Reasons for adopting the new economic policy. Years of NEP, reasons for the introduction of the new economic policy, its essence and historical facts
After the Civil War and the policy of “war communism,” the economy of Soviet Russia fell into decay: the state’s gold reserves disappeared in an unknown direction, harvest volumes decreased sharply, some enterprises were destroyed, others closed due to lack of fuel, and others served only military needs. The industrial crisis led to about 1 million workers flocking to the villages.
By 1921, a famine occurred in the country, which claimed the lives of about 5 million people. Dissatisfied with the current situation, the proletarians and military went out to anti-Bolshevik demonstrations. It was obvious that the young state was in dire need of economic reforms.
As a result, on March 8, 1921, at the X Congress of the Russian Communist Party (RCP), it was decided to temporarily abandon communist principles. The country introduced a New Economic Policy (NEP), allowing private entrepreneurship and even attracting foreign capital.
Postcard from the time of the New Economic Policy. Photo: Public Domain
First of all, within the framework of the NEP, instead of food appropriation, a tax in kind was introduced, which was half as much: if previously up to 70% of grain was confiscated from peasants, then under the new rules - only 30%. It was assumed that in the future the tax in kind would be reduced to 10%. It was set before the start of the sowing season and could not be increased. Peasants could sell the remaining grain after paying the tax: free trade was legalized in the state. For farmers, this was a strong incentive to produce more.
In addition to the food appropriation system, the decree on the complete nationalization of industry was canceled: from now on, private individuals could own small enterprises and lease large ones from the state. Moreover, since 1923, the right to use state-owned enterprises was granted to foreign companies; the creation of concessions involving foreign capital, joint ventures, and mixed joint-stock companies was allowed. During the NEP, there were more than 100 concession agreements with foreigners.
Another milestone of the New Economic Policy was the monetary reform, which introduced Soviet chervonets backed by gold. At that time, more than five American dollars were given for one chervonets. At the same time, until 1924, the issue of Soviet banknotes continued, which were subsequently replaced by treasury notes, copper and silver coins. Currency reform helped the Soviet government end the budget deficit.
The NEP reforms also affected the rights of ordinary workers: forced labor was abolished in the state, a labor market was introduced, and cash wages were restored. New economic policies increased the number of workers.
“The task of the transition to a new economic policy is that after the experience of direct socialist construction in unheard of difficult conditions, in conditions of civil war, in conditions when the bourgeoisie imposed forms of fierce struggle on us, in the spring of 1921 the situation became clear to us: not direct socialist construction, but a retreat in a number of areas of the economy to state capitalism is not an assault attack, but a very difficult, difficult and unpleasant task of a long siege associated with a number of retreats. This is what is necessary in order to approach the solution of the economic issue, that is, ensuring the economic transition to the foundations of socialism,” said the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars Vladimir Lenin in October 1921.
Results of the NEP
Thanks to the NEP, the Soviet state managed to overcome the crisis in a short time and restore industry and agriculture. Already in the fall of 1922, hunger was overcome, private stores began to open, and food appeared on their shelves. When the Bolsheviks decided to introduce the New Economic Policy, it was seen as a temporary measure, as it was contrary to the ideas of communism. After a while, Vladimir Lenin said that “NEP is serious and long lasting.”
Over the years of the NEP, the welfare of the rural population has increased: an increase in land allotment has made it possible to sell a large part of agricultural products and increased the share of middle peasants. By 1923, the acreage had returned to pre-revolutionary levels. By 1927, the pre-war level of production in livestock farming had been achieved. The country's macroeconomic indicators returned to pre-war levels in 1928.
It is worth understanding that the successes of the NEP are largely due to the restoration effect: after the war, industrial and agricultural capacities were easily restored. But at the end of the 1920s, the reforms began to fail: reserves dried up, and for further economic growth, huge sums were required for the development of the agricultural sector and the modernization of production. It was not possible to attract foreign capital.
One after another, crises began in the country. Industrial goods became much more expensive, and peasants who were not interested in overpaying simply began to hide grain, selling only the amount that was provided for by the tax in kind.
In 1926-1927 There was a grain procurement crisis. Then 30 thousand party members were sent to the villages to carry out explanatory work. First in Siberia with a light hand Joseph Stalin criminal liability was introduced for peasants hiding goods, then this method was extended throughout the country, but it did not give the expected effect. In April 1929, ration cards for bread were introduced; by the end of the year, the system extended to all food, and then to industrial goods.
