Industry and Agriculture Flashcards
What was State Capitalism?
State Capitalism was implemented by Lenin when he first came to power in October 1917 and didn’t know how to begin a Communist system. He wanted to empower the workers without compromising fragile Bolshevik control and understood that it was the middle class who had the expertise to manage industry. He reached a solution which he called State Capitalism, which was a transitional phase between systems.
What were the policies of State Capitalism?
- The Land Decree of October 1917 abolished private ownership of land, giving peasants control over farmland.
- The Decree on Workers’ Control of November 1917 gave workers control over factories, allowing them to set their own wages and working hours.
- The Vesenkha, a government department tasked with the overall management of the Russian economy, was created 2nd December 1917.
- On 14th December the army took control of all banks and amalgamated them all into one state bank.
- On 21st January 1918 Lenin cancelled all debts owed by Russia to foreign countries.
Was State Capitalism a success?
Although State Capitalism empowered workers and peasants considerably, the results were disastrous. Workers reduced their hours, violently dismissed their managers and gave themselves pay rises, decreasing production. There was also a sense of conflict between workers in control of individual businesses and Vesenkha.
What was War Communism?
In June 1918, State Capitalism was failing and the demands of the Russian Civil War were taking their toll, so Lenin pursued a policy of War Communism. He had numerous motivations, including producing enough food and ammunition to win the Civil War and an ideological desire to move closer to a truly Communist system.
What were the policies of War Communism?
- The Decree on Nationalisation gave the government the right to take ownership of any business with more than ten workers. By 1920 around 37,000 businesses had been nationalised.
- Control over all industry was put in the hands of the Vesenkha so that all industry was directed towards winning the Russian civil war.
- Harsh discipline was introduced to factories; going on strike became punishable by the death penalty.
- All private trade was banned.
Grain surpluses became government property and was seized by force. - Food rationing was introduced and the use of money declined, with workers often paid with goods instead. Money had less use, you were given what you needed by the government.
Was War Communism a success? (summary)
War Communism was successful in that it ensured that the Red Army had the resources it needed in order to win the Russian Civil War, but it left the Russian economy in a state of collapse, and caused huge suffering amongst the people.
Evidence that War Communism was a success.
- Ideological - It moved Russia closer to a Communist economy and society e.g. It lead to the virtual abolition of money in Russia, the elimination of the free market and government control of industry, and theoretically led to full employment, with all able-bodied men between 16-50 legally obliged to work.
- Military - Although overall agricultural and industrial production fell, the grain and goods that were produced was under direct control of the government, and they used this to their advantage, for example ensuring that the Red Army was adequately supplied, contributing to the Bolshevik victory of the Civil War,
Evidence that War Communism was a failure.
- Economic - Economic production greatly decreased due to the poor quality and treatment caused by War Communism. Even Lenin acknowledged that his policy was an economic failure, e.g. he said “War Communism was imposed by war and ruin. It was not and could not be a policy that corresponded to the economic tasks of the industrial working class.”
- Social Argument - Working conditions deteriorated significantly under War Communism. E.g. the death penalty was imposed for striking workers, the working day was increased to 11 hours ad harsh punishments were given out for lateness and slacking.
- Political - The suffering caused by War Communism led to political unrest in the countryside. E.g. Between August 1920 and June 1921, peasants in the Tambov region rebelled against the government, with military action being needed to restore order.
What was the New Economic Policy?
The New Economic Policy (NEP) was an Bolshevik economic policy announced by Lenin at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921. He announced it because the negative effects of the Russian Civil War on social, economic and political problems threatened Bolshevik power.
Why was the NEP introduced?
- Collapsed infrastructure - Russian infrastructure had collapsed, causing great anger amongst the people and limiting industrial production e.g. the railways were blocked with abandoned trains and water and electricity supplies were rarely available in towns and cities.
- Anger amongst industrial workers - Workers had always been the supporting force of the Bolsheviks but they began to support their rivals, the Mensheviks, due to their anger e.g. they were angry about the poor quality of the working conditions.
- Loss of the countryside -
What were the policies of the NEP?
- It ended the seizure of crops by the government that occurred as a part of War Communism and replaced this with a smaller tax that could be paid in grain.
