Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

• The chapter is titled "Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution"

The Age of Social Change

• The French Revolution created the possibility of dramatic change in societal structures.
• Before the 18th century, society was divided into estates controlled by the aristocracy and the church.
• Post-revolution, new ideas about individual rights and social power began to emerge across Europe and Asia
• Figures like Raja Rammohan Roy and Derozio in India discussed the significance of the French Revolution.
• Not everyone in Europe wanted a complete transformation of society.
• Responses ranged from gradual shifts to radical restructuring.
• These included conservatives, liberals, and radicals.
• These terms' meanings varied across contexts and times.
• Focus is given to 19th-century political traditions and their influence on change.
• The Russian Revolution is focused on as a case of radical societal transformation, leading to the rise of socialism in the 20th century.

Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives

• Liberals sought a nation that was tolerant of all religions, unlike the European states that discriminated
• Liberals opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers.
• They advocated for rights of individuals against governments.
• Supported representative, elected parliamentary government with independent judiciary.
• Liberals were not democrats as they did not believe in universal adult franchise and felt mainly men of property have vote, and did not want vote for women.
• Radicals wanted a government based on the majority of a country's population and supported women's suffragette movements
• Suffragette movement was a movement to give women the right to vote
• Radicals opposed privileges for landowners and factory owners, but were not against private property
• Radicals disliked the concentration of property in the hands of a few.
• Conservatives were opposed to radicals and liberals, but post-French Revolution, they accepted the need for change
• Conservatives believed the past should be respected and change should occur slowly.
• Differing ideas about societal change led to clashes during the social and political turmoil after the French Revolution.
• Attempts at revolution and transformation helped define limits and potential of political tendencies.

Industrial Society and Social Change

• Political trends signaled a time of social and economic change including new cities, industrial regions, railways, and the Industrial Revolution.
• Industrialization brought people to factories, but work hours were long, wages were poor, and unemployment was common
• Housing and sanitation problems arose due to rapid town growth.
• Liberals and radicals sought solutions to the problems.
• Almost all industries were privately owned.
• Liberals and radicals were often property owners and employers and believed effort should be encouraged.
• They believed a healthy, educated workforce would yield benefits.
• They valued individual effort, labor, and enterprise, as opposed to the aristocracy's birth privileges.
• They believed that freedom, labor, and capital would lead to societal development.
• Many working men and women rallied around liberal and radical groups in the early nineteenth century.
• Some nationalists, liberals, and radicals wanted revolutions to end the kinds of governments in Europe post-1815.
• Revolutionaries in France, Italy, Germany, and Russia worked to overthrow monarchs and create 'nations' with equal rights.
• Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian nationalist, conspired with others to achieve this in Italy.

The Coming of Socialism to Europe

• Socialism was envisioned as a far-reaching societal structure.
• By the mid-19th century, socialism was a well-known ideology in Europe attracting widespread attention.
• Socialists opposed private property, viewing it as the social ills' root, due to owners being concerned with personal gain and not welfare.
• They advocated for collective social interests through societal control of property.
• Socialists had different visions of the future, some of which including: cooperatives.
• Robert Owen (1771-1858) sought to build a cooperative community named New Harmony in Indiana (USA).
• Other socialists wanted governments to encourage cooperatives and in France, Louis Blanc (1813-1882) wanted the government to replace capitalist enterprises.
• These cooperatives were to be associations that produced goods together and divided profits by work done.
• Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) added to these arguments, with Marx arguing that industrial society was 'capitalist'
• Capitalists owned capital in factories, with profits produced by workers.
• Marx believed worker conditions could not improve as long as profit belonged to private capitalists.
• Marx believed workers should overthrow capitalism and private property to construct a radically socialist society.
• This would result in a communist society, and workers would triumph over capitalists.

Support for Socialism

• By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through Europe.
• Socialists formed the Second International to coordinate efforts.
• Workers in England and Germany formed associations for better conditions, set up funds, demanded reduced hours and the right to vote.
• In Germany, associations worked with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and helped it win seats in parliament.
• By 1905, the Labour Party in Britain and a Socialist Party in France were founded.
• Socialists never formed a European government until 1914, but their ideas, represented by strong parliamentary figures, shaped legislation

The Russian Revolution

• Socialism took over the government through the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia, one of the least industrialized European states
• The monarchy fell in February 1917, and these events and October revolution became known as the Russian Revolution.

The Russian Empire in 1914

• In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire
• Included Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and parts of Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus.
• Stretched to the Pacific, comprising Central Asian states, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
• Russian Orthodox Christianity was the majority religion but the empire included Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists.

Economy and Society

• Most of Russia's population were agriculturists at the beginning of the 20th century.
• About 85% of the Russian empire earned their living from agriculture vs. 40-50% in France and Germany.
• Cultivators produced for the market as the economy was an exporter of grain.
• Industry was located including St Petersburg and Moscow.
• Craftsmen undertook much of the production but large factories existed alongside craft workshops.
• Railway network expansion in the 1890’s, and increased foreign investment in industry, lead to coal/steel output increases
• By the 1900s, factory workers and craftsmen were almost equal in number.
• Most industry was privately owned by industrialists.
• The government supervised large factories to ensure minimum wages and limited hours, but factory inspectors could not prevent rules from being broken.
• Working day was up to 15 hours and accommodation varied from rooms to dormitories.
• Workers were a divided social group, those with connections to villages and those settled permanently and by skill
• Gender pay disparity existed as women only made half/three-quarters of a man's wage, even though 31% of the labor force
• Some workers formed associations for unemployment or financial hardship support.
• Despite divisions, workers united to strike against dismissals or work conditions, especially in textile industry, during 1896-1897, and in the metal industry during 1902.
• Peasants cultivated land, with nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owning large properties and were divided like workers.
• Peasants were deeply religious but had little respect for nobles, unlike in France.
• Peasants wanted land of nobles to be given to them, often refusing to pay rent and murdered landlords
• Incidents occurred on a large scale in south Russia in 1902, and all over Russia in 1905.
• Russian peasants pooled land and their commune (mir) divided it by family needs.

