2. Economic devs Flashcards
1
Q
war communism - background to policy
A
- Many workers spontaneously took over factories post-rev, leading to decreased production and significant closures (38% of factories by August 1918).
- challenged to food production and distributon = exacerbated by the loss of Ukrainian grain supplies and White control over other food-producing areas.
- Peasants not motivated to produce surplus food - lack of manufactured goods to buy + inflation devalued their earnings.
- Inflation - Bolsheviks printing large amounts of money, ideological goal to make the currency worthless.
- Severe food shortages + econ instability led 1000s workers leave cities for countryside, depleting the Bolsheviks’ core industrial and military manpower.
2
Q
Why was war communism introduced?
A
- keep towns and red army supplied w/ food
- keep factories producing weapons etc for war
- party members reguarded nationalisation of industry as positive step to aim of socialist society
3
Q
key features of war communism
A
- All large factories taken over by government
- Industrial production planned + organised by the gov.
- Strict discipline imposed on workers
- Food rationed
- Money = worthless + workers paid in kind.
- Peasants forced to hand over grain to gov.
- Requisitioning of grain and terror in countryside.
- Private trade became illegal (in theory). In practice a Black Market flourished.
4
Q
key features of war communism - industry
A
- all industries nationalised, s + m factories expempt.
- party managers took over running factories
- trade unions run by party, free ones gone
- late 1918, gov allocated raw materials
- end to free market
- spring 1919 - all factories w 10+ employees nationalised.
- value of money collapsed
- bread rations - fell 50g daily, communal canteens fed.
5
Q
key features of war communism - agriculture.
A
- 1918 fixed price to peasants for grain, cause peasants to withdraw to raise prices.
- speculation - criminalised
- aug 1918 - large scale grain requisitioning started, peoples commissar for food sent to seize grain, cheka took any surplus considered grain
- attempts to pursuade peasants to adopt co-oporative methods failured.
6
Q
war communism - positives
A
- 14 mil kept alive by relief from overseas; most of it came from the unlikely source of the USA, under Republican president..
- new class of traders emerged as ‘men with sacks’ traveled the countryside providing food and goods.
- Party became more centralized. Debate was stifled and all power concentrated at the center.
- army kept supplied and objective of defeating the Whites was achieved.
7
Q
war communism negatives - econ decline
A
- Production of all goods declined dramatically.
- Production collapsed.
- Inflation between 1917 and 1922 was one million percent.
- Workers paid in goods.
- grain production in Ukraine fell to 20% of the level pre-1914.
- Famine in the countryside led to deaths and cannibalism = 1920 drought then harsh winter
8
Q
war communism negatives - population
A
- Moscow and Petrograd halved as workers left the cities in search of food.
- rations at starvation level; horses, dogs, and animals in zoos were consumed.
9
Q
war communism negatives - rebellion
A
- minor peasant rebellions against the Communists 1920-21.
- Kronstadt 1921.
- Alexander Shlyapnikov (Commissar of Labour) + Alexandra Kollontai (Commissar for Public Welfare), published pamphlets against.
- Workers’ Opposition groups striked Feb 1921, strikers crossed to naval base in Kronstadt, got support of sailors and dockyard workers.
- Party-controlled press tried to present Kronstadt protesters as ‘White agents’; in fact, they were real socialists previously wholly loyal to Lenin’s government but were angry about what they saw as a betrayal of the worker’s cause.
10
Q
NEP
why did lenin change econ policy?
A
- war Communism failed, instead of achieving a growth in industrial production it declined.
- created opposition and threatened the Communists political control.
- essential to do something to get the peasants to produce more food; the famine was critical.
11
Q
Key features of NEP
A
- grain state requisitioning ended
- peasants pay tax in kind of grain to gov.
- proiv trade legalised, could sell surplus for profit
- small scale industry returned to priv ownership, av no. of priv employes = 2
- heavy industry, transport, baking, foreign trade stayed under state control, had 85% of workforce
- state banks loaned and credited to small businesses
- 1922 new rouble issues
- new foreign Investment encouraged.
12
Q
Why was NEP controversial
A
- lenin - policy = pragmatic, not ideologially desirable
- new class of ‘NEPmen’ ppl gained from policy (ideological enemies of B’s)
- ban on factions was followed by purge of Party membership. 1000s membership withdrawn. before intro of NEP 730,000 members, reduced to about 500,000 by 1923.all political parties declared outlawed
- 1921 5k mensheviks arrested as counter-revolutionaries
- 1922 34 SR leaders on trial
13
Q
NEP successes
A
-some of major industries producted exceeded preww1 levels
- coal and textile production doubles
- electricity production improved
- harvests improved = foos supplies, prices fell
- amount of land under cultivation increased by 50% between 1921 - 1927.
- livestock began to recover
- standards of living rose slightly
- workers returned to towns and factories
- woman equal pay
- gov budget deficit fell
14
Q
NEP problems - econ preformace
A
- Industry slow to make progress, recovered only gradually, failing to grow at the same rate as agriculture.
- high unemployment in urban areas, 16% of the industrial labor force due to industry running on more efficient lines and trying to cut costs.
15
Q
NEP problems - dependency and trade
A
- Rural areas depended on NEPmen for supplies and selling produce.
- Foreign trade failed to recover, only reaching 0.25 of the 1913 level, crucial for importing machinery to improve industry.
16
Q
NEP problems - scissors crisis
A
- mid 1923, food prices falling, manufactured good price rose steeply
- peasnats ahd to sell more grain to buy manufactured goods wanted, reacted by reducing amount of grain sold to force price up.
- agricultural tech didn’t improve
