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Economic and Social Developments:

State Capitalism:

After the Bolsheviks came to power, an approach to the economy evolved known as state capitalism: a ‘halfway house’ between capitalism and socialism. Until the USSR was ready to fully embrace socialism, the state would manage key parts of the economy while private markets continued in other parts of the economy. Lenin came to power with the promise of building a ‘socialist economy’ bur like all Marxists knew socialism – only develop properly in an industrialised society & Russia was far from attaining the ideal. Many Bolsheviks – disapproved any compromise with the old capitalist system – demanded radical measures such as the nationalisation of all businesses an abolition of money and wanted trade to be determined by people’s needs rather than desire to make profit. However, Lenin seemed to envisage – long transition to socialism and spoke of danger of moving too quickly – felt these would not work in Russia of 1918. Unless peasants had incentive to produce grain, Russians in cities would starve – Decree on Land – October 1917 – acknowledged the fact that many factories had already been taken over by workers and decree was cautious, adding that those in control are responsible to the state for the maintenance of the strictest order & discipline and for the protection of property. Examples of state control included: The nationalisation of Russia’s banks (1917) and railways (1918). The establishment of Vesenkha, which was set up in 1917 to start managing Russia’s economy. The establishment of GOELRO, which was formed in 1920 to organise the production and distribution of electricity across Russia. Three of the main problems with state capitalism were:

Many Bolsheviks did not want a ‘halfway house’: they demanded state control of every part of the economy. Lenin’s measures were a disappointment.

Allowing factories to be taken over by their workers caused sharp drops in production because the workers lacked the necessary management skills.

Letting peasants have control over the selling of grain meant higher prices. But state- controlled industries needed cheap grain so that workers did not have to be paid higher wages. Measures provided only partial state control of the economy and represented a compromise with previous economic practice but they were a significance stage on the way to a more rigorous and total state control of the economy.

Problems of state capitalism: Early months of Bolshevik rule – not easy & shortcomings of early Bolshevik decrees on land & industry rapidly became apparent. Workers failed to organise their factories efficiently and output shrank at the time it was most needed. Some workers awarded themselves unsustainable pay eases, others helped themselves to stock and equipment. There were even cases of bits of machinery to barter on the black market. But – real problem – simply lacked skills needed for successful management. Civil war – brought further disruption & shortage of raw materials caused industrial output in Bolshevik-held areas to plummet.

Conditions in the cities and countryside during the war:

Many Russians faced severe hardships during the Civil War. Some of the main reasons for this included the following: Falling industrial production: Factory supplies were disrupted by the fighting. Workers left to join the Red Army or to return to the countryside. Between January 1917 and January 1919, Russia’s urban proletariat declined from 3.6 million to 1.4 million. The drop in production led to rising prices, producing inflation. As there were no products for peasants to buy, they stopped selling grain and hoarded it instead. Fighting in the countryside: Peasants could grow the food they needed to live on, so they were often better off than urban workers. However, villages were attacked and sometimes destroyed by both Whites and Reds. Food shortages in the cities: Important agricultural regions were lost because of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Trade blockades meant hostile foreign powers refused to supply Russia with grain. Peasants hoarding was a major reason for the food shortages. By early 1928, the bead ration in Petrograd was only 50 grammes per person per day. Many resorted to buying food or trading for it through the black market. Disease and starvation: Unsanitary living conditions, food shortages, and a lack of medical supplies and doctors led to millions of deaths. Approximately 5 million people died during the Civil War from starvation and disease. Desperate for food – good number of workers left cities – went to villages & joined red army – rations were higher – food & fuel – short supply, many succumbed to disease. A typhus epidemic swept through cities and caused death of more than 3 million in 1920 – scarcity of soap & medicines – difficult to obtain. Few doctors left to tend the ill – after assault on bourgeoise – those remaining found themselves conscripted t practise on the front line supporting the troops. Former members – nobility & bourgeoise fared worse – no ration cards – reduced to begging or selling what few possessions they had left – some given menial tasks – large houses and palaces – divided up by Bolshevik building committees – former occupant was reduced to occupying one small area – – flats were created in proportion to family size. Both town and countryside – Russian people – subject to atrocities carried out by competing armies

War Communism:

  • Jun 1918 –
  • Introduced by Lenin to combat economic problems brought on by Civil War
  • Nationalisation of land, banks, large factories, shipping, foreign trade
  • Requisitioning of grain – Food Commissariat to control food distribution
  • State control of production, private ownership reduced
  • State control over labour of every citizen
  • Self-sufficiency of state is important
  • Centralisation
    1. Supreme Economic Council – right to confiscate and requisition, 40 departments (glavki) – responsible for thousands of factories
      1. Led to chronic inefficiency
    2. Commissariat of Transport controlled railways
    3. Commissariat of Agriculture controlled peasants
  • Government attempted to become sole distributor and sole producer
    1. Jul 1918 – all surplus food had to be surrendered to state
    2. Increase in supply of grain to the state – increased by 6 million tonnes by 1921
    3. Caused resentment in countryside, promise of ‘land’ was broken
  • Attempted to abolish money
    1. Bartering introduced

RESULTS:

  • Disaster –economic strength of Russia fell below 1914 levels
  • Farmers didn’t bother growing extra grain – would be taken away
  • Malnutrition and disease were common
  • Large factories = paralysed, lack of fuel and skilled labour, producing 18% of 1913 figure
  • Small factories = only producing 43% of 1913 total in 1920
  • Coal production – 27% of 1913 total
  • Tg1920 – worker productivity rate = 44% less than 1913 – lack of food
  • 1918 – Russia’s railway system = in chaos
  • 1913-1920 – 87% drop in number of acres for cotton production
    • Factories that needed cotton couldn’t get basic commodity

The Red Terror:

44.5% from 1917 levels.

The Red Terror:

Worsening conditions in the cities and countryside, along with concern over the Bolsheviks’ policies, meant the Party lacked popular support. They had to rely on coercion and force to impose their policies. This intensified during the period known as the ‘Red Terror’.

Lenin needed a broader base of support you enable his economic & social system to work properly and without that they had to rely on coercion.

  1. The trigger for the launch of the Red Terror was an assassination attempt on Lenin in August 1918.

In response, the Cheka rounded up the Mensheviks, SRs, anarchists and anyone else considered a threat. Estimates suggests 500,000 were executed. Cheka – given mission of carrying out class warfare – excuse – bourgeoise was guilty of plotting a

 counter-revolution. An intense campaign brought arrests, imprisonments and executions – but the victims came from all levels of society – including workers and peasants.

Bolsheviks set up a system of concentration and labour camps – their existence shows that terror was employed as an instrument of policy by Lenin – to him the

 terror was not just born out of economic or military necessity but was an integral part of class warfare – most Bolsheviks agreed.

The Red Terror also targeted possible counter-revolutionaries. Former bourgeoise

 were top of the list, but the regime used the campaign as a general measure to terrify people into compliance.

Rebellions:

  • Kronstadt – Mar 1921
    • Led by Stepan Petrichenko – Russian soldiers, sailors and civilians
      • Caused by Bolsheviks’ heavy-handed approach to Petrograd strikes and War Communism issues
      • Caused Lenin to implement NEP
    • AIMS – new elections to soviets, freedom of speech and press, right of assembly (trade unions), release political prisoners
    • Crushed by Red Army after 12 days
    • 1,000s of deaths

EVENTS:

  • Feb 26 – Delegates from Kronstadt visited Petrograd to grasp situation
  • Feb 28 – Battleship crews hold emergency meeting – 15 demands
  • Mar 2
    • Arrest Kuzmin and Vasiliev (Communist supporters in Kronstadt – represent government)
    • Formed Provisional Revolutionary Committee – essentially own government
    • Government responded with ultimatum same day
  • Mar 7- Bols begin to attack Kronstadt – 60,000 troops under Tukhachevsky
  • Mar 7 – Bols enter Kronstadt, with 10,000 Bol fatalities
  • Mar 19 – Bols took full control over city – Bol fatalities 500-1500

RESULTS:

  • Around 2,000 executed, around 2,000 jailed
  • Kronstadt = main supporters in 1917, Lenin said it lit up reality like a lightning flash
  • BUT Lenin was not becoming more welcoming
    • Decree on Party Unity – 1921 – economic concession but political shutdown
  • Tambov – Aug 1920 – Jun 1921
    • Largest and best organised peasant uprising
    • Leader = Tomakov – former officer of Imperial Army
      • Caused by forced requisitioning of grain
      • 1920 – amount requisitioned increased from 18 to 27 million poods
      • Peasants reduced grain production as it could be confiscated
    • AIMS–Political equality, Constituent Assembly, freedom of speech, self-determination for national minorities

EVENTS:

  • Began 19 August 1920 – in small town Khitrovo – military detachment of Red Army seized everything they could and beat up elderly men
  • Peasant army = Blue Army
  • 40,000 – 70,000 peasants vs. 100,000 Red Army
  • Kaptevo village – repelled attacks of gov troops three times consecutively
  • Strength of rebels grew – troops sent to suppress them were not energised, retreated without a fight
  • Peasants marched on Tambov, villages along the road welcomed peasants with church bells, carried on gaining more people
  • 1st September – at Kuzminka, last station before Tambov
    • Bolshevik authorities were in a panic – but their aid arrived luckily
    • Insurgents forced to retreat from Tambov

RESULTS:

  • Bolsheviks won
  • 240,000 dead in total
  • Red Army used heavy artillery and armoured trains
    • Engaged in execution of civilians
  • 7 concentration camps set up – 50,000 interned, each month 15-20% of inmates died
  • BUT gov had to make concessions – 2 Feb 1921 – end of requisitioning, replaced with tax on grain and other food stuff

How did the Communist Party become more centralised?

  • Politburo – 7-9 people making key decisions
  • Communist Party members vote for Party Congress members, who vote for Central Committee, who vote for Politburo
  • Politburo overtook Sovnarkom as decision making body
  • Democratic centralism
  • Local Communist organisations took control of soviets – obeying party orders
  • 1919 – Central Committee put trusted nominees to key positions in soviets

Why did the Communists want a centralised state?

  • Collapse of industry
    • Essential to keep industry going to fight Civil War
    • Industry nationalised – under control of Vesenkha
    • Autumn 1919 – 80% of industry under government control
  • Civil War
    • Decisions need to be quickly
    • Soviet system is not fast enough, Politburo (7-9 people) = quicker
  • Railways
    • Unions dominated by Men’s – not reliable
    • Railways are key – need to be taken under direct control
  • Peasants
    • Unwilling to supply grain to cities
    • Directorate needed to organise collection and distribution of food

Impact of Civil War on Communist Party:

  • 1919 – party purged of undesirables
    • 1920-1922 – new recruits (mainly peasants)
    • Joined to improve life chances
    • More prepared to follow orders
  • Increased centralisation
  • Communist base in proletariat workforce lost
    • Now in bureaucracy/civil war
    • Not many still in factories
  • Decreased debate and discussion
    • Need for unity
    • 1921 – Decree on Party Unity
  • Increased centralisation justified by crises of civil war and state of economy
    • Red Army – military discipline instilled in many members
  • Authoritarian and centralised party – members follow instructions
    • Either by discipline or want for promotion
    • Concentrated decision making
    • Saw itself as having exclusive right to lead
    • Detached itself from proletariat – workers seen as uncultured

BAN ON FACTIONS:

  • Groups e.g., Worker’s Opposition, Democratic Centralists emerged
  • Lenin called for unity
  • 1921 – Tenth Party Congress – Lenin = Decree on Party Unity
    • When a decision is made, must be accepted by all
    • Penalty for factionalism = expulsion from party

NOMENKLATURA:

  • List of 5,000 key, vacant posts
  • Holders of posts only appointed by central bodies
  • Loyalty>expertise – tightened one party state, elite people in key posts

NEW ECONOMIC POLICY – March 1921-1928:

  • Lenin introduced it as a temporary, emergency measure
    • Economic concessions to avoid political concessions
  • Some party members hated NEP – fierce debate at 10th Party Congress (1921)
    • Seemed to undo revolution
    • Capitalist ideas
    • Final persuasion = Kronstadt rebellion
      • Desire for party unity – behind Lenin

Features of NEP:

  • Grain requisitioning abolished
    • ‘Tax in kind’
    • Fixed proportion of grain to state – less than what was taken away
    • Surplus could be sold on market
  • Small businesses reopened
    • Could reopen and make a profit
    • G., small workshops, factories that made small goods like nails, shoes etc.
    • Lenin realised peasants wouldn’t sell grain unless there were products to buy
  • Ban on private trade removed
    • Food and goods could move between towns and cities easier
    • Rationing abolished
  • State control of heavy industry
    • G. coal, steel, oil, transport, banking
    • Industry into trusts – had to pay workers from own budgets

Why did Lenin introduce NEP?

