Russia 1918-24

Cards (25)

  • 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