Glossary and Important Information - Socialism in Europe & The Russian Revolution - Notes, SST, CBSE Class 9 PDF Download

Glossary and Important Information 

• Tsar : Title given to the emperor of Russia which was abolished in 1917.
• Romanov : Name of the dynasty which ruled Russia in 1917.
• Communism : An economic system in which the means of production are owned by the state.
• Bolsheviks : The majority group of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party led by Lenin based on the ideology of Marx and Engels.
• Soviet Union : The union of Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R) formed after the overthrow of the Tsarist Empire.
• Bloody Sunday : A mass of peaceful workers led by Father Gabon were fired upon by the Russian troops when they went to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the Tsar. Heavy casualties ensued. This incident which occurred on Sunday 22nd January, 1905 is known as Bloody Sunday.
• Council of People’s Commission : The council of representatives of people to whom power was transferred after the Russian Revolution. It was headed by Lenin.
• Duma : The Russian parliament or legislature. Its members were elected and charged with the responsibility of making laws.
• Divine Right Theory : The theory which believed that the king was the representative of God on earth and no one has the right to defy him. This theory was held by the Russian Tsar to perpetuate their autocratic rule.
• Mensheviks : The minority group of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party formed in 1898. They favoured a government of the type that existed in countries like France and Germany.
• Nationalisation : To bring under government control.
• Red Army : The army of Revolutionary Russia which fought against the Tsar’s army. It was composed mainly of workers and peasants.
• Revolution of 1917 : It refers to the events of November 1917. Control was in the hands of the All Russian Congress of Soviets. The Kerenskii’s government was overthrown.
• Serfdom : Russian type of feudalism under which peasants worked for the landlord in exchange for food and shelter. No wages were paid.
• Soviet : Council of workers.
• Suffragette : A movement to give women the right to vote.
• Jadidists : Muslim reformers within the Russian empire.
• Autonomy : The right to govern themselves.
• Deported : Forcibly removed from one’s own country.
• Exiled : Forced to live away from one’s own country.
• Collective Farms : A large farm owned by the government and worked by hundreds of workers.
• Requisition : When the government forcibly takes food or property from people, usually in wartime.
• Kulaks : Wealthy peasants or farmers.
• War Communism : The policy of the Russian government from mid- 1918 to 1921 was known as war communism. It was not one particular law or decree, but a whole series of measures designed to take control of the economy.
• New Economic Policy : Introduced in 1921, it made important changes in the way the Soviet economy was organised.
• Comintern : The Communist international is the organisation set up by Lenin to sponsor communist revolutions all over the world.

Important Personalities :

1.   Lenin : The leader of the Bolshevik Party who led the Russian Revolution in 1917. As a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, he withdrew Russia from the First World War and took various measures to make Russia a socialist state.

2.   Nicholas II : The Tsar of Russia whose Policies precipitated the Russian Revolution.

3.   Kerenskii : He leader of the Mensheviks party who wanted to establish a parliamentary form of government in Russia.

4.   Leon Trotsky : He headed the Petrograd Soviet and played a leading role in the Russian Revolution and was later assassinated by Stalin.

5.   Rasputin : An unscrupulous monk whose influence over the royal family was resented by the Russian people.

6.   Engels : Frederick Engels in association with Karl Marx published the Communist Manifesto that was the guiding spirit of the Russian Revolution.

7.   Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht : Leaders of the German revolutionary movement, they tried a revolution in 1919. But the army crushed the revolution. Both were captured and shot.

8.   Joseph Stalin : He emerged as the leader of the Communist Party after the death of Lenin in 1924. He assumed complete control of Russian government and its policies till his death in 1953.

Important Dates and Events :

      1861  : The Tsar abolished Serfdom.

      1883 : George Plekhanov formed the Russian Social Democratic Party.