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Teacher Olivia

History Socialism

HISTORY: LESSON - 2

Q1) Why did socialists considered private property as the

root of all social ills?

Individuals owned the property that gave employment

but the propertied were concerned only for personal gain

and not for the welfare of those who made the property

productive .Society should be considered as a whole rather

than single individuals that controlled the property. Socialists

wanted this to change and so campaigned for it.

Q2)What was the contribution of Karl Marx in bringing about

the Russian Revolution in 1917? or Describe the theory of

1)Karl Marx was a strong supporter of socialism and was

deadly against capitalism and private property.

2)Marx argued that industrial society was 'capitalist'.

Capitalists owned the capital invested in factories, and the

profit of capitalists was produced by workers.

3) He felt that the condition of workers could not improve as

long as this profit was accumulated by private capitalists.

4)Marx believed that to free themselves from capitalists

exploitation's, workers had to construct a radically socialist

society where all property was socially controlled which

would be a communist society.

5)He was convinced that workers would triumph in their

conflict with Capitalists.

Q3) Discuss various visions of socialists regarding socialist

1. Socialists had different visions of the future. They were well

known in the 19th

 century. .Some believed that if a society as

a whole controlled property, more attention would be paid to

collective social interests.

2.Some socialist like Robert Owen, a leading English

manufacturer, believed in the idea of cooperatives sought

to built a cooperative community called New Harmony in

3. Other like Louis Blanc felt that cooperatives couldn’t be built

only if the governments encouraged them.

4. These cooperatives were to be associations of people who

produced goods together and divided the profits equaled

5. Karl Marks argued that an industrial society was capitalists

which exploited the workers and kept the profit for

themselves. He believed that the workers had to construct

a radically socialist society where all property was socially

Q4 Describe the growth of socialism in Europe?

1.By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through Europe and

to coordinate their efforts, socialists formed an international

body-namely, the Second International.

2.Workers in England and Germany began forming

associations to fight for better living and working conditions.

3. They set up funds to help members in times of distress and

demanded a reduction of working hours and the right to vote.

4. In Germany these association worked closely with the Social

Democratic Party and helped it win parliamentary seats.

5. By 1905, socialists and trade unionists formed a Labor Party

in Britain and a Social Party was formed in Europe.

Q5)In what way was the working population in Russia

different from other countries in Europe before 1917?

1.About 85% of the Russian people were agriculturalist.

This proportion was much higher than in most European

2. Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industries areas

were St. Petersburg and Moscow. Workers were divided

into social group on the basis of their skills

3. Metal workers considered themselves aristocrats among the

4. Woman made up about 31% of the factory labour force by

1914 , but they were paid less than men.

5.Peasants too were divided and pooled their land together

periodically and their commune divided it according to the

needs of individual family.

6.The rich peasants were called 'Kulaks'. Russian peasants

had no respect for the nobility and fought with them. They

refused to pay rent and even murdered the landlords.

Q6) How were the Russian peasants different from other

European peasants?

Russian peasants were different from the other European

peasant because they pooled their land together periodically

and their commune divided it according to the needs of

individual families.

Q7)Which event in Russian history is known as ‘Bloody

1. In January 1905 over 110,000 workers in St Petersburg went

on strike demanding a reduction in the working day to eight

hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working

2.When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon

reached the Winter Palace in order to represent a petition to

the Tsar it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks.

3. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded.

4.This incident took place on Sunday so it was known as’

Bloody Sunday ’which later started a series of events that

became known as the 1905 Revolution.

Q8)Mention any five effect/ consequences/ significance

of ‘Blood Sunday’ in Russia?

1) This incident, known as’ Bloody Sunday ’ started a series of

events that became known as the 1905 Revolution.

2) Strikes took place all over the country. Universities closed

down when students walk-outs, complaining about the lack

of civil liberties.

3)Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class

workers established the Union of Unions and demanded a

constituent assembly.

