90 years on, Russians still positive on Revolution

MOSCOW, Nov 7 (Reuters) Many Russians still hold a positive view of the 1917 Revolution which led to 74 years of communism, according to an opinion poll published.

The largest group of those questioned, 26 per cent, said the October Revolution in which the Bolsheviks seized power ''gave impetus to social and economic development'', the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) said yesterday.

Another 22 per cent agreed that the revolution ''opened a new era in the history of the Russian people''. Only 11 per cent described the uprising as a ''catastrophe'' while 17 per cent said the revolution had put a brake on economic development.

Bolshevik troops led by Lenin stormed the Winter Palace in St Petersburg as part of a takeover of government buildings on October 25, under the old Julian calendar used at the time. The date corresponds to November 7 in today's calendar.

The pollster said the numbers of respondents viewing the revolution positively had fallen since it did a similar poll in 2005. The number of ''don't knows'' had increased correspondingly.

VTsIOM asked a sample of 1,600 people across Russia between October 27-28. The poll had a margin of error of 3.4 per cent.

REUTERS MP AS0725