2.4 - Did the NEP save the Bolshevik Regime from Collapsing?

What three major threats faced Lenin in 1920–21?

Tambov Revolt, Workers’ Opposition, and Kronstadt Uprising.

What was the Tambov Revolt?

A peasant uprising of around 70,000 peasants against grain requisitioning.

How was Tambov crushed?

With 100,000 Red Army troops, poison gas, and village destruction.

What was the Workers’ Opposition?

An internal Bolshevik faction criticising bureaucracy.

Who led it?

Kollontai, Shlyapnikov, and Medvedev.

What was the Kronstadt Uprising?

A revolt of 30,000 sailors demanding “Soviets without Bolsheviks.”

Why was Kronstadt so dangerous?

These sailors had been among Lenin’s most loyal supporters in 1917.

What did Lenin call Kronstadt?

“The flash that lit up reality.”

Why was the NEP introduced?

To prevent economic collapse and further rebellion.

How did NEP differ from War Communism?

Grain requisitioning was replaced by tax in kind, private trade returned, and small businesses reopened.

What happened to rationing?

It was abolished.

What were Nepmen?

Private traders who dominated retail trade.

How much trade did Nepmen control by 1923?

Around 75%.

What was the Scissors Crisis?

Industrial prices rose much faster than agricultural prices.

How did Lenin tighten control politically?

Ban on Factions (1921) and later the nomenklatura system.

Did the NEP save the regime?

Yes — it stabilised the economy and reduced revolt, though it increased political repression.