Contemporary Soviet Life

In October of 1917, the Bolshevik Party, under the leadership of V.I. Lenin, led a revolution and took over the Provisional Government. Unlike others, who had failed before them, the Bolsheviks were successful in that they involved the peasants in the revolutionary effort. Theirs was a revolution for the people, for the workers. It was not directed as had been the others, toward the upper and middle classes. To get the support which they so desperately needed from the peasants they promised nationalization of the land. No longer would the peasants be exploited by their landlords. They were promised the right to vote and form soviets and thus to have some say in how they were governed. The Socialist democracy which would be set up would embody not just the power of the people, but the power of the working people. This was very attractive to a peasant class who for centuries had been exploited by their landlords and the dictatorship form a rule