LENIN: THE ECONOMY

Question 1

State Capitalism

Answer 1

OCT 1917 - DECREE ON LAND: Abolished private ownership
NOV 1917 - DECREE ON WORKERS’ CONTROL: supervising management
DEC 1917 - VESHENKA controlled economic development

Question 2

Problems with state capitalism

Answer 2

• Workers failed to organise factories effectively
• Workers rewarded themselves with pay rises, stock and equipment
• Many unskilled
• High inflation
• Food Shortages worsened - 50g of bread a day by Feb 1918 in Petrograd

Question 3

War Communism

Answer 3

Spring 1918 - Grain Crisis
May 1918 - forced requisitioning of grain - Cheka introduced to prevent peasant uprising
- Nationalisation of railways, banks, merchant fleet + power companies
- Workers lost all freedoms - hours extended + rationing cards replaced wages
- Internal passports
- All private trade forbidden
By 1920 - Petrograd population 57.7% lower than 1917
1921-1922 - FAMINE

Question 4

Kronstadt Naval Revolt

Answer 4

March 1921 - Sent manifesto to Lenin demanding end to one-party rule - denounced as ‘White Traitors’

Question 5

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Answer 5

GOSPLAN - State Central Planning Commission (1920-1) from 1925 drafted economic plan
- State control of transport, banking and heavy industry continued, but NEP allowed for private ownership of small businesses + permitted private trade
-Rationing and Requisitioning ended
1923 - “scissor crisis” - Trotsky
By 1926 - Production levels of 1913 had been reached again

Question 6

Nepmen

Answer 6

Brought produce from peasants to sell in towns - controlled c.75% of retail trade by 1923
KULAKS RE-EMERGED