Lenin - Economic Policies.

Question 1

LAND REFORMS - What were the land reforms immediately after the revolution? Why were they passed?

Answer 1

• 1917 - Decree on Land: Legalised the requisition and redistribution of privately owned land. Large estates were taken off aristocrats and redistribution to peasants.
• Done in order to win support from the peasants and stimulate agriculture.
• The decree was very popular with the peasants but it did not stimulate agriculture because the peasants did not know the most efficient methods for managing the land.

Question 2

WAR COMMUNISM - What was it, why was it implemented and when?

Answer 2

• Implemented in the chaotic conditions of the civil war as an emergency measure by Lenin.
• It embodied communist ideology and was designed to ensure higher production of war goods and efficient food production to feed the Red Army.

Question 3

Describe the economic situation in Russian pre-revolution?

Answer 3

• backward, unsophisticated economy far behind western nations.
• Had only began to industrialise in the 1890s so was still primarily an agricultural nation (80% of the population were peasant).
• What little economy there was had been shattered during WWI. Economic policy would have to focus on reconstruction as well as growth.

Question 4

Describe Lenin’s vision of a socialist democracy.

Answer 4

• Believed a socialist economy would be highly efficient.
• It would require modern technology and an educated workforce to understand the complex industrial processes.
• Workers would no longer be exploited by capitalists so would be better paid and better treated.
• Lenin believed in expertise and discipline and had a total disregard for leisure time.

Question 5

STATE CAPITALISM - What was it? When was it introduced?

Answer 5

• Implemented after the oct revolution as a transition period into socialism.
• Involved the nationalisation of industry: nationalised businesses were managed by the supreme soviet of the national economy.
• Smaller businesses were handed back to capitalists (angered Bukharin).
• It was designed to ensure that economic production met the needs of the new society.

Question 6

STATE CAPITALISM - When was it abolished?

Answer 6

• It was v.popular within the party but remained until the start of the civil war in june 1918.

Question 7

WAR COMMUNISM - War Communism evolved over time as Lenin introduced new measures. Describe thes measures.

Answer 7

• Grain Requisitioning: ‘The Food Dictatorship’, Cheka squads seized grain from peasants without payment. To feed Red Army.
• Rationing: supply commissariat rationed food and gave biggest rations to soldiers and workers, smallest rations to former bourgeoisie.
• Labour Discipline Intensified: 1919, compulsory labour policy, harsh punishments for workers who were late or slacking.

Question 8

WAR COMMUNISM - Describe what the ‘abolition of the market’ entailed?

Answer 8

• Done during chaotic condition of the civil war
• Money and private trade abolished, all businesses nationalised.
• Was successful in getting a supply of food to the Red Army but it precipitated economic collapse.

Question 9

WAR COMMUNISM - How did grain requisitioning contribute to economic collapse? What happened to industrial production?

Answer 9

• Peasants had no incentive to work as they could sell their grain and what grain they did have was requisitioned without payment. Agricultural production plummeted and this causes a famine which killed 6 million people.
• Industrial production fell because the workforce was starving. They fled the cities in search of food, causing the workforce to drop by 1.8 million. Factories closed down due to lack of fuel. There were shortages of everything.

Question 10

WAR COMMUNISM - What were the consequences of economic crisis?

Answer 10

• Political crisis
• In 1921, peasant in Tambov rebelled against the government.
• 1921, Kronstadt rebellion. Sailors who had been loyal communists had to be violently crushed by the Red Army and Cheka.
• Lenin knew this kind of political crisis spelt the end of War Communism.

Question 11

WAR COMMUNISM - Generally, what were the results of War Communism?

Answer 11

• Lead to military victory but economic ruin, which in turn caused a political crisis.
• Ideological victory, policies that embodied communist ideology had been put into practise.

Question 12

NEP - When did Lenin introduce the NEP?

Answer 12

1921

Question 13

NEP - Why did Lenin introduce the NEP?

Answer 13

• Retain political power, it was an economic retreat designed to avoid political defeat.
• Revive economy, end famine
• Find an economic structure that could act as a foundation for socialism.
• He had realised the European socialist revolution was not going to happen, so he had to build socialism in Russia without foreign aid.

Question 14

NEP - How did Lenin justify the NEP?

Answer 14

• He argued it was the accurate foundation on which to build to socialism.
• He emphasised that it would create peace with the peasants, who made up 80% of the population.

Question 15

NEP - What were the measures put in place by the NEP?

Answer 15

• Agricultural production left to free market so peasants could buy and sell grain privately. Requisitioning brought to an end.
• Smaller businesses denationalised (larger ones remained nationalised).
• Reintroduction of money.
• Major economic compromised that allowed businesses to make a private profit so people were expected to pay for public services again.

Question 16

NEP - Immediate results of the NEP?

Answer 16

• Return to political and economic stability but did not promote rapid industrial growth.
• Peasants temporarily appeased.
• Caused bitter debate among party members as it was a concession to capitalism after they had spent the civil fighting for communism.
• Return to mass unemployment due to the retraction of the compulsory labour law.

Question 17

NEP - How did the NEP put an end to the famine?

Answer 17

• The end of requisitioning and introduction of free trade gave peasants an incentive to work so agricultural production was stimulated.
• Grain production from 37.6 million tons in 1921 to 50.3 million in 1922, and the figures continued to rise.

Question 18

NEP - In what ways did the NEP give way to inequality and corruption?

Answer 18

• Nepmen traders made a profit by exploiting gaps in the market. Sometimes they were arrested by the Cheka.
• The Nepmen grew rich while everyone else stayed quite poor.
• Corruption grew: gambling, prostitution and drug dealing.
• Prostitution was so wide spread due to widespread poverty and unemployment amongst women.

Question 19

NEP - Why didn’t the NEP stimulate rapid industrial growth?

Answer 19

• The taxes the government received from the peasants during the NEP was enough to reopen and modernise factories that already existed but not enough to invest in larger, new ones.
• Economy plateaus.

Question 20

NEP - What was the scissors crisis?

Answer 20

• NEP lead to uneven economic growth.
• Greater food supplies lead to a drop in agricultural prices but industry recovered much more slowly therefore industrial prices grew steadily.
• A gap opened between the farmers income and industrial prices.
• Farmers could not afford to buy industrial goods so they had no incentive to keep producing grain.

Question 21

NEP - How did the gov deal with the scissors crisis? What were consequences of this?

Answer 21

• Heavily subsidised industrial prices.
• Meant there was no money to invest in economic growth.
• Indicated to Trotsky that the NEP was not capable of industrialising the economy.

Question 22

NEP - Generally, what were the results of NEP?

Answer 22

+ve:

• Stabilised economic
• political stability
• retaining political power
• ve:
• Slow industrial growth
• un balanced economy
• return of inequality and crime
• deeply unpopular with certain party members, lead to bitter debate over state control of agriculture and industry.

Question 23

What was the time span of the NEP?

Answer 23

1921 - 1928

abolished by Stalin in 1928