Literacy in Russia was low during the Russian Revolution. The Russian Empire was one of the last to abolish serfdom in Europe, and the parts where serfdom was a

Literacy in Russia was low during the Russian Revolution. The Russian Empire was one of the last to abolish serfdom in Europe, and the parts where serfdom was abolished earliest, industrialization the greatest, and literacy the highest (e.g. Poland) were parts that had separated by the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Also, the monarchy was toppled by an ideologically diverse group. The Bolsheviks would have to fight a civil war before they could institute the Soviet Union. It's really not plausible that any significant number of Russians were spurred into action by reading the Communist Manifesto. Now, undoubtedly some elite group of radicals did just that, but that doesn't require widespread literacy, let alone widespread consumption of sophisticated literature.