Topic 4 facts

Question 1

what were Lenin’s 3 economic policies?

Answer 1

• state capitalism (1917-18)
• war communism (1918-21)
• NEP (1921-28)

Question 2

what years did Lenin impose state capitalism?

Answer 2

1917-18

Question 3

what years did Lenin impose war communism?

Answer 3

1918-21

Question 4

what years did Lenin impose the NEP?

Answer 4

1921-28

Question 5

what was state capitalism?

Answer 5

• Lenin was wary of moving to ‘socialism’ too quickly. He envisaged a long transition where there would be a degree of state control over economic affairs but private markets would remain
• capitalist elements like markets and privately owned small businesses would remain. Bourgeois experts would continue roles. The state would acquire control of major sectors of economy: heavy industry, mining, banking and finance
• banks and railways were nationalised, foreign debts were cancelled and GOELRO formed to supply electricity
• Vesenkha formed in December 1917 to direct and regulate economic life

Question 6

why was state capitalism criticised by radicals?

Answer 6

they demanded more meaningful socialist reforms. But Lenin justified his push for state capitalism by arguing that capitalist development was necessary, in order to build a solid economic foundation for the construction of a socialist economy

Question 7

what was war communism?

Answer 7

• the economy deteriorated rapidly in 1918 in times of civil war- there were food riots in many cities and workers began to flee cities leaving factories short of labour
• In May 1918 a food-supplies dictatorship was set up to establish the forcible requisitioning of grain as the standard policy. Private trade was also banned which allowed a black market to develop
• discipline was brought back into the workplace. There were fines for lateness and absenteeism. Internal passports were introduced to stop people fleeing into the countryside. Rationing was also introduced
• the famine of 1921 brought a new outbreak of peasant revolts. The Cheka reported 155 risings in Feb 1921
• wages in 1919 were at 2% of their 1913 level and on average an urban workers spent 3/4 of his income on food

Question 8

what was the Tambov revolt?

Answer 8

a 70k man peasant army led by Alexander Antonov rose up against grain requisitioning squads who arrived in the Tambov region in 1921. 100k Red army troops had to be deployed to deal with the uprising

Question 9

what was the Kronstadt revolt?

Answer 9

• following the 1921 food crisis, 30k soldiers stationed at Kronstadt naval base rebelled. The ringleaders were shot and 15k rebels were taken prisoner
• Lenin claimed the revolt was ‘the flash which lit up reality better than anything else’

Question 10

what was the NEP?

Answer 10

• due to problems faced in 1921, the NEP reversed many policies of war communism (private trade legalised, grain requisitioning ended etc. however heavy industries remained under state control
• increased area of farm land being cultivated. 77.7 mil hectares 1922; 91.7mil in 1923
• increase in grain harvest 37.6mil tonnes in 1921 56.6 mil in 1923
• by 1923 cereal production had increased by 23%
• average wage of workers increased
• it was claimed that there were over 25k private traders in Moscow
• Nepmen dominated trade disproportionately- 75% of trade in 1923
• steel, industrial production and electricity produced also rose

Question 11

what was the scissor crisis?

Answer 11

during the NEP when industrial prices rose in conjunction with falling agricultural prices

Question 12

how did the NEP go down within the party?

Answer 12

• Lenin had the support of other leading Bolsheviks such as Zinoviev and Bukharin when launching the NEP
• However, it provoked dissent within the party- Trotsky and 45 other Bolsheviks formed ‘Platform 46’, a pressure group critical of the tolercance of the capitalist nepmen