Bihar Board Class 10 · Social Science · Matric exam 2027
Chapter 2: Socialism and Communism — notes
The chapter’s 8 parts in the book’s order — the first idea of each and the points Medha Ma’am writes on the board — and the summary at the end. The full lesson and a check question for each part are in the app.
1. What is Socialism and how it began
Okay, so let's begin with socialism.
- • Socialism: equal distribution of wealth, collective ownership
- • Aim: exploitation-free, classless society
- • Caused by: Industrial Revolution (18th century)
- • Two classes formed: Capitalist class, Labourer class
2. Utopian Socialists
Okay, so before Marx, there were some thinkers we call Utopian Socialists.
- • Utopian socialists: idealistic, not practical
- • Saint Simon: 'to everybody, according to capacity and work'
- • Charles Fourier: phalanxes for farmers (failed)
- • Luis Blan: political reform needed
- • Robert Owen: New Lanark factory, satisfied worker = true worker
3. Karl Marx and his doctrines
Okay, so let's talk about Karl Marx.
- • Karl Marx: born 5 May 1818, Trier, Germany
- • Met Engels in Paris, 1844
- • Communist Manifesto - 1848 (mother of socialism)
- • Das Capital - 1867 (Bible of socialists)
- • Six stages of history: Primitive Communism, Slave, Feudal, Capitalist, Socialist, Communist
4. The First and Second Internationals
Okay, so Marx didn't stop with his ideas, he also worked to unite workers across the world.
- • First International - 1864, by Marx
- • Slogan: 'No work without right and no right without work'
- • Second International - 14 July 1889, Paris, 400 reps, 20 countries
- • Decided: 1st May = unity day; demand 8-hour working day
- • 1 May 1890: strikes in Europe & America -> International Labourers' Day
5. Causes of the Bolshevik Revolution
Okay, so let's see why the Bolshevik Revolution happened in 1917.
- • Causes: Tsar's autocracy, peasant misery, worker misery
- • Foreign capital dependence, Russianisation policy
- • Crimean War, Russo-Japan War (1904-05) -> 1905 revolution
- • Bloody Sunday: 9 Jan 1905 (old calendar)
- • Immediate cause: defeat in World War I
- • Tsar left throne: 12 March 1917
6. The March and Bolshevik Revolutions
Okay, so let's talk about what happened in March 1917.
- • March 1917: 'Give bread' protests, Tsar leaves throne (12 March)
- • Kerensky's government formed, rejected by Bolsheviks
- • Lenin returns 1917, gives April Thesis
- • Slogans: Land, peace and bread
- • Bolsheviks capture Petrograd; Lenin = President, Trotsky = Foreign Minister
7. Lenin's Government, War Communism and NEP
Okay, so after taking power, Lenin signed a treaty to get Russia out of the First World War.
- • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: lost 1/4 land, exit WWI
- • Red Army (Trotsky) vs civil war invaders
- • Czeka: spy police against rebels
- • USSR formed, constitution 1918; hammer-sickle flag
- • War communism -> grain crisis, famine 1920-21
- • NEP (1921): fixed tax, small industries private, foreign capital invited
8. Stalin and the Impact of the Russian Revolution
Okay, so — Lenin died in 1924.
- • Lenin dies 1924; Stalin rules till 1953 as dictator
- • Stalin: industrial growth, three-year planning
- • Gorbachev 1985: perestroika, glasnost; USSR dissolved Dec 1991
- • World split: Communist vs Capitalist; Europe: East vs West
- • Cold War: America (capitalist) vs Soviet Russia (communist)
- • Revolution inspired freedom movements in Asia and Africa
Summary
Okay, so let's quickly go back over everything this chapter covered. We started with socialism, born out of the sufferings of labourers during the industrial revolution. Its aim was simple — an exploitation-free, classless society, with wealth shared equally. You learned about the early Utopian socialists, Saint Simon, Charles Fourier, Luis Blan and Robert Owen. They believed different classes could work together peacefully. Then came Karl Marx, who gave socialism a scientific base, through the Communist Manifesto and Das Capital. He organised workers through the First and Second Internationals. After that, we saw how years of autocracy, the suffering of peasants and workers, and the First World War, together caused the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia. Lenin led it, with his slogan — Land, peace and bread. Lenin built the USSR, fought a civil war with the Red Army, tried strict communism first, and then softened it into the New Economic Policy to save production. Finally, Stalin's rule made Russia a world power. And this revolution split the world into two blocs — capitalist and communist — leading to the Cold War, and inspiring freedom movements across Asia and Africa. Now, tell me — out of everything we covered, which part did you find most surprising?
AskMedha · Medha Ma’am — Bihar Board Class 10 Social Science, Chapter 2. Written from the textbook, checked twice.
Questions parents and students ask
- How do I get the "Socialism and Communism" notes as a PDF?
- Press "Save as PDF" — the phone’s print sheet opens; choose "Save as PDF" there. The PDF holds the notes only.
- Where are these notes written from?
- From the chapter’s own textbook text, part by part, in the book’s own terms; a second, independent model then checked every part against the book. The full lesson, a check question for each part and the practice are in the AskMedha app.
The same preparation, with Medha Ma’am — on your phone
Every question of every chapter with its model answer, practice questions in the board’s own shapes, 60 minutes of class a day, written answers marked, a test every Sunday and a WhatsApp report to parents.
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