It was obvious that the New Economic Policy had outlived its usefulness. At the end of the 1920s, the first Five-Year Plan was announced, and the country embarked on the path of collectivization and planned industrialization. The NEP was officially ended on October 11, 1931.
NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP)(1921-1929)
NEP is a policy of the Soviet government, under which all enterprises of one industry were subordinate to a single central management body - the main committee (head office). Changed the policy of “war communism”. The transition from “war communism” to the NEP was proclaimed by the X Congress of the Russian Communist Party in March 1921. The initial idea of the transition was formulated in the works of V.I. Lenin 1921-1923: the ultimate goal remains the same - socialism, but the situation in Russia after the civil war dictates the need resort to a “reformist” method of action in fundamental issues of economic construction. Instead of a direct and complete breakdown of the old system to replace it with a new socio-economic structure, carried out during the years of “war communism”, the Bolsheviks took a “reformist” approach: not to break the old socio-economic structure, trade, small farming, small business, capitalism, but carefully and gradually master them and gain the opportunity to subject them to government regulation. In Lenin's last works, the concept of NEP included ideas about the use of commodity-money relations, all forms of ownership - state, cooperative, private, mixed, self-financing. It was proposed to temporarily retreat from the achieved “military-communist” gains, to take a step back in order to gain strength for the leap to socialism.
Initially, the framework of the NEP reforms was determined by the party leadership by the extent to which the reforms strengthened its monopoly on power. The main measures taken within the framework of the NEP: surplus appropriation was replaced by a food tax, followed by new measures designed to interest broad social strata in the results of their economic activities. Free trade was legalized, private individuals received the right to engage in handicrafts and open industrial enterprises with up to a hundred workers. Small nationalized enterprises were returned to their former owners. In 1922 the right to lease land and use hired labor was recognized; The system of labor duties and labor mobilizations was abolished. Payment in kind was replaced by cash, a new state bank was established and the banking system was restored.
The ruling party carried out all these changes without abandoning its ideological views and command methods of managing socio-political and economic processes. “War communism” gradually lost ground.
For its development, the NEP needed the decentralization of economic management, and in August 1921 the Council of Labor and Defense (SLO) adopted a resolution to reorganize the central administration system, in which all enterprises of the same branch of industry were subordinate to a single central management body - the main committee (main committee). The number of branch headquarters was reduced, and only large industry and basic sectors of the economy remained in the hands of the state.
Partial denationalization of property, privatization of many previously nationalized enterprises, a system of running the economy based on cost accounting, competition, and the introduction of leasing of joint ventures - all these are characteristic features of the NEP. At the same time, these “capitalist” economic elements were combined with coercive measures adopted during the years of “war communism.”
The NEP led to a rapid economic recovery. The economic interest that appeared among peasants in the production of agricultural products made it possible to quickly saturate the market with food and overcome the consequences of the hungry years of “war communism.”
However, already at the early stage of the NEP (1921-1923), recognition of the role of the market was combined with measures to abolish it. Most Communist Party leaders viewed the NEP as a “necessary evil,” fearing that it would lead to the restoration of capitalism. Many Bolsheviks retained “military-communist” illusions that the destruction of private property, trade, money, equality in the distribution of material goods lead to communism, and the NEP is a betrayal of communism. In essence, the NEP was designed to continue the course towards socialism, through maneuvering, social compromise with the majority of the population, to move the country towards the party’s goal - socialism, although more slowly and with less risk. It was believed that in market relations the role of the state was the same as under “war communism,” and that it should carry out economic reform within the framework of “socialism.” All this was taken into account in the laws adopted in 1922 and in subsequent legislative acts.
The admission of market mechanisms, which led to economic recovery, allowed the political regime to strengthen. However, its fundamental incompatibility with the essence of the NEP as a temporary economic compromise with the peasantry and bourgeois elements of the city inevitably led to the rejection of the idea of the NEP. Even in the most favorable years for its development (until the mid-20s), progressive steps in pursuing this policy were made uncertainly, contradictorily, with an eye to the past stage of “war communism.”
Soviet and, for the most part, post-Soviet historiography, reducing the reasons for the collapse of the NEP to purely economic factors, deprived itself of the opportunity to fully reveal its contradictions - between the requirements for the normal functioning of the economy and the political priorities of the party leadership, aimed first at limiting and then completely crowding out private manufacturer.
