The NEP

Question 1

What was smychka? How does it relate to the NEP?

Answer 1

Smychka was the term for the union between the peasants and workers. This link was supposed to be improved by the NEP: workers would produce more goods in the cities which peasants could buy in return for growing and selling grain into the cities.

Question 2

What were the key features of the NEP?

Answer 2

• End of grain requistioning (replaced with a tax in kind of grain @10%)
• Re-introduction of private trade and the money economy. Profits could be made.
• Abolition of rationing
• Foreign investment was allowed
• Charges for healthcare and education were introduced to cut spending
• Heavy industry remained under state control but industry was organised into trusts which were to manage their own budgets effectively and not be subsidised by the state

Question 3

Which ban did Lenin introduce at the 10th PC?

Answer 3

A ban on factionalism (included a condemnation of the Workers’ Opposition) - once a measure was agreed, it could not be disputed by a faction within the party

Question 4

What announcement at the 10th PC disappointed Zinoviev and Kamenev?

Answer 4

Lenin outlawed all other parties in Russia except the Bolsheviks, ending hopes of a socialist coalition

Question 5

When were dozens of Russian writers and scholars deported?

Answer 5

Spring 1922

Question 6

What was the Cheka renamed as? Which benefiters of the NEP did it target?

Answer 6

OGPU

It targeted the Nepmen in particular

Question 7

What were villages that supported the reds during the Civil War rewarded with?

Answer 7

Salt for food preservation and other manufactured foods

Question 8

How many SRs were condemned as terrorists as part of show trials?

Answer 8

34

Question 9

When did production levels equal their 1913 ones?

Answer 9

1926

Question 10

How much did factory output rise between 1920 and 1923?

Answer 10

200%

Question 11

What was the grain harvest in 1921 compared to 1924? What happened to famine?

Answer 11

1921 - 37.6m tonnes
1924 - 51.4m tonnes
Famine became less of a problem

Question 12

How did the wage of an urban worker change between 1921 and 1924?

Answer 12

10.2 roubles to 20.8

Question 13

What proportion of the industrial workforce were under the state?

Answer 13

85%

Question 14

How much did electricity production grow between 1921 and 1924?

Answer 14

520kWh in 1921 to 1,562 kWh in 1924

Question 15

When did Russia strike trade deals with Germany? Britain?

Answer 15

Germany = 1922
Britain = 1924

Question 16

What share of retail trade did Nepmen handle? The state?

Answer 16

Nepmen had a 75% share of retail trade whilst the state only had 15%

Question 17

What was the scissors crisis? How was it handled?

Answer 17

Scissors crisis – increase in prices of industrial goods and massive decrease in prices for agricultural goods. Government decided to take peasants tax in cash and used that money to drive down industrial prices, to continue to give incentive to peasants to produce grain.

Question 18

What flourished under the NEP?

Answer 18

Crime and prostitution