Capitalism, socialism and communism as ideas of the industrial age, and what happened where they were tried

Grade 10 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to E. Card A, a primary source: Marx and Engels, the Communist Manifesto, Moore's English translation of 1888, section IV: "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win." Engels's 1888 preface says the Manifesto was drawn up in German in January 1848 as the platform of the Communist League. Card B, a summary in our words: By 1940 about 97 percent of Soviet peasant households were collectivized and private property was almost gone. The state's name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes the Soviet system as concentrating political and economic power in an elite that controlled a single party and a non-democratic state. Card C, two invented readings, made up for this sheet and not from any historian. Reading X: "The Soviet record shows what the Manifesto's ideas lead to." Reading Y: "The Soviet record shows what one party's rule did with a name taken from socialist ideas." Card D, a summary in our words: About one million kulak households, some five million people, were deported. A Law Library of Congress report says about five million Ukrainians lost their lives in the famine of 1932 and 1933 and, with mass starvation in Kazakhstan and the northern Caucasus, about fourteen million victims by different accounts. A Library of Congress source puts the toll in Ukraine at six to seven million. Card E, a summary in our words: Manchester had more than 50 mills by 1802. Campaigners compared mill workers' treatment with slavery, and enslaved people in the southern United States grew the cotton its mills used. The Factory Act of 1833 banned factory work under nine and set a 48-hour week for ages 9 to 13; four inspectors were named for 4,000 mills, so the Act was widely evaded.

2. 1.

   Card A is a call to workers and card B reports the Soviet record. Ari asks how a historian should use both to judge the Manifesto's ideas.

   • Treat A as the idea and B as one attempt to apply it; a gap needs more evidence
   • A caused B directly, since the plan began 80 years after the Manifesto's call
   • Card A reports the Soviet record, since it speaks of workers and their chains
   • The record in B refutes A, since a call to workers should not end in a one-party state
3. 2.

   Card B says the state's name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, while card A's Manifesto speaks of Communists. Esme asks how to reconcile the labels.

   • The Manifesto called the Soviet state socialist, so the name came from Marx
   • Both labels mean the same, since socialism and communism are one idea
   • A name is a claim; judging the system needs evidence of ownership and decisions
   • The Soviet name shows socialism was achieved, since the state used the word
4. 3.

   Reading X says the Soviet record shows what the Manifesto's ideas lead to; reading Y says it shows what one party's rule did. Jun asks which fact on card B favors Y.

   • Power was held by an elite in one party and a non-democratic state, not by the workers card A calls on
   • That the state called itself socialist, since a name decides the system
   • That 97 percent of households were collectivized, since the Manifesto asks to abolish private property
   • That the plan began in 1928, since 1928 is long after 1848
5. 4.

   Kira asks which question would let a historian test reading X against reading Y.

   • What did the Manifesto say about who would hold power, and did practice match?
   • Which reading is older, since the older reading is closer to the events
   • Whether Marx saw the Soviet Union, since a living witness settles the matter
   • How many people lived in the Soviet Union, since a larger state is harder to govern
6. 5.

   Card E says Manchester's cotton was grown by enslaved people and its mills grew fast. Luz asks what that does to a reading that British capitalism simply grew fast.

   • It complicates it; the growth was real, but costs and unfree labor lay behind it
   • It confirms it; more than 50 mills by 1802 shows fast growth in the industry
   • It refutes it; growth that used enslaved labor was not real growth in the end
   • It is settled, since the 1833 Act ended the costs that the mills had created
7. 6.

   A student says: "The Manifesto shows communism was always meant to end in a single-party state." Using cards A and B, Milo asks how the claim fares.

   • It fails, since card B shows 97 percent collectivized by peasants' free choice
   • It goes beyond the cards: A is a call to workers, and B reports what came later
   • It holds, since card A calls on workers and card B shows a state ruling them
   • It holds, since the Soviet record 80 years later shows the outcome of the idea
8. 7.

   A student says: "The famine toll was exactly six million." Using card D, Noah asks how the claim fares.

   • It holds, since newer estimates fix the figure at the midpoint of the ranges
   • It fails; card D gives ranges from two sources, not one exact figure
   • It holds, since the Library of Congress source gives six to seven million
   • It holds, since six million lies inside both of the ranges that card D gives
9. 8.

   A student says: "The 1833 Act ended child labor in Manchester's mills." Using card E, Pia asks how the claim fares.

   • It goes beyond the card: the Act set limits that four inspectors could not enforce
   • It holds, since a law that bans work under nine ends child labor in the mills it covers
   • It fails, since Manchester's mills grew from one in 1782 to over 50 by 1802
   • It holds, since four inspectors named for the mills covered 1,000 mills each
10. 9.

    Card D says about one million kulak households, some five million people, were deported. Ren asks what the two numbers show.

    • They are consistent, since both figures are exact counts from the same record
    • Five million is a second wave of deportations after the million households
    • They fit: about five people per household, so one group is counted two ways
    • They conflict, since one million is far below five million, so one count is wrong
11. 10.

    Card E says Manchester had more than 50 mills in 1802 and four inspectors were named for 4,000 mills in 1833. Zee asks what the two counts show together.

    • That Manchester's mills were under 2 percent of the mills to be inspected
    • Little; one counts Manchester's mills and the other all mills the Act covered
    • That mill numbers grew eighty-fold between 1802 and 1833, from 50 to 4,000
    • That each inspector had about 12 Manchester mills to visit under the Act