Marx, Engels, and undeveloped Russia

[Incendiarism]

So I was looking through the notes from my copy of the communist manifesto, and it pointed out that Marx actually believed that Russia in its backwards condition could actually transition into socialism. He reasoned that the social consciousness of the peasants was sufficient to provide a basis for socialism to develop, whereas Engels argued the opposite.

We do know that Lenin argued that capitalism must succeed feudalism and it was indeed necessary, and I believe Plekhanov claimed the same thing...

Anyways, is there any truth to this? I don't want to trust a second-hand source since I've read conflicting things about Marx and find don't have the opportunity to check the cited sources. Also, do you think Marx's opinion was relevant in 1917

[Led Zeppelin]

This is the letter the notes were referring to: Link (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1881/03/zasulich1.htm)

Marx makes good points in it, but it must be kept in mind that he was only speaking of a possibility.

[Yehuda Stern]

First, from a first read of the document, it seems to me that Marx argued that socialism could develop in Russia not only because of the peasants' socialist consciousness but because of the cooperative nature of their commune. This collectivism, if I follow the reasoning of the letter correctly, triggers a socialist consciousness in a similar way to what happens to the working class.

Lenin, by the way, only argued that capitalism was a necessary stage up to april 1917. Then he published his April Theses, rejected all support to the provisional government, and raised the slogan "All Power to the Soviets," realizing - like Trotsky many years before - that the development of world capitalism has made it possible for the working class to take state power without an intervening capitalist stage.