social factors

• Russia working class, upon whom Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and the SRs pinned their hopes, was numerically small (2% of the pop in 1890s)
• The obstacles in the way of organising the peasantry politically and welding into coherent political force were immense. Russia’s peasantry (80%) were spread thinly across ¾ of a million rural settlements. In addition the countries transport network was primitive and communication between settlements was poor.
• Levels of literacy of Russia were low. 21% of the population could read which meant that propaganda was of limited value.
• The leaders of the socialist were middle or upper class intellectuals. It was not easy for them to reach across the class divide and win the confidence of workers and peasants whose way of life was utterly different from their own.