in february 1917, tsar nicholas ii of the russian empire was overthrown because people were unhappy with their living conditions (like being a serf), especially during world war i. the new government in russia was a democratic socialist government. unfortunately, it was ineffective, and people were still unhappy. in november 1917, a communist group called the bolsheviks, led by vladimir lenin, overthrew the new government and were supported by groups of workers called soviets. the bolsheviks created a new communist government called the russian soviet federation socialist republic (also called simply soviet russia or the russian sfsr).