Excellent article.

Lenin had described the Imperial Russian Empire as a " prison of nations" and it was this theme that allowed his Bolsheviks to defeat  " the Whites" who wished to keep the Russian Empire intact...many of the captive  nations fought for Lenin on the basis of his promise that they would be able to regain their freedoms.

They won, they returned to their national countries and declared their independence....as mentioned in the article Lenin reneged on his promises and invaded them to reconstitute the old Imparial Russian Empire.

The rest is history.