ECONOMIC + SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS

• State capitalism was a ' halfway house ' between socialism and capitalism

  • SOCIALISM - Degree of state control for economy
  • CAPITALISM - Private markets + Profit incentive
• Did Lenin want a short or long transition to communism?

  Long
• STATE CONTROL

  • Nationalisation of banks (1917) + railways (1918)
  • Set up of Vesenkha (1917) - managed Russia's economy
  • Set up of GOELRO (1920) - Organised production + distribution of electricity
• STATE CAPITALISM PROBLEMS

  • Many Bolsheviks did not like policy - Wanted state to control all parts of the economy - radical change
  • Peasants controlling selling of grain = ↑ prices - ↑ wages for workers
  • Workers taking over factories - gave themselves ↑ pay rise + some stole stock
• The Decree on Workers Control of Factories allowed workers to ' supervise ' managers
• CITY + COUNTRYSIDE CONDITIONS - CIVIL WAR

  • ↓ INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION - Fighting delayed supplies - Workers went to countryside/join Red Army - proletariat ↓ - 3.6 mil to 1.4 - No product so peasant didn't sell grain
  • COUNTRYSIDE FIGHTING - Peasants better off than urban workers - could grow food but villages attacked
  • CITY FOOD SHORTAGES - Treaty of Brest - Litovsk - agricultural regions lost - Trade blockades from foreign powers - no grain - 1918 bread ration = 50 g a day - bought food from black market
• Did around 5 or 8 million people die from disease and starvation in the Civil war?

  5
• WAR COMMUNISM

  • Primarily ensured Red Army had enough food and weapons
  • More socialist than state capitalism
• WAR COMMUNISM - NATIONALISATION

  • November 1920 - most factories + businesses were nationalised
  • Private trade = banned
  • Railways under military control
• GRAIN REQUISITIONING

  • May 1918 - Organisation of requisitioning of peasants grain to feed Red Army
  • Peasant meant to be paid fixed price but low value vouchers given instead
  • Cheka used force to make the policy work
• LABOUR DISCIPLINE + RATIONING

  • Strikes = forbidden + working hours = extended - no more Decree on Workers Control of Factories
  • Strict discipline - Fines for lateness + slackness
  • Wages replaced with ration-card workbooks
  • Rations given out on class status - peasants given more
• Did the bourgeoisie or the Red Army get the most rations?

  Red Army
• Did factory workers or the bourgeoisie get the least rations?

  Bourgeoisie
• What were wealthy peasants called?

  Kulaks
• WAR COMMUNISM EFFECTS - COUNTRYSIDE FAMINE

  • Kulaks suffered the worst - entire stocks seized - Peasants with little land treated better
  • Requisitioning - greatly ↓ grain supply - peasants ate own livestock used to farm - Sowed less grain to protest
  • 1921 Harvest produced only 48 % of 1913s harvest - widespread famine - starvation
  • Population ↓ - 1913 = 170.9 million - 1921 - 130.9 mil
• DEPOPULATED CITIES

  • Workers went on strike as factories closed + fled to the countryside
  • 1921 - Industrial output = 20 % of pre-war levels - rations = cut
  • 1920 - Petrograd population ↓ by 57.5 % + Moscow ↓ by 44.5 % from 1917
• RED TERROR - coercion + imposition

  • Trigger = assassination attempt on Lenin - August 1918 by the SRs
  • Cheka rounded up political threats - around 500000 executed
  • Also targeted possible counter revolutionaries eg ' former ' bourgeoisie
• TAMBOV REVOLT

  • Peasant revolt - August 1920 - army of 70000 men -revolt spread over south east Russia - until June 1921
  • 100000 Red Army soldiers brutally crushed revolt
• KRONSTADT RISING

  • 30000 sailors at Kronstadt naval base revolted - food rationing
  • Supported Bolsheviks in October Revolution but opposed dictatorship
  • Red Army used to stop uprising - 15000 rebels imprisoned + leaders shot
  • Caused Bolshevik divisions - Some believed leadership = authoritarian + far from ' all power to the soviets '
• What does the NEP stand for?

  New Economic Policy
• Was the NEP introduced in March or May 1921?

  March
• The NEP was to fix the issues of war communism and recover the economy
• Did Lenin allow a vote on whether the NEP should be introduced or not?

  No
• NEP FEATURES

  • COUNTRYSIDE

  1. Requisitioning + Ban on private trade = ended
  2. Peasants still gave grain quota to the state but sold surplus produce

  • CITIES

  1. Small scale industries = private but not large-scale (oil + coal)
  2. Rationing ended
  3. Industries paid workers out of their profits - Workers paid according to amount of work done
• NEP - ECONOMIC IMPACT

  • Private Businesses ↑ quickly - cities regained services eg shops
  • Agricultural production ↑ quickly - peasants grew more to earn more
  • Surplus of food grown - ↓ in food prices - manufactured products still = ↑ prices - risk of peasants hoarding grain
  • ' Scissors crisis ' - grain quota → money tax - industrial product price = capped
  • Nepmen helped get economy moving - hated as representatives of capitalism
• What were private traders known as?

  Nepmen
• NEP - POLITICAL + SOCIAL IMPACT

  • ' Ban on factions ' - 1921 - No disagreeing after decision of BCC or expelled from party
  • Menshevik + SR parties = banned in 1921 - 1000s = arrested
  • Cheka given more power - Crackdown on Nepmen to stop moves to full capitalism
  • Censorship ↑ + church under pressure - 1000s of priests = arrested
  • Nomenklatura system - 1923 - Had to show complete loyalty - considered for promotion in party
• What were the Cheka renamed after 1922?

  GPU
• Was the NEP leaning more towards socialism or capitalism?

  Capitalism