Q1. What were the ideas of the Liberals?
Ans. 1) Liberals wanted a nation that tolerated all religions.
2) They opposed the uncontrolled power of the dynastic rulers.
3) They wanted to safeguard the rights of the individuals against the government.
4) They also argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government.
5) They were not democrats and didn’t believe in Universal Adult Franchise i.e. the right to vote of every citizen.
6) They felt that only propertied men should have the right to vote and didn’t want the vote for women.
Q2. What were the ideas of the Radicals?
Ans. 1) Radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s population.
2) The supported women suffragette movements.
3) They opposed the privileges of landowners and wealthy factory owners.
4) They were not against existence of private property but didn’t like the concentration of property in the hands of a few.
Q3. What were the challenges faced by the men, women and children in Europe after the coming of industrialization?
Ans. The following challenges were faced when industrialization came: –
1) Industrialization brought men, women and children to factories.
2) Working hours were very long and the wages were too poor.
3) Unemployment was common mainly during the times of low demands for industrial goods.
4) Housing and Sanitation were problems since towns and cities were growing rapidly.
5) Liberals and radicals tried to search for solutions to these issues.
Q4. Who were the socialists? Why were they against private property?
Ans. Socialists were the people who were totally against private property and saw it as the root of all social ills of the time.
They were against private property as individuals owned the private property that gave employment. But these propertied people were only concerned with their personal gains and not with the welfare of those who made the property productive.
Q5. Explain the different visions of socialism by various philosophers.
Ans. 1) Robert Owen, a leading English manufacturer sought to build a cooperative community called new harmony in Indiana (USA).
2) In France, Louis Blanc wanted the government to encourage cooperatives.
3) These cooperatives were to be associations of the people who produced goods together and divided the profits according to the work done by members.
Q6. What were the thoughts of Karl Marx about the capitalist society?
Ans. 1) Karl Marx argued that industrial society was capitalist. He said that capitalists owned the capital invested in factories, and the profit of capitalists was produced by the workers.
2) He said that the conditions of the workers couldn’t improve as long as this profit was accumulated by the private capitalists.
Q7. How did socialist ideas started getting support in Europe?
Ans. 1) Workers in England and Germany began forming associations to fight for better living and working conditions.
2) They set up funds to help members in times of distress and demanded a reduction of working hours and the right to vote.
3) In Germany, these associations worked closely with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and helped it win parliamentary seats.
4) Socialists and trade unionists formed a Labour Party in Britain and a Socialist Party in France.
5) However, socialists never succeeded in forming a government in Europe.
Q8. What were the challenges faced by the workers in the industrial society of Russia in 1914?
Ans. The following challenges were faced by workers: –
1) Government supervised large factory owners to ensure minimum wages and limited hours of work.
2) In crafts unit and small workshops, the working day was 15 sometimes 15 hours, compared with 10 or 12 hours in factories.
3) Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid less than men. (between half and three-quarters of a man’s wage)
4) The accommodation was workers varied from rooms to dormitories.
Q9. How were the Russian peasants different form the European peasants?
Ans. The Russian peasants were totally different from the European peasants because: –
1) They had no respect for the nobility and wanted the land of the nobles to be given to them.
2) They even refused to pay rents and murdered landlords.
3) They pooled their lands together periodically and their commune (mir) divided it according to the needs of individual families.
Whereas the European peasants respected the nobles and even fought for them.
Q10. What were the events that caused the 1905 revolution?
Ans. The following events caused the 1905 revolution: –
1) The procession of workers led by Father Gapon was attacked by the police and the Cossacks when they reached the Winter Palace.
2) This incident was known as Bloody Sunday, where over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded.
3) Strikes took place all over the country and universities closed down when student bodies staged walkouts, complaining about the lack of civil liberties.
4) Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly.
Q11. What were the effects of the First World War on Russia and its industries?
Ans. 1) Russian defeats were shocking and demoralising. Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and 1916.
2) The Russian army destroyed crops and buildings to prevent the enemy from being able to live off land. But the destruction led to over 3 million refugees in Russia.
3) Industrial equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe.
4) By 1916, railway lines began to break down. Able-bodied men were called up to fight the war.
Q12. Describe the events that led to the outbreak of the October Revolution of 1917?
Ans. 1) The uprising began on 24 October. Sensing trouble, Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the city to summon troops.
2) At dawn, military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of 2 Bolshevik newspapers.
3) Pro-government troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace.
4) Quickly, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers.
5) The ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace and other vessels sailed down the Neva and took over various military point.
Q13. What changes were done in Petrograd by the Bolsheviks?
Ans. 1) Most industry and banks were nationalised in November 1917, which meant that the government took over ownership and management.
2) Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
3) Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family requirements.
4) They banned the use of old titles of aristocracy.
5) New uniforms were designed for the army and officials, following a clothing competition organised 1918- when the Soviet hat was chosen.
Q14. Discuss the reasons that led to the Civil War?
Ans. 1) When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army began to break.
2) Soldiers, mostly peasants wished to go home for the redistribution and deserted.
3) Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising.
4) Their leaders moved to south Russia and organised troops to fight the Bolsheviks (the ‘reds’).
5) During 1918 and 1919, the ‘greens’ (Socialist Revolutionaries) and ‘whites’ (pro-tsarists) controlled most of the Russian empire.
6) These all were backed by French, American, British and Japanese troops- all those forces who were worried at the growth of socialism in Russia.
7) Due to all this, a civil war occurred where looting, banditry and famine became common.
Q15. What were the effects of Stalin’s Collectivization programme?
Ans. 1) From 1929, the Party forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms.
2) The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
3) Peasants worked on land, and the Kolkhoz profit was shared.
4) Enraged peasants resisted the authorities and destroyed their livestock.