Discuss the causes of Russian Revolution. What Impact did it had on India’s Freedom Struggle?
- Russian revolution happened post World War I in 1917, it was culmination of new ideologies and economic ideas emerging at a time like Marxism, socialism and communism. What initially seemed to be a spark of protest soon enlarged it in the form of Revolution due to the following causes –
Social Causes
- Land holdings were terribly small, land hunger among peasants was major social force behind revolution.
- Utterly Exploited and horrible conditions of workers in Industries – low wages and hazards of Industrialisation.
- Suppression of Russian Identity in Europe and Asia.
Political
- Autocratic rule of Czar Nicholas II, who believed in Divine rights.
Economic
- Hardships in WW1 and afterwards due to loss of economy and lives.
- Huge Inequalities persistent between have and have-nots.
Russian revolution coincided with time period of high activity peak in Indian national movement and thus the idea of Russian Revolution travelled across boundaries and influenced Indian National Struggle in ways such as
- Spread of Idea of Socialism – Major Indian leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, S.C Bose etc. were impacted by success of Russian Revolution.
- Revolution Remodelling – HSRA and Specially Bhagat Singh derived their ideology from socialism and thus the trend of believing in a Revolution lead by people came into trend.
- Economic Planning – This was introduced by Setting National Planning Committee under J.L Nehru.
- Economic and Social Justice idea came into prevalence which was highlighted by Karachi Session of Congress and Nehru Report.
Thus, Russian revolution had long-lasting impact on world by hastening the end of imperialism and creation of social justice for citizens.
