The NEP and Comintern Flashcards
What did the NEP end?
Ended war communism by creating a mixed economy
What were some of the key policies of the NEP?
2 peasents, 1 expectation, 2 industry, 1 financial
Farming was left to the free market.
Grain requisitioning was ended and replaced with a quota/tax (could sell the surplus).
Expectation that towns would be fed again.
Small factories and workshops were denationalised.
But state kept control of large-scale heavy industry, banks and transport.
Money was reintroduced and rationing ended.
What effect did the NEP have on agriculture?
Recovered quickly.
A grain tax of was introduced, allowing the peasants to sell the rest of a profit.
Ending requisitioning was popular with the peasants.
Free trade encourages peasants to grow more therefore ending the famine.
Kulak class re-emerged and villages that cooperated with the NEP were rewarded with goods.
…. however, scissor crisis
How effective was the NEP have on industry?
Lenin authorised a major electrification campaign which revived an industry which had effectively been destroyed by civil war but industrial recovery was very slow
What was grain production like in 1921 v 1924?
1921 = 37.61 million tonnes produced 1924 = 51.4 million tonnes produced
What was economic growth like in 1921 v 1925?
1921= 2004 million roubles 1925 = 4660 million roubles
What was one major problem with war communism?
Led to further food shortages so millions died of malnourishment and population dropped from 170.9 million in 1913 to 130.9 million by 1921
What was the scissor crisis?
During the NEP there was a widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices reaching a peak in October 1923 where industrial prices were 276 percent of their 1913 levels, while agricultural prices were only 89 percent
Lack of industrial goods for peasants to buy in exchange threatened to make peasants hold back supplies
Who was the red terror partly aimed at?
How were they punished?
Political enemies - the Cheka rounded up the remaining SRs, Mensheviks.
Rather than imprisoning them, they were often shot (estimates of numbers executed 1918-20 = about 1/2 a million but official records show only a fraction of this.
What else was the Cheka given the task of during the Red terror?
How were they punished?
Carrying out class warfare, (excuse = bourgeoise guilty of counter-revolution) An intense campaign = arrests, imprisonment and execution.
Who were the victims of class warfare?
Victims came from all levels of society e.g. peasants and workers of all ages.
Used to frighten all sections of society into compliance.
What did the Bolsheviks set up during the Red terror?
A system of labour and concentration camps - no accurate records of prisoners or deaths in these camps under Lenin.
What was Gosplan and when was it introduced?
State General Planning Commission to help coordinate economic development.
Formally established by a Sovnarkom decree in February 1921 to advise on the NEP which Lenin formally announced at the 10th party congress in March 1921.
Who was Lenin supported by with the introduction of the NEP?
Bukharin, Zinoviev and most of the leadership but since he knew many Bolsheviks would see the NEP as an ideological betrayal so he didn’t permit a vote on the measure
What impacts did the NEP have on the economy?
Private businesses quickly reopened and service industries began to thrive in cities e.g. shops.
Money started to flow more freely and industrial production recovered from civil war ( larger sate owned industries grew more slowly than small businesses)
What had begun to appear by 1923 under the NEP?
An imbalance in the economy as the large quantities of food and factories were taking longer to rebuild and expand their output = Argi prices dropped, industry prices rose.
Who were active in getting the economy moving again under the NEP and how?
Why were they unpopular and why were they tolerated?
Private traders - by 1925 there were 25,000 private traders in Moscow alone.
These ‘Nepmen’ where responsible for 75% of trade but were hated by many Bolsheviks.
They were representatives of capitalism.
(hostility heightened by their flaunting of their wealth e.g. indulging in gambling and not adverse to corruption but they were tolerated as long as taxes were paid)
Was the NEP an economic success?
Didn’t solve the fundamental problems of the Soviet economy which still had many backwards features compared with advanced countries
By Lenin’s death in 1924, the economy was much more secure than it had been under war communism
How did Lenin and Zinoviev ( one member of the politburo who had worked out the policy) justify the ideological retreat under the NEP?
‘One step back, two steps forward’, tried to appease the discontent by stating that the NEP was only temporary - a tactical retreat necessary to enable the party to stay in power (compared to treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
How did Lenin retain repression and vigilance at the time of the NEP?
Cheka renamed GPU in 1922, became even more powerful and vigilant.
Renewed attack on religion - 1921 the Union of the Militant Godless was set up and churches were stripped of valuable possessions (similar to Henry VIII in Tudors) and thousands of priests imprisoned with some executed
When and why was the Comintern established?
March 1919 to promote worldwide revolution
What did Lenin want to create through the Comintern?
Communist parties abroad that would be loyal to Moscow and whose purpose was to overthrow foreign governments.
What did the Soviet Union sign in 1922?
An agreement with Germany - ‘The Rapallo treaty’
What were the main terms of the Rapallo treaty?
Both countries agreed to cooperate in a spirit of mutual good will in meeting both countries economic needs
The re-establishment of diplomatic relations between R and G
Russia provide Germany with military training ground and resources
Russia allowed special trading rights in Germany
