The modernisation of Russia was engineered by Peter’s and Catherine’s transformations, the nation’s first industrial revolution (1850-1890s), the establishment of the system of “organized/guided capitalism” in Germany, Japan and the United States, the October Revolution, World War II, and Soviet-American bipolarity. The rapid transition of Russia from a traditional to an industrial society was marked by reactionary movements (“counterreforms”), and ”genetic” impediments to the reception of representative institutions. External pressures strengthened the tendency for the state to dominate over society. The First World War brought to light the country’s peripheral position in the international system. The most radical way for Russia to return to world power status was proposed by the Bolshevik Party in October 1917. The communist model imposed a process of accelerated societal transformation. The exhaustion of the communist model gave rise to the search for a new paradigm of modernisation.