  • Kronstadt rebellion
  • Tambov rebellion
  • War Communism was failing, needed a replacement
  • Economic concessions needed – stabilise economy, increase agricultural and industrial output
  • Worker’s Opposition – needed to be suppressed
    • Economic liberalism justifies political dictatorship
    • Decree on Party Unity
  • War Communism was no longer necessary – Civil War was over
  • Lenin was perhaps shocked by famine

Economic recovery

  • By 1923 – cereal production increased by 23% compared to 1920
  • From 1920-1923 – factory output doubled – BUT from a low base
  • Coal production
    • 1913 – 29 mill tons
    • 1921 – 8.9 mill tons
    • 1926 – 27.6 mill tons
  • Nepmen – people that over-benefitted from NEP
    • Bought up produce from villages, and goods from workshops
    • Sold them in markets and to the peasants in market stalls
    • Turned into larger shops eventually
    • 1923 – Nepmen handled ¾ of retail trade
  • Lots of corruption
    • Nepmen lavishly displayed wealth
    • Gaming clubs/brothels, prostitution and crime flourished
  • Moscow municipal government got most of its money from gambling clubs

Problems

  • Uneven progress
    • Northern and eastern regions = faster than southern and western regions
    • Speed of agricultural recovery>speed of industrial recovery
  • Nepmen – made money from labour of others
    • Most people did not benefit from it – money soaked up by Nepmen
    • New bourgeoisie class emerged
  • Peasants hid grain and herds to avoid tax
    • Richer peasants (kulaks) had to pay more tax
      • They hid their grain/herds – means gov takes less tax
    • Government only getting 80% of grain they should – procurement crisis
  • Inefficient farming – three field rotational system (1/3 of land is unused), strip farming system – technical innovation is lacking, can’t use machinery
    • Mass production is impossible – but Comms needed it to recover industry
  • Scissors crisis
    • 1923 – too much grain into cities – price of grain dropped
    • Meanwhile industrial prices up due to inefficient factories
    • So, peasants stopped selling – so price goes back up, because they can’t buy anything – so there is no point selling
    • Causes problems for the economy
  • Procurement crises – related to scissors crisis
    • 1925-28
    • 1925 = good harvest, but peasants hold onto grain to increase prices
      • Food shortages again
    • Stalin used this to show kulaks = class enemies
      • Made way for idea, collectivisation
    • Urals Siberian method – quotas for grain for rich and middle peasants, fines and forced labour if not met – beginning of class war

Who was to blame for failures of NEP?

  • Communists believed it was kulaks
    • 1925 – local congress elections in countryside – teachers/kulaks were elected not Communists
      • Mainly just because they respected them – promised to do things
      • Community ties are stronger than Communist state ties
    • Only 23 million out of 150 million peasants were Communist

Political impacts of NEP:

  • Placated opposition e.g. Kronstadt, Tambov, Worker’s Opposition
  • Controversial – emergency (new idea needed quickly) and capitalist
  • Split party ideologically – Bukharin etc. for, Trotsky etc. against
    • Used by Stalin as a pawn in his rise to power

Social impacts of NEP:

  • Harsh discipline
  • Peasant revolts crushed
  • 1922 – censorship used – prevent more criticism of government
    • Glavlit – pre-publication censorship board
  • GPU – 1922 – replaced Cheka
    • Arrested and punished Nepmen
  • Political prisons expanded
  • Church attacks
    • 1921 – Union of the Godless – challenge Church
    • 1922 – strip churches of valuable items, imprisoned thousands of priests
  • Show trials of clergy and SRs – 11 SR leaders executed
  • Universities lost autonomy

Dealt with economy – less harsh measures required after end of Civil War

  • Capitalism back
  • 1922 – new rouble reintroduced, stabilised economy
  • Encouraged production, rewarded hard work
    • 1923 – NEP responsible for 75% of all retail trade
  • Initially worked, by 1926 – economy almost back at 1913 levels, food available

Grain Requisitioning:

Peasants’ grain was requisitioned in order to distribute it to the cities to feed workers. This built on socialisation o land decree feb – 1918.

The Food Supplies Dictatorship was set up in May 1918 to organise the requisitioning of peasants’ grain to feed the Red Army and workers in the cities.

Peasants were supposed to be paid a fixed price for their grain, but low value vouchers were often offered instead (to be exchanged to money at a later date).

Peasants opposition to requisitioning meant a key feature of war communism was violent repression. The Cheka had to be used extensively to make the policy work at all.

Worst hit for grasping fists – kulaks – who made personal wealth from their farming – labelled enemies of the people & sometimes their entire stock – seized. Poor and moderately poor were slightly better and treated regarded as allies of urban proletariat, but the requisition measures brought misery to rural areas and many peasants resisted –hid supplies – but soldiers often searched these out and any who informed against those that were hiding grain were given half of any grain discovered. Peasants also reacted by growing less and, ordering members of the requisitioning squads. The Cheka had to be used extensively to make the policy work at all.