In this week of the course, you will be studying the Russian Revolution.  Much like the
French Revolution a century before, the Russian Revolution had a profound worldwide
impact.  It inspired people throughout the world to revolt in an attempt to overthrow their
governments and create new socialist regimes.

The Russian Revolution was actually a series of revolutions, and if you look closely at
the early history of the Soviet Union, you will see that the Russian Revolution closely
resembles the entire span of the French revolutionary era.  You might consider the
Russian revolutionary era to have been the time from 1917 until 1935.  The
chronological series of events might then include:  1) the February Revolution of 1917
which overthrew the tsarist regime; 2) the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 which
overthrew the provisional government and a relatively liberal regime; 3) a period of civil
war when the Bolsheviks attempted to instill a radical version, War Communism, of the
Bolshevik program; 4) the period of the New Economic Policy, a time when Bolshevik
leadership relented on its earlier vision and liberalized many of its policies; 5) 1928, the
consolidation of Stalin's dictatorship, the beginning of the five-year plans and the heavy
industrialization of Soviet Union and the collectivization of the peasants.  Thus, you do
not just have the revolutions of 1917 but you have a long revolutionary era of
fundamental political, social and economic changes that occurred in Russia.

The key leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was Lenin.  He had founded the
party in 1903 and spent long years in exile directing party activities before returning to
Russia in April 1917.  The Bolshevik success story was remarkable, because if you
look at the size of the party when the February Revolution broke out, estimated at
20,000, or when the October Revolution occurred, estimated at 200,000, you will see
how relatively insignificant the party was in the context of the size of the Russian
population (Let's say 125 million.).  But although a very small group did seize power in
October 1917, the party enjoyed considerable sympathy with the Russian population
because of the very simple straightforward party platform, consisting of:  land for the
peasants, peace for the soldiers, bread for everybody, workers' control of the factories
for the workers; and all power to the Soviets, which were the informal worker, peasant
and military representative councils that had come into existence.