Lenin's Economic Policies

• Lenin accepted the peasants seizing control of land and the workers taking control of the factories.
• The State Capitalism policy was put in place as Lenin believed that Russia had to go through the capitalist epoch before socialism could be achieved.
• The demands of the Civil War and failure of State Capitalism led to the brutal policy of War Communism, during which squads requisitioned crops to feed the soldiers and workers.
• War Communism failed dramatically leading to a massive famine and even outbreaks of cannibalism.
• The NEP was the brainchild of Bukharin which saw the establishment of capitalist economics to encourage the production of food.
• The NEP proved successful as grain production increased markedly although there were some issues such as the "scissors crisis" when production of consumer goods failed to keep pace but otherwise it was a success.
• The NEP was however seen by many as abandoning communist principles.