LENINS ECONOMIC POLICIES
STATE CAPITALISM
halfway house between capitalism and communism
early land and workers decrees placed power in their hands, carefully wordered yo include responsability ultimately went to the state
set up the supreme council of the national economy (Vesenkha) to centrally control the economy
GOLERO (electrification of Russia) established in 1920 to organise the production and distribution of electricity throughout Russia
LENIN ‘communism equals soviet power plus electrification’
economic issues exemplified by WW1, civil war, disruptions to farming, issues with workers in charge, inflation (black market flourishes)
lots of civil war - notably in the Ukraine (breadbasket of Russia)
didn’t stabilise the russian economy
no other nations underwent communist revolutions
workers refused to allow old workers in charge, despite orders too
countryside peasants continue to seizeland
Brest-Litovsk cut Russia off from her vital grain supplies from the Ukraine
inflation became rampant
value of the rouble collapsed
WAR COMMUNISM
severe shortange of food, fuel and basic necessities
stripping their own houses of wood to keep warm in winter
early 1918 bread ration in petrograd was only 50g per person per day
sackmen and black markets established
60% of the Petrograd workforce left by April 1918
typhus epidemic swept through the cities and caused the death pf more than 3 million in 1920
two thirds of workers get their goods from the black market
peasant sackmen found their ways into towns to undercover trade
Cordon detachments of the army supposed to stop this in 1918 (didn’t)
rations were higher in cities
Jan 1917 - Jan 1919 Russias Urban proleteriat declined from 3.6million to 1.4 million
5 million dead during civil war, starvation, typhus, cholera and dysnetary
deaths in action is only 350k
scarcity of soaps and medicines are difficult to obtain
few doctors as most were pescipted and sent to the front lines
former nobility and bourgoisie suffered the most
no ration cardds for nobs, reduced to begigging or selling what few positions they had left and given manual tasks such as sweeping/street cleaning (snow or ice), help in labour battalions on the warfront, large houses and palaces divided up by bolshevik building
Jews suffered from white pogroms
villages subject to the atroctites carried out by competingarmies and marouding ill-disciplined groups of fighters
whole villages in the Ukraine were wiped out during the civil war, mostly in cossack attacks
rape and murder very common
Jews blamed for economic isssues and used as a scapegoat
May 1918 food supplies dictatorship policy that as much grain as needed could be should be removed from peasants
no private trade - state trade organisation was established, no buying or selling of goods gov in control of all
workforce discipline - rates abd irders punishment returned to the factories and workers rewarded for hard work
Nationalisation - all industry was bought under the control of the state via Vesenkha, often workers committees established after the revolutiona nd replaced old managers, now called ‘specialists’
Rationing - system was introduced which favoured certain categories of the population, particularly red army personnel, skilled workers in key industries and communist administrayors
rose to 200grams per day per person (bread)
million died of starvation by 1918
robb a zoo to find something to eat
cannabilism rampant
wages 2% of their 1913 levels
nationalise all businesses with over 10 people
spend ¾ of their income on food
peasants grai requistioned by Cheka
cheka murdered 12k peasants
bolsheviks dislike russian agrarian
some liked war communism (communism party members), nationalisation ensures central gov can flourish and ensure profits are creared and distributed evenly needed to establish a strong nation before we can relinquish control and gave their freedom back
middle class turn to prostiution
NEP
1921
rebellions starting to cause an issue capitalist ideas cause divisions in the party
‘the New Economic Policy is an unfortunate but necessary step’
bridled capitalism
temporary coexistence of capitalism and communism
gets rid of grain requistionig (introduced a 10% tax to the gov, any extra the peasants can sell for profit, land still public)
private enterprise in small industries, eg textiles, less monet to gov but allows growth and investment
State retained control of large industries, eg steel, mining, transport, banks and large industries earn more money and retain in gov
no ban on private trade
no rationing
cash wages introduced but causes some issues
goverment takes 50% of original grain, whatever excess you sell, the gov takes 10% tax on
part of the plan involved creating a network of electric power stations
amount of electricity produced went from 520kwh in 1921 to 2925 in 1925
grain harvest doubled under NEP
industry growth not as good as agriculture growth, the average monthly wage of urban workers more than doubled from 1921-5
removal of grain requistioning and the new tax etc provided peasants with greater initiative to produce more grain and there wa more grain overall (fewer food shortages)
Under the NEP, food became more widely available and things like cafes and restaurants reopened
Cheka renamed the GPU but increased in power
tolerance of other parties were even lower (1921 ban on faction)
introduction of the NEP alone involved a sharp increase in terror and oppression to suppress any opposition
some Bolsheviks believed it was a retreat of communist ideals
disparity in growth between the industrial and agricultural sectors created a ‘scissors crisis’ - agri finances feel as there was more availability bit industy prices soared as output was lower
In 1925, the soviet commissar for finance admitted the pay of people like miners, metal workers and engine drivers were still lower than they had been in 1914
gov set prices for agri goofs higher to remedy the crisis
scissors crisi in 1923