New social movements

The difficult k. LABOUR DISPUTES IN GREAT BRITAIN

which th wor '.ng conditions and the poverty in
e workers lived under the industrial system
......... 123
140 ••
caused social unrest. .......
120
.. ····· ................
······ . " .•••
Wotkets' associations 100
80 •
The firS t workers to protest against industrialisation 60 ....................... ..
were th e Luddites. The Luddite movement started in
40 l ...... J?.............. .
E_ngla nd in the early 19th century. lt consisted of the
violent destruction of rnachinery in the belief that it was 20 1.... .. ............
responsible for low wages and unemployrnent.
O 1751-1760 1761-1770 1771-1780 1781-1790 1791-1800
Sorne workers started to realise the need to forrn
their own associations to defend their interests. The first DI L k t the graph. Why was there a rise in the number
1. v oo a k ,d dJ
organisations
•
were relief societiesI which acted as of labour disputes? What were the wor ers eman s.
resistance groups and helped workers in the event of
i~lness or unernployrnent. These societies organised the
first strikes and created contingency funds. The right of association
The repeal of the laws prohibiting workers' For years our class has been heading ~or ~uin. Wages are
associations in England in 1824 led to the creation of • . The pn·ce of food and rent 1s h1gher. Every. day we
declmmg.
the first official trade unions, which united workers in f to reduce our circle of needs, send our wives to
are orced . , d ·
the sarne field, such as the Union of Spinners. the factory to the detriment of our ch1ldren s_e u~atio_n,
sacrifice these same children to labour. The s1tuation is
The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union,
alrea dy extremely serious and needs to be resolved
. . (...) All
which brought together different types of workers, was we ask is the free exercise of the right of assoc1ation.
founded in 1834. lts first tasks were to defend the right Today this right is only granted to us in cases of illness or
of association, to reduce the working d1y, to irnprove unemployment; from now on, grant us the right to opp~se
wages and to regulate child labour. the excessive demands of the factory owners and establish
a What was the role of relief societies? mínimum wage rates (... ).
Statement by the Spanish Working Class to Parliament, 1855. 1

The new social solutions

In the new industrial society, a nurnber of thinkers
spoke out against the injustices created by capitalism
and proposed new rnodels of social organisation.
• The utopian socialists (Saint-Sirnon, Proudhon and
Fourier) were the first to suggest that private property
was the rnain cause of inequalities and to propose
forrns of collective ownership.
• In the rnid-19th century, sorne thinkers advocated the
need for a revolution to end capitalism and build a
new egalitarian society. These ideas gave rise to two
rnajor revolutionary rnovernents: Marxism and
anarchism.
• The Catholic Church was concerned about the Strikes were the main tactic carried out by workers to pressure
condition of the working classes and social inequality. employers into negotiating their labour demands.
In 1890, Pope Leo XIII issued his encyclical Rerum
Novarum, which proposed the need to improve the NEW VOCABULARY_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___,
living conditions of workers by enacting social laws. strike: a period when workers stop working as a sign of protest
concerned: worried
b Which groups opposed the inequality caused by split: divide
capitalism?

62 Unit 3
 MARXISM, ANARCHISM AND INTERNATIONALISM

Marxism and anarchism opposed privat

· 1·
wanted to en d cap1ta 1sm, but advocated ed·tt
property and
. d d.ff MARXISM
I erent types of
revolut1on an I erent social models t
1 .1t.
0 repace This was the result of
a collaboration
between Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels,
who denounced the
ANARCHISM exploitation of workers
Anarchism is not a single doctrine, but a and advocated a
collection of the ideas of various thinkers revolution to destroy Marx and Engels.
such as Bakunin and Kropotkin. capitalism.
It is based on the value of individual The proletariat revolution would have two phases:
Piotr Kropotkin. • The conquest of political power to create a workers'
freedom and social solidarity, the defence
of collective ownership and the rejection of all auth ·ty lt state (the dictatorship of the proletariat) that would
. on .
that the revo lution_ must be the result of a general strike thatargues destroy private property and put it in the hands of the
:º
destroys the sta_te rn order create an egalitarian society with
forms of collectíve ownersh1p.
state.
• Acommunist society in which the social classes and
It op~ose: particip~~on in P?litics (elections) and the the state would disappear (communism).
orgamsation of pobtical parties. One section advocated • l t Marxists created socialist workers' parties. Their goal was
. . l. ( vio en
action agarnst cap1ta ~sm the bourgeoisie, army, state and Church) a workers' revolution, but they also advocated workers'
and another the creation of revolutionary unions participation in elections and parliament to promote
(anarcho-syndicalism). legislation that supported workers.

