New Economic Policy 1921 - 24

Question 1

What did the NEP bring an end to?

Answer 1

brutal requisitioning of grain in the countryside.

Mass famine.

Question 2

What did Lenin say in 1921 about the peasants?

Answer 2

“We must satisfy the demands of the peasants who are dissatisfied, disconected and cannot be otherwise…First of all there must be a certain amount of freedom for the small private proprietor, and secondly commodities and products must be provided.”

“we are prepared to let peasants have their little bit of capitalism as long as we keep the power.”

Question 3

why did agricultural production recover fairly well after the disaster of the famine?

Answer 3

Peasants allowed to produce surplus without it being taken away by the Cheka.
Peasants allowed to sell surplus at market (in order to be able to do this, peasants would have to pay a tax in kind (i.e. goods not money)).

Question 4

How did the NEP affect the availability of consumer goods?

Answer 4

Goods were in reasonably good supply

Their prices were not terribly high

Question 5

How did the NEP affect small scale businesses?

Answer 5

small businesses returned to private ownership (small = 20 employees or less).

Question 6

What did the state keep control of under the NEP?

Answer 6

Big businesses, banks, heavy industry and all foreign trade.

Question 7

What was done to raise productivity (even in state owned factories)?

Answer 7

piece work introduced

bonuses

Question 8

How did the NEP affect productivity of industry?

Answer 8

industrial production recovered, but slower than agriculture - it had been harder hit than agriculture, despite the famine.
- created what Trotsky called the scissors crisis.

Question 9

What is the scissors crisis?

Answer 9

industry - less produced - prices higher - people can’t afford goods - sales drop
agriculture - more produced - prices lower - people can afford goods - sales rise

Question 10

What happened in terms of money during the NEP?

Answer 10

money reintroduced

Stock market returned

Question 11

What happened in terms of rationing during the NEP?

Answer 11

Rationing was ended.

Question 12

What happened in terms of factories during the NEP?

Answer 12

Most factories that were closed during War Communism and the Civil War era reopened.

Question 13

What evidence is there to suggest that the electrification campaign was successful?

Answer 13

It saw the sharpest increase of any other industry after 1921.

Question 14

What happened in terms of services such as transport under the NEP?

Answer 14

People expected to pay for them.

Question 15

Who were the NEP men?

Answer 15

The kulaks of industry
They were private traders who saw the economic opportunities in the relaxation of bolshevik policy.
They would travel the country and buy goods that weren’t readily available/ unavailable in other parts and sell them for profit.
75% of all trade in the hands of NEP men (private traders).

Question 16

How did the amount of grain produced (millions of tonnes) change from 1913 to 1921 to 1924?

Answer 16

1913 - 81.6
1921 - 37.6
1924 - 51.4

Question 17

How did the amount of iron produced (millions of tonnes) change from 1913 to 1921 to 1924?

Answer 17

1913 - 4.2
1921 - 0.1
1924 - 0.75

Question 18

How did the amount of iron produced (millions of tonnes) change from 1913 to 1921 to 1924?

Answer 18

1913 - 4.2
1921 - 0.2
1924 - 1.1

Question 19

Why couldn’t Lenin accept financial help form richer western countries e.g. Britain?

Answer 19

They were repulsed by Communism and by 1921 Lenin had accepted that there was not going to be a worldwide communist revolution.

Question 20

What foreign investment and trade was there to help improve the Russian economy?

Answer 20

America invested in Russia’s textiles industry and mining.
Germany signed trade agreement with Russia in 1922.
Britain signed trade agreement with Russia in 1924.

Question 21

What negative things flourished during the NEP and what other significant problems were there?

Answer 21

Gambling and gambling flourished.

Unemployment = significant problem.

Question 22

How did Trotsky describe the NEP? (Trotsky was a left leaning Bolshevik)

Answer 22

“The first sign of the degeneration of Bolshevism”

Question 23

How did the left leaning Bolshevik Victor Serge describe the NEP?

Answer 23

“the cities we ruled over assumed a foreign aspect, we felt ourselves sinking into the mire. Money lubricated the entire machine, just as under capitalism.”

Question 24

What did Emma Goldman (an American living in Russia at the time) say about the NEP?

Answer 24

“Shops sprang up overnight…delicacies Russia had not seen for years…Large quantities of butter, cheese and meat…pastry, sweets and rare fruit of every variety…Men women and children with pinched faces and hungry eyes stood about gazing into the windows and discussing the great miracle…”

Question 25

Why was the NEP introduced?

Answer 25

People were dying from starvation and there was nothing to eat due to War Communism.

Question 26

In what ways was the NEP a wholesale success?

Answer 26

It was essential for saving the country by putting an end to the harsh rationing and improving the economy in general by replacing War Communism.
Use of the black market decreased and would have possibly stopped altogether had the NEP continued and been long-term - people allowed to buy and sell goods freely.
The NEP would have helped Russia to become more Communist - Marx said that in order to achieve complete communism it needed to first go through an industrial revolution.

Question 27

In what ways was the NEP not a wholesale success?

Answer 27

Caused what Trotsky called the scissors crisis.
Too capitalist (e.g. privatisation of small businesses) - went against communist ideology.
Allowed NEP men to take advantage of the situation.