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HISTORY
UPSC has included World History in General studies (Mains) syllabus from 2013. Hence Old
NCERT, particularly Chapter 9 to 13 from Class 10= becomes necessary as the
foundation/base material for the topics of World History. But for non-Delhi candidates, it
is almost impossible to get that book, because NCERT changed syllabus, hence book is no
longer printed. Therefore Im uploading the chapters one by one. And, just because these
chapters are uploaded, doesnt mean Im stopping my Jack Sparrow series on [World
History], it will continue at its own pace.
had no political rights and no means of gaining even minor reforms. The words of Marx
that workers have nothing to lose but their chains rang literally true to them
The Russian state under the Czars was completely unsuited to the needs of modern times
Czar Nicholas II, in whose reign the Revolution occurred, still believed in the divine right of
kings. The preservation of absolutism was regarded by him as a sacred duty. The only
people who supported the Czar were the nobility and the upper layers of the clergy. All the
rest of the population in the vast Russian empire was hostile. The bureaucracy that the
Czars had built was top heavy, inflexible and inefficient, the members being recruited
from amongst the privileged classes rather than on the basis of any ability.
The Russian Czars had built a vast empire by conquest of diverse nationalities in Europe
and Asia. In these conquered areas, they imposed the use of the Russian language and
tried to belittle the cultures of the people of these areas. Also, Russias imperialist
expansion brought her into conflicts with other imperialist powers. These wars further
exposed the hollowness of the czarist state.
of the peasantry. Then there were parties of the non-Russian nationalities of the Russian
empire which were working to free their lands from colonial oppression.
The revolutionary movement in Russia had been growing when the 1905 Revolution broke
out. In 1904, a war had broken out between Russia and Japan. The Russian armies had
suffered reverses in the war. This had further strengthened the revolutionary movement in
Russia. On 9 January 1905, a mass of peaceful workers with their wives and children was
fired at in St. Petersburg while on its way to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the
Czar More than a thousand of them were killed and thousands of others were wounded.
This day is known as Bloody Sunday. The news of the killings provoked unprecedented
disturbances throughout Russia. Even sections of the army and the navy revolted. The
sailors of the battleship Potemkin joined the revolutionaries. A new form of organization
developed in this revolution which proved decisive in the upheaval of 1917. This was the
Soviet, or the council of workers representatives. Beginning as committees to conduct
strikes, they became the instruments of political power Soviets of peasants were also
formed.
In October, the Czar yielded and announced his manifesto granting freedom of speech,
press and association, and conferred the power to make laws upon an elected body called
the Duma . The Czars manifesto contained principles which would have made Russia a
constitutional monarchy like England. However, the Czar soon relapsed into his old ways.
No longer could one hope for gradual reform. The 1905 Revolution proved to be a dress
rehearsal of the revolution that came in 1917.
to end the war and transfer land to the peasants and advanced the slogan All Power to
the Soviets. On the question of non-Russian nationalities, Bolsheviks were the only party
then with a clear policy. Lenin had described the Russian empire as a prison of nations
and had declared that no genuine democracy could be established unless all tile nonRussian peoples were given equal rights He had proclaimed the right of all peoples,
including those under the Russian empire, to self-determination. The unpopularity of the
Kerensky government led to its collapse on 7 November 1917, when a group of sailors
occupied the Winter Palace, the seat of the Kerensky government. Leon Trotsky who had
played an important role in the 1905 Revolution returned to Russia in May 1917. As head
of the Petrograd Soviet, he was one of the most outstanding leaders of the November
uprising. An All Russian Congress of Soviets met on the same day and assumed full
political power. This event which took place on 7 November is known as the October
Revolution because of the corresponding date of the old Russian calendar, 25 October.
The Congress of Soviets on the next day issued a proclamation to all peoples and
belligerent states to open negotiations for a just peace without annexation and
indemnities. Russia withdrew from the war, though formal peace was signed with
Germany later, after ceding the territories that Germany demanded as a price for peace.
Following the decree on land, the estates of the landlords, the Church and the Czar were
confiscated and transferred to peasants societies to be allotted to peasant families to be
cultivated without hired labour. The control of industries was transferred to shop
committees of workers. By the middle of 1918, banks and insurance companies, large
industries, mines, water transport and railways were nationalised, foreign debts were
repudiated and foreign Investments were confiscated. A Declaration of the Rights of
Peoples was issued conferring the right of self-determination upon all nationalities. A new
government, called the Council of Peoples Commissars, headed by Lenin was formed.
These first acts of the new government were hailed as the beginning of the era of
socialism.
The October Revolution had been almost completely peaceful. Only two persons were
reported killed in Petrograd on the day the Revolution took place. However, soon the new
state was involved in a civil war. The officers of the army of the fallen Czar organised an
armed rebellion against the Soviet state. Troops of foreign powers England, France,
Japan, United States and other joined them. War raged till 1920. By this time the Red
Army of the new state was in control of almost all the lands of the old Czarist empire. The
Red Army was badly equipped and composed mainly of workers and peasants However, it
won over better equipped and better trained forces, just as the citizen armies in the
American and French revolutions had won.
no unearned income to live on. The right to work became a constitutional right and it
became the duty of the state to provide employment to every individual. Education of the
entire people was given a high priority. The equality of all the nationalities in the U S S.R.
was recognized in the constitution framed in 1924 and later in 1936. The constitution
gave the republics formed by the nationalities autonomy to develop their languages and
cultures. These developments were particularly significant for the Asian republics of U S.S
R which were much more backward than the European part.