4) The Tsar allowed the creation of an elected Consultative

Parliament or Duma.

5) A new form of organization called ‘Soviets’ developed,

which played a decisive role in the upheaval of 1917.

Q9) What was the effect of the First World War on Russian

1. In Russia, the war was initially popular and people rallied

around Tsar Nicholas II. As the war continued, the Tsar

refused to consult the main parties in the Duma.

2. Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria between

1914 and 1916 and there were over 7 million casualties by

3. The destruction of crops and buildings led to over 3 million

refugee in Russia.

4. The country was cut off from other suppliers of industrial

goods by German control of the Baltic sea and Industrial

equipment disintegrated more rapidly in Russia.

5. Able bodied men were called up to the war which resulted in

labour shortages.

6. Large supplies of grain were sent to feed the army. For the

people in the cities, bread and flour became scarce.

Q10)Trace the event which led to the February Revolution in

1.In February 1917, there was acute food shortage in the

worker’s quarters. Parliamentarians were opposed to the

Tsar’ desire to dissolve the Duma.

women led the way to strikes called the International

Women’s Day.

3.The strikes continued with the workers surrounding the

fashionable quarters & official buildings at the centre of the

capital-the Nevskii Prospekt.

4.On Sunday,25th

the Duma and on 27th

ransacked. The streets thronged with people raising slogans

about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.

5. The government tried to control the situation and called out

the cavalry, but they refused to fire on the demonstrators.

6. Land by evening , soldiers and striking workers were united

to form a ‘soviet’ or “council’ in the same building as the

Duma met which became the’ Petrograd Soviet’.

 February, a factory lockout took place and many

 February, the government suspended

, the Police Headquarters were

Q11)Explain the role of Lenin in the Russian Revolution of

1. In April 1917 , the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned

to Russia from his exile. He organized the Bolshevik Party &

felt it was time for the soviets to take over the power.

2.He declared that the war be brought to a close, land be

transferred to the peasants, and banks be nationalized.

These three demands were Lenins “ April Theses”.

3. He renamed the Bolshevik Party as the communist party to

indicate its new radical aims.

4.Factory committees, trade union and soldier committees

5. He proclaimed the right of all peoples to self-determination.

With the fall of Kerenskii’s government, Lenin became the

head of the communist state.

Q12) Describe the main event of the October Revolution in

1) After Lenin returned from exile to Russia, there was

continues conflict between the Bolsheviks and the

Provisional Government. Lenin feared that the Provisional

Government would set up a dictatorship. In September, he

began discussion for an uprising against the government.

2) On 16th October 1917, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd

Soviet and the Bolshevik Party for a socialist seizure of

power. A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed

under Leon Trotskii to organize the seizure.

3) When the uprising began on 24 October, Prime Minister

Kerenskii left the city to bring the troops to prevent the

situation from going out of control.

4) In a swift respond, the Military Revolutionary Committee

attacked government officers and arrest ministers. Later,

the ship ‘Aurora’, shelled the Winter Place and by nightfall,

the city was under Bolshevik’s control.

5) After heavy fighting the Bolshevik gained full control of the

Moscow-Petrograd area. This action of the Bolshevik were

approved by All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd.

6) The October Revolution was led by Lenin & Leon Trotskii

& all who supported these leaders. It marked the beginning

of lenin’s rule over the Soviet with the Bolshevik under his

Q13) Describe any 5 changes brought by the Bolshevik after

October Revolution?

1) Peace: Immediately after coming to power, Lenin withdrew

from war and made peace with Germany at Brest Litovsk.

2) Property: The Bolshevik abolished all private property

which was a means of production. Land of clergy and

nobility were confiscated. It was declared social property

and peasants were allowed to seize it. Large houses were

divided according to family requirements.

3) Nationalization: All industries, banks, transports and

railways were nationalized.

