Question 1 - NCERT Questions - Chapter 2 Class 9 History - Socialism in Europe & Russian Revolution - History

What were the social, economic and political conditions in Russia before 1905?

Answer:

Answer to be written

The following were the social, economic, and political conditions in Russia before 1905.

• Social Condition:
  • The majority religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity – which had grown out of the Greek Orthodox Church – but the empire also included Catholics , Protestants , Muslims and Buddhists.
  • The vast majority of Russia’s population were agriculturists . 
  • Most industries were the private property of industrialists . 
  • Workers were a divided social group.
  • Some had strong links with the villages from which they came . Others had settled in cities permanently. 
  • Divisions among workers showed themselves in dress and manners too . 
  • In the countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land but the nobility , the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties.
  • Like workers , peasants too were divided . They were also deeply religious . 
  • In the Russian empire, nobles got their power and position through their services to the Tsar and not through local popularity .
• Economic Condition
  • Russia was a major exporter of grain because about 85 per cent of the Russian empire’s population earned their living from agriculture.
  • The industry was found in pockets .
  • Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg and Moscow . 
  • There were large factories alongside craft workshops , but most of the production was performed by craftsmen.
  • Many factories were set up in the 1890s when Russia’s railway network was extended , and foreign investment in industry increased.
  • Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled.
  • Most industries were the private property of industrialists .
  • The year 1904 was a particularly bad one for Russian workers because the prices of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20 per cent.
• Political Condition
  • Russia was an autocracy.  
  • Before 1914 , all political parties were illegal in Russia.
  • The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists who respected Marx’s ideas .
  • Socialists were active in the countryside through the late nineteenth century.  
  • They formed the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900.
  • Even at the beginning of the twentieth century unlike other European rulers, the Tsar was not subject to parliament .
  • Liberals in Russia campaigned to end this state of affairs .
  • Strikes took place all over the country and universities closed down when student bodies staged walkouts , complaining about the lack of civil liberties.
  • During the 1905 Revolution , the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma .