New economic policy

Reasons to cancel war communism

A large minority of party members believed the continuation of war communism could lead to the achievement of Communism completely years before Marx predicted. In reality, it was destroying the country, killing thousands in famine, and eroding the Bolshevik support.

Economic considerations

Growth of industry and agriculture had slowed to a stop and starvation and malnutrition was causing huge outbreaks of disease which killed 20 million in Russia.

Unpopularity of war communism

Rations were based on classification with soldiers and the workers receiving much more than anyone else. The strict controls of the people went against all Bolshevik promises and led to Anarchist uprisings in the harder to control areas.

The Tambov uprising

The Bolsheviks were requisitioning food and attempting to remove the mir (peasant village council) as it would be an obstacle to collectivization. Many uprisings appeared with Tambov being the biggest as peasants revolted and attacked requisitioning outposts on horseback. This required 50,000 red army troops to crush.

The Kronstadt mutiny

Led by Stepan Petrichenko the sailors that had been the revolutionary enforcers and central to the revolution now rebelled against the power of the party at the expense of the workers. They attempted to induce a people’s uprising, but the will was more in favour of survival than more fighting for the people. It was crushed after two attempts. To Lenin it ‘lit up reality like a flash of light’ and revealed he needed to move to a mixed economy.

Changes in agriculture for NEP

There would be an end to requisitioning replaced by a system of taxation, the peasants could then sell excess at market. The Bolsheviks also announced collectivisation would not be introduced and the mir councils would be left to govern peasant matters.

Changes in industry in NEP

Small business returned to private hands while banks, transport, and heavy industry remained in government hands. Currency for wages, bonuses allocated based on productivity, and private trading all returned. This led to NEP-men appearing as money could now be made on a wide scale.

Political impact of NEP

The party was not happy and it required a threat from Lenin to resign to force it through, but the party did have to accept that it was needed to avoid the countries collapse and arrests of Mensheviks and Bolshevik expulsions were used to ensure resistance was minimized.

Scissors crisis

Agricultural prices fell massively as the market was flooded with grain while industrial prices skyrocketed discouraging peasants from selling their surplus as there was nothing they could buy with the money. This required government intervention to regulate prices by November 1923.

Impact of NEP

Industrial progress grew massively as roads and factories were fixed after the civil war, the harvests of 1922-23 were much better and enterprising NEP-men introduced small business like restaurants that helped with economic growth. Also on the rise was corruption, prostitution and gangs of thieving youths in the cities. The scissors crisis was a big issue and led to shortages in the whole country.