WORKERS' ASSOCIATION

Marxists and anarchists were involved in the labour conflicts of their

time and advocated the need for workers around the world to unite
in order to achieve social emancipation (proletarian
internationalism). At the initiative of Karl Marx, the International
Workingmen's Association (First International) was created in
1864. Marxists, anarchists and trade unions joined, but the
ideological differences between them made it unworkable and it
split in 1876.
In 1889, the Marxists founded the Second International to
coordinate the various socialist parties. The Second International
established sorne identity symbols of the labour movement, such
as the anthem 'The Internationale' and the 1 May holiday
(International Workers' Day). Allegory of the First
lnternational, 1870.

@Find out more...

Find out about Karl Marx at www.tiching.com/742595 ACTIVITIES
2. ® What do the following dates refer to? 1834 - 1864 - 1889 - 1890.
QUICK REVISION 3. ~¡0 Read the Statement by the Spanish Working Class to Parliament.
• In the new industrial society, a number of What were they requesting? What arguments did they use?
thinkers emerged who denounced the injustices 4. - Make a table to show how each of these groups tried to
created by capitalism, and proposed new models defend or help workers: Luddites - the Grand National Consolidated
of social organisation, such as Marxism and
Trades Union - Marxism and anarchism.
anarchism.

The origins of industrialisation 63

 Why was thete a revolution in Russia? s that drove the
ible living condition
•• 1
'
1 The war affected all th e countnes · • ved but had profound
invol
lt led t~ an
What were t he tlt?
population to drevo
err
•
Why was the poht
ds for mod erate
1ca
refor
system unable
ms?
1 ~onsequences for the Russian Empire.
, which completely to respond to ema n bl
. and leaders were a e to rmg an
b• end
lution in 1917
• nprecedented revo
transformed the economic, political and
social system. Why did Whatideas,pa rt ,es
• 1·1st revolut,on take place in the land of the tsars?
the first socia • to tsarism?

D --- -- _.. - -- -- -- -- --
D
EJ
A.¿_N AUTOCRATIC EMPIRE
&
th ruled a vast empire
In the early 20 century, the tsars
y continued. Politically,
¡ where the system of abso lute mon arch
tsar had absolute power: he
: tsarsim was an autocracy. The
to any constitution and did
: ruled by decree, was not subject
nt.
: not hove to answer to a parliame
A loyal bureaucracy and a
powerful army controlled the
empire, while the Orthodox
Church was one of the great
ideological pillars of the regime.
What form of government
existed in Russia?

Province,
Ilya REPIN: Religious Procession in Kursk
of the
. i> Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra 1883. The tsar was the highest authority
.:; t nted t influence on a
,G
Feodorovna in 1894. The tsars were prese Church and this had a grea
h
le as unattainable gods. populatio n with an illiteracy rate of 80 %.
' to the peop

STRY
8 FEUDAL AGRICULTURE AND DEPENDENT INDU
of the Russian Empire were the
The economy and social structures
:
1
culture was the main economic POPULATION OF ST. PETERSBURG
: most backward in Europe. Agri
d by an immensely powerful and
' activity, and land was controlle number of inhabitants
wealthy aristocracy. 2118000
from most of Europe, ..................................................... .
Feudalism, which had disappeared 2000000
The majority of the population
continued in the Russian Empire.
rable conditions. Personal servitude
, were peasants and lived in mise 1500000 ............................1439..000.........
..
the power of the landed nobility
: /asted until 1865 and, although 1264000
t.
: was abolished, it remained intac
1

1000000 .......
rg, the Urals, etc.),
In sorne oreas (Moscow, St. Petersbu
n largely by foreign capital. A
industrialisation had begun, drive
rged who worked in large 500000 .......
large industrial proletariat had eme
worked in companies with more
factories. Almost half of ali workers
es.
than 500 workers, for very low wag o
1895 1900 1915
ib) What was the dominant social group?

