# History of communism in the Soviet Union

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The first significant attempt to implement communism on a large scale occurred in Russia following the February Revolution of 1917, which resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. The Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, capitalized on the discontent with the Provisional government and successfully seized power in the October Revolution of the same year. Lenin's government began to transform Russian society through policies such as land redistribution, nationalization of industry, and withdrawal from World War I. After Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin's rise to power brought about rapid industrialization, forced collectivization, and widespread political repression, which solidified the Soviet Union's status as a major world power.
Throughout the 20th century communism spread to various parts of the world, largely as a result of Soviet influence, often through revolutionary movements and post-World War II geopolitical shifts. The Cold War period saw a global ideological struggle between the communist bloc, led by the Soviet Union, and the capitalist West, led by the United States. The eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked a significant decline in the global influence of communism, though the ideology persists in some countries and continues to inspire political movements worldwide.
Efforts to build communism in Russia began after the success of the February Revolution in 1917, and ended with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The Provisional Government was established under the liberal and social-democratic government; however, the Bolsheviks refused to accept the government and revolted in October 1917, taking control of Russia. Vladimir Lenin, their leader, rose to power and governed between 1917 and 1924.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation remains the second-largest political party after United Russia.

## Russian Revolution
### February Revolution

The First World War placed an unbearable strain on Russia's weak government and economy, resulting in mass shortages and hunger. In the meantime, the mismanagement and failures of the war turned the people and importantly, the soldiers against the Tsar, whose decision to take personal command of the army seemed to make him personally responsible for the defeats. In February 1917, the Tsar first lost control of the streets, then of the soldiers, and finally of the Duma, resulting in his forced abdication on 2 March 1917.
On 26 February 1917 citywide strikes spread throughout Petrograd. Dozens of demonstrators were killed by troops. The crowds grew hostile, so the soldiers had to decide which side they were on. As the situation became critical, soldiers refused to work for the Tsar. On 26 February 1917 the Army abandoned the Tsar; the soldiers mutinied and refused to put down the riots. By 27 February 1917 the workers were in control of the entire city.

### October Revolution

On 24–25 October 1917 the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries organized a revolution, occupying government buildings, telegraph stations, and other strategic points. On 24 October 1917, the Red Guards took over bridges and telephone exchanges. On 25 and 26 October 1917 the Red Guards took over banks, government buildings, and railways stations. The cruiser Aurora fired blank shots at the Winter Palace signalling the start of the revolution. That night (9:40 pm), the Red Guards took over the Winter Palace and arrested the Provisional Government.
On 27 October 1917 Lenin proclaimed that all power now belonged to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies.

### The Civil War

After Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin took over the Soviet Union, many people still opposed the communist party. This led to the Civil War between the White Army and Red Army. The White Army included the opposition party, while the Red Army included the armed forces of the government and people that supported Vladimir Lenin. The Civil War resulted in the deaths of 10–30 million people.

## Soviet socialism

Lenin argued that in an underdeveloped country such as Russia the capitalist class would remain a threat even after a successful socialist revolution. As a result, he advocated the repression of those elements of the capitalist class that took up arms against the new soviet government, writing that as long as classes existed a state would need to exist to exercise the democratic rule of one class (in his view, the working class) over the other (the capitalist class). Lenin wrote that "[d]ictatorship does not necessarily mean the abolition of democracy for the class that exercises the dictatorship over other classes; but it does mean the abolition of democracy (or very material restriction, which is also a form of abolition) for the class over which, or against which, the dictatorship is exercised." After World War I, Karl Kautsky became a critic of the Bolshevik Revolution, and was famously denounced by Lenin as a "renegade".
The use of violence, terror and rule of a single communist party was criticised by other Marxists, including Karl Kautsky, and Rosa Luxemburg, as well as Anarcho-Communists like Peter Kropotkin. In the early 1930s, the socialist movements that did not support the Bolshevik party line were condemned by the Communist International and called social fascism.

## Collapse of the Soviet Union

Authors Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenney stipulate that the primary cause of the Soviet Union's collapse was a betrayal of established socialist principles, particularly during the Gorbachev era. Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost undermined the planned economy, weakening the Communist Party and allowing non-communist power to take hold. This is catalyzed in Gorbachev's removal of the Communist Party's constitutional role in 1990. A year later, the USSR was dissolved despite a majority of the Soviet citizens voting against dissolution. Boris Yeltsin then became the first president of Russia. Russian President Boris Yeltsin would ban the CPSU in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation(CPRF) would be founded at the Second Extraordinary Congress of Russian Communists on 14 February 1993 as the successor organization of the Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (CPRSFSR). The CPRF was the ruling party in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly from 1998 to 1999. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia.

## Cuba and the Cold War

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. It began shortly after World War II and lasted until the early 1990s; this era was marked by ideological, political, and military rivalry between the two superpowers and their respective allies. One of the most significant flashpoints of the Cold War was Cuba. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Cuba became a close ally of the Soviet Union, aligning itself with communist ideology. This alliance was pivotal during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuban soil brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The crisis was ultimately resolved through a tense negotiation, resulting in the removal of the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and the secret removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey.

## Modern Russia

Soviet nostalgia remains prevalent among the Russian populace. Per the Levada Center in 2018, 66 percent of Russians said they regretted the Soviet break-up highlighting the enduring impact of this historical period on the collective memory of the nation.

## Organizations

* All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (1995)
* All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1991)
* All-Union Young Guard Bolsheviks
* Alliance of the Revolutionary Socialists
* Communist Party of the Russian Federation
* Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
* Communist Party of the Soviet Union
* Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1992)
* Communist Party of the Soviet Union (2001)
* Communist Party of Social Justice
* Communists of Russia
* Essence of Time
* Labour Russia
* League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class
* Left Front
* Leninist Komsomol of the Russian Federation
* Party of Narodnik Communists
* Party of Revolutionary Communism
* Party of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
* Revolutionary Workers' Party
* Russian Communist Workers Party
* Russian Communist Workers' Party of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
* Russian Maoist Party
* Russian Socialist Movement
* Russian United Labour Front
* Socialist Alternative
* Socialist League Vpered
* Stalin Bloc – For the USSR
* Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union
* United Communist Party
* Vanguard of Red Youth