why did the bolhevisks believe that russia needed a war?

Lenin had a theory called "Revolutionary Defeatism". It meant that a defeat of the Imperial Russian regime in foreign imperialist wars would weaken the imperial state apparatus enough for the people to seize power - which by the way is what happened.
 
They wanted to establish a communist utopia. The only way to accomplish this was to remove their royal family. The strict rule of the Czar stood in their way.
 
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