144 Unit J
V
oPPOSITION TO TSARISM
COpposition to the regime
N
first developed h
d "k among t e pe t
ulists, known as aro ni s, and anarchists) b as_an s Leon Trotsky ( 1879-1940) was
lpOPlear alternatives. Marxist ideas spread ut _they d~d not set one of the main leaders of the
on~; 98 the Russian Social Democratic Lab amopng industrial workers. Bolsheviks. He organised the first
InJ by Vladimir llyich Ulyanov (Lenin). The :urtyr s:rty wa_s ~ounded, Soviet in St. Petersburg in 1905.
1~ s the Mensheviks (or minority) and th PB I h ~kn spl1t mto two
win9 , • db h e os ev, s (or • ·ty)
.L were unconvmce y t e tsar's reforms d f ma1on
w110 th an avoured a
re~lurionary pa •

. I20th
In the early D
century, bourgeois liberal part· l'k h
• 1es , e t e
POUTICAL GROUPS IN RUSSIA
Consritutiothna I ftemthocrSati~ pl?rty (Kadet) began to appear in Russia
further to e ' e ocia 1st Revolutionary Party (the S •
was inAuential among the peasants. Rs or Esers) SECOND LIBERAL
NIHILISTS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENTS

,.e, What opposition was there? Who were th M h .

1
'k ? e ens ev1ks and
: Bolshev1 s.
1
1
1

¡ fhe 1905 revolu!ion

1

¡ In 1905, a revolution ~roke out demanding the end of autocracy. A RSDLP

(Russian Social
: peacef~l demonstration was held, but the tsar responded with brutal Democratlc labour Party)
: repress10n (Bloody Sunday). The demonstrations and strikes ti" d 1 PLEKHANOV

:i and wo_rkers, peasants an d so ld'1ers organised themselves intocon nue

Soviets '
: (counals). BOLSHEVIKS 1903 MENSHEVIICS
1 bolshoi: majority i...-+• menchoi: minority
: The tsar finally agreed to hold elections to the parliament (Duma) b LENIN MARTOV
¡, universal suffrage and to promote agrarian reform. However he di~
: not keep his promises and a few years later, he dissolved the Óuma and
: retumed to autocratic rule.
1
1

DTHE CRISIS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR @Find out more...

Find out more about the causes of the Russian
Russia entered the First World War in 1914, but it was not prepared for Revolution at: www.tiching.com/742408
such a long, hard and expensive war. lts army was not ready, its transport
system was inefficient and its arms industry could not cope with demand.
As economic resources were devoted to war, famine appeared in cities,
spreading unrest among workers, peasants and soldiers. Ali of this made ACTIVITIES
Tsar Nicholas II very unpopular.
1. Explain the significance of the following
In late 1916, at the height of the war, those who opposed tsarism saw years preceding the Russian Revolution:
the chance to end the regime and take power. 1865 - 1898 - 1905 - 1914 - 1916.
2. ® Look at the diagram on the
THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR Russian Empire in the First World War.
Why was there a revolution in Russia?
INTERNAL SITUATION WARTIME SITUATION
3. @ Find information on the origin of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
and make a factsheet on the origin of the
party, its leaders and the ideological
differences between the Mensheviks and
the Bolsheviks.

