Russia 1918-24

• War communism


  Centralised planning approach introduced by the Bolsheviks in June 1918 to ensure the Red Army had supplies, more socialist than state capitalism as it banned private trade
• Key features of war communism

  • Nationalisation of factories and businesses
  • Banning of private trade and manufacture
  • Railways placed under military-style control
  • Grain requisitioning from peasants
  • Strict labour discipline and rationing
• War communism helped the Bolsheviks win the war but created as many problems as it solved
• Harsh grain requisitioning


  Reduced grain supplies to dangerously low levels, leading to famine
• By 1921, industrial output was just 20% of pre-war levels and rations had to be cut
• The Tambov peasant revolt against grain requisitioning was brutally crushed by the Red Army
• The Kronstadt sailors, previously Bolshevik supporters, rebelled in 1921 against the Bolshevik one-party dictatorship and use of terror
• New Economic Policy (NEP)


  Introduced in 1921 to stabilise the Russian economy, allowing some private enterprise and trade
• Features of the NEP

  • Grain requisitioning replaced by a tax in kind
  • Restoration of private trade and small-scale private enterprise
  • Profit incentives for industry
• The NEP, along with the end of the Civil War, helped stabilise the Russian economy
• Private businesses and agriculture recovered quickly under the NEP, but manufacturing output remained low
• The Red Terror was a period of intense political repression by the Bolsheviks against perceived opponents, including the Tambov revolt and Kronstadt rising
• The Bolsheviks introduced state capitalism as a 'halfway house' to socialism
• State capitalism was replaced with war communism, which went much further towards full socialism
• War communism reduced food supply and industrial production
• The Red Terror was a new period of intense political repression
• The NEP was introduced to get the economy moving again
• The NEP was regarded by many Bolsheviks as a retreat back to capitalism
• Lenin ordered a crackdown on any kind of opposition within the Party
• A ban on 'factions' was introduced in 1921
• The Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary parties were banned in 1921 and thousands of their members were arrested
• The Cheka (renamed the GPU in 1922) was given more power to root out possible counter-revolutionaries
• There was a crackdown on Nepmen to try to suppress any moves from the NEP towards full capitalism
• Censorship was increased and the Church came under more pressure, with thousands of priests arrested
• The nomenklatura system was introduced in 1923, where only those showing complete loyalty to the Party were considered for promotion