4) Privilege: The Bolshevik banned the use of old tiles of

aristocracy. This marked the end of the Tsar’s rule in

5) Rights: All unequal treaties which the Tsar’s government

had imposed was removed. The right of all people to

equality and self determination was proclaimed.

Q14)Explain the condition which led to the Russian civil war between 1918 and 1920?

1) The Bolsheviks became the only party that participated in

the elections to the ‘All Congress of soviets’.

2) Trade unions were kept under the party control and secret

police punished those who criticized the Bolsheviks.

3) Non-Bolshevik socialists liberals and supporters of

autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising.

4) During 1918 & 1919, the greens and whites controlled most

of the Russian Empire.

5) French, American, British and Japanese troops also

involved themselves as they were worried at the growth of

Socialism in Russia.

6) Therefore a civil war broke out between these tropes and

the Bolsheviks.

Economics Chapter 2

Economics : People as Resource

1. Why are women paid less as compared to men at work in India?

• A majority of Indian women are less educated and less skilled as compared to

• As a result many of them end up working in non formal sectors where legal

• As they are very less educated they are forced to accept low paid jobs without

• Though according to the Law the women are supposed to be equally paid

the male counterparts specially in rural areas.

protection is very less and salary is also very low.

any facilities without medical and maternity leave.

like men for the same job in formal sector, they are often exploited and

discriminated

2. How do you explain the term unemployment?

• Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the

• Children under the age of 15 years and old aged people above 59 years cannot

• In India, we have unemployment in rural and urban areas, In rural areas there

going wages cannot find jobs

be considered as unemployed.

is seasonal and disguised employment and in urban areas there is mostly

educated unemployment.

3. What is seasonal unemployment?

• Seasonal unemployment happens when people are not able to find jobs during

• People dependent upon agriculture usually face such kind of problem.

• There are certain busy seasons when sowing, harvesting, weeding and

• Certain months do not provide much work to the people who are dependent

some months of the year.

threshing is done.

on agriculture.

4. What do you mean by disguised unemployment?

• Disguised unemployment usually happens among family members engaged in

agricultural activity. For example, the work requires the service of five people

but eight people are engaged in the same job. We find three people extra.

These three people work in the same plot as the others. The contribution

made the three extra people does not add to the contribution made by the

five people. If three people are removed, the production of the field will not

decline. These three extra people worked for the field are called as disguised

unemployed.

5. Why is educated unemployment a serious problem in India?

• In case of urban areas educated unemployment has become a common

• Many youth with matriculation, graduation and post graduation degrees are

• As study showed that unemployment of graduates and post graduates has

• A paradoxical manpower situation is witnessed as surplus of manpower in

phenomenon.

not able to find job.

increased faster than among matriculates.

certain categories coexist with shortage of manpower in others.

6. How unemployment a wastage of human resources?

• Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resources.

• People who are an asset for the economy turns into a liability. There is feeling

• People do not have enough money to support their families

• Inability of educated people who are willing to work to find gainful

• Unemployment leads to increase economic overload. The dependence of the

• Unemployment is determined to impact on the overall growth of an economy.

of hopelessness and despair among the youth.

employment implies a great social waste.

unemployed on the working population increases.

Increase in unemployment is an indicator of a depressed economy. It also

wastes the resource which could have been gainfully employed.

7. The problem of unemployment in India is more than it appears. Explain

• In case of statistically, the unemployment rate is low. A large number of

• They appear to work throughout the year but in terms of their potential and

• The employment structure is characterized by self employment in the primary

people with very low income and productivity are counted as employed.

income, it is not enough for them.
sector. Large number of people remain unemployed

8.   How is education important in human capital formation?

·       Education is an important input for the growth of an individual.  It opens a new horizon and provides new aspirations and develops new values of life.

·       Education contributes to the growth of society. It enhances national income, cultural richness and increases the efficiency of the Govt.

·       Educated humans are an asset to the country. Thus contributes to the growth of the country.

