I don't understand why you say "it's unlikely the Menshevik republicans would have pulled that off". It's what "Menshevik republicans" i.e. social democrats wer

I don't understand why you say "it's unlikely the Menshevik republicans would have pulled that off". It's what "Menshevik republicans" i.e. social democrats were doing in much of Western Europe (together with other democratic parties), and look at the results and compare them to what USSR ended up by 1991. Of course, starting from 1917, it was not that hard to achieve progress, because the starting point was so low. NEP (the New Economic Policy of 1920's) was very efficient - but it was unorthodox in Stalin's theories, so a lot of people ended up dead or in the camps. It puzzles me why socialists all over the world last year celebrated the October revolution (start of a new tyranny) but not the February revolution (end of old tyranny). I suppose it is because of romantic sentiments, and not knowing what actually happened.