Russian Revolution

SOCIALISM IN EUROPE AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

 THE AGE OF SOCIAL CHANGE:- • Before the French revolution the 18th century society was divided into estates and orders controlled by the churches and the aristocrats. • After the French revolution it seemed possible to change this form of society • Few groups wanted the change in society in Europe and the responses varied from those who accepted some changes needed to be made but wished for a gradual shift to those who wanted to radically restructure society. Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives: - o Liberals: • Wanted a nation that tolerated all religions, Britain favored the church of England, Austria and Spain supported the catholic church. • Opposed the uncontrolled power of the dynastic rulers, wanted to safeguard the rights of each individual against government. • They wanted representative, elective government and a well trained judiciary independent of the government. • They were not democrats as they did not believe in universal adult franchise only the rich ‘men’ were allowed to vote. o Radicals: • Wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of country’s population. • Supported the women’s suffragette movement. • Opposed privileges of the wealthy • Disliked concentration of the property in hands of few. o Conservatives: • Opposed radicals and liberals, but opened mind to change. • After French revolution they accepted thar some change was inevitable, so they wanted only gradual change. The differing ideas clashed and the various attempts at revolution and national transformation helped define both the limits and potential of political tendencies.

Industrial society and Social change: - • Political trends gave rise to a new time of social and economic changes, new cities came up and new industrialized regions developed, railways expanded and the industrial revolution occurred. • Problems associated with the industrialization: work hours were long and wages were poor, unemployment was very common, housing and sanitation were problems since towns were growing rapidly. • All industries were private property, liberals and radicals were property owners. • Liberals and Radicals- They sought that the benefits would be achieved with a well trained educated and healthy work force. • Firmly believed in the value of individual effort, and opposed aristocracy. • Nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted revolutions to put an end to the form of government in 1815 in Europe, they became revolutionists who wanted to overthrow monarchy. • Nationalists wanted a ‘nation’ with equal rights, GIUSEPPE MAZZIN, Italian nationalist achieved this in Italy.

Coming of Socialism in Europe: - • Mid nineteenth century- Socialism was a well-known body of ideas and was discussed at many places. • Why were socialists against private property? They saw it as the root to all the social ills in the society, individuals owned property that gave employment opportunities but they were only concerned with personal gain, and not with the welfare of the people who made that property productive. • So if society was a whole rather than single individuals, more attention would be paid to collective social welfare. • Robert Owen: leading English manufacturer sought to build a cooperative community called new harmony in Indiana (USA). • Some like Louis Blanc demanded that the government promote cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprise. • Cooperatives were associations of people who produced goods together and split the profit based on the work done by members. • Karl Marx: Industrial Society was capitalists, capitalists owned the capital invested and the profit that was produced by workers, working conditions can’t change until they hold the profits, he believed that to break free from this the workers would had to construct a radically socialist society where all property was socially controlled, he wanted a communist society. Socialism Support: - • To coordinate efforts across Europe the socialists formed an international body, namely the second international body. • Workers in England and Germany formed organizations to fight for living conditions, demanded a reduction in working hours and the right to vote. • Germany the parties worked closely with the Social Democratic party (SDP), which helped it win parliamentary seats. • They had great figures and parliamentary politics but the liberals and radical continued to rule. • In one of the least industrialized of Europe, Socialists took over the government of Russia through the October revolution of 1917.

 THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: -  The Russian empire in 1914:- • In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled the Russian empire, it included modern day- Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. • Majority religion was- Russian orthodox Christianity • Minority: Protestant, Muslims, a o Economy and Society:- • Agriculture: Russia- 85%, Germany- 40%, France- 50% • Prominent industrial areas: Petersburg and Moscow, multiple factories were set up in the 1890’s when the Russian railway network was extended. Coal production doubled, iron and steel output quadrupled. • Industry- private property, government supervised, working hours were 10-12 hours a day. • Workers divided by skill, women made up 31% of the factory labor, paid lesser than man, associations formed to help people in times of unemployment or financial hardships. • They all united to strike work in disagreement about dismissals or working conditions. • Country side: peasants cultivated a lot, they too were divided and they were very religious, nobles owned majority land and got their power due to services to TSAR. • Peasants wanted the land and hence sometimes didn’t pay rent and killed the land lord. Socialism in Russia:- • All political parties illegal until 1914, Russian Socialist Democratic party formed- 1898. • Set up many newspapers and mobilized workers, they followed socialist ideas. • The Socialist revolutionary party formed in 1900, fought for peasant rights on their land which nobles seized. • Social democrats disagreed, Lenin said peasants weren’t one and divided party: Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

