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Check NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science (History - Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution) based on the latest CBSE Class 9th Social Science Syllabus 2020-21. These solutions are very helpful for the preparation of the Class 9th SST exam 2020-21.

Question 1. What were the social, economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905?

Answer 1.

Social Conditions:

About 85% of Russia's population was into agriculture. Workers were a divided social group. Some had strong links with the villages from which they came. Others had settled in cities permanently.

Workers were divided by skill. Despite divisions, 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, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties. Like workers, peasants too were divided. They were also deeply religious. But except in a few cases they had no respect for the nobility.

Economic Conditions:

The vast majority of people in Russia were agriculturists. About 85 percent of the Russian empire s population earned their living from agriculture cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs and Russia was a major exporter of grain.

The industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg and Moscow. Craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large factories existed alongside craft workshops.

Many factories were set up in the 1890s when Russias railway network was extended, and foreign investment in industry increased. Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled.

In Russia, peasants wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them. Frequently, they refused to pay rent and even murdered landlords. In 1902, this occurred on a large scale in south Russia. And in 1905, such incidents took place all over Russia.

Political Condition:

Socialists were active in the countryside through the late nineteenth century. They formed the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900. This party struggled for peasant's rights and demanded that land belonging to nobles be transferred to peasants.

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 could not all be part of a socialist movement. The party was divided over the strategy of the organisation. Vladimir

Lenin (who led the Bolshevik group) thought that in a repressive society like Tsarist Russia the party should be disciplined and should control the number and quality of its members.

Russia was an autocracy. Tsar was not subject to parliament. Liberals in Russia campaigned to end this state of affairs.

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

One day over 110,000 workers in St Petersburg went on strike demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages

and improvement in working conditions.

When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded.

The incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science: History - Chapter 1 The French Revolution

Question 2. In what ways was the working population in Russia different from other countries in Europe, before 1917?

Answer 2.

About 85 percent of the Russian empire's population earned their living from agriculture. This proportion was higher than in most European countries.

For instance, in France and Germany, the proportion was between 40 per cent and 50 per cent.

In the empire, cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs and Russia was a major exporter of grain.

Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in another way. They pooled their land together periodically and their commune (mir) divided it according to the needs of individual families.

Question 3. Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in 1917?

Answer 3.

In 1914, war broke out between two European alliances - Germany, Austria and Turkey (the Central powers) and France, Britain and Russia (later Italy and Romania). This was the First World War.

In Russia, the war was initially popular and people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II. As the war continued, though, the Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the Duma. Support wore thin.

Anti-German sentiments ran high, as can be seen in the renaming of St Petersburg - a German name- as Petrograd.

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

The First World War on the 'eastern front' differed from that on the 'western front'. In the west, armies fought from trenches stretched along eastern France. In the 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. The situation discredited the government and the Tsar. Soldiers did not wish to fight such a war.

The war also had a severe impact on the industry. Russia's own industries were few in number and 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. By 1916, railway lines began to break down. Able-bodied men were called up to the war. As a result, there were labour shortages and small workshops producing essentials were shut down.

Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army. For the people in the cities, bread and flour became scarce. By the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops were common. In February 1917, the government suspended the Duma.

Military commanders advised Tsar to abdicate. He followed their advice and abdicated on 2 March.

Question 4. Make two lists: one with the main events and the effects of the February Revolution and the other with the main events and effects of the October Revolution. Write a paragraph on who was involved in each, who were the leaders and what was the impact of each on Soviet history.

Answer 4.

February Revolution:

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

On 22 February, a lockout took place at a factory on the right bank. The next day, workers in fifty factories called a strike in sympathy.

In many factories, women led the way to strikes. This came to be called the International Women's Day.

On Sunday, 25 February, the government suspended the Duma. Politicians spoke out against the measure.

Demonstrators returned in force to the streets of the left bank on the 26th. On the 27th, the Police Headquarters were ransacked. The

streets thronged with people 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.

The very next day, a delegation went to see the Tsar.

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. Russias future would be decided by a constituent assembly, elected based on universal adult suffrage. Petrograd had led the February Revolution that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.

In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He and the Bolsheviks had opposed the war since 1914.

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'.

Popular demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks July 1917 were sternly repressed.

Meanwhile, in the countryside, peasants and their Socialist Revolutionary leaders pressed for a redistribution of land.

Land committees were formed to handle this. Encouraged by the Socialist Revolutionaries, peasants seized land between July and September 1917.

October Revolution:

On 16 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.

The uprising began on 24 October. Sensing trouble, Prime Minister

Kerenskii had left the city to summon troops. At dawn, 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.

In a swift response, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers.

Late in the day, the ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace. Other vessels

sailed down the Neva and took over various military points. By nightfall, the city was under the committee's control and the ministers had surrendered.

At a meeting of the All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the majority approved the Bolshevik action.

Uprisings took place in other cities. There was heavy fighting - especially in Moscow - but by December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area. The Bolsheviks were opposed to private property.

Most industry and banks were nationalised in November 1917.

The land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).

In November 1917, the Bolsheviks conducted the elections to the Constituent Assembly, but they failed to gain majority support.

In 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.

In March 1918, despite opposition by their political allies, the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany at Brest Litovsk.

Question 5. What were the main changes brought about by the Bolsheviks immediately after the October Revolution?

Answer 5.

The main changes were:

Most industry and banks were nationalised in November 1917.

The 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 the aristocracy.

New uniforms were designed for the army and officials.

The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)

In November 1917, the Bolsheviks conducted the elections to the Constituent Assembly, but they failed to gain majority support.

In January 1918, the Assembly rejected Bolshevik measures and Lenin dismissed the Assembly

In 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.

Question 6. Write a few lines to show what you know about:

kulaks

the Duma

women workers between 1900 and 1930

the Liberals

Stalins collectivisation programme.

Continued here:
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science: History - Chapter 2 Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution -