War Communism, New Economic Policy + The 5 Year Plans

• Lenin said that "Soviets and Electrification equals Communism". He wanted to modernise Russia to show this equation worked.
• Lenin abolished private ownership in 1917. He recognised the workers' control of factories.
• Workers' control of factories legitimised actions in cities and countrysides.
• Lenin increased state intervention for the workers because they weren't experienced enough. Production fell as a result.
• Peasants horded grain under heavy state intervention because fewer industrial goods were for sale.
• A basic human right that was necessary for the success of the Civil War was that workers and soldiers were fed. This began War Communism.
• Kulaks were mostly targeted by requisitioning squads because they had more grain to extract. They were "class enemies".
• Factories were nationalised in cities. Working hours were extended.
• Internal passports were issued to stop workers leaving cities for food.
• The Bolsheviks won the Civil War. They failed to increase factory production.
• Industrial output decreased 40% between 1914 and 1921.
• Peasants resisted food requisitioning in the countryside. They grew less grain.
• Many peasants destroyed their own livestock to survive in the countryside. Millions died partially because of this.
• Famine, disease and strikes had spread around the Soviet Union by 1922.
• Peasant revolts were widespread in Russia. The Kronstadt sailors revolt was significantly alarming for the government.
• Lenin appeared shaken after suppressing revolts. He announced the NEP in August 1921.
• Grain requisitioning ended under the NEP. Peasants were taxed on 20% of their grain.
• The state continued to control its "commanding heights" in the economy. This involved heavy industry.
• Private trade was allowed under the NEP for businesses. Only small businesses were allowed to trade privately.
• Economic recovery in the NEP was led by an increase in grain to cities. There was an end to unrest and revolts.
• Kulaks were revived. "NEPmen" emerged.
• Industrial production was slow under the NEP. Peasants held back grain as a result of a lack of consumer goods.
• Grain procurement increased 75% between 1926 and 1927.
• Stalin ordered grain seizures. He believed "large-scale farms of a collective type" was a solution to the grain crisis.
• Stalin announced the "Five-Year Plan" in December 1927. He believed the Soviet Union needed modernisation so it could catch up with the Western world.
• Stalin emphasised the importance of his Five-Year Plans by saying "either we do it or we shall be crushed".
• The Soviet Union became self-sufficient under the FYP. It planned to defend itself by building industries.
• The Soviet Union exported grain to pay for machinery. This emphasised Stalin's decree of "Socialism in One Country".
• Orlando Figes argued the NEP was an "ill-formatted attempt to redefine socialism".
• J.P. Netting argued the Soviet Union was "abundantly supplied" during the first FYP.
• Edward Acton stated the Soviet Union had "established a mighty industrial base" by 1941.