SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS [3
MARKS]:
Q.1. Differentiate between the ideas of the
liberals and radicals in Europe (take the time period as after the French
Revolution).
Ans.1-The liberals did not believe in universal franchise. In
contrast, radicals wanted a nation in which government was based on the
majority of a country’s population.
2-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.
3-They were not against the existence of private property
but disliked concentration of property in the hands of a few.
Q.2.Why do we say that liberals during this
time could not be called ‘democrats’?
Ans.The liberals opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic
rulers and wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals against governments.
·
They also argued for a representative, elected
parliamentary government, subject to laws interpreted by a well-trained
judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials. But, however, they
could not be called democrats.
·
They did not believe in universal adult franchise and
also did not want the vote for women. They felt right to vote should only be
for men of property.
Q.3. How should society, according to
liberals and radicals, develop?
Ans. 1. Liberals and radicals were often property
owners and employers.
2. They acquired wealth through
industrial ventures and trade, they firmly believed that such efforts should be
encouraged that its profits would be reaped if the work force in the economy
was healthy and citizen were educated.
3. They put forth that societies could
develop if the poor could labour, freedom of individuals was ensured and those
with capital could operate without restraint.
Q.4. Why were socialists against private
property and saw it as the root of all social ills?
Ans 1-. The people who propagated socialism said that
individuals, who owned property, did provide employment to many people but they
were concerned with personal gains only.
2- They did not bother about the welfare of the people.
3-They felt that if society controlled property, more
attention would be paid to collective social interests.
Q.5. Describe the incident known as ‘Bloody
Sunday’.
Ans. 1. Over 110,000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike in
1905, demanding a reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in
wages and improvement in working conditions.
2. When this procession reached the Winter
Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. 3. Over 100 workers were
killed and about 300 wounded.
This incident, known as Bloody Sunday,
started a series of events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.
Q.6.What effects did the war have on the
industry of Russia.
Ans. Russian industries were very few in number 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.
Q.7. Why was the decision to collectivise
farms taken?
Ans. 1. It was thought that rich peasants and traders
in the countryside were holding stocks in the hope of higher prices.
2. This created a shortage.
3. As shortage continued, the decision was
taken to collectivise farms as Lenin felt that the small size of farms caused
the shortage. 4.
They also felt that these small size farms could not be modernised.
5. They felt that the need of the hour was to develop
modern farms and run them along industrial lines with machinery.
Q.8. “By the 1950s it was acknowledged within
the country that the style of government in the USSR was not in keeping with
the ideals of the Russian Revolution.” Why was this said?
Ans. 1. In 1950s it was acknowledged within the country that the
style of government in the USSR was not in keeping with the ideals of the Russia
Revolution. 2. Russia, was a backward
country, had become a great power.
3. Its industries and agriculture had
developed and the poor were being fed.
4. But it had denied the essential freedoms
to its citizens and carried out its developmental projects through repressive
policies.
Q.9.What was the role of the Tsar in the
peasant revolt of 1905? Discuss briefly.
Ans.1-During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation
of an elected consultative parliament or Duma. The Tsar dismissed it within 75
days and re-elected.
2-Second Duma: within 3 months. He did not
want any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power. He changed
the voting laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians.
Q.10.What was the basic principle of the
Marxist theory?
Ans. 1-Marx believed that the condition of workers could not
improve as long as profit was accumulated by private capitalists.
2- Workers had to overthrow capitalism and
the rule of private property.
3- Workers must construct a radically
socialist society where all property was socially controlled. This would be a
communist society and a Communist Party was the natural society of the future.
Q.11 Discuss briefly the Five Years Plans.
Ans. A process of centralised planning was introduced.
Officials assessed how the economy could work and set targets for a five-year
period, on this basis they made the five-year plans. The government fixed all
prices to promote industrial growth during the first two plans (1927-32 and
1933-38) centralised planning led to economic growth.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS [5
MARKS]:
Q.1. Explain how a society, according to
socialists, can operate without property. What would be the basis of socialist
society?
Ans. Co-operatives could not be built on a wide scale only
through individual initiative.
1.
They
wanted that governments must encourage co-operatives and replace capitalist
enterprise.
2.
They
said that cooperatives were to be associations of people who produced goods
together and divided the profits according to the work done by members.
3.
More ideas were added to this body of
arguments.
4.
