Lenin

Question 1

Why did Lenin adopt war communism?

Answer 1

• Workers began to flee from cities, which the Bolsheviks needed to produce munitions and other goods during the civil war
• Food shortages got worse: feb 1918 bread ration reached an all time low of 50 grams per person each day

Question 2

What were the main features of war communism?

Answer 2

• Grain requisitioning: red guards were sent out into the countryside to find grain for the urban workers
• Nationalisation of industry: all industry was brought under state control and administered by the Vesenkha
• Rationing: a class based system of rationing was introduced (smallest rations given to middle classes)

Question 3

What was life like for peasants during War Communism?

Answer 3

• Peasants deeply resented war communism as the government took their surplus crops to feed factory workers and soldiers
• Peasants stopped growing more food then they needed for themselves resulting a terrible famine in 1921 (killing 7 million Russians)

Question 4

What was life like for workers during War Communism?

Answer 4

• Forced to work long hours under strict new laws that included the death penalty for striking
• Workers returned to the countryside in the hope of finding food (Petrograd lost 70 percent of its inhabitants)

Question 5

Why did Lenin introduce the new economic policy?

Answer 5

• The Kronstadt rebellion made Lenin realise change was needed
• The Civil War was over making war communism no longer necessary
• Lenin recognised the need for economic concessions to stabilise the economy and increase agricultural and industrial output

Question 6

What were the main features of new economic policy?

Answer 6

• return of some capitalist polices: introduced a private market, small factories returned to private ownership and central economic control relaxed
• Tax replaced requisitioning​: peasants could sell surplus grain for profit and would pay tax on what they produced.

Question 7

Who opposed the new economic policy and why?

Answer 7

Trotsky - believed war communism was the correct path to revolution

Question 8

What was the ‘scissors crisis’ and why did it occur?

Answer 8

A widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices as industry was slower to recover after the civil war than the peasant farms

Question 9

How did the government deal with the scissors crisis?

Answer 9

resorted to requisitioning, reduced industrial costs, closed down 300,000 shops and market stalls due to working class resentment of private traders