Within a few years of the revolution, the Soviet Union emerged as a major power in the
world. The social and economic systems that began to be built there was hailed by many
as the beginning of a new civilization while others called it an evil system After about 70
years of the revolution, the system collapsed and in 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist
as a state. (The map in tins chapter shows the 15 republics which formed the Soviet Union
before its breakup ) You will read in the next two chapters about some of the major
developments that took place in the Soviet Union and the role it played in world affairs
from the time of its emergence till its collapse.
In its impact on the world, the Russian Revolution had few parallels in history. The ideas of
socialism which the socialist movement had been advocating and which the Russian
Revolution espoused were intended for universal application. The Russian Revolution was
the first successful revolution in history which proclaimed the building of a socialist
society as its objective. It had led to the creation of a new state over a vast area of the
globe. It was, therefore, bound to have repercussions for the rest of the world.
Comintern
Soon after the revolution, the Communist International (also known as the Third
International or Comintern) was formed for promoting revolutions on an international
scale. The split in the socialist movement at the time of the First World War has been
mentioned before. The leftwing sections in many socialist parties now formed themselves
into communist parties and they affiliated themselves to the Comintern. Communist
parties were also formed in other countries, often with the active involvement and support
of the Comintern. Thus the international communist movement arose under one
organization which decided on policies to be followed by all communist parties The Soviet
Union was considered the leader of the world communist movement by the communist
parties in various countries and the Communist Party of Soviet Union played a leading role
in determining the policies of the Comintern. It is generally agreed that Comintern was
often used by the Soviet Union as an instrument for pursuing its own objectives However,
the formation of communist parties in many countries of the world with the objective of
bringing about revolution and following common policies was a major consequence of the
Russian Revolution.
With the formation of the Comintern, the socialist movement was divided into two
sections socialist and communist. There were many differences between them on the
methods of bringing about socialism and about the concept of socialism itself. Despite
these differences, socialism became one of the most widely held ideologies within a few
decades after its emergence. The spread of the influence of socialist ideas and
movements after the First World War was in no small measure due to the success of the
Russian Revolution.
The growing popularity of socialism and many achievements made by the Soviet Union
led to a redefinition of democracy. Most people who did not believe in socialism also
began to recognize that for democracy to be real, political rights without social and
economic rights were not enough. Economic and social affairs could not be left to the
capitalists. The idea of the state playing an active role in regulating the economy and
planning the economy to improve the conditions of the people was accepted. The biblical
idea, revived by the socialist movement and the Russian Revolution, He that does not
work neither shall he eat, gained widespread acceptance, adding anew dignity to labour.
The popularity of socialism also helped to mitigate discriminations based on race, colour
and sex.
The spread of socialist ideas also helped nip promoting internationalism. The nations, at
least in theory, began to accept the idea that their relations with other nations should go
farther than merely promoting their narrow self-interests. Many problems which were
considered national began to be looked upon as concerns of the world as a whole. The
universality and internationalism which were fundamental principles of socialist ideology
from the beginning were totally opposed to imperialism. The Russian Revolution served to
hasten the end of imperialism. According to Marx, a nation which enslaves another nation
can never be free. Socialists all over the world organized campaigns for putting an end to
imperialism.
The new Soviet state came to be looked upon as a friend of the peoples of the colonies
struggling for national independence. Russia after the Revolution was the first country in
Europe to openly support the cause of independence of all nations from foreign rule.
Immediately after the Revolution, the Soviet government had annulled the unequal
treaties which the Czar had imposed on China. It also gave assistance of various kinds to
Sun Yat Sen in his struggle for the unification of China. The Russian Revolution also
influenced the movements for independence in so far as the latter gradually broadened
the objectives of independence to include social and economic equality through planned
economic development. Writing about the Russian Revolution in his Autobiography,
Jawaharlal Nehru said, It made me think of politics much more in terms of social change.
EXERCISES
1. Explain the following terms: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Soviet, February Revolution,
October Revolution, Bloody Sunday, Communist International
2. Describe the social and economic conditions in Russia before the Revolution of
1917. How did Russias participation in the First World War help create conditions
for the fall of the Russian autocracy,
3. What were the main objectives of the Russian revolutionaries?
4. Describe the immediate consequences of the October Revolution on Russias
participation in the First World War, the ownership of land, and position of the nonRussian nationalities of the Russian empire.
5. Explain the attitude of the USSR. towards the movements for independence in Asia.
6. Collect pictures connected with the Russian Revolution for display. Describe the
events and the role of personalities shown in the pictures.
7. Collect documents connected with the Russian Revolution (for example, the text of
the Decrees on Land and Peace) and select statements for a bulletin board display.
8. Discuss the impact of the Russian Revolution on the world.
9. Discuss the view that the Russian Revolution was brought about by a small group of
revolutionaries without the support of the masses.