The Bolsheviks and the tragedy of the October RevolutionThe majority of the people are with us. The majority of workers and oppressed people around the world are with us. Our cause is justice. Our victory is assured. »1 “October was a classic coup d'état, the seizure of government power by a small minority, carried out without mass commitment. »2 The October Revolution was perhaps the most important event of the 20th century. led to the creation of the Soviet Union, the first openly communist nation in history, which would become a global superpower, a source of inspiration for many, an object of hatred for many others. The perhaps more important role of the memory of October. The revolution played a role in the mythology of the Soviet Union throughout its existence. Along with the doctrine of Marxism-Leninism and the edifice of the Communist Party, the legacy of October was one of the pillars on which the Soviet Union relied and justified its form and existence. “Whatever legitimacy the Soviet regime could claim, in its own eyes and in those of the outside world,” asserts Martin Malia, “depended on the socialist reality of October. » In the Soviet Union, the October Revolution was officially considered. as the ultimate endorsement of the Communist Party and Marxism-Leninism by the Russian people. The working masses, having achieved class consciousness in the turmoil of the revolutionary cauldron, placed their vanguard at their head and entrusted it with control of the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. They then defended it against attacks by counter-revolutionaries, and would continue to do so until the world socialist revolution, the establishment of world communism, and the...... middle of paper ..... .dy, 507.25. Sukhanov, Russian Revolution, 550.26. Daniels, Consciousness of the Revolution, 64.27. Ibid., 63.28. Robert Daniels, ed. A Documentary History of Communism (New York: Random House, 1984), I, 102.29. Lenin, quoted. in Daniels, Consciousness of the Revolution, 65.30. Ibid., 63.31. Figes, Popular tragedy, 506.32. Daniels, Consciousness of the Revolution, 147.33. Figes, Popular tragedy, 464.34. Richard Stites, Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 43.35. Sukhanov, Russian Revolution, 553 - 555.36. Figes, Popular tragedy, 519.37. Daniels, Consciousness of the Revolution, 110.38. Ibid., 113.39. See Figes, The Tragedy of the People, 590 - 594.40. Daniels, Consciousness of the Revolution, 119.41. Ibid., 121.42. Malia, Soviet tragedy, 103 - 104.