9.   Difference of economic activities and non economic activities.

Economic activity	Non economic activity
·       These activities are concerned with the production, exchange and distribution of goods and services.	·       These activities are performed to satisfy emotional and psychological needs
·       These activities are done to earn livelihood	·       Mainly done for self consumption.
·       It is also called market activities and it adds to the national income	·       Non market activities do not have economic motives   behind them
·       Businessmen, professionals & employees etc. are example of economic activities	·       Social works, religious, cultural and charitable activities are the examples.

·        Universalisation of elementary education – a time bound initiative of the Central Government along with state and local Govt.

10.         What do you mean by human capital formation?

·       Human capital is an inseparable and active factor of production.

·       Population become human capital when there is investment made in the form of education, training and medical care.

·        In fact, human capital is the stock of skill and productive knowledge embodied in them.

·       When the existing human resources are further developed into more educated and healthy means,  it becomes human capital formation.

11.         Some countries have highly benefited from investing in human capital. Explain with example?

·       Investment in human resources can give high rates of return in future.

·       In this investment on People is the same as investment in land and capital.

·       Countries like Japan have invested in human resources as they did not have any natural resources.

·       These countries have developed because they invested on people especially in the field of education and health.

·       They imported natural resources from other countries and made efficient use of land and capital.

·       Efficiency and technology evolved by people made these countries rich and developed.

12.         Describe the steps taken by the Govt, to promote education in India?

·       The primary school system has expanded to over 7.68 lakhs in 2004-05.

·       Sarva Siksha Abhiyan was launched to provide elementary education to all the children of age group 6-14 years.

·       Mid-day meal scheme has been implemented to encourage attendance and retention of children and to improve their nutritional status.

·       Back to school camps have been initiated to increase the enrollment in elementary education.

·       The tenth plan endavoured to increase in the enrollment in higher education of the 18-23 year age group.

·       The strategy focuses on increasing access, quality & adoption of specific curriculum modification

Politics 3rd Chapter

DEMOCRATIC POLITICS NOTES CHAPTER-3.

Q1. What was apartheid? How were the blacks of South Africa segregated under this system?

The official policy of racial separation and ill treatment of the blacks followed by the government of South Africa between 1948 and 1989 was called apartheid.

• They were forbidden from living in white areas.
• Trains, buses, taxis, hotels, hospitals, schools, colleges, libraries, cinema halls, theatres, beaches, swimming pools, public toilets were all separate for the whites and the blacks which was called segregation.
• They could not even visit the churches where the whites worshipped.  
• Blacks could not form associations or protest against this terrible treatment.

Q2. Mention any 5 steps taken since 1950 to fight against apartheid in South Africa?

• Since 1950, the blacks, colored and Indians fought against the apartheid system and launched protest marches and strikes.
• The African National Congress (ANC) was the organization that led the struggle against the policies of segregation.
• This included many workers’ unions and the communist party.
• Many sensitive whites also joined the ANC to play a leading role in this struggle.
• Several countries denounced apartheid as unjust and racist.

Q3. What were the basic rules that the South Africans decided to abide by?

• The rules laid down how are the rulers are to be chosen in the future.
• The rules also determine what the elected governments can do and what they can’t do.
• The rules also decide the rights of the citizens.
• They also agreed on some basic rules. They also agreed that these rules will be supreme, that no government will be able to ignore these
• This set of basic rules is called the constitution.

Q4. What is a constitution? Why do we need one? Describe its function.

Ans. The constitution of a country is a set of written rules that are accepted by all people living together in a country. It is the supreme law that determines the relationship among people living in a territory (called citizens) and also the relationship between the people and the government.

A constitution does many things-

• It generates a degree of trust and coordination that is necessary for different kind of people to live together;
• It specifies how the government will be constituted, who will have the power to take which decisions ;
• It lays down the limits on the powers of the government and tells us what the right of the citizens are; and
• It expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a good society.

Q5. “India’s constitution was drawn up under very difficult circumstances.” Elaborate.

