Russia - economy

Question 1

the three main policies which kick-started Lenin’s original economic policy

Answer 1

1917

• land decree - abolished private land
• workers’ decree - placed control of factories in lands of workers
• all banks nationalised - became ‘people’s bank of the Russian republic’

Question 2

results of Lenin’s three main policies

Answer 2

• gave significant power to workers and peasants but damaged the economy
• workers’ councils voted for pay rises - resulting in stagnating productivity and inflation

Question 3

why was war communism introduced

Answer 3

introduced during cilvil war - needed to supply Red Army with food

• collapse of Russia currency - replaced with bartering - seen by some bolsheviks as a sign of liberation from capitalism - actually caused by raging inflation
• all companies with 10+ workers were nationalised
• industry under control of vesenkha - earlier policies allowed workers control - needed good economy in civil war
• inherited tsar’s economy - state of near collapse
• hopes communist ideology could be converted into meaningful policy

Question 4

key features of war communism

Answer 4

• harsh military style discipline in factories - punishment for striking was death
• all private trading banned
• forcible requisitioning of food - 150,000 volunteers used - malnutrition and starvation became common

Question 5

results of war communism

Answer 5

• disaster to soviet econ
• by 1921 industrial production was only 20% of 1913 level
• food production 48% of 1913 level in 1921
• over 20 million died from famine or disease

Question 6

why was NEP introduced

Answer 6

• economy trashed - industrial production 20% of level in 1913 in 1921
• war communism not for post war situation - many soldiers resettled
• war communism unpopular - rationing, hierarchical systems in factories
• tambov 1920 - against requisitioning of grain - took 50,000 Red Army troops to shut it down
• Kronstadt mutiny 1921

Question 7

key features of NEP

Answer 7

• end to requisitioning grain from peasants - no collective farms
• peasants allowed to sell remains food for profit
• small scale industry to private hands - govt still controls heavy industry, banks, transport
• bonuses introduced in factories
• Nepmen occurred - those who benefitted from NEP - debate on if NEP suitable for communist state or not - step back from communism - grow econ then make revolution secure

Question 8

results of NEP

Answer 8

• output rose rapidly in first three years of NEP

- black market flourished - unregulated prostitution - theft became common

Question 9

Trotsky’s ‘scissors crisis’

Answer 9

• as agricultural goods prices rose, price of industrial goods fell
• discouraged growth from peasants - no guarantee of good price when crops were ready to harvest

Question 10

reasons Stalin dropped Lenin’s NEP

Answer 10

• command econ would remove Nepmen and kulaks - had become richer under NEP
• enable Stalin to target the right of the party

Question 11

first five year plan

Answer 11

1928-32

• to industrialise
• ‘socialism in one country’ - USSR would modernise and industrialise utilising the resources within the state
• industrialisation directed by Gosplan