The country’s leadership’s interpretation of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the suppression of all those who disagree with it, as well as the continued adherence of the majority of the party’s cadres to the “military-communist” views adopted during the civil war, reflected the constant desire characteristic of communists to achieve their ideological principles. At the same time, the strategic goal of the party (socialism) remained the same, and the NEP was seen as a temporary retreat from the “war communism” achieved over the years. Therefore, everything was done to prevent the NEP from going beyond limits dangerous for this purpose.
Market methods of regulating the economy in NEP Russia were combined with non-economic methods, with administrative intervention. The predominance of state ownership of the means of production and large-scale industry was the objective basis for such intervention.
During the NEP years, the party and state leaders did not want reforms, but were concerned that the private sector would gain an advantage over the public sector. Fearful of the NEP, they took measures to discredit it. Official propaganda treated the private trader in every possible way, and the image of the “NEPman” as an exploiter, a class enemy, was formed in the public consciousness. Since the mid-1920s, measures to curb the development of the NEP were replaced by a course towards its curtailment. The dismantling of NEPA began behind the scenes, first with measures to tax the private sector, then depriving it of legal guarantees. At the same time, loyalty to the new economic policy was proclaimed at all party forums. On December 27, 1929, in a speech at a conference of Marxist historians, Stalin stated: “If we adhere to the NEP, it is because it serves the cause of socialism. And when it ceases to serve the cause of socialism, we will throw the new economic policy to hell.”
At the end of the 20s, considering that the new economic policy had ceased to serve socialism, the Stalinist leadership discarded it. The methods by which it curtailed the NEP indicate the difference in the approaches of Stalin and Lenin to the new economic policy. According to Lenin, with the transition to socialism, the NEP will become obsolete in the course of the evolutionary process. But by the end of the 20s there was no socialism in Russia yet, although it had been proclaimed, the NEP had not outlived its usefulness, but Stalin, contrary to Lenin, made the “transition to socialism” by violent, revolutionary means.
One of the negative aspects of this “transition” was the policy of the Stalinist leadership to eliminate the so-called “exploiting classes”. During its implementation, the village “bourgeoisie” (kulaks) were “dekulakized”, all their property was confiscated, exiled to Siberia, and the “remnants of the urban bourgeoisie” - entrepreneurs engaged in private trade, crafts and the sale of their products (“NEPmen”), as well as their family members were deprived of political rights (“disenfranchised”); many were prosecuted.
NEP (details)
In the extreme conditions of the civil war, the internal policy pursued by the Soviet government was called “war communism.” The prerequisites for its implementation were laid by the widespread nationalization of industry and the creation of a state apparatus to manage it (primarily the All-Russian Council of the National Economy - VSNKh), the experience of military-political solutions to food problems through committees of the poor in the countryside. On the one hand, the policy of “war communism” was perceived by part of the country’s leadership as a natural step towards the rapid construction of market-free socialism, which supposedly corresponded to the principles of Marxist theory. In this they hoped to rely on the collectivist ideas of millions of workers and poor peasants who were ready to divide all property in the country equally. On the other hand, it was a forced policy, caused by the violation of traditional economic ties between city and countryside, and the need to mobilize all resources to win the civil war.
The internal situation in the Soviet country was extremely difficult. The country is in crisis:
Political- in the summer of 1920, peasant uprisings broke out in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces (as they were called - “kulak rebellions”) - Antonovism. Peasants' dissatisfaction with surplus appropriation grew into a real peasant war: Makhno's detachments in Ukraine and Antov's “peasant army” in the Tambov region numbered 50 thousand people at the beginning of 1921, the total number of detachments formed in the Urals, Western Siberia, Pomerania , in the Kuban and Don, reached 200 thousand people. On March 1, 1921, the sailors of Kronstadt rebelled. They put forward the slogans “Power to the Soviets, not parties!”, “Soviets without communists!” The rebellion in Kronstadt was eliminated, but peasant uprisings continued. These uprisings were not an accident.” In each of them, to a greater or lesser extent, there was an element of organization. It was contributed by a wide range of political forces: from monarchists to socialists. These disparate forces were united by the desire to take control of the emerging popular movement and, relying on it, to eliminate the power of the Bolsheviks;
Economic- The national economy was fragmented. The country produced 3 percent of pig iron; oil was produced 2.5 times less than in 1913. Industrial production fell to 4-2 percent of 1913 levels. The country lagged behind the United States in iron production by 72 times, in steel by 52 times, and in oil production by 19 times. If in 1913 Russia smelted 4.2 million tons of pig iron, then in 1920 it was only 115 thousand tons. This is approximately the same amount as was received in 1718 under Peter I;
Social- Hunger, poverty, unemployment were raging in the country, crime was rampant, and child homelessness was rampant. The declassification of the working class intensified, people left the cities and went to the countryside so as not to die of hunger. This led to a reduction in the number of industrial workers by almost half (1 million 270 thousand people in 1920 versus 2 million 400 thousand people in 1913). In 1921, about 40 provinces with a population of 90 million were starving, of which 40 million were on the verge of death. 5 million people died from hunger. Child crime, compared to 1913, has increased 7.4 times. Epidemics of typhoid, cholera, and smallpox raged in the country.
