This article is a historical essay in which the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia is viewed through the prism of the concept of A. Toffler about changing "waves" in the development of human civilization. The author believes that in the mid-nineteenth century, the Russian Empire faced the need to replace the agrarian in its basis technological structure of the "first wave" by the technological structure of the "second wave". However, the last emperors of the Romanov dynasty emperors failed to solve this problem, despite the fact that the need for major reforms was well understood in the Russian political Olympus. This is evidenced by the excerpts from the reports and memorandums quoted by the author, which were laid on the table to the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. The author puts forward the thesis according to which this historical transformation problem was eventually decided by a small Bolshevik party, which, unlike its predecessors, was not afraid to take responsibility for the steep and decisive changes, that were accompanied by considerable sacrifices.