Book excerpt: The Clever Teens' Guide to the Russian Revolution: The perfect guide for background reading or revision. The communist system unleashed by the Russian Revolution of 1917 was the greatest political experiment ever conducted. The revolution promised freedom from the shackles of imperialism, corruption and exploitation but until its collapse in 1991, the peoples of the vast Soviet empire endured 70 years of misguided socialism and totalitarianism. The Clever Teens’ Guide to the Russian Revolution covers all the major facts and events giving you a clear and straightforward overview: from the circumstances behind the rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, to the consequences of their struggle for a new socialist utopia.