Question

Why did the Tsarist autocracy collapse in

1917 ?

Accepted Answer

The Tsarist autocracy collapsed in $1917$ due to the following reasons:

(a) Miserable Condition of the Specialists

(i) The industrial workers in Russia got exceptionally low wages. They had exceptionally long working hours, sometimes up to $15$ hours

(ii) An expansive number of workers were unemployed. The workers demanded higher compensation and a decrease in working hours, but their demands were not met, and they became dissatisfied

(b) Miserable Condition of Peasants

(i) Most of the peasants were landless and very poor

(ii) They moreover had to do free labour for the landlords. The small farmers who possessed land had to pay high land revenue, leaving exceptionally less for them to survive on

(iii) The landless farmers demanded that the land of the nobles should be given to them. They wanted a reduction of land income. However, their requests were not satisfied, and they too became dissatisfied

(c) Russia's Defeat in the First World War

(i) Initially, the people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II; however Russian armies suffered defeats and a huge number of soldiers were killed in the war

(ii) The Russian population wanted to withdraw from the war, but the Tsar was not willing to do so. This turned the Russian people against him and encouraged them to revolt

(d) Role of Philosophers like Karl Marx put forward the thought that the capitalists were responsible for the misery of the workers and that the condition of workers could only improve if the land and the industries were controlled by the society. He inspired the workers to oppose the landlords and the capitalists

(e) Rasputin's Role: People were also against the policies of the monk named Rasputin.

NCERT Solutions for Chapter: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution, Exercise 8: Questions

NCERT Social Science Solutions for Exercise - NCERT Solutions for Chapter: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution, Exercise 8: Questions

Questions from NCERT Solutions for Chapter: Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution, Exercise 8: Questions with Hints & Solutions

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