Evolution and Revolution: Lessons of a Century-Long Experiment

The work studies economic aspects of Russian revolutions of 1917, the history and consequences of which (especially the second one, October Revolution) attract notable attention today not only in Russia, but in the whole world, considering their significance for the global history, the influence on the modification of contents of human civilization’s evolution. The study analyzes the effects of forms of revolutionary transformations on the institutional and economic trends and socio-economic results both factual and hypothetical. Taking into account economic premises and consequences, this study considers revolution a transfer of power (violent or not) to a new national elite or a part of pre-existing elite representing (directly or not) new forms of functioning of economy and property. As a rule, these new forms are so developed that the change of political ‘casing’, through giving a priority to their institutions, guarantees economic progress by prioritizing a new type of economy that has proven its efficiency during preceding economic evolution. The study states that in Russia’s case, the base of the revolution was not a real evolution that required a political push, but a based on an abstract theory or analogies belief, an idea of creating a ‘new society’, economy, and property that have no real analogues