David M. answered • 05/10/19
History Buff
This is a fascinating question! One way of answering it begins with a knowledge of Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism. Marx was the founder of modern, scientific communism, and an important influence for Russian revolutionaries like Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.
Marx's theory of historical materialism argues that history is driven forward by conflicts between economic systems and the social classes they produce. So, in broad terms, it sees the French Revolution of 1789 as a capitalist revolution led by the French bourgeoisie, or middle classes, to overthrow the feudalistic economic system that had prevailed up to that point (along with the monarchy and aristocracy that benefited from it).
According to Marx, the next major step in historical development would be the overthrow of capitalism (along with the bourgeoisie that benefited from it) by a proletariat, or working class, whose labor was being cruelly exploited. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was seen by people like Lenin and Trotsky as the beginning of this process, by which capitalism and the bourgeoisie would be replaced by communism and a classless society led, initially at least, by the workers.
Since those who subscribed to historical materialism saw the Russian Revolution as the logical consequence and outgrowth of the French Revolution, they often looked to the French example as a model of what to do, or not to do, in order for the their own revolution to succeed. Parallels were commonly drawn between the French Jacobins and the Russian Bolsheviks, and Napoleon Bonaparte and Joseph Stalin, to cite just a couple cases.
A very interesting, if difficult, primary source that illustrates how Russian revolutionaries thought of their actions in terms of what the French did in 1789 is Leon Trotsky's The Revolution Betrayed (1937).