Immediate, most decisive and energetic measures were needed to improve the situation of the working people and increase the productive forces.
In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (b), a course towards a new economic policy (NEP) was adopted. This policy was introduced seriously and for a long time.
The purpose of adopting the NEP was aimed at:
To overcome the devastation in the country, restore the economy;
Creating the foundation of socialism;
Development of large industry;
Displacement and liquidation of capitalist elements;
Strengthening the alliance of the working class and peasantry.
“The essence of the new economic policy,” said Lenin, “is the union of the proletariat and the peasantry, the essence lies in the union of the avant-garde, the proletariat, with the broad field of peasants.”
The ways to accomplish these tasks were:
All-round development of cooperation;
Widespread encouragement of trade;
The use of material incentives and economic calculations.
Replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind (the peasant could sell the remaining products after paying the tax in kind at his own discretion - either to the state or on the free market);
Introduction of free trade and circulation;
Allowance of private small trade and industrial enterprises, while maintaining the leading industries (banks, transport, large-scale industry, foreign trade) in the hands of the state;
Permission to rent concessions, mixed companies;
Providing freedom of action to state-owned enterprises (introducing self-financing, self-financing, product sales, self-sufficiency);
Introduction of material incentives for workers;
Elimination of rigid sectoral formations of an administrative nature - headquarters and centers;
Introduction of territorial - sectoral management of industry;
Carrying out monetary reform;
Transition from in-kind to cash wages;
Streamlining the income tax (income tax was divided into basic, which was paid by all citizens except pensioners, and progressive - paid by NEPmen, privately practicing doctors, and all those who received additional income). The greater the profit, the greater the tax. A profit limit was introduced;
Permission to hire labor, rent land, enterprises;
Revival of the credit system - the State Bank was recreated, a number of specialized banks were formed;
The introduction of the NEP caused a change in the social structure and way of life of people. The NEP provided organizational economic freedom to people and gave them the opportunity to show initiative and entrepreneurship. Private enterprises were created everywhere in the country, self-financing was introduced at state enterprises, a struggle arose against bureaucracy and administrative-command habits, and culture improved in all spheres of human activity. The introduction of a tax in kind in the countryside made it possible for the broad development of agriculture, including strong owners, who were later called “kulaks.”
The most colorful figure of that time was the new Soviet bourgeoisie - the “NEPmen”. These people largely defined the face of their era, but they were, as it were, outside of Soviet society: they were deprived of voting rights and could not be members of trade unions. Among the Nepmen, the old bourgeoisie had a large share (from 30 to 50 percent, depending on their occupation). The rest of the Nepmen came from among Soviet employees, peasants and artisans. Due to the rapid turnover of capital, the main area of activity of the Nepmen was trade. Store shelves began to quickly fill with goods and products.
At the same time, criticism of Lenin and the NEP as a “disastrous petty-bourgeois policy” was heard throughout the country.
Many communists left the RCP (b), believing that the introduction of the NEP meant the restoration of capitalism and a betrayal of socialist principles. At the same time, it should be noted that, despite partial denationalization and concessions, the state retained at its disposal the most powerful sector of the national economy. Basic industries remained completely outside the market - energy, metallurgy, oil production and refining, coal mining, defense industry, foreign trade, railways, communications.
Important points of the new economic policy:
The peasant was given the opportunity to truly become a master;
Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs were given freedom of development;
Monetary reform, the introduction of convertible currency - the chervonets - stabilized the financial situation in the country.
