Question 1.
Describe the circumstances which were responsible for the Russian Revolution.
Answer:
The circumstances which were responsible for the Russian Revolution as given below :

• The Russian peasantry was in a miserable condition. The farmers could not get even two square meals a day. Their land holdings were very small and they had to pay heavy taxes.
• The Russian as well as the foreign capitalist industrialists exploited the workers by taking 12-14 hours of work and paying very low wages to them. The workers had no right to form trade unions or seek reforms. They led a miserable life.
• The Tsar Nicholas II was a despotic and autocratic ruler. He enjoyed unlimited powers and rights. The people of the higher strata enjoyed great privileges. The bureaucracy was corrupt and inefficient. The common people who suffered most, were fed up with the absolute rule of the Tsar and wanted to get rid of him.
• Karl Marx propagated ‘Scientific Socialism’. He strongly opposed capitalism which meant untold exploitation of the common men.

Question 2.
Explain in brief Lenin’s contribution to the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Answer:

• Lenin had played an important part in the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is true that after the fall of Tsar, Lenin led the revolutionaries. Really, it was the beginning of the revolution.
• The Provisional Government, under the leadership of Kerenskii, could not implement the demand of the people and failed.
• Under Lenin’s leadership, the Bolshevik Party put forward clear policies to end the war, transfer the land to the peasants and advance the slogan ‘All power to the Soviets’.
• He had described the Russian empire as a Prison of Nations and had declared that . no genuine democracy could be established unless all the non-Russian people were given equal rights.

Question 3.
What were the main objectives of the Russian Revolutionaries ?
Answer:
The main objectives of the Russian Revolutionaries were :

• The Tsar had thrown Russia into the First World War to fulfil his imperialistic desires. It was the demand of the revolutionaries that Russia should withdraw from the war. So, it withdrew from the First World War in 1917 after the Revolution.
• After the Revolution, the land was given to the tillers. The landlords had to give the land to the government. Kolkhoz and Sovkhoj farms were established. In Kolkhoz farms, the peasants worked collectively.
• The revolutionaries had demanded an improvement in the conditions of the industrial workers. They demanded better wages, good working conditions and removal of exploitation. After 1917, the industries were nationalised and the dream of workers was fulfilled.
• The next aim of the revolutionaries was that the non-Russians should be given equal status. Lenin believed that without this status these people could never become real Russians.

Question 4.
How Lenin’s name became inseparable from the Russian Revolution ?
Answer:
Lenin’s name became inseparable from the Russian Revolution :

• After completing his education, he joined the Communist Revolutionary Party and started spreading revolutionary ideas among the workers. He favoured the workers. He also favoured the setting up of the new society based on the principles of socialism of Karl Marx.
• He set up a Communist Government in place of the despotic rule in Russia. Therefore, Lenin’s name became inseparable from the Russian Revolution.
• Lenin united the peasants and workers under the Bolshevik Party and directed the revolution against the Provisional Government.
• Efforts were made to set up a Socialist Government on the basis of principles of Karl Marx. The private property was confiscated. Lenin took the land from the landlords and distributed it among the peasants. The Government nationalised all the factories and handed over their management to the workers. All debts were remitted. The property of the Church was also confiscated.

Question 5.
What was the impact of the Russian Revolution on Russia ?
Answer:
The impact of the Russian Revolution on Russia were :

• The Revolution put an end to autocratic monarchy in Russia. The Tsarist empire was transformed into a new state known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Soviet Union.
• The most important result of the Bolshevik Revolution was the establishment of a Socialist Government in Russia. All the means of production were brought under state control. Banks, mines, factories, railways, telephones, etc. all were declared as government property and the property of the Church was nationalised. Work became an essential requirement for every person. The non-working person was not entitled to vote.
• The condition of the Russian mass had become miserable due to the First World War. The prime need of the Russian mass was food, not expansion.
• As a result of the Bolshevik Revolution, the government took all the means of production under its control and nationalised all small and big industries. Hence, within a few years Russia emerged as a powerful industrial state. With the growth of industrial and agricultural production, poverty started disappearing and the country moved on to the path of prosperity.

Question 6.
What was the global impact of the Russian Revolution ?
Answer:
The global impact of the Russian Revolution were :

• The Bolshevik Revolution helped in the spread of Socialist and Communist ideas all over the world. Communist Governments were established in many European countries.
• Most of the Bolshevik leaders believed that a series of revolutions will sweep other countries of the world along with revolution in Russia. Many non-Russians from outside the USSR participated in the conference of the people of the east and the Bolshevik-founded Comintern, an international union of Pro-Bolshevik socialist parties.
• The Bolshevik government ‘granted freedom to all its colonies immediately after coming to power. Thus, the new Soviet State came forward as a friend of the subjugated people and proved to be a source of great inspiration to the freedom movements of various Asian and African countries.
• By the end of the 20th century, the international reputation of the USSR as a socialist country had declined through it was recognised that socialist ideals still enjoyed respect among its people.

Question 7.
How did Russia’s participation in the World War cause the fall of the Tsar ?
Answer:
(a) The war was initially popular, and people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II.
(b) As the war continued, support became thin and Tsar’s popularity declined. Anti-German sentiments became high.
(c) The Tsarina Alexandra’s German origins and poor advisers, especially a monk called Rasputin, made the autocracy unpopular.
(d) 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.
(e) 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.

Question 8.
Explain the main effects of the First World War on the industries in Russia.
Answer:
Effects of the First World War on the industries in Russia were :

• Russian industries were very few 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 essential commodities 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.

Question 9.
Differentiate between the ideas of the liberals and radicals in Europe.
Answer:
(a) The liberals did not believe in universal franchise. In contrast, radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on most of a country’s population.
(b) Liberals felt men of prosperity mainly should have the vote. They did not want the vote for women. On the other hand, the radicals supported women’s suffragette movements and opposed the privileges of great landowners and wealthy factory owners.
(c) Radicals were not against the existence of private property but disliked concentration of property in the hands of a few.

Question 10.
Which basic principles, ideas and values had the Russian Revolution for rest of the world ?
Answer:
The basic principles, ideas and values had the Russian Revolution for rest of the world :
(a) Economic equality
(b) Social Equality
(c) Socialism
(d) Anti-capitalism.
(e) International fraternity of all the peasants, craftsmen and workers.

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