As the result of the armed uprising in Petrograd, the Provisional Government was removed from power on October 25, 1917*. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies transferred power to the Bolshevik Council of People’s Commissars (SNK) headed by Vladimir Lenin. The Congress adopted the first decrees of the Soviet power — the Decree on Peace and the Decree on Land.

The Bolsheviks coming to power led to amendment in the political and socioeconomic structure of the country — course was taken to build the socialist society.

The establishment of the new power was supported by one part of the population and provoked protest by another. The civil confrontation turned into the armed phase — the Civil War (1917–1922). Tension in society was further intensified by events such as the crackdown of the Constituent Assembly on January 7, 1918, the conclusion of the Brest Peace on March 3, 1918 and the policy of War Communism. On July 18, 1918, the Royal family was shot. The fratricidal Civil War claimed millions of lives, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to emigrate.

The country’s economy was in the catastrophic state: the population decreased sharply, industrial production by 1920 was 4–20 % compared to the level of 1913, and agricultural production was almost halved.

The Russian Empire collapsed, and the Republic of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies became the largest of the new states on it’s territory. After the adoption of the first Soviet Constitution on July 10, 1918, it was renamed to the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR).

* All dates up to February 14, 1918 are given in the old style.