Socialism in Russia

• All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914.
• The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists respecting Marx's ideas
• The party was illegal due to government policing, had to operate as an organization.
• Newspaper was setup and there was worker mobilization
• Some socialists believed that Russian peasant’ divide custom made them natural socialists and believed peasants should lead the revolution.
• Socialists were active in the countryside through the late nineteenth century, forming in 1900 the Socialist Revolutionary Party fought for peasant rights, transfer of nobles’ lands
• Social Democrats disagreed with Socialist Revolutionaries about peasants.
• Lenin believed not united by class.
• Party divided over Vladimir Lenin (Bolshevik leader) thought party should be disciplined and should control members.
• Others (Mensheviks) thought party should be open to all.

A Turbulent Time: The 1905 Revolution

• Russia was an autocracy and Tsar was not subject to parliament.
• Liberals campaigned to end the circumstances and democracy together with workers in the revolution of 1905.
• Nationalists and Muslim jadidists supported
• Jadidists: Muslim reformers within the Russian empire
• 1904 bad for Russian workers as prices of goods rose so that real wages declined by 20 per cent so associations rose
• When four members of the Assembly were dismissed from Putilov Iron Works, there was call for action.
• 110k workers went on strike for 8-hour work day, wage increases and better conditions
• Father Gapon led workers to the Winter Palace, attacked by police and Cossacks.
• Bloody Sunday, resulted in series of events that became.
• Strikes took place
• Universities closed when students walked, complaining about the lack of civil liberties.
• Lawyers, doctors, engineers and middle-class workers etc established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.
• After Duma: trade unions and factory committees expanded due to revolution, but most operated unofficially.
• Restrictions were placed on politics
• Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and the more elected second Duma within three. Months showing he didn't want to be questioned.
• Changed the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians.

The First World War and the Russian Empire

• In 1914, war broke out between Germany, Austria and Turkey (the Central powers) and France, Britain and Russia
• Each country had a global empire.
• In Russia, initially popular and people supported Tsar Nicholas II.
• As war continued, Tsar refused to consult the Duma and and support declined, giving rise to anti-German sentiments
• Tsarina Alexandra's German origins and monk Rasputin made the autocracy. Unpopular due to the circumstances.
• First World War on eastern front differed from that on the western front vs trenches on Western Front. Russia suffered and Russia's armies suffered and the Russian Steamroller was the largest fighting force.
• Defeats were demoralizing with Russia's armies losing badly in Germany and 7 million casualties by 1917
• Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent enemy living off the land
• Destruction of crops and buildings led to over 3 million refugees
• War had a severe impact on industry & industrial equipment disintegrating more rapidly in Russia.
• By 1916, railway lines began unable-bodied and labor shortages resulted in large grain sent and bread and grain shop riots
• The Imperial Russian army came to be known as the 'Russian steam roller'

The February Revolution in Petrograd

• In the winter of 1917, Petrograd had layout-emphasize the division of rich on the left and working on the right.
• Workers deep in food shortages and Winter were cold/snowy.
• Duma didn't like Tsar. In February, lockout at factory, dozens strike day after
• Women led at factories, call, come to called Women's. Day Demanding workers. Crossed from the Nevskii.
• At stage, political party was organizing as the quarters were surrounded, put the government had a curfew but by 24-25 workers. Returned
• Government had military and police, then suspended on Sunday February 2. Politicians objected and returned on force and on the 27th.
• Barracks people. Raided with slogans with cavalry and called with them once with at regiment mutinied voting.
• Workers to form 'council' or 'soviet' and so with military leader to resign leader government

After February

• Army officials, landowners and industrialists were influential in government and the liberals as the restrictions were removed and followed Soviet had leader Lenin exile.
• He had opposed to stop it-transferred to peasant be government renamed Theses and
• Most Soviet were and industrial grew for a distribution between committees leader
• Revolutionary Bolsheviks repressed
• 1920 Russian Revolution to cooperate with jadidists and autonomy.
• Central civil and new words: rights of those move, Russian one side of land and

The Revolution of October 1917

• Lenin believed dictatorships would arise as grew and agreed socialism for power
• Bolshevik Trotskii minister city sent. Military troops had with the Aurora approved Petrograd December.

What Changed after October?

• The Bolsheviks were opposed to that the social seize large new of the revolutionist named
• The Bolsheviks made in at all which trade punished
• Writers to it to because to and was party

Civil War

• when Russian go autocrat rising and were of
• private harsh seized losses by succeeded

Making a Socialist Society

• The Bolsheviks demonstrated the economy Plans set promote. Box
• collectivized labor one industry harsh below the living to was
• An to for and there was

Examination of societal changes post-French Revolution, with a focus on conservatives, liberals, and radicals. Discussion of 19th-century political traditions. Focus on the Russian Revolution as a case of radical societal transformation and the rise of socialism.