The Bolshevik revolution progressed more slowly in the countryside than it did in the cities. With their livelihoods dependent on small plots, Russian farmers and villagers strongly resisted the collective ownership of their land. Once the new system was firmly established, the people who remained in the country suffered the most from the inefficiencies of the Communist system. Every day, millions of Russian villagers traveled by train and bus to large cities such as Moscow and Leningrad to shop for items that were unavailable in their home towns. Many people from the country even took up temporary residence in the cities, where they lived in train stations, parked cars, and back streets. They spent a few days shopping in the city, then left when their money ran out.

Russia's heart and soul still lay in the countryside, a place where the people...