Russia on the Home Front- War Communism

Lenin was facing issues in Russia, consolidating the Bolshevik State.

Lenin needs to:

1. Keep workers manufacturing munitions

2. Feed the workers

3. while diverting as much as he can to the army

   Their previous decisions in the months after gaining power were coming back to bite them:

   • Bolsheviks had given workers and peasants control over their sectors.

     • Food Shortages

       • Peasants did not supply food to cities

         • no goods to trade

         • money is worthless

     • Economic decline

       • Economy was already collapsing

       • fell apart under worker’s committees

       • compounded by shortages due to war

       • industrial output shrank → inflation

     Together, this meant that workers began fleeing- which Lenin could not have as he needed munitions.

   • So, he introduced War Communism

   	Countryside	Cities
   Lenin’s needs	peasant soldier conscriptions a guaranteed food supply for cities and army increased Bolshevik control across Russia	control of armament industry still shortage of industrial goods that needed to be rectified impractical management due to Decree on Workers
   Grain Requisitioning Forcible requisitioning of grain as standard policy	peasants resisted bitterly this and poor weather contributed to Great Famine of 1921-22.
   Banning of private trade all private trade and manufacturing banned	Under Tsarism, kulaks were encouraged to trade. anti-Kulak sentiment was in society already anger amongst Kulaks	enormous black market developed
   Rationing class-based rationing system introduced: workers and soldiers given most, burzhui given least	Had very little food left. Contributed to the Great Famine.	workers received second largest ration
   Labour discipline fines, bonuses, workbooks introduced internal passports to stop fleeing		workers lost right to strike
   Nationalisation of Industry workers’ committees replaced by managers reporting to the state		many workers supported the nationalisation- they wanted to keep their jobs workers lost control over their factories workers had production target

Did War Communism work?

• Successes:

  • Red Army survival

    • requisitioning kept the fed

    • they were supplied with weapons + equipment

• Failures:

  • Economic decline

    • Inflation due to nationalisation + collapse of traditional market economy

  • Peasant revolt

    • response to requisitioning

  • Urban discontent

    • poor conditions

    • food shortages

So, short term success, long term failure.