The fall of the Provisional Government in October 1917 brought to power a small group dedicated to the transformation of Russia into a socialist form. There was common agreement within the party about the desirability of this goal and a generally shared vague conception about the forms the socialist society should take. There was, however, little agreement about the practical political forms that should characterise a society between the socialist revolution and the achievement of socialism, The State and Revolution notwithstanding. Indeed, the position suggested by Lenin's theoretical writings prior to October and encapsulated in the general ideological perspective of most Bolsheviks implied that socialist revolution in Russia would soon be subsumed within the global socialist revolution and that national institutional forms would thus be rendered obsolete. The Bolsheviks' ideological outlook thereby discouraged all thought of constitution-building prior to the achievement of power. However, the realities of power in the days after October added to the slowly dawning recognition that international revolution may be further off than they had hoped and forced the Bolsheviks to come to grips with the problem of constructing a new set of political institutions in Russia. Not just issues of government and administration but the very survival of the revolution forced the Bolsheviks to become institution-builders, since the generation of powerful institutions was perceived to be essential to the survival of the whole enterprise.

The Bolsheviks were forced to construct a new political system out of the wreckage of the old. Their efforts in this regard were ad hoc, seeking to overcome problems and plug gaps through institutional innovation and tinkering rather than through the application of a well-thought-out, coherent governmental or administrative plan.