ABSTRACT
Socialist ideas became known to Russian intellectuals in the 1850's. The problem was how to fit them to the social reality of Russia. In V. I. Lenin's view the party must be the 'vanguard of the proletariat'. It must lead the working class, as the working class must lead other classes into revolution. Lenin believed that the working class must make the peasantry its ally, and could only do this by giving it what it most desired, the land. Lenin's tactics with regard to the soviets must be considered not only on the level of revolutionary doctrine, as summarised, but also on the level of practical politics. The civil war falls into several phases, divided by the armistice in Western Europe. The Bolsheviks won the political struggle for power between March and November 1917 by their uninhibited demagogy and by their skilful use of the best channels through which to influence the workers and soldiers.