The First World War and the Russian Revolution 145

 -
íl The Russian Revolution
th e February Revolution of 1911. The fall of tsarism
n in 'ke
On 23 February 1917, there was a large demonstratio stri
St. Petersburg), follow ed by a gener al
Petrograd (present-day
ªnd riots in the barracks. The tsar abdicated and a republic was
t, which
proclaimed. lt was headed by a provisional governmen
elections to make Russia a
promised to call constituent
parliamentary democracy.
parties (Kadet
The new government, dominated by the bourgeois
social reform s. However,
and Esers) initiated a series of political and
to their allies in the war.
they also decided to remain committed ·on by women demanding peace and
This made it difficult to improve the living conditions
of the DemonStratl
. bread, February 1917.
population and implement the anticipated land reform
d to
Popular discontent grew, and the Soviets, who wante
war, began to deman d the dismis sal of the
withdraw from the Lenin
that had united to end the tsar's rule began
government. The forces
of power emerg ed that challen ged the Vladimir Ilyich
to break up, and a duality Ulyanov, known as
provisional governmen t and the Soviets.
Lenin, was the
..!..~ What happened in February 1917?
1
main Bolshevik
leader and
inspiration behind
The October Revolution brings the Bolsheviks to power the October
, Revolution of
Their leader, 1917. He was
By then, most of the Soviets supported the Bolsheviks.
Lenin, retumed to Russia from exile, and publish ed his new ideas in the imprisoned and
ment of worke r and deported to Siberia and then exiled to
April Theses. He wanted to establish a govern
Germa ny. He Switzerland. After the victory of the February
peasant Soviets and to sign a peace treaty with
giving workers Revolution, he returned to Russia to lead the
advocated distributing the land among the peasants,
and recogn ising the Bolshevik's seizure of power.
control of the factories, nationalising the banks
nationalities of the Russian Empire.
created their
The Bolsheviks, with the support of the Soviets, had The ftrst steps of the revolution
Guards, and prepar ed for an insurrection
own armed militia, the Red
the Winter
on 25 October, 1917. The rebels occup ied Petrog rad, took • Expropriation of capital from the state
The revolu tion
Palace and overthrew the provisional govern ment.
• Expropriation of land from private owners
quickly spread to Moscow and indust rial regions. and the nationalisation of land
The Second AII-Russian Congress of Soviets, which
met in Petrograd, • Expropriation of finance capital and the
included nationalisation of banks
proclaimed a workers' government led by Lenin, which
Trotsky and Stalin.
• Expropriation of transport
ituent
• Expropriation of credit, mainly from
In November 1917, elections were held for the Const foreigners
ment. The Bolsheviks
Assembly, convened by the provisional govern • Expropriation of capital from the rich
ty cities and
in
got only 25 % of the seats, although they won a majori peasants (kulaks) and the creation of the
revolution could
industrial regions. Fearing that groups opposing the Committees for Poor Peasants
dissolved the Assem bly and put an end to
take over the Duma, Len in
ment
• Expropriation of large industrial capital
Russia. The new govern
political pluralism in the new Soviet Y. KuKUSHKIN: History of the USSR, 1982.
land was expro priated to
decreed the first revolutionary measures:
ittees were given
distribute among the peasants, and workers' comm
Germany (1918),
control of factories. In the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with
Russia accepted territorial losses in exchange for peace
. NEW VOCABULARY_ _ _ __,
? crack down on: take severa meosures against
- L..b What happened in October 1917? Who took power

146 Unit 1
 IVIL WAR AND FORMATION OF THE USSR
tHE C

early
1918, thoseff' who supported the ret urn of tsansm
. In the
In ners army o 1cers and privileged gr ) summer of
nd 0W ' ¡· · 1 t ( h b oups or the maintenance 1918, the
(1a 'b ral po 1t1ca sys em t e ourgeoisie) t 0 k .
fa h e w·h h h 1 °
up arms agamst the
o . government. 1t t e e p of French ' Bn•t·ish, Japanese and
tsar and his
v1et h Wh" familywere
50 rican troops, t e ,te Army confronted the Red . executed by
f>.rnel d by Trotsky and the Bolsheviks. Army, wh1ch the
was e Bolsheviks.
i\lil War !asted three years and brought great m1sery
.
fhe C to the
e who suffered food shortages and a high b f .
eoPl ' d num er o casualt1es
p 1921 the Re Army won. the war. The conflict had cont n'buted •
In ' h d
. •r.cantly to the ar enmg of the Soviet regim
~gn"' e.
'e What were the consequences of the Civil War?
l.-
The Constitution of the USSR
solshevik power Art. 2. The political foundation of the
The Bolshevik party (renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union USSR is based on the Soviets of
º".
(CP5U) in 1918) no_w ha~ a monopoly power and suppressed all who workers' deputies, which developed as
opposed the_m (tsansts, bberals, Mensheviks, anarchists, etc.) and organised a a result of overthrowing the power of
political pollee force (Cheka) to crack down on counter-revolutionary activities. landlords and capitalists, and the
conquest of the dictatorship of the
war communism was introduced. All industry was nationalised, land was
proletariat. (... )
collectivised and peasants were forced to give their entire harvest to the state.
Art. 4. The economic foundation of the
USSR is the socialist system of
economy (...) as a result of the
SOVIET REPUBLICS FROM 1922 abolition of the capitalist system and
prívate ownership, and the •
elimination of the exploitation of man
by man.( ...)
Constitution of 1923.

