Lenin's economic policies Flashcards
what did Lenin adopt in his first months in power in 1917-18 + what was this period of economic policy referred to
- Lenin adopted popular decrees that bought him time to consolidate control
- referred to as ‘state capitalism’
what did Lenin replace ‘state capitalism’ with + what was it
- War communism
- it was a coercive policy with the aim of ensuring the Red army had sufficient supplies to win the war
what was war communism replaced with
New economic policy in 1921
what problems did state capitalism bring
- Bolsheviks inherited an economy in a dire condition due to inflation and the rise of of unemployment
- expectations among the industrial workers and the peasantry that their grievances would be addressed
- left-wing Bolsheviks were calling for an instant transition to a fully socialist economy
what improvements did state capitalism bring
- decree on workers control pandered to the wishes of industrial workers by giving them a say on how their factories were run, but they couldn’t seize control of the factories
- limited and unsystematic programme of nationalism was implemented, e.g. the banking industry was taken over by the state
- peasantry was appeased by the decree of land which legitimised peasant land seizures
- much of the Russian industry remained under private ownership
what problems did Lenin’s government face as a result of the civil war and the treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- industrial output slumped
- acute food and fuel shortages
- peasantry were unwilling to sell their produce for worthless money and so cutting the supply of food to the cities
- desperate for food, urban workers deserted the cities in massive numbers and returned to their native villages
how much of its population did Petrograd lose between 1918-1920
lost three-quarters
what were the key features of war communism
- compulsory requisitioning to solve peasant grain requisitioning
- ban on private trade was designed to prevent peasants from supplying grain to middlemen who sold it on at inflated prices, led to a black market
- food was distributed on a strict rationing system in the cities
- large-scale industrial enterprises were put under direct state control in mid-1918 with smaller firms being nationalised later
- workers’ control in industry was ended and replaced by ‘one-man management’
what were the main aims of war communism
- ensure that the cities were fed
- industrial production was maximised
what was the overall effect of the introduction of the NEP
to create a mixed economy in Soviet Russia
what were the main features of the NEP
- compulsory grain requisitioning was replaced by a ‘tax in kind’
- private trading and private ownership of small-scale businesses was legalised
- ‘commanding heights’ of the economy remained under state control
- industries that remained under state control after 1921-22 were expected to trade at a profit
what were the economic results of the NEP
- it was introduced too late to prevent a major famine in the Black Earth region
- after 1921, the soviet economy recovered strongly and industrial output was rising sharply and grain production had bounced back
- the economic recovery was erratic and uncertain (eg scissor crisis)
- disagreements over the long-term economic strategy
what was the scissor crisis
- the price of food, which was plentiful, fell
- while the price of consumer and manufactured goods, relatively scare, rose
how many victims were there from the famine in the Black Earth region and how many were affected
- affected 25million people
- death toll reached approx 5million
what were the political results of the NEP
- tightening of the Bolsheviks political grip in Russia
- SRs and Mensheviks were suppressed
- The Cheka enlarged its network of concentration camps for political detainees
- renewed onslaught on the Orthodox Church as the bolsheviks claimed the church had refused to sell its treasures to aid famine victims
- ban on factions
