The1917 October Revolutionin Russia set the conditions for the rise to state power ofVladimir Lenin'sBolsheviks, which was the first time any avowedly communist party reached that position. The revolution transferred power to theAll-Russian Congress of Soviets, in which the Bolsheviks had a majority.[18][19][20]The event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted thatsocialismand communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development. However,Russiawas one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule.[21]
The moderateMensheviks(minority) opposed Lenin's Bolshevik (majority) plan forsocialist revolutionbefore capitalism was more fully developed. The Bolsheviks' successful rise to power was based upon the slogans such as "Peace, bread and land" which tapped into the massive public desire for an end to Russian involvement in theFirst World War, the peasants' demand forland reform, and popular support for thesoviets.[22]TheSoviet Unionwas established in 1922.