p The character of a social revolution is determined by the concrete tasks it is called upon to resolve, and by the results achieved. If the revolution is supposed to replace feudal with capitalist production relations and ensure the sway of the bourgeoisie, it is a bourgeois revolution. If the main goal of the revolution is to abolish capitalist private property and transform the means of production into public socialist property, and if it is aimed at establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat and effecting a transition to socialism, then such a revolution is a socialist one.

p The classes which carry out a social revolution are its driving forces. For example, in the 416 revolutions directed against the feudal social system, the bourgeoisie, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie (artisans, small traders) and even the proletariat took part. All these classes, depending on the circumstances, may be the driving forces of a bourgeois revolution.

The active participation of the working classes in a bourgeois revolution, accompanied by the advancement of specific demands, leaves an imprint on the entire course of the revolution and turns these revolutions into popular or bourgeoisdemocratic ones, which are marked by a more determinate revolutionary action and greater consistency in implementing revolutionary transformations.