That might say more about how populist movements tend to work than about the character of the docile masses, to use your phrase, when raised to power. It's rather uncommon for first-generation revolutionary leaders to come from the lower social classes: Stalin is an exception, but he's the only one I can think of among famous communists, and in any case he arguably belonged to the second generation of his revolution. Lenin, Trotsky, and Mao all emerged from upper middle-class backgrounds, roughly speaking, although their exact circumstances differed. Fidel Castro came from an upper-class family.