It promised the workers would rise, destroy capitalism, and create a socialist society under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

During 1917 to 1923, the Communist Bolsheviks under Lenin surrendered to Germany in 1918, then fought an intense Russian Civil War against multiple enemies especially the White Army.

The demoralized Imperial Russian Army suffered severe military setbacks, and many captured soldiers deserted the front lines.

Led first by Prince Georgy Lvov, then Alexander Kerensky the Provisional Government consisted mainly of the parliamentarians most recently elected to the State Duma of the Russian Empire, which had been overthrown alongside Tsar Nicholas II.

Lenin, and his Assistant Joseph Stalin embodying the Bolshevik ideology, viewed alliance with the countries of Western Europe and the United States as involuntary servitude of the proletariat, who was forced to fight the imperialists' war.

As seen by Lenin, Russia was reverting to the rule of the Tsar, and it was the job of Marxist revolutionaries, who truly represented socialism and the proletariat, to oppose such counter-socialistic ideas and support socialist revolutions in other countries.

The intelligentsia was dissatisfied over the slow pace of social reforms; poverty was worsening, income disparities and inequality were becoming out of control while the Provisional Government grew increasingly autocratic and inefficient.

The Soviet chose not to force further changes in government due to the belief that the February Revolution was Russia's "crowing" overthrow of the bourgeois.

Failed military offensives in summer 1917 and large scale protesting and riots in major Russian cities (as advocated by Lenin in his Theses, known as the July Days) led to the deployment of troops in late August to restore order.

[1] In the early days of the October Revolution, the Provisional Government moved against the Bolsheviks, arresting activists and destroying pro-Communist propaganda.

The Bolsheviks were able to portray this as an attack against the People's Soviet and garnered support for the Red Guard of Petrograd to take over the Provisional Government.

The generally accepted end of this transitional revolutionary period, which will lead to the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) lies with the assault and capture of the poorly defended Winter Palace (the traditional home and symbol of power of the Tsar) on the evening of 26 October 1917.

[5] Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who resigned its position in government after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, ultimately assassinated German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach oт 6 July 1918in an attempt to cause Russia to re-enter World War I and launched an ill-fated uprising against the Bolsheviks shortly after.

Leon Trotsky led the Red Army, despising "bourgeois democracy" and committed to the forced removal of the prosperous and political opponents, often through summary executions.

[13] At the same time, the White Terror, mostly uncontrolled and perpetrated by such warlords as the Cossack atamans Grigory Semenov or Boris Annenkov, targeted suspected Bolshevik sympathizers.

During the Russian civil war the Jewish communities of Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Belarus, suffered the worst pogroms ever to take place in these regions.

When Piłsudski carried out a military thrust into Ukraine in 1920, he was met by a Red Army offensive that drove into Polish territory almost to Warsaw.

Before it was suppressed by the government in 1914 it was a "singularly effective propaganda and educational instrument which enabled the Bolsheviks to gain control of the Petersburg labour movement and to build up a mass base for their organization.

[21] The leading newspapers developed a specialized rhetorical vocabulary designed to enhance the totalitarian structure of society, with total truth emanating from the top, and all sorts of mischievous errors stemming from clumsy bureaucrats at lower levels, or from devious traitors and spies working on behalf of capitalism.

Taking over a nation where 90% could not read, they made schools and literacy a high priority in order to optimize printed journalism and propaganda through newspapers and magazines, as well as posters that reached the illiterate older generations.

Instead radio programs were transmitted by copper wire, using a hub and spoke system, to loudspeakers in approved listening stations, such as the "Red" corner of a factory.

[34][35] At the Tenth Party Congress, it was decided to end War Communism and institute the New Economic Policy (NEP), in which the state allowed a limited market to exist.

In addition, the organization of enterprises into trusts or syndicates representing one particular sector of the economy would contribute to imbalances between supply and demand associated with monopolies.

Due to the lack of incentives brought by market competition, and with little or no state controls on their internal policies, trusts were likely to sell their products at higher prices.

The conflict erupted at the Fourteenth Party Congress held in December 1925 with Zinoviev and Kamenev now protesting against the dictatorial policies of Stalin and trying to revive the issue of Lenin's Testament which they had previously buried.

Stalin now used Trotsky's previous criticisms of Zinoviev and Kamenev to defeat and demote them and bring in allies like Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov and Mikhail Kalinin.

The Fourteenth Congress also saw the first developments of the Stalin's cult of personality with him being referred to as "leader" for the first time and becoming the subject of effusive praise from delegates.

At the Central Committee meeting held in July 1928, Bukharin and his supporters argued that Stalin's new policies would cause a breach with the peasantry.

[40] Left-wing Bolsheviks, most notably Georgy Pyatakov, derided nationalism as a false consciousness that was much less important than class conflict, and would disappear with the victory of socialism.

The "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia", issued 15 November 1917, left the new Soviet state with undefined boundaries, and invited of other nations to join in.