In 1923, all types of natural taxation in the countryside were replaced by a single agricultural tax in cash, which, of course, was beneficial to the peasant, because allowed, at one’s own discretion, to maneuver crop rotation and determine the direction of development of one’s farm in terms of growing certain crops, raising livestock, producing handicrafts, etc.
On the basis of the NEP, rapid economic growth began in the city and countryside and a rise in the living standards of the working people. The market mechanism made it possible to quickly restore industry, the size of the working class and, most importantly, increase labor productivity. By the end of 1923 year it more than doubled. By 1925, the country had restored the destroyed national economy.
The New Economic Policy made it possible:
Economic relations between city and countryside;
Development of industry based on electrification;
Cooperation based on the country's population;
The widespread introduction of cost accounting and personal interest in the results of labor;
Improving government planning and management;
The fight against bureaucracy, administrative and command habits;
Improving culture in all spheres of human activity.
Showing a certain flexibility in economic policy, the Bolsheviks had no doubts or hesitations in strengthening the control of the ruling party over the political and spiritual life of society.
The most important instrument in the hands of the Bolsheviks here were the bodies of the Cheka (from the 1922 congress - the GPU). This apparatus was not only preserved in the form in which it existed during the era of the civil war, but also developed rapidly, surrounded by the special care of those in power, and more and more fully embraced state, party, economic and other public institutions. There is a widespread opinion that the initiator of these repressive and fiscal measures and their implementer was F.E. Dzerzhinsky, in fact, this is not so. Archival sources and research by historians allow us to note that at the head of the terror was L.D. Trotsky (Bronstein), who, as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, and then the People's Commissar of the Military and Naval Affairs, had punitive bodies unaccountable to the party that administered their justice and reprisals, were in his hands a valid means of usurping power and establishing a personal military-political dictatorship in the country.
During the years of the NEP, many legally published newspapers and magazines, party associations and other parties were closed, and the last underground groups of right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were liquidated.
Through an extensive system of secret employees of the Cheka-GPU, control was established over the political sentiments of civil servants, workers and peasants. Particular attention was paid to kulaks and urban private entrepreneurs, as well as the intelligentsia. At the same time, it should be noted that the Soviet government sought to involve the old intelligentsia in active labor activity. Specialists in various fields of knowledge were provided with more tolerable living and working conditions compared to the general population.
This was especially true for those who were in one way or another connected with strengthening the scientific, economic and defense potential of the state.
The transition to the NEP contributed to the return of emigrants to their homeland. For 1921-1931 181,432 emigrants returned to Russia, of which 121,843 (two thirds) - in 1921,
However, the class approach remained the main principle of building government policy towards the intelligentsia. If opposition was suspected, the authorities resorted to repression. In 1921, many representatives of the intelligentsia were arrested in connection with the Petrograd Combat Organization case. Among them there were few scientific and creative intellectuals. By decision of the Petrograd Cheka, 61 of those arrested, including the prominent Russian poet N.S. Gumilyov, were shot. At the same time, remaining in the position of historicism, it should be noted that many of them opposed the Soviet regime, involving in public and other organizations, including military and combat organizations, all those who did not accept the new system.
The Bolshevik Party is heading towards the formation of its own socialist intelligentsia, devoted to the regime and serving it faithfully. New universities and institutes are opening. The first workers' faculties (workers' faculties) were created at higher educational institutions. The school education system also underwent radical reform. It ensured continuity of education, from preschool institutions to universities. A program to eliminate illiteracy was proclaimed.
In 1923, the voluntary society “Down with Illiteracy” was established, headed by the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin. By the end of the 1920s, about 40 percent of the population could read and write (versus 27 percent in 1913), and a decade later the figure was 80 percent.
During the years of the NEP, the literary and artistic life of Soviet Russia was distinguished by its diversity and abundance of various creative groups and movements. In Moscow alone there were over 30 of them.
The NEP made it much easier for the USSR to break through the economic blockade, enter international markets, and gain diplomatic recognition.
In just 5 years - from 1921 to 1926. the index of industrial production increased more than 3 times, agricultural production increased 2 times and exceeded the level of 1913 by 18 percent. But even after the end of the recovery period, economic growth continued at a rapid pace: in 1927, 1928. the increase in industrial production was 13 and 19 percent, respectively. In general, for the period 1921-1928. the average annual growth rate of national income was 18 percent.
