War Communism Flashcards
Why was War Communism introduced as an alternative to State Capitalism?
The desperation of the Civil War meant that there needed to be more authority in Red regions - part of Everything for the Front
What was the impact of War Communism on the Russian rouble?
Fell to 1% of its value in 1917 by 1920
What happened to the following outputs between 1913 and 1921?
Coal
Oil
Steel
Coal: 29 million tonnes in 1913, to 8.9 million tonnes by 1921
Oil: 9.2 million tonnes in 1913, to 3.8 million tonnes by 1921
Steel: 4.3 million tonnes in 1913, to 0.18 million tonnes by 1921
What was prodrazverstka?
Forcible grain requisitioning - surpluses of food and grain would be taken away
Why did prodrazverstka reduce grain production?
No incentive for peasants to grow more than their household needed
What statistics show the decline in grain production under War Communism?
Harvests of 1920 and 1921 produced half the amount of grain compared to 1913
1 in 5 of the population was starving
How did the Bolsheviks respond to the major food crisis caused by War Communism? Why was this a problem?
Accepted $60m of food aid from foreign food associations (especially the USA)
Meant a Communist country was now reliant on leading capitalist nations - ideologically humiliating for the Bolsheviks
How many Russians had died from famine by the end of the Civil War?
5 million
Who did the Bolsheviks blame for resistance to War Communism, and on what grounds?
The “kulaks” - it was claimed they were hoarding grain to keep prices high
What did the peasants think about the “kulaks”?
They didn’t see anyone as kulaks - they were simply more efficient and prosperous farmers
How did the Bolsheviks try to turn the poor against the kulaks? How successful was this?
They set up Committees of Poor Peasants to give them a social base in the countryside - poor peasants would get a share if they helped the Bolsheviks seize grain from the kulaks
Unsuccessful - peasants didn’t want to make a profit, they wanted to make a living - they refused to turn on the own - the committees were disbanded within six months
How was forcible grain requisitioning supposed to work? How did it operate in reality?
Specified target of surplus grain set, which was geographically divided into smaller amounts
Bolsheviks simply took all the grain they could find to fill the quotas - always a minimum, never a maximum
What policy did Lenin want to use the distraction of famine to exploit?
The destruction of the Orthodox Church
How many separate uprisings did Cheka admit to suppressing by 1920?
120
Who led the Union of the Working Peasantry in the Tambov Rising?
Alexander Antonov