These
ideas were added by Karl Marx and Fredric Engels. Marx argued that industrial
society was capitalist. Capitalists owned the capital invested in factories.
5.
The profit which came to them through these
factories was produced by the workers. The workers contributed to the profits
but did not gain anything.
Q.2.Discuss Stalin’s collectivisation
programme.
Ans. 1. Stalin felt that collectivisation would definitely solve
the problem of shortage.
2.
From 1929 the Party forced the peasants to cultivate in collective farms
(Kolkhoz).
3. The
bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
4.
Peasants worked on the land and the Kolkhoz profit was shared.
5.
Enraged peasants resisted the authorities and destroyed their livestock.
Between 1929 and 1931 the number of cattle fell by 1/3.
Q.3. Comment on the role of Vladimir Lenin in
the revolution and his contribution to the economic policy.
Ans. 1.Vladimir Lenin played an important part in the Russian
Revolution of 1917.
2. Lenin led the revolutionaries after the
fall of the Tsar under Lenin’s leadership; the Bolshevik Party put forward
clear policies to end the war.
3. Transfer land to the peasants and advance
the slogan ‘All power to the Soviets’.
4. He was of the opinion that no genuine democracy could be
established unless all the non-Russians were given equal rights.
5. These were the real objectives of the
Russian Revolution and he fulfilled all these objectives. That is why Lenin’s
name has become inseparable from the Russian Revolution.
Q.4.What were the immediate consequences of
the Russian Revolution?
Ans.1. Most industries and banks were nationalised in November
1917.
2. This meant the government took
over the ownership and management. Land was declared social property.
3.
Peasants
were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
4.
In
cities, Bolsheviks enforced the partition of large houses according to family
requirements.
5.
They
banned the use of old title of aristocracy.
Q.5. How did Russia's participation in the
World War cause the fall of the Tsar?
Ans. 1.
The war was
initially popular and people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II.
2. As
the war
continued, support became thin and Tsar's popularity declined. Anti-German
sentiments became high.
3. The Tsarina Alexandra's German origins and
poor advisers, especially a monk called Rasputin, made the autocracy unpopular.
4. 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.
5. The destruction of crops and buildings led
to over 3 million refugees in Russia. The situation discredited the government
and the Tsar.
HOTS QUESTIONS:
Q.1- What conditions led to the Russian Civil War
in 1918-1920? Any four points.
Ans. (i) The Russian army began to break up after Bolsheviks
ordered land redistribution. Soldiers who were mostly peasants wished to go
home for the land redistribution.
(ii)Non Bolshevik Socialists, Liberals and
supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising. Their leaders
organised the troops to fight the Bolsheviks.
(iii) During 1918 and 1919, the ‘greens’
(Socialist Revolutionaries) and ‘whites’ (pro-Tsarists) controlled most of the
Russian empire. They were backed by French, American, British and Japanese
troops. As these troops and the Bolsheviks fought a civil war, looting,
banditry and famine became common.
(iv)Supporters of private property among ‘whites’
took harsh steps against peasants who had seized land.
Q.2- Comment on the global influence of the
Russian Revolution.
Ans.1- Existing socialist parties in Europe did not
wholly approve of the way the Bolsheviks took power and kept it.
2-Still the possibility of a workers’ state
fired their imagination across the world. In many countries communist parties
were formed.
3-Bolsheviks encouraged colonial people to
follow their example. Many non-Russians received education in the USSR’s
University of the Peoples of the East. By the time the Second World War broke
out, the USSR had given socialism a global face and world stature.
Q.3- What were the social, economic and political
conditions in Russia before 1905?
Ans. Social conditions: People of different social status, classes,
religions and diverse nationalities were there. Imposition of Russian language
was made to belittle the cultures of these people. Main groups of Russian
population were farmers, workers, landowners, capitalists, industrialists and
traders.
Economic conditions: 85 per cent of Russians were agriculturists.
Agriculture provided employment to a vast population. Cultivators produced food
for market as well as their own needs
Political conditions: Nobles got their power and position through
their services to the Tsar, not through local popularity. This was unlike
France where peasants respected nobles and fought for them. In Russia, peasants
wanted the land of the nobles; they refused to pay rent and even murdered
landlords.
VALUE BASED QUESTION:
Q.1. Why socialists were against private
property?
Q.2. Mention the demands of the workers who
went on strike at St. Petersburg in 1904.
Q.3. Discuss the causes that led to the Revolution
of 1917