Bolshevik Party: led by Vladmir Lenin and said that party should be disciplined and member quality should be controlled.
Menshevik Party: key person Julius Martov, and made the party open to all. The 1905 Revolution:- • Russia = Autocracy & Tsar not subject to parliament until even in 20th century. Liberals campaigned all around to end this. • They worked together with social democrats and socialist revolutionaries, peasants and workers to demand a constitution, nationalists in Poland and jadidists in Muslim domination. • 1904 bad: essential goods prices up, real wages -20%, workers association membership rose dramatically, next days 110000workers in St. Petersburg strike demanding more wages less working hours and better working conditions. • Procession led by father Gapon reached winter palace, police attack, 100 died, 300 injured called the BLOODY SUNDAY. • All workers did a strike all over the countries, Lawyers, doctors and other middle class workers formed a union of unions, demanded a constituent assembly. • Tsar permitted formation of consultative parliament DUMA. First duma dismissed in 75 days, 3 months one more duma full of conservative politicians because tsar did not want reduction in his power or questioning of authority. World War One:- • 1914 war broke out: Germany, Austria and turkey (central powers) VS France, Britain and Russia (Italy Romania too). All had global empire, war in and out of Europe • War initially popular in Russia, people rallied near Tsar Nicholas II, he refused to consult main parties in Duma, Support wore thin. Anti German sentiments were high, showed by renaming of saint Petersburg as Petrograd. Tsarina Alexandra ka German origin and poor advisors like Rasputin made autocracy unpopular. • Western front: armies fought from trenches along eastern France. • Eastern Front: Armies moved a lot and left multiple casualties, Russians lost badly in Germany and Austria, 7 million casualties, burnt all the land while retreating so the Germans couldn’t live off their land. 3 million refugees discredited Tsar. • Industrials supplies cut off from Russia, Baltic sea controlled by Germany, 1916 Russian railway started breaking down, every abled man sent to war front, labor shortage essential production halted, grain sent to war front for army, bread scarce in city, 1916 riots in bread shops. The February Revolution:- • Winter of 1917: Grim conditions in Petrograd, layout of city divided city into various sections, right of Neva river- the worker quarters and the factories, on left bank were fashionable areas like winter palace and the palace where duma met. • Feb 1917 food shortage felt too much in the workers quarters, 22 feb lockout in a factory on the river banks, next day 50 factories called a sympathy strike, many factory strikes led by women IWD. • Workers crossed rivers and made way to center of the capital- Nevskii Prospekt. All fashionable quarters surrounded by workers hence curfew imposed, 24th and 25th they came out again and cavalry was called out. • 25 feb the Duma was suspended an demonstrators returned and ransacked police headquarters on 26th, protests for more food, more wages and better conditions, cavalry joined in, all gathered to form a “soviet”, called the Petrograd soviet. • March 2nd Tsar abdicated the throne, and provincial government formed by duma and soviet leaders. o Result of February Revolution: • Officials, land owners and industrialists became very influential, but they worked towards an elected government, Restrictions on associations were removed, no common system of elections. • April of 1917: Bolsheviks ka leader Vladimir Lenin returned from exile, was opposing the war since 1914, wanted Soviet to take power. • THE APRIL THESES by Vladimir Lenin: 1) war be brought to close, land transferred to peasants, banks to be nationalized, wanted to rename the Bolsheviks to the Communist Party to show radical aims, ppl thought to vote for provincial government, but following months changed their ideas. • The Summer: workers movement spread, factory committees formed, question business methods, soldiers formed committees in army and in June 500 soviets sent representatives to and all Russian congress of soviets. • Provincial govt. power reduce and Bolsheviks power increase, reacted by stern measures, arrested Bolshevik leaders and shut down movements. • Countryside: peasants and socialist revolutionary leaders pressed for land distribution, to handle land committees formed. The October Revolution of 1917:- • Provincial govt. and Bolsheviks conflict grew and Lenin feared dictatorship, uprising against government began to be discussed. • 16 oct 1917, Petrograd soviet and Bolsheviks persuaded by Lenin to a socialist seizure, soviet appointed a Military Revolutionary committee (MRC) under the lead of Leon Trotskii. Date secret. • 24 Oct started, PM Kerenskii left the left the city to summon the troops, men loyal