- Peasants were allowed to sell any surplus (extra) crops on the open market, encouraging them to produce more food and make a profit.
- A new currency was introduced to stop inflation.
- People were allowed to establish businesses buying and selling goods, increasing the availability of goods and stimulating the economy.
Evidence that the NEP had a positive effect on Russia.
- Industry - the NEP led to increased industrial production, meaning that the average wage paid to workers was able to more than double, e.g. coal and textile production doubled between 1921 and 1924.
- Agriculture - The NEP gave peasants an incentive to produce more crops, leading to a massive increase in food production and putting an end to famines e.g. between 1921 and 1924 grain production increased by 14 million tons per year and the area being farmed doubled.
- Ideological - Lenin argued that the NEP was an ideological success because it brought the political stability and economic prosperity needed to industrialist and build a socialist society e.g. the increase in food production reduced the amount of peasant uprisings in the countryside and strikes by industrial workers in the cities.
- People - The NEP created the kind of economic freedom that gave ordinary Russians the chance to become entrepreneurs by setting up their own businesses and keeping their profits, and fixed the problems affecting infrastructure, e.g. by 1926 the supplies of water and electricity were more reliable than they had been prior to the First World War.
Evidence that the NEP had a negative impact on Russia.
- Industry - The possibility of earning extra money under the NEP led to the development of a number of undesirable industries in Russia. For example, prostitution, gambling and drug dealing became more common and gangs of children could often be found roaming the streets stealing goods and selling them for profit.
- Agriculture - The NEP increased agricultural production to such an extent that the supply of food was greater than the demand, meaning prices fell and peasants were not able to make much money by selling their produce. Consequently, the peasants still lived in abject poverty.
- Ideological - The NEP could be seen as a huge failing in ideological terms as it betrayed many of the key ideas of Communism, e.g. state intervention and equal distribution of resources.
- People - Although the NEP granted some economic freedoms, it was accompanied by a tightening of Bolshevik political authority. E.g. by 1924 they had taken control of all soviets and trade unions, introduced strict censorship and the entire country was run by the Politburo.
Do you think the NEP had a positive or negative effect on Russia overall?
I think that the NEP had an overall positive effect, as the positives are much more significant and therefore outweigh the negatives. The NEP increased industry and agriculture, overseeing the negative effects of war communism. The negatives were essentially only ideological issues for the Bolshevik government.
What was Collectivisation?
Collectivisation was an economic policy introduced by Stalin based on governmental control to create a stable, fair and efficient system established by the Russian Bolshevik government from 1927-29. It involved the grain procurement crisis, joining and industrialising farms, and confiscating kulak land. Consequentially, Stalin was ideologically and economically successful, but Russian people suffered due to huge food shortages.
What were the four stages of Collectivisation?
Stage 1 - The Grain Procurement Crisis 1927-29, as a result of bad harvests. wealthier peasants, or kulaks, started to withhold grain to drive the price up, and Stalin used this incident as justification to introduce Collectivisation.
Stage 2 - The introduction of emergency powers from 1928-29. These powers gave the government increased control over the economy by introducing rationing, grain requisitioning and outlawing of grain hoarding. These policies created great resentment amongst the peasants, particularly the wealthier kulaks.
Stage 3 - The liquidisation of the kulaks, also known as dekulakisation. This consisted of confiscating all of the kulaks’ land, livestock and equipment so that they could be shared out collectively. However, the kulaks resisted and many destroyed their resources instead of handing them over, and the implementation of Collectivisation stalled.
Stage 4 - The twenty-five-thousanders - Stalin responded to this by sending out 25,000 industrial workers to search and conficate hidden resources, round up kulaks to be either shot or exiled to Siberian labour camps and forced the remaining peasants to collectivise with the threat of violence.
Why was the policy of Collectivisation introduced?
- Economic - Agriculture was very inefficient as nobody had the money to buy mechanical farming equipment or modern fertilizers. Consequently, food production was fairly low, meaning no surplus grain to export abroad for profit. This primitive farming style was also very labour intensive, so people were unable to leave farms in order to improve industry in the cities. By grouping the smaller farms together, Collectivisation was supposed to make agriculture more efficient by economies of scale, increasing food production with a smaller labour force, generating the money and freeing up the workers needed to industrialise.