Each republic retained its language and had

• authority over justice and education, but not
•Novoslt>trsk
,i over the Communist Party, the army, the
economy and foreign policy.
The USSR was a federal state with a parliament
(Supreme Soviet) and a single party, the CPSU
- USSR border
republics of the
(Communist Party of the Soviet Union). lt was
D Republic of Russia (RSFSR) D Caucasus a totalitarian system that was justified by the
D Slavic republics [ ¡ sl Muslim republics theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

QUICK REVISION ACTIVITIES

• There were two revolutions in 1. e (reate a table detailing the causes and consequences of the Civil War.
Russia in 1917: the February
Revolution, which led to the 2. @) In 1920, 10000 participants re-enacted the storming of the Winter Palace.
formation of a provisional Watch a video of the event at: www.tiching.com/742427. In pairs, talk about: a)
government, and the 0ctober why you think the film was made, b) how accurate you think it is, ande) what you
Revolution, which brought the think the filmmakers wanted to say about the events of that day.
Bolsheviks to power.

The First World War and the Russian Revolution 1~1

 . torY workshop • History workshop • Histor~
~l~--------~~~-__j
( .....- ANALY.SE APROPAGANDA POSTER
1
·th mustrations and allusive text were a wa f .
rs W1 • h th
t e 20 century.
Yo spreadmg
They were used t 0 The large, illiterate population in the Soviet Union after the
1
poste. al pro paganda m . k. .
¡¡tic eople to thm 1n a certam way about idea Russian Revolution and the support of many Soviet artists
P0 ~p resulted in the development of sorne of the main poster
.,ersºª. to important events, orto spread political id eas.
r- ·t~ttons propaganda techniques, which then spread to the rest of the world.
¡nvl"

1. Identification and introduction

• What kind of image is it?
• When and where was it published?
• What do you think the poster represents? How is it
described in the text and in the image?
2. Analysis
• Describe the main features of the poster. Who is the
main character? How do you know? What is he holding?
What colour is the object? What does the colour
symbolise?
• Who is the main charecter sweeping? What symbols
represent them?
• What Russian Revolution objectives are shown in the
poster? Did its objectives limit the Soviet Union? Why do
you think Lenin is standing at the top of the globe?

3. Historical context
• What historical event took place in Russia in 1919? What
had happened in the two preceding years? What ideology
was adopted by those in power? What message do you
think the poster tries to convey to the rest of the world?
4. Conclusions
Jos. neHMH 04t11.LVIET • Evaluate the role of posters in political propaganda and
find out if they continue to have a similar role today.
Find an example and comment on it.
3eMntO OT HellttCTH. • For more propaganda posters, go to:
"' www.tiching.com/743645 and
Comrade Lenin sweeps the globe clean. A Bolshevik www.tiching.com/7 43646.
poster ( 1919).

HISTORICAL THINKING r:

Giving reasons. Why were the peace treaties after the First Making connections. What significant events took place
World War not able to guarantee peace for more than two during the First World War? Make a list and organise them
decades? into the following categories:
• Nationalism
Empathy. Imagine you live in Russia in 1917. Defend the • l'1sm
transition from the February revolution to the October •~I mpena
revolution. • International alliances

The First World War and the Russian Revolution 153