Problems leading to NEP

Question 1

Wages were at what level in 1919 compared to 1913?

Answer 1

2% of 1913 levels by 1919

Question 2

Why did the food crisis persist through war communism?

Answer 2

Since peasants reverted to subsistence farming following the brutal grain requisitioning methods. They had no incentive to produce more food

Question 3

What proportion of income was spent on average on food as prices rose?

Answer 3

75%

Question 4

What occurred in 1920 which exacerbated the socio-economic situation of Russia? What was the death toll of such an event? How did 14 million stay alive through this?

Answer 4

Drought caused a famine. 5 million died and a further 14 million were dependent on an American food relief agency.

Question 5

What proportion of the grain harvest yield in 1913 was it by 1921?

Answer 5

48%

Question 6

When was the Tambov uprising? Who led the force of 70,000?

Answer 6

August 1920 to June 1921. Led by Alexander Antonov.

Question 7

Which pillars of Bolshevik rule were overrun during the uprising in the Tambov region?

Answer 7

Tambov red forces, the soviets and the Cheka

Question 8

Besides the Tambov uprising, where else did notable peasant rebellions take place and when?

Answer 8

Ufa - February 1920
Kazan - October 1918
South Western Siberia - 1920 and 1921

Question 9

Which diseases were raging at the end of the civil war?

Answer 9

Typhus, cholera, dysentery and influenza

Question 10

Why did factories not receive the necessary materials they needed by 1921?

Answer 10

Since the transport system had sustained much damage through the World War and Civil War. Likewise, rebellions and strikes inhibited the provision of goods to factories.

Question 11

To what proportion of pre-war levels did industrial output fall to by 1921?

Answer 11

20%

Question 12

To what proportion of 1912 levels did finished goods output fall to by 1921?

Answer 12

16%

Question 13

Which key sectors had much lower production by 1921?

Answer 13

Mining, oil, cotton, wool and metal

Question 14

What was Petrograd’s population in 1914? In 1920?

Answer 14

1914 -2.2m

1920 - 0.6m

Question 15

What happened to the birth and death rates over the course of the civil war?

Answer 15

Birth rates lowered

Death rates increased

Question 16

When was the bread ration cut by 1/3 in many cities?

Answer 16

22nd January 1921

Question 17

Why was it difficult for the Bolsheviks to deal with civil unrest?

Answer 17

As their soldiers were unwilling to fire on the crowds

Question 18

How much did inflation increase on average per month 1921?

Answer 18

20%

Question 19

What flaw in Marxist ideology, particularly supported by Trotsky, was revealed by the Russian communist revolution?

Answer 19

That the revolution in Russia did not go on to spark other socialist revolutions in Europe or the rest of the world

Question 20

What approach did Trotsky want to adopt to the workers after the war?

Answer 20

He wanted to increase the militarised control of them further by making trade unions agencies of the state and by turning the Red Army into a militarised labour force to build socialism via coercion.

Question 21

What approach did Kamenev and Zinoviev favour to rule Russia?

Answer 21

A socialist coalition instead of a one party state

Question 22

Summarise the events of the Kronstadt rising

Answer 22

Groups of workers were striking in Petrograd in early 1921. In February, thousands of them went to the Kronstadt naval base and linked up with the sailors and workers there. They demanded better conditions for workers. A group of political commissars attempted to pacify them but failed. The base created a Revolutionary Committee which produced a manifesto and increased their demands. General Tukhachevsky was sent to crush the uprising with 60,000 red troops and cheka members and succeeded despite heavy fighting from the rebel workers.

Question 23

What were the main demands of the Kronstadt manifesto?

Answer 23

• Freedom of speech, press and assembly
• An end to the one party state
• The stopping of grain confiscation
• The withdrawal of political commissars from factories
• Rights for trade unions

Question 24

What occurred to surviving rebels after the rising? How did Lenin justify this?

Answer 24

They were hunted down and executed by the Cheka. Lenin justified this through claiming that they were White counter-revolutionaries

Question 25

Why was the Kronstadt rising a key impetus for the NEP?

Answer 25

Since the Kronstadt naval base had been a key area of support for the Bolshevik cause in the past - they took part in the July Days and the October Revolution. Consequently, their wavering support for the Bolsheviks showed the party that they needed to make concessions and reforms before they grew too unpopular and unstable.