15.1 The economy under Lenin

Question 1

What ideas were there to create a ‘socialist economy’ in the early months of Bolshevik rule?

Answer 1

• Lenin thought that modernisation was needed

- Many differing opinions

Question 2

When was the decree on the land, and what did it do?

Answer 2

• October 1917

- Legitimised peasant seizure of land and declared that land belonged to the people

Question 3

What did the November decree do?

Answer 3

Let workers control factories - ‘supervise management’ through the establishment of factory committee’s

Question 4

When was the Veshenka established?

Answer 4

December 1917

Question 5

What did the Veshenka do?

Answer 5

Established to supervise and control economic development

Question 6

What did Lenin think about worker productivity and how was he proven correct?

Answer 6

Lenin was apprehensive about how cooperative/efficient workers would be

• Failed to organise factories so output decreased
• High unsustainable pay rises
• Helped themselves to stock and equipment

Question 7

What caused significant food shortages?

Answer 7

Inflation > Hoarding > Food shortages

Question 8

How much bread was the ration of food for the citizens of Petrograd in 1918?

Answer 8

• February 1918 - 50g bread/day

- This led to riots

Question 9

When was the grain crisis and what was Lenin’s reaction?

Answer 9

• Spring 1918

- Lenin introduced grain requisitioning and encouraging co-operative farming

Question 10

What was the Food Supply Policy? + when

Answer 10

+ May 1918

• To ensure that all had access to food
• Grain was taken brutally from Farmers leaving them with very little

Question 11

Who were the ‘grasping fists’ and ‘enemies of the people’ +why?

++ what happened as a result?

+++ How did they respond?

Answer 11

• The Kulaks

+ They had made their own wealth

++ Their personal stocks were seized

+++ The Kulaks hid their crops and even murdered members of the requisition squads

Question 12

When were key industries nationalised?

Answer 12

May 1918 - Sugar

June 1918 - Oil

November 1920 - nearly all inc Putilov Iron works, railways, banks

Question 13

What happened to former managers?

Answer 13

Former managers were rehired by the state to increase output and to reinstate discipline

Question 14

Did Lenin want a rapid transition?

Answer 14

NO!

Question 15

Who had initially opposed war communism?

Answer 15

Trotsky - he had come up with a more moderate proposal but this had been rejected

Question 16

What were some problems caused by War communism? (5)

Answer 16

• Fighting had disrupted transport, factories struggled to be efficient
• 1921 output had declined by 20% and rations had to be cut
• Disease like Cholera and Typhus were rife causing 3 million deaths in 1920
• Many ignored policies and tried to flee; 1920 population of Petrograd was 57.5% lower than it had been in 1917
• 1921 harvest produced 48% from pre-war

Question 17

What happened in the Tambov revolt?

Answer 17

Requisitioning squads arrived in August 1920 but they had few reserves.

70,000 peasant army was formed under Alexander Antonov in protest

100,000 Red Army were deployed

Question 18

When was Martial law to be used from + what was the response?

Answer 18

January 1921

+ Even protested by general soldiers so Cheka were used

Question 19

What happened at Kronstadt?

Answer 19

30,000 soldiers who had been supporters of the October revolution set a manifesto in March 1920 demanding Lenin to end the 1-party rule.

Red army and Cheka were used taking 15,000 rebels and leaders were shot; ‘white traitors’

Question 20

What are examples of revolts due to the food shortages?

Answer 20

• Tambov

- Kronstadt

Question 21

What did Lenin say about the Kronstadt revolution?

Answer 21

‘The flash which lit up reality better than anything else’

Question 22

What was the Gosplan? + how was it formed

++Who supported the Gosplan?

Answer 22

The State General Planning Committee

+ Formed under the Sovnarkom decree Feb 1921 and announced at the 10th Party congress Aug 1921

++Supported by most like Bukharin but others saw it as an ideological betrayal

Question 23

What did the NEP entail?

Answer 23

• State control of transport, banking and heavy industry remained
• Private ownership of smaller firms allowed
• Rationing ended
• Businesses had to pay workers ensuring resources were being used efficiently
• Requisitioning of grain ended but there was a quota to be given to the state (tax)
• Suplus could be sold

Question 24

What was the ‘scissor crisis’? (Trotsky)

Answer 24

Industrial levels were 290% of their 1913 levels vs 89% agriculture

Industry was slower to recover from the civil war than peasant farms which lead to hoarding

Question 25

When was monetary taxation introduced?

Answer 25

1923

Question 26

Who were Nepmen?

Answer 26

Speculated on the price of grain buying from villages and selling them in towns and industrial items in towns selling in villages for a profit

Question 27

What happened as a result of the NEP?

Answer 27

Crisis was short-lived. By 1926 they had returned to pre-war levels of production raising living standards and revolts ceased.

Question 28

Generally, what was the state of the economy under Lenin?

Answer 28

• War communism, disliked and caused more problems than it had solved like famine and revolts like Tambov
• NEP was less radical (contradicted general ideas as it had capitalist ideology) but appeased strikes, production picked up again