sst

1. • Socialism in Europe and the
Russian Revolution
• HISTORY
Shigraf Ma’am
Lecture No.- 01
Lecture- 01

2. Age of social change
Liberals, Radicals and conservatives
Industrial society and social change
The coming of socialism to Europe
Support for socialism
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Topic
Topic
Topics to be Covered
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3. Age of Social Change
 Before the 18th century, society was broadly divided into
Estates and Orders.
 Aristocracy and Church controlled the economic and social
power.

4.  Suddenly, after the French revolution, it seemed possible to
change it (society) but there was a difference of opinion
among the liberals, radicals and conservatives regarding
this change- whether complete transformation of society or
only some necessary changes?
 Some wanted to change it gradually while others wanted to
restructure the society radically.

5. Liberals
 Liberals wanted a nation which tolerated all religions, while there
was discrimination in European countries at that time in favour
of one or another religion. For example- Britain favoured the
Church of England, Austria and Spain favoured Catholic Church.
 Liberals while opposing the unlimited and uncontrolled powers of
dynastic rulers, wanted to safeguard the rights of individuals
against the governments.

6.  Argued for representative, elected parliamentary government,
subject to laws interpreted by a well-trained independent
Judiciary.
 They were not democrats- did not believe in universal adult
franchise. They felt that only men of property should have the
voting rights- even no voting rights to women.

7. Radicals
 Wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority
of country’s population.
 Unlike liberals, radicals opposed the privileges of big landowners
and wealthy factory owners.
 Although not against the existence of private property, but
disliked concentration of property in the hands of few.

8. Conservatives
 Opposed to Liberals and Radicals.
 However, earlier in the 18th century conservatives had been
generally opposed to the idea of change but in 19th century
they accepted that some change was inevitable.
 They believed that past should be respected and changes
had to be brought by a slow process.

9. Industrial society and social change
 It was a time of important social and economic changes- new cities
came up, new industrial regions developed, railways expended and
industrial revolution occured.
 Industrialisation brought men, women and children to factories-
long work hours, poor wages, unemployment was very common,
rapid growing of towns created housing and sanitation problems.

10.  Liberals and Radicals (more of them were property owners and
employers) searched for solutions to these problems- to change
the society- educated citizens- healthy workforce- value of
individual effort, labour and enterprise- freedom of individuals-
men with capital could operate without restraint.

11.  After 1815 some nationalists, liberals and radicals became
revolutionaries and worked to overthrow existing monarchs in
Europe.
 For example in France, Germany, Italy and Russia- Italian
nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini- nationalists elsewhere (including
India) read his writings.

12. Coming of Socialism in Europe
 The ideas of socialism attracted widespread attention.
 Socialists were against private property.
 They saw it as the root of all social ills of that time.

13.  They believed that individuals owned property that gave
employment to others but the individual owner is concerned only
with personal gain and not with those who made the property
productive.
 On the other hand, if society as a whole controlled the property
more attention would be paid to collective social interests.

14. Different Visions of socialists for the future
 There were different visions among socialists as to how could a
society operate without property and what would be the basis of
socialist society?
 Some believed in the idea of cooperatives- Robert Owen, a
leading English manufacturer- ‘New Harmony in Indiana’(USA).

15.  Others felt that cooperatives could not be built on a wide scale
only through individual initiatives. Therefore, they demanded
that governments should encourage them. For ex- in France
Louis Blanc wanted the government to encourage cooperatives
and replace capitalists enterprises.
 Theme of cooperatives- association of people who produced
goods together and divided the profits according to the work
done by members.

16. Karl Marx (1818–1883)
 Added some other ideas to it- he argued that industrial society was
capitalist who owned the capital invested in factories or industries
while the profit of capitalists was produced by workers. The
conditions of workers will not improve as long as this profit was
accumulated by private capitalists. Therefore, capitalism have to
be overthrown compulsorily.

17.  In place of capitalism, workers have to construct a
radically socialist society- all properties controlled by
society. Marx also believed that workers will triumph in
their conflicts with capitalists.

18. Supports for Socialism
 To spread the socialist ideas through Europe and to coordinate
their efforts, socialists formed an international body- “Second
International”.
 Workers associations began forming in England and Germany
to fight for better living and working conditions.
 Set up funds to help members in times of distress, demanded
reduction in working hours, right to vote.

19.  In Germany, these associations worked closely with Social
Democratic Party (SDP) who help it win parliamentary seats.
 In Britain and France labour party was formed by socialists and
trade unions in 1905.
 However, till 1914, socialists never succeeded in forming a
government in Europe and the governments continued to be run
by conservatives, liberals and radicals.

23. The society of Europe was divided into _________ orders
(a)Liberals
(b)Radicals
(c)Conservatives
(d)All of these

24. What was the philosophy of Louis Blanc?
(a) There are 2 type of people in the society- one is ruler class
and second the ruled class.
(b) Cooperative societies should be set up by individuals
(c) Cooperative societies should have support of government.
Socialism will lead to bad consequences for workers.