Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution

1. The Age of Social Change — Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives

After the French Revolution, ideas about how society should be organised spread across Europe. Three broad groups emerged. Liberals wanted a nation that tolerated all religions, an elected parliamentary government and the rule of law — but they were not democrats, for they believed only property-owning men should have the right to vote. Radicals wanted a government based on the majority of a country’s population, supported women’s votes, and opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners — though they did not oppose private property itself. Conservatives were opposed to radicals and liberals; after the French Revolution even they accepted that some change was needed, but they believed the past had to be respected and change should come slowly through a gradual process. These different visions clashed throughout the 19th century.

2. Industrial Society and Social Change

The coming of the Industrial Revolution brought new cities, railways and factories. But it also brought terrible problems for the poor. Men, women and children worked long hours for low wages in unsafe factories. Housing and sanitation were poor and unemployment was common, especially during times when the demand for goods fell. Liberals and radicals, many of whom were themselves property owners and employers, wanted these changes to continue and felt that a healthy, educated and hardworking workforce was good for society. They were against the privileges of birth and wanted freedom for individuals. It was natural that working people, who suffered the most, would be drawn to ideas that promised them a better and fairer world.

3. The Coming of Socialism in Europe

Socialists were against private property and saw it as the root of all the social ills of their time. They argued that property owners cared only about personal gain and not about those who made the property productive. If society as a whole, rather than single individuals, controlled property, then more attention would be paid to collective social interests. Socialists had different visions of the future. Robert Owen, an English manufacturer, sought to build a cooperative community called New Harmony in Indiana (USA). Louis Blanc in France wanted the government to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist enterprises. The most influential thinkers were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marx argued that industrial society was capitalist: capitalists owned the capital invested in factories, and the profit they made was produced by workers. He believed workers had to overthrow capitalism and the rule of private property. A society freed from class conflict, where all property was socially controlled, would be a communist society. To spread these ideas, workers in many countries formed associations, and an international body called the Second International was set up to coordinate their efforts.

4. Russia Before the Revolution — The Empire of the Tsar

In 1914, Russia and its empire were ruled by Tsar Nicholas II. About 85 per cent of the people were peasants — a far higher proportion than in most of Europe. Russian industry was found in only a few pockets such as St Petersburg and Moscow, often financed by foreign investment. Workers were a divided social group, yet they united to strike when they had a common cause such as low wages or harsh conditions. In the countryside, peasants had little respect for the nobility; unlike elsewhere in Europe, Russian peasants pooled their land together and their village commune (mir) divided it according to the needs of individual families. This deep peasant tradition would later shape the revolution.

5. The 1905 Revolution and the First World War

Russia was an autocracy: unlike other European rulers, the Tsar was not subject to a parliament. Liberals, social democrats and others campaigned to end this. In 1904 prices of essential goods rose sharply and real wages fell. When workers’ demands were rejected, a peaceful procession led by Father Gapon marched to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg in January 1905. The police and Cossacks fired on the unarmed crowd, killing over a hundred people. This event, known as Bloody Sunday, started a wave of strikes and protests called the 1905 Revolution. During the unrest the Tsar allowed an elected consultative parliament, the Duma, but he quickly dismissed the first two Dumas and changed the voting laws. Then came the First World War (1914), which Russia fought against Germany and Austria. The war went badly: there were huge casualties, retreating armies destroyed crops and buildings, and there were acute shortages of food and fuel. By 1916 railway lines began to break down and bread and flour disappeared from the cities.

6. The February Revolution of 1917

In the winter of 1917 the city of Petrograd (St Petersburg) was grim and hungry. On 22 February a lockout took place at a factory; sympathy strikes spread, and on International Women’s Day (23 February) women led the way in calling for bread. Workers surrounded the fashionable quarters of the city. The government imposed a curfew and called out the cavalry and police, but the soldiers refused to fire on the crowds. On 27 February soldiers and striking workers gathered to form a council called the Petrograd Soviet. A delegation went to see the Tsar, and on military advice the Tsar abdicated on 2 March 1917. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country. Thus the monarchy was brought down in February 1917, in a revolution led not by any single party but by the people of Petrograd themselves.

7. After February — Lenin and the April Theses

After February, restrictions on public meetings were removed and soviets sprang up everywhere. In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from exile. He declared three demands, his April Theses: the war be brought to an end, land be transferred to the peasants, and banks be nationalised. He also argued that the Bolshevik Party rename itself the Communist Party. Through the summer, the Provisional Government grew weaker while the Bolsheviks grew more popular among workers and soldiers. Factory committees and trade unions multiplied, and the government tried to repress them. The slogan “All power to the Soviets” spread.

8. The October Revolution of 1917

Sensing a growing conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to agree to a socialist seizure of power. A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed under Leon Trotsky to organise the uprising. On 24 October 1917, the uprising began. Bolshevik supporters seized government offices, telephone and telegraph offices, and finally attacked the Winter Palace, the seat of the Provisional Government, capturing the ministers. By nightfall the city was under Bolshevik control. At the All Russian Congress of Soviets the Bolshevik action was approved. By December, fighting in Moscow and elsewhere brought the whole country under control. The world’s first socialist government had come to power.

9. What the Bolsheviks Changed

The Bolsheviks made sweeping changes. Most industry and banks were nationalised (brought under government ownership). Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility. In cities, large houses were partitioned according to family needs, old aristocratic titles were banned, and new uniforms were designed for the army and officials. The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party. Russia became a one-party state: elections to the Constituent Assembly were held, but when the Bolsheviks did not gain majority support, Lenin dismissed the Assembly. In March 1918 Russia made peace with Germany at Brest-Litovsk and pulled out of the First World War.

10. The Civil War and the Making of the USSR

When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army began to break up. Those who opposed the Bolsheviks — supporters of the Tsar, called the “greens” and “whites” — controlled most of the empire and fought a bloody Civil War (1918–1920) against the Bolshevik “reds”. Foreign powers, worried by the spread of socialism, also backed the opponents. By January 1920 the Bolsheviks controlled most of the former Russian empire. Most non-Russian nationalities were given political autonomy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), formed in 1922. To develop the economy, Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed peasants and small traders to sell produce in a limited free market while big industries remained nationalised.

11. Stalinism, Collectivisation and the Global Impact

After Lenin’s death, Stalin came to power. To solve the grain shortage of 1927–28, he introduced collectivisation from 1929: peasants were forced to give up their land and work on large state-controlled collective farms (kolkhoz). Those who resisted were punished, deported or killed, and many farms were deliberately destroyed in protest. Stalin also launched rapid industrialisation through Five Year Plans. While industrial production rose, the human cost was enormous. The Russian Revolution still had a worldwide effect: socialist ideas spread, many countries set up communist parties, and India too was influenced — the idea of planned economic development came partly from Soviet experience. By the end of the 20th century, however, the way socialism was practised in the USSR had been widely criticised, but the revolution remains one of the most important events in modern history.