ABSTRACT
The Russian Revolution stands to the twentieth century in the same historical relation as the French Revolution stands to the nineteenth. Each had been prepared by long ideological analysis in which the supporters of those who held the reins of power were unable to answer the challenge of those who denied the validity of its operation. The experiment of the Russian Revolution has demonstrated certain things beyond any shadow of doubt. The Revolution not only revealed wide capacity for leadership among hitherto unknown men; that is a commonplace of revolutions. The chapter suggests that whatever may be the habits or the fate of individual Soviet leaders, the long end of the Revolution has crystallized into a permanent part of the established expectations of the masses; whoever may come to the leadership of the Soviet Union will have to take full account of those expectations.