• The making of the constitution for a huge and diverse country like India was not an easy affair.
• At that time the people of India were emerging from the status of subjects to that of citizens.
• The country was born through a partition based on religious differences which was a traumatic experience for the people of India and Pakistan.
• At least ten lakh people were killed on both sides of the border in partition related violence.
• The merger of these princely states was a difficult and uncertain task.
• The makers of the constitution had anxieties about the present and the future of the country.

Q6. “Our leaders gained confidence to learn from other countries, but on our own terms.” Explain.

• Many of our leaders were inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution.
• The practice of parliamentary democracy in Britain and the Bill Rights in the US also inspired them.
• The socialist revolution in Russia had inspired many Indians to think of shaping a system based on social and economic equality.
• They were not simply imitating what others had done. At each step they were questioning whether these things suited our country.

Q7. Explain the characteristics of the constituent assembly of India.

• The drafting of a document called the constitution was done by an assembly of elected representatives called the Constituent Assembly.
• Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July 1946. Its first meeting was held in December 1946. After the country was divided into India and Pakistan, the Constituent Assembly was also divided into that of India and that of Pakistan
• The Constituent assembly that wrote the Indian Constitution had 299 members.
• The assembly adopted the constitution on 26 November 1949 but came into effect on 26 January 1950.
• To mark this day we celebrate January 26 as republic day every year.

Q8.How has the Indian Constitution remained unchallenged even though it was framed 64 years ago?

• Over the last 64 years, no large social group or political party has ever questioned the legitimacy of the constitution which is an unusual achievement for any constitution.
• The second reason for this is that the Constituent Assembly represented the people of India. There was no universal adult franchise at that time. It was elected mainly by the members of the existing provincial legislatures which ensured a fair geographical share of members from all the regions of the country.
• Even though the assembly was dominated by the Indian National Congress, the congress itself included a variety of political groups and opinions.
• In social terms too, the assembly represented members from different language groups, castes, classes, religions, and occupations and even if the Constituent Assembly was elected by universal adult franchise, its composition would not have been very different.

Q9. What was Gandhiji’s vision explained in his magazine “Young India”?

Gandhiji’s vision for India was-

• “An India in which there shall be no  high class or low class of people;
• An India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony;
• There can be no room in such an India for the curse of Untouchability or the curse of intoxicating drinks and drugs
• Women will enjoy the same rights as men…”

Q10. State any five features in the preamble of the Indian Constitution.

The constitution begins with the short statement of its basic values which is called the preamble to the constitution

• REPUBLIC- the head of the state is an elected person and not a hereditary position.
• JUSTICE-citizens cannot be discriminated on the grounds of caste, religion and gender. Social inequalities have to be reduced. Government should work for the welfare of all, especially the disadvantaged groups.
• LIBERTY-there are no unreasonable restrictions on the citizens in what way they think, how they wish to express their thoughts and the way they wish to follow up their thoughts in action.
• EQUALITY- all are equal before the law the traditional social inequalities have to be ended. The government should ensure equal opportunity for all.
• FRATERNITY-all of us should behave as if we are members of the same family. No one should treat a fellow citizen as inferior.

Q11. Why did the constitution makers make provisions for amendments in the Indian Constitution? Give reasons.

The constitution makers kept scope for an amendment of a particular procedure in which the constitution can be changed as and when a need arises for the following reasons:  

• The constitution is a very long and detailed document. Therefore it needs to be amended regularly to keep it updated.
• Those who crafted the Indian Constitution felt that it has to be in accordance with the people’s aspirations and changes in society.
• They did not see it as a sacred, static and unalterable law.
• They made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time. These changes are called constitutional amendments.

Q12. State some procedures laid down in our Constitution?

• The Indian constitution lays down a procedure for chosing persons to govern the country.
• It defines who will have how much power to take which decisions.
• It puts limits to what the government can do by providing some rights to the citizens that cannot be violated.