The New Economic Plan (NEP) 1921 - 1928

Question 1

Main features of NEP?

Answer 1

Ended War Communism by creating mixed economy.
Ended grain requisitioning.
Money re-introduced.
Rationing scrapped.

Question 2

What happened to grain requisitioning under NEP?

Answer 2

Ended - peasants handed over a fixed proportion as a form of tax and could sell the remainder for profit on an open market.

Question 3

What happened to farming under NEP?

Answer 3

Left to the free market - peasants could buy, sell and produce freely.

Question 4

What happened to large factories under NEP?

Answer 4

Large factories and major industries such as banks, coal and steel remained in the control of the government.

Question 5

What were small business men permitted to do under NEP?

Answer 5

Own and run medium sized firms and factories for profit.

Question 6

Who were Nepmen and what were they permitted to do?

Answer 6

Private traders.

Permitted to buy and sell goods for profit on open market.

Question 7

What happened to money and rationing under NEP?

Answer 7

Money reintroduced - old discredited currency replaced with new revalued rouble.
Rationing scrapped.

Question 8

What did many Bolsheviks regard the introduction of NEP as?

Answer 8

A retreat back into capitalism

Question 9

What argument did Lenin use for NEP?

Answer 9

‘One step backwards, two steps forwards’

Question 10

Who tried to appease the discontent with NEP?

Answer 10

Zinoviev and Bukharin

Question 11

What did Trotsky call the NEP?

Answer 11

The first ‘degeneration of Bolshevism’

Question 12

What did Lenin introduce at the Tenth Party Congress in 1921?

Answer 12

The ‘ban on factions’

Question 13

Why did Lenin introduce The Ban on Factions?

Answer 13

To avoid a repetition like the Workers’ Opposition at Kronstadt

Question 14

What did the Ban on Factions mean?

Answer 14

Once the Central Committee had agreed on a policy every Party member had to obey the decision - to form a ‘faction’ would mean expulsion from the party.

Question 15

How did Lenin intensify the persecution of political opposition and why?

Answer 15

Was conscious of the unease created by the NEP.
By 1921, Mensheviks and SRs (Social Revolutionaries) were arrested.
Trial of SRs in 1921 accused of counter-revolutionary activity - 11 executed.

Question 16

How did NEP continue to divide the party even after Lenin’s death?

Answer 16

The ‘Left’ led by Trotsky wanted to end the NEP
The ‘Right’ led by Rykov, Tomsky and Bukharin wanted to continue the NEP.
Stalin fluctuated from a left-leaning position to the right as time went on before finally switching back to the left in 1928 in order to defeat Bukharin.

Question 17

Successes of NEP

Answer 17

Increased grain production
End of famine of 1921
Increased industrial production
Economy more secure by the time of Lenin’s death than it had been under War Communism

Question 18

How did NEP end the famine of 1921?

Answer 18

Peasants now had motivation for producing more grain - could sell surplus grain for profit.
Increase in grain harvest from 37.6 million tonnes in 1921 to 56.6 million in 1923.

Question 19

How had industrial production increased?

Answer 19

By 1926 Russia was producing 11,083 million roubles worth of industrial products compared to 1,410 in 1920.
Coal, steel, finished cloth, electricity saw rise in output.
Factory output rose 200%.

Question 20

Who helped to get the economy moving again?

Answer 20

Private traders (Nepmen)

Question 21

How many private traders were there in Moscow by 1925?

Answer 21

25,000

Question 22

What were the failures of NEP? (Grain)

Answer 22

Grain production in 1924 had still not surpassed grain production from 1913 where it was 80.11 million tonnes.
Increase in agricultural production caused Scissors Crisis 1923.
NEP not working by 1928, USSR was 20 million tonnes of grain short to feed towns.

Question 23

What were the failures of NEP? (Industry)

Answer 23

Failed to industrialise Russia.
Industrial production was still very slow and agriculture was recovering more quickly which led to an imbalance in the economy (The Scissors Crisis 1923).
Amount of iron, steel and copper produced never exceeded the amount produced in last 5 years of Tsardom.

Question 24

What was the Scissors Crisis?

Answer 24

1923 - Peasants were producing more crops so agricultural prices fell but the price of industrial products rose (The 2 axis on the graph looked like a pair of widening scissors).

Question 25

What caused the Scissors Crisis? (Agriculture)

Answer 25

Revival of agriculture after the end of the famine; By 1922-23 there had been an improvement in weather conditions and hence the harvest. Increase in the amount of land under cultivation partly contributed to increase in productivity (caused fall in prices).

Question 26

What caused the Scissors Crisis? (Industry)

Answer 26

Fall in agricultural prices not accompanied by fall in industrial prices as industry found it more difficult to recover its position.
Scarcity in factory goods pushed up prices at same time agricultural prices fell.

Question 27

What effects did the Scissors Crisis have?

Answer 27

Farm producers had to sell their goods at too low a price to be able to buy industrial goods.
Increased risk of peasants producing only enough for their immediate domestic needs (which had been the main problem facing Lenin in 1921 when he introduced the NEP).

Question 28

Why was the Scissors Committee set up in October 1923?

Answer 28

To consider incentives to improve industrial production

Question 29

What was the Platform of 46?

Answer 29

Formed by critics of NEP.

Made up of 46 party members including Trotsky who blamed the government for a lack of a coherent plan.

Question 30

How much did the amount of land under cultivation rise?

Answer 30

Rose from 77.7 million hectares in 1922 to 91.7 million in 1923 (higher than 1921 - 90.3 million)

However this also contributed towards Scissors Crisis

Question 31

What were the problems with Nepmen?

Answer 31

Displayed wealth conspicuously
Crowded resturants
Seemed to represent coarser breed of the old bourgeoisie that the Bolsheviks had been fighting since they got into power.