was taken to collectivise farms. It was argued that grain shortages were partly due to the small size of holdings.

After 1917 — land had been given over to peasants. These small-sized peasant farms could not be modernised. To develop modern farms, and run them along industrial lines with machinery, it was necessary to ‘eliminate kulaks’, take away land from peasants, and establish state-controlled large farms.

Stalins collectivisation programme — 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 profit was shared.

Enraged peasants resisted the authorities and destroyed their livestock. 1929-1931 — the number of cattle fell by one-third. Those who resisted collectivisation were severely punished. Many were deported and exiled.

Peasants argued that they were not rich and they were not against socialism. They merely did not want to work in collective farms for a variety of reasons. Stalin’s government allowed some independent cultivation, but treated such cultivators unsympathetically.

In spite of collectivisation — production did not increase immediately. The bad harvests of 1930-1933 led to one of most devastating famines in Soviet history when over 4 million died.

Many within the Party criticised the confusion in industrial production under the Planned Economy and the consequences of collectivisation — Stalin and his sympathisers charged these critics with conspiracy against socialism.

by 1939 — over 2 million were in prisons or labour camps. Most were innocent of the crimes, but no one spoke for them. A large number were forced to make false confessions under torture and were executed.

The Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR

1. Reaction of Socialist Parties in Europe to the Bolshevik Takeover

• Existing socialist parties in Europe did not fully support the Bolshevik method of seizing power and maintaining control.

• The Bolsheviks' rise to power created significant global interest in the possibility of establishing a workers' state.

• The idea of a workers' state inspired the creation of communist parties in various countries. Example: The Communist Party of Great Britain was formed as part of this global movement.

3. Bolshevik Encouragement of Colonial Peoples

• The Bolsheviks encouraged colonial peoples around the world to replicate their revolutionary experiment.

• Non-Russian participation in Bolshevik initiatives such as:

  • Conference of the Peoples of the East (1920).

  • Comintern (Communist International), an international union of pro-Bolshevik socialist parties.

4. Education of Non-Russians in Soviet Institutions

• Many non-Russians were educated in the USSR's Communist University of the Workers of the East.

• The Soviet Union promoted socialism globally, helping spread its influence by educating future leaders from other countries.

5. Global Impact of the USSR by the Second World War

• By the time World War II began, the USSR had transformed socialism into a global ideology, giving it an international stature.

• The Soviet Union became a major force for socialism worldwide, promoting itself as a model socialist state.

6. Realisation of Shortcomings in Soviet Socialism by the 1950s

• By the 1950s, it became clear, even within the USSR, that its government style had diverged from the ideals of the Russian Revolution.

• The broader socialist movement acknowledged that the Soviet Union was facing significant internal problems.

7. Achievements of the Soviet Union

• Despite its flaws, the USSR achieved considerable success:

• A backward country had transformed into a global power.

• Significant advancements were made in both industry and agriculture.

• The poor were being fed, and the nation was progressing.

• The USSR's development came at the cost of denying basic freedoms to its citizens.

• The state implemented its policies through repressive and authoritarian measures.

9. Decline of the USSR’s Global Reputation by the End of the 20th Century

• By the late 20th century, the USSR’s reputation as a socialist country had declined internationally.

• Despite its fall in global esteem, socialist ideals remained respected among its people.