AS FP2 : Economic and Social Developments, State Capitalism and War Communism Flashcards
(17 cards)
Conceptual Awareness
What are the features of a capitalist economy?
- Minimal government intervention
- Private ownership
- Profit motivation
- Competiton
- Gap between living standards of rich and poor.
Conceptual Awareness
What are the features of a Communist Economy?
- State control of nearly all asoects of the economy
- Fixed wages
- Abolition of private ownership
- Classless and moneyless society
- Command economy
Why did Lenin introduce State Capitalism?
Lenin knew that the Bolsheviks would have to manage the existing economic structure before a socialilst economy could be implemented. Many Bolsheviks disagreed with Lenin, demanding radical policies such as the nationalisation of businesses and the abolition of money. However, Lenin didn’t want to move too quickly.
State Capitalism
What were the features of State Capitalism?
- Nationalisation of the Banks (December 1917), external trade (June 1918) and the railways (June + September 1918).
- Establishment of Vesenka (December 1917) as the Supreme Council of National Economy
- Established GOLERO in 1920, to organise the production and distribution of electricity throughout Russia.
State Capitalism
What did State Capitalism do?
These measured provided partial state control of the economy and represented a compromise with previous economic practice.
State Capitalism
What were the problems of State Captialism?
Shortcomings of decrees on land and industry quickly became apparent.
Workers failed to organise their factories efficiently and output shrank at a time when it was most needed ; some workers gave themselves unsustainable pay rises and others helped themselves to stock and equipment.
Lack of successful management while the Civil War brought further disrupment and a shortage of raw material that caused output in Bolshevik controlled areas to plummet.
Conditions during the Civil War
What were the economic conditions during the Civil War?
- Industrial production fell back drastically as disrupted communications meant that raw materials were in short supply.
- Workers were conscripted into the army and non-essential businesses were forced to close.
- Rampant inflation
- Peasants didn’t sell their surplus as money had become worthless resulting in a return to subsitence farming.
Conditions during the Civil War
What were the conditions in the cities during the Civil War?
- Cities faced severe food shortages, fuel shortages and a lack of basic neccessities
- People stripped their own houses for wood to burn
- Blockade of trade in 1918 resulted in a return to the 50g bread ration in petrograd.
- 2/3 of food consumed in cities came from the Black Market. Authorities couldn’t stamp out this practice as there was no other alternative if people were to survive.
Conditions during the Civil War
What was the effect on the population?
- Workers left the city in search of food, 60 percent of Petrograd’s workforce had left by April 1918.
- Between January 1917 and January 1919, the Urban proletariat had declined from 3.6 million to 1.4 million.
Conditions during the Civil War
How many people died during the Civil War?
- 5 million people died dur to starvation and disease, the death in action toll was roughly 350,000.
- Typhus epidemic in 1920 killed 3 million, there was a scarcity of soap and medicine and few doctors left after the attack on the Bourgeoisie.
Conditions during the Civil War
How many times did Kiev change hands during the Civil War?
Kiev changed hands 10 times during the Civil War.
War Communism
What did Micheal Lynch say about the decision to implement war communism?
“Lenin judged that the white meance could only be met with an intensification of authority in the regions that the Reds controlled. The change in economic strategy was to be seen, therefore, as part of the terror that the Bolsheviks operated in these years. Every aspect of life had to be subordinated to the task of winning the Civil War.”
War Communism
What was War Communism?
The whole country was to be treated as one giant factory so that the problems of supply, demand and distribution could be disregarded.
War Communism
What was Grain Requistioning?
Peasant grain was requisitioned in order to distriubute it to the cities to feed the workers, it was built on the socialisation of land decree in February 1918 and a Food Supplies Dictatorship thwt was set up in May 1918 to organise it.
- Soldiers and Cheka siezed grain and offered inadequate food vouchers in return, livestock and firewoord disappeared leaving the peasants scarcely enough to live one.
- Kulaks were named enemies of the people and their entire stocks were seized.
- Cheka used intensley to make it work and peasants often murdered officials.
War Communism
How did Lenin react to the opposition to requistioning?
In August 1918 the people’s commissar for food issued the following orders : “every food requisitioning detachment is to consist of not less that 75 men and two or three machine guns.” In 1920, Lenin ordered for 100 Kulaks to be publically hanged in order to terrify the population for “hundreds of miles around”.
War Communism
Describe the nationalisation of industry under War Communism?
The nationalisation of Foreign Trade and all industries was carried out.
Sugar nationalised in May 1918, Oil in June and by November 1918 nationalisation was extended to nearly all factories and businesses.
- Military style control of the railway
- Professional Managers were employed by the state to reimpose labout and discipline to increase output.
- Small businesses suffered.
War Communism
Describe labour discipline and rationing under the Bolsheviks.
- Strikes forbidden
- Working hours exteneded
- Ration Cards workbooks replaced wages
- Fines imposed for slackness, lateness, absenteenism, while hard work could be rewarded by bonuses.
- Freedom of movement limited.
- Rationing recognised on a class basis - no rations for nobility, bourgeoisie or clergy.
