There is not doubt that failure to reform was a factor in both the downfall of Russia's Provisional Government (PG) in 1917 and China's Guomindang (GMD) in 1949; but was it critical? One of the reasons for the abdication of both the last Tsar of Russia and the last Emperor of China was a failure to reform their countries and modernize with the changing times. Both the Provisional Government and the Guomindang came to power in very traditional countries whose people were desperate for reform; this was reform which these governments were either unwilling or unable to implement due to a number of more pressing issues that they faced. This lack of reform was one of the reasons for the emergence of revolutionary groups such as the Bolsheviks and the Chinese Communist Party, which slowly began to gain support among the people of their respected countries due to their readiness...