Russia was extremely poor beneath the rule of the current tsar, as he neglected the people. The Bolsheviks (the Communists), told the people they wanted to overthrow the cruel Tsar Nicholas and, these people, who were cold and starving, agreed and helped. They were told of a luxurious world where the poor and the rich were one in the same, which is the #1 reason why underdeveloped or struggling countries fell to Communism during the Cold War.