THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AOS2 CREATING A NEW SOCIETY ‘Soviet Russia will come out of NEP Russia’ The New Economic Policy

Learning Intention: Explain the causes and characteristics of the New Economic Policy Recall when the New Economic Policy was introduced Explain the four central ‘planks’ of the NEP Outline why the Bolshevik’s implemented the NEP Explain how the NEP was different to the policies of War Communism Identify how the NEP contradicts Lenin’s former ideological position

1920: Bolshevik control over Civil War ECONOMIC CRISIS: War Communism SOCIAL CRISIS Kronstadt Uprising IDEOLOGICAL CRISIS: New Economic Policy (NEP) 1921: The Critical Year

The New Economic Policy (N.E.P): When. IDEOLOGICAL CRISIS The New Economic Policy (N.E.P): When. Lenin at the Tenth Party Congress, March 1921 8 - 16 March 1921: Lenin introduced NEP at the Tenth Party Congress Ironically it formulated and introduced some of the demands of the Kronstadt petition, at the very same time that the Kronstadt uprising was occurring in Petrograd

The New Economic Policy(N.E.P): What. IDEOLOGICAL CRISIS Essentially the NEP reversed the policies of War Communism, and was based on four central planks: 1. Militarised aspects of workplace conditions abandoned 2. Grain requisitioning abolished. Replaced by tax (i.e: a percentage of a famer’s harvest). Farmers could keep surplus and sell it if they wished. Worst effected famine areas exempt from tax 3. Cash wages reintroduced, meaning rationing and government distribution of food was abolished 4. Economic ties with foreign countries slowly opened up. Markets and private trading legalised

The New Economic Policy (N.E.P): Why? IDEOLOGICAL CRISIS The New Economic Policy (N.E.P): Why? According to Lenin, an unfortunate but necessary step (not unlike the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) According to Lenin, the NEP was ‘State Capitalism’ whereby there was coexistence of private property with communist property According to Lenin, the NEP was bridled capitalism – capitalism that was restrained, controlled and exploited Behind closed doors, Lenin admitted the NEP was a desperate response to the economic crisis in Russia, and that it was a strategic retreat

The New Economic Policy(N.E.P):How? WAR COMMUNISM (1918 – 1921) NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (1921 – 1928) Why introduced? Every aspect of economic and social life directed toward winning the Civil War To provide food for a starving population that in turn would regain public confidence in the Bolshevik government Key characteristics A planned and deliberate policy Discriminated against the peasants through heavy food requisitioning Peasants had no choice as surplus confiscated State control over the economy Industry and production limited Consistent with communist ideals Attempted socialism Unplanned and a reaction to economic crisis of 1920 – 21 Favoured peasants through less tax and greater rewards and incentives for producing a surplus Individual and private control over the economy Industry and production encouraged Departure from Communist ideals Allowing aspects of Communism Key quote ‘War Communism... Involved the drastic mobilization of the whole national economy to serve the needs of the war... It meant attacking the interests of the mass of the peasants and workers (Thomson) ‘The NEP was, in the space of a few months, already giving marvellous results. From one week to the next, the famine and the speculation were diminishing perceptibly... The public were beginning to recover its breath’ (Serge) Results Widespread famine Industrial and agricultural production fell alarmingly Widespread anti-Bolshevik uprisings Grain harvest doubled between 1921 and 1925 Railways transported twice as much and average monthly wage of factory worker increased 150% Greater support from peasants and workers yet confusion from party members and Civil War veterans Effect ECONOMIC FAILURE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

The New Economic Policy (N.E.P): Analysis IDEOLOGICAL CRISIS The New Economic Policy (N.E.P): Analysis No economic blueprint or master plan was implemented by the Bolsheviks: merely a response to a series of desperate situations Lenin asserted that ‘we must not be afraid of communists learning from bourgeoisie specialists’: Contradicting his earlier ideological assertions Despite the pragmatic necessity of a change from War Communism, for traditional communists it was nothing short of treason

Summary The NEP replaced the War Communism as the driving policy behind Bolshevik government in March 1921 A form of ‘bridled capitalism’, it compromised many of the ideals of Leninism and Marxism, and despite delivering much needed reforms, was not well accepted by many Bolsheviks