“Nowhere, how­ever, was the intel­lec­tual class any­where nearly large enough to take power on its own. It relied on the sup­port of other groups dis­sat­is­fied with the exist­ing regime. Thus the Russ­ian rev­o­lu­tion only suc­ceeded, after nearly a year of agi­ta­tion, when rail­way work­ers went on strike, par­a­lyz­ing the Tsar’s armies (already in dis­ar­ray after the dis­as­trous Russo-​​Japanese War). Yet once the intel­lec­tu­als took power—in most cases, only to a lim­ited extent—it became clear that their pro­grams were not very appeal­ing to their sup­port­ers. The rich dis­liked the intel­lec­tu­als’ plans for pop­u­lar edu­ca­tion, which meant rais­ing taxes, while the poor were dis­mayed to find their for­mer allies try­ing to break strikes and dis­arm rebel groups. …”