ABSTRACT
The roots of Soviet communism lie both in Russia itself and abroad, in particularthe development of the Marxist brand of revolutionary socialism. The last decades of the nineteenth century were marked by accumulating pressure for change countered by ever-increasing resistance to reform by the tsarist authorities. The legacy of serfdom and the unresolved problem of redemption payments, the growing social contradictions as an immiserated working class came into existence, and the blockage on reforms from above, all conspired to undermine chances for an evolutionary outcome to Russia’s social and political crisis. The critical figure in the synthesis of Western revolutionary theory with the realities of Russia was Vladimir ll’ich Ul’yanov (Lenin). His views on the role of the party and other issues were challenged at every step, yet they ultimately triumphed not so much because they were ‘right’ in any absolute sense, but because of his leadership skiljs, the failure of the alternatives to win adequate support and the depth of Russia’s crisis exacerbated by war.
