World History Module-IASbaba

Ideologies:
Socialism:
Socialism as a political thought was originated in Western European countries due
to Industrial Revolution and poor working conditions of Industrial workers.

The early socialists were idealists and viewed the future with idealism

 Propounded a theory of social system based on mutual cooperation

 Highlighted the shortcomings of capitalism based in ‘individualism’ and
‘profiteering’
 Criticized concentration of wealth in few hands, control of labour, wages,
and working hours

Some of the early socialists were Robert Owen, Saint Simon, Louis Blanc and
Charles Fourier. They gave several concepts like ‘Cooperative state’ run by
scientists and engineers (Simon), Cooperative societies (Charles Fourier), National
Workshop (Louis Blanc) etc.

The early socialists were themselves industrialists and started some welfare work
for the workers like increase in wages, built their houses, reduced working hours
and yet earn profits.

Most of them were not practical or could not give a lasting solution for the
problem of the workers which were worsening. However, they were conscious

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about the class divisions and realized that state has a responsibility of the welfare
of the society.

Note: They did not believe in any class struggle or a political revolution.

Scientific Socialism:

The term was used for the first time by Friedrich Engels to describe the socio-
political- economic theory pioneered by Karl Marx.

Together they published “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848 and demanded-

 Nationalisation of banks, rails, canals, mines and collective farming

 Workers of the world should join hands together

 Dictatorship of proletariat should be established

 End of state and formation of communist society

The Marxist believed that

 Historical changes are due to materialistic and economic change.

 The different social institutions are product of material change and changes

in pattern of production and distribution

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Divided history into four stages-

1. commune,

2. master and slave,

3. feudal lords and serfs

4. bourgeoisie and proletariat

‘Class Conflict’ is paramount to Marxist philosophy. Karl Marx advocated for

continuous struggle for workers. Religion, law, state and morality are the creation

of bourgeoisie to protect their private property.

Once the historical process is completed, that would be the end of history.

Communist society would be established and state would wither away.

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Imperialism/Colonialism
When a country attacks another country for financial and other benefits, it is
called imperialism and when the rule of one country is established over other,
than it is called colonialism.

Causes behind neo-imperialism in the 18th and 19th century

 Geographical discoveries- many new countries and continents were

discovered in 15th and 16th century

 Increase in population- due to improved health conditions, the population

of European countries started increasing and they started deporting them

to other places.

 Capitalism led to increase in trade and commerce- encouraged European

traders to invest in plantations like sugarcane, potato, rubber, tea etc.

 Industrial revolution further prompted European countries to explore new

world and colonize them. They needed raw material and market to sustain

industrial growth. Incidentally, the political condition of most of the Asian

and African countries was weak which helped the Europeans to establish

the colonies.

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 Improved transportation was another important reason, especially after

the invention of steam engine.

 Increased role of military brass in international political decision making

and diplomacy was another important factor for rise in imperialism. In most

of the European countries the army officers involved in decision making

bodies, pushed the government for more territories.

 Rise of nationalism- because of the increase of nationalist feelings, the

countries felt a sense of pride in expanding their territories.

Thus the politico-economic factors of 18th and 19th Century were driving force for

rise and growth of neo- imperialism in Asia and Africa.

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Consequences/Impact:
Economic:

 High rate of taxation in colonies led to abject poverty

 Drain of wealth from the colonies made them further poorer

 The destruction of local industries was another serious impact which

further led to unemployment and poverty (loss of self-reliance)

 Commercialization was encouraged in colonies which brought both positive

and negative impact. As the peasants were linked with international

market, they could earn more profit but were also exposed to inherent high

risks.

Political:
 Politically the colonies were slaves and the old regime was replaced by a

modern autocratic rule

 The colonial countries encouraged democracy in their country but

suppressed all democratic values in their colonies

 Fundamental human rights were denied to the native people and brutal

‘police raj’ was in force

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 Freedom of expression and thought was discouraged

However, British were relatively better than other European countries in this

regard.

Infrastructure:
 Europeans, to exploit resources in a better way, developed roads and
railways in their colonies. Once again, British did better than other
European countries.
 Improvement in communication through posts and telegraph- Even though
it was meant to suit the colonial interests, it benefitted the locals too.

Socio-Cultural:
 They confronted with the local customs, traditions and beliefs and brought
some social reforms
 The education institutions were modernized and syllabi were updated
 Women, in most of the colonies, were living in extreme poor conditions.
The presence and policies of Europeans started changing the mindset of
native males
 They also had an impact on the local languages and cultural traits, like food
habits, dressing, way of life and thought process

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Fascism:
Fascism has been derived from the word ‘Fascio’ which means a ‘bundle of wood’

A system of government marked by

 centralization of authority under a dictator,

 a capitalist economy subjected to stringent governmental controls,
 violent suppression of the opposition,
 a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism

In 1919, at Paris Peace Treaty, Italy felt cheated. As one historian wrote, “Italy
won the war but lost the piece”. This led to huge disenchantment among Italians
and people blamed the government for the poor show of Italy.

The economic condition of Italy after the war deteriorated—

 Industries got closed

 Widespread unemployment
 Inflation on a steep rise

The value of Lira sharply declined

The political system of Italy though democratic, was not effective. The leaders in

the chamber of deputies debated the topics which were not relevant to the

problem of people.

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Mussolini was a school teacher. He became editor of the newspaper ‘Avanti’ in

1912 and participated in WW-I as a soldier. He got injured and returned home in

1917.

In 1919, he invited the youths of Italy and formed a group called ‘Fascio’ and

demanded—

 Proportional representation

 Reduction in working hours in factories which should not be more than 8

hours

 Organization of economic councils

 State control over Church

 Nationalization of armories

The fascist opposed communists, therefore they also got help from the capitalists

and the landlords.

They formed an organization of youths who wore black shirts. They held greased

sticks.

Giolitti the Prime Minister used the fascist in crushing the communists. Fascists

got 35 seats in the Chamber of Deputy and started demonstrating their muscle

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power. They marched from Naples to Rome and forced the king to hand over

power to Mussolini on 30th Oct 1922.

Domestic Policy:
After assuming power, Mussolini ended the party system of Italy and established

one party rule. All the other leaders were arrested or eliminated and people had

to choose their leaders from a list provided by fascist.

Press and other human rights were not available as it was in other western liberal

democratic countries.

The biggest reform he brought was in the field of economy—

 Paid war loans,

 Checked the decline of Lira,

 Encouraged public works through state enterprises

 Reduced working hours

 Solved the unemployment issues (to great extent)

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Other steps taken—

 Ship building and heavy industries were given priority
 Rail and other means of transportation were improved
 Fiat Company got the right to manufacture cars
 Cooperative banks were set up
 Peasants were encouraged to grow cash crops

State and Church relationship had always been a sensitive issue in Italy. Mussolini
managed to strike a balanced deal with Roman Catholic Church which became

historic-

 Pope lost control of Rome

 Vatican City was given to Pope who was sovereign and could appoint and
receive ambassador and also could issue stamps and currencies
 Pope would get 40 crore lira per annum from state
 Catholic religion was declared the state’s religion
 Appointment of priests would be done by Pope
 Religious education was made compulsory in Italy

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