Russia 6 + 7 : NEP and Lenin

Question 1

Causes

Economic Reasons

Answer 1

• Famine in the Volga region killed 5mil and affected 20mil
• Hopes that NEP would restart economy
• Element of private ownership would provide incentive for small bussiness
• Needed food supply for cities and to increase farm production

Question 2

Causes

Political Crisis

Answer 2

• Bolsheviks could not blame Whites for suffering
• 1920, 75% of Petrograd factories striking
• Tambov uprising and Krostandt revolt

Question 3

NEP

Key Points

Answer 3

• 10th party congress March 1921
• Free market, no requisition squads
• Factories with <20 workers privatised
• Experts, 1920-25 20k experts brought from US and Canada
• Money
• Traders introduced called Nepmen

Question 4

Impacts of NEP

Economy

Answer 4

• Increased production but only to pre-WW1 levels
• Few industries reached 1913 production
• Grain from 50 to 72 mil tonnes but still not back to 80mil in 1913
• By 1925 Russias imports 9x higher than 1921-22
• Pig iron production in tonnes: 1913 (4 mil), 1921 (0.1 mil), 1925 (1mil)

Question 5

Impact of NEP

Peasants

Answer 5

• NEP was based on prodnalog, a grain tax
• Taxed grain in 1922 was 1/2 of volume taken in requisitioning in 1920
• Redistribution meant that by 1927 there were 25m peasant holdings and many earned decent livings
• 1928, 5.5m households still used sokha (strip farming)

Question 6

Impact of NEP

Scissor Crisis

Answer 6

• 1923 food production meant prices in cities declined
• Low industrial production meant high prices of goods
• Peasants refused to sell grain as they could not buy goods
• Trotsky called it the scissor crisis as food production went down and industry prices went up

Question 7

Opposition to NEP

Ideological

Answer 7

• Emergence of Kulaks and Nepmen highly unpopular
• Steps taken in 1925 to curb their profits
• Old bolsheviks felt it was a betrayal - Kamenev “New Exploitation of the Proletariate”
• Lenin had to ban all inter-party groups

Question 8

Impact of NEP

Modernising Russia

Answer 8

• Lenin aimed to have a working light bulb in every Russian household
• 1921, 50% of Russian trains off tracks due to damage and lack of workers
• 1923, rail system carried 45% more passengers and 59% more goods
• 1927 number of passengers and goods passed 1913 levels

Question 9

Was Lenin a good leader?

For

Answer 9

1. Personal - He was modest, a powerful speaker, decisive and a superb organiser and planner
2. He was decisive and was clear in shaping the Communist government
3. Without him, there would not have been a revolution in 1917. He persuaded other Bolsheviks to seize power
4. It was largely due to Lenin that the Communists were able to stay in power after 1917 e.g. abandoning War Communism and introducing the NEP
5. He began to allow more freedoms after 1921. Arguments made for him having to use the Cheka to stop chaos.

Question 10

Was Lenin a good leader?

Against

Answer 10

1. He seized power with a small group which led to a dictatorship
2. He would not share power with other socialists which made the Civil War worse
3. He was ruthless and used methods of terror to stay in charge. Tens of thousands were murdered by the Cheka
4. He stopped other people expressing their opinions. A ban on political parties, no elections, only Communist newspapers and religion was banned
5. He made the Communist Party an organisation for carrying out orders. Members could not disagree with each other
6. He was prepared to see millions of Russians suffer for his ideals e.g. the peasants