to the government seized to Bolshevik newspapers and were ordered take over telephone and telegraph office and protect the winter palace. • MRC started to seize government offices. Ship AURORA shelled the winter palace, vessels sailed down Neva and took control of various military points, nightfall city under the MRC. • The meeting of the soviet committee approved of the Bolsheviks action. • By December the Bolsheviks the whole Moscow-Petrograd area. o October revolution result: • Bolsheviks opposed private property, so, industry and banks nationalized by November 1917 and land was declared a social property, in cities house partition enforced according to the need of every family. • Banned old titles of aristocracy, new uniforms fro army and officials and soviet hat chosen in 1918, budeonovka. • Renamed the Russian Communist part(RCP), November 1917 contested in elections to the constituent assembly but failed to attain majority, Jan 1918 Bolshevik measures rejected so Lenin dismissed the assembly. • Thought the all Russian congress of soviets is more democratic than and assembly elected at an uncertain time,, march 1918 peace with Germany at Brest Litovsk. Bolsheviks became only party to contest in the elections to the all Russian congress of soviets and formed the parliament. Russia became a one party state and the trade unions were under party control secret police Cheka first and later the GPU and NKVD arrested the Anti Bolsheviks. • Artists and writers rallied to party because it stood for socialism but became disillusioned because of the censorship rule. The Civil War:- • Bolsheviks (reds) ordered land redistribution, Russian army deserted and went home for the land. • Non Bolshevik socialists, liberals and autocracy supporters condemned the Bolshevik uprising and organized troops in south Russia to fight the reds. • The greens(socialist revolutionaries) and whites (pro tsarist’s) controlled most of empire and were backed by French, American, British and Japanese troops in fear of socialism grown in Russia, civil war fought. • Whites took harsh steps against peasants who seized land made them lose the popular support, by January 1920 the Bolsheviks controlled most of the former Russian empire, succeeded through cooperation with non-Russian nationalities and Muslim jadidists. Cooperation didn’t work in Russian colonies where the colonists themselves turned Bolshevik. • Most non Russian nationalities were given political autonomy in the soviet union USSR, the Bolshevik state created from the Russian empire, their attempts were only partly due to the unpopular policies forced like discouragement of nomadism. Making of a Socialist society:- • Even in the civil war the Bolsheviks kept industries and banks nationalized and allowed peasants to cultivate land socialized, they used confiscated land to demonstrate collective work. • Centralized planning enforced, set a five year period called the five year plans, the govt. fixed all prices to promote industrial growth. • This led to economic growth, soil, coal and steel production increased by 100% between 1929 and 1933. • Rapid construction led to poor working conditions, in the city if Magnitogorsk it took 3 years to construct a steel plant, workers lived hard lives and the result was 550 stoppages in first year alone. • Schooling system developed, arrangements for workers to enter colleges and universities, crèches were established in factories for children of woman workers, cheap health care for the public. Stalinism and collectivization: - • The period of early planned economy was linked with the disasters of collectivization of agriculture. • They were facing problems with grain supplies, the government fixed prices at which the grain must be sold and the peasants didn’t agree to these prices. • Stalin headed the part after Lenin’s death and introduced firm emergency measures, he believed that the rich peasants and traders in the countryside were holding back stock to increase the prices, Stalin had to confiscate supplies. • In 1928 party members toured farms and seized hoarded grains from kulaks, the decision was take to collectivize farms, people thought shortage was because of the small size of holdings because each person had very less land, Stalin sought to eliminate kulaks and seize the land and make them state controlled farms. • Party forced all peasants to farm in collective farms or kolkhoz, the bulk of land was transferred to ownership of collective farms, peasants worked on this land and the profits were share amongst them. • Angered peasants denied to work like thus and destroyed their own live stock the number of cattle fell down by 1/3rd , they didn’t want to work on collective farms for a variety of reasons and were severly punished. • This didn’t increase production immediately but due to the bad harvests between 1930- 1933, there was a devastating famine and 3 million people died.