1921: Lenin & the Bolsheviks were on the edge of
disaster- with the civil war over, workers and
peasants expected to see an improvement in their
standard of living & an end to wartime policies
However, by the spring of 1921, economic conditions had
deteriorated & there was open revolt against the Bolshevik
government
Lenin was forced into making economic concessions in
his NEP to ensure the survival of the regime. The
economy recovered & the Bolsheviks were reprieved.
The NEP was accompanied by political repression & a
strengthening of the centralised 1-party state.
Key
features of
the NEP
Grain
requisitioning
abolished
Peasants had to give a fixed proportion of their grain to
the state, but the amount that they had to hand over
was much less than the amounts taken by
requisitioning. They could sell any surpluses on the open
market.
Small
businesses
reopened
Small-scale
businesses under
private
ownership=
allowed to reopen
& make a profit
Included businesses
like small workshops
& factories that made
products such as
shoes, nails & clothes.
Lenin realised that
peasants wouldn't
sell their produce
unless their were
goods that they
wanted on sale.
Ban on
private
trade
removed
Meant that food & goods could flow
more easily between the countryside
& the towns.
Privately owned shops
were reopened
Rationing was abolished & people had
to buy food & goods from their own
income
State control
of heavy
industry
The state kept
control of
large-scale heavy
industries like
coal, steel & oil
The state
also retained
control of
transport &
the banking
system
Industry was organised into trusts that they
had to buy materials & pay their workers from
their own budgets. If they failed to manage
their budgets efficiently, they couldn't expect
the state to bail them out
ROTCOM ( Requisitioning
stopped, Ownership of
small businesses allowed,
Trade ban lifted,
COMmanding heights of
industry with state
Immediate
Consolidation 1918
Establishing
One-Party
Control
The Second
All- Russian
Congrees of
25th October
1917
Trotsky was able to
manipulate a walk
out of all the
non-Bolshevik
parties
(Mensheviks and Social
Dermocrats who felt
that the Bolshevik
takeover was illegal)
left the Bolsheviks
in a clear majority
allowed Trotsky to claim the Bolsheviks=
taking power in the name of the Soviets &
honouring the pledge of "all power to the
Soviets"
Sovnarkom
The Council of the People's Commissar's
=the main instrument of
government
dominated by the
Bolsheviks
the Bolsheviks passed decrees
and other measures through
Sovnarkom to establish control
& order whilst the remainder
of Russia=gradually brought
under Bolshevik control
Land Decree
gave peasants the right to take over land and estates of the elites
land= no longer bought or rented- it belonged to the entire people
Workers' Control Decree
worker pressure for reform led to factory committees
controlling production, labour and finance
Rights of the People of
Russia Decree
self-determination for national minorities within Russia
Nationalisation of banks
Opposition press banned
Arrest of key political opponents
Politburo 1919
group of about 7 top communists
rapidly took precedence over the Sovnarkom
Constituent Assembly
calls for
democratically
elected govt. in
Russia
problem because Lenin & the
Bolsheviks as they had no desire
to share power with others.
had to hold elections otherwise they'd be
accused of being autocratic & dictorial
November 1918
elections for the
Constituent
Assembly held
Lenin= concerned by the
results of the election
determined that the Bolsheviks should rule alone
aware that other parties may not be willing to work with them
Mensheviks, S.Rs & other socialists didn't want the
Bolsheviks to rule on their own, preferred more power to the
Soviets in democratically elected & open bodies
As the Sovnarkom passed decrees throughout the
remainder of 1917, it became clear that they were
bypassing the Soviet.
The Constituent Assembly therefore showed it be a
serious threat as it represented theresults of free
electionns & therefore the views of the people