Basic Marxism

From Chernenko's book Soviet Democracy:

The socialist revolution in Russia, headed by the party of Lenin, was accomplished by the working people in their own interests. The landlords, factory owners, czarist officialdom, and all other oppressors were ousted and power was placed where it belonged--in the hands of the working people.

The working people became the common owners of the wealth of the country, including everything created by their labor. In other words, private ownership was replaced by public ownership. The new character of property presupposed a new character of its administration.

The previous revolutions, even historically important ones, had given little to the masses of working people without whose participation they could not have been carried out. At any rate, immediately upon its coming to power the new exploiting class had invariably seen to it that the working people would not be able to exert any appreciable influence on the political life of their country.

A socialist revolution involves vast numbers of people in the conscious making of history. Freeing them from oppression, it brings them into political life, getting them to participate i the discussion and solution of problems of statewide importance. Formerly downtrodden and deprived of all rights, the working person becomes an active participant in the revolutionary process, aware of their social importance.