Contrary to popular misconception, the SPGB did not "denounce the Russian revolution as state capitalist within hours of hearing of it". They initially praised the Bolsheviks for pulling Russia out of the Great War, but warned that given the development of political consciousness in the largely ill-educated peasant based society, it could not be a socialist revolution, saying that "the franchise presents to the workers the way to their emancipation. Until the workers learn to use this instrument properly, they are not fit or ready for socialism". Their first reference to state capitalism was in fact a quote from Vladimir Lenin describing the state of affairs in Russia. The theory developed over time, emphasising the continued existence of wages and money in the Soviet Union to indicate that capitalism had not been abolished.