Monetary reform played an important role in the restoration of the national economy and its further development. At the beginning of 1924, the Soviet government stopped issuing unstable banknotes. Instead, a gold-backed chervonets was introduced into circulation. This contributed to the stabilization of the Soviet ruble and the strengthening of the country's financial system.
An important point during the years of the new economic policy was that impressive economic successes were achieved on the basis of fundamentally new social relations, hitherto unknown to history. The private sector emerged in industry and commerce; some state-owned enterprises were denationalized, others were leased out: private individuals were allowed to create their own industrial enterprises with no more than 20 employees (later this “ceiling” was raised). Among the factories rented by private owners there were those that employed 200-300 people, and in general the private sector during the NEP period accounted for from 1/5 to 1/4 of industrial output and 40-80 percent of retail trade. A number of enterprises were leased to foreign firms in the form of concessions. In 1926-1927, there were 117 existing agreements of this kind. They covered enterprises that employed 18 thousand people and produced just over one percent of industrial output.
In industry, key positions were occupied by state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - by state and cooperative banks. The state put pressure on producers, forced them to find internal reserves for increasing production, to mobilize efforts to increase production efficiency, which alone could now ensure an increase in profits.
NEP Russia, whether it wanted it or not, created the basis of socialism. NEP is both a strategy and tactics of the Bolsheviks. “From NEP Russia,” said V.I. Lenin, “Russia will be socialist.” At the same time, V.I. Lenin demanded that we reconsider our entire point of view on socialism. The driving force of the NEP should be the working people, the alliance of the working class and the peasantry. The taxes paid by the Nepmen made it possible to expand the socialist sector. New plants, factories, and enterprises were built. In 1928, industrial production surpassed the pre-war level in a number of important indicators. Since 1929, the country has become a huge construction site.
NEP meant the economic competition of socialism with capitalism. But this was an unusual competition. It took place in the form of a fierce struggle of capitalist elements against socialist forms of economy. The struggle was not for life, but for death, according to the principle of “who will win.” The Soviet state had everything it needed to win the fight against capitalism: political power, commanding heights in the economy, natural resources. There was only one thing missing - the ability to run a household and trade culturally. Even in the first days of Soviet power, V.I. Lenin said: “We, the Bolshevik Party, convinced Russia. We won Russia - from the rich for the poor, from the exploiters for the working people. We must now govern Russia.” The matter of management turned out to be extremely difficult. This was also evident during the years of the New Economic Policy.
The priority of politics over economics, proclaimed by the Bolsheviks in the process of social development, introduced disruptions into the mechanisms of the NEP. During the NEP period, many crisis situations arose in the country. They were caused by both objective and subjective reasons.
First crisis in economics arose in 1923. It went down in history as a sales crisis. 100 million peasants who received economic freedom filled the city market with cheap agricultural products. To stimulate labor productivity in industry (5 million workers), the state artificially inflates prices for industrial goods. By the fall of 1923, the price difference was more than 30 percent. This phenomenon, at the instigation of L. Trotsky, began to be called “scissors” of prices.
The crisis threatened the “link” between city and countryside and was aggravated by social conflicts. Workers' strikes began in a number of industrial centers. The fact is that the loans that enterprises previously received from the state were closed. There was no way to pay the workers. The problem was complicated by rising unemployment. From January 1922 to September 1923, the number of unemployed increased from 680 thousand to 1 million 60 thousand.
At the end of 1923 - beginning of 1924, prices for industrial goods were reduced by an average of more than 25 percent, and in light industry serving the mass consumer - by 30-45 percent. At the same time, prices for agricultural goods were increased almost 2 times. Much work has been done to improve state and cooperative trade. In May 1924, the People's Commissariat of Domestic and Foreign Trade was created. 30-year-old A.I. Mikoyan, the youngest People's Commissar of the USSR, was appointed to this post.
The economic crisis at this time is closely intertwined with the intensification of the struggle for power within the party due to the illness of the leader, V.I. Lenin. The fate of the country was influenced by internal party discussions that covered a wide range of issues: about worker and party democracy, bureaucracy and the apparatus, about the style and methods of leadership.
Second crisis arose in 1925. It brought new economic problems and difficulties. If during the recovery period the country immediately received a return in the form of agricultural and industrial goods, then during the construction of new and expansion of old enterprises, the return came after 3-5 years, and the construction paid off even longer. The country still received few goods, and wages had to be paid to workers regularly. Where can I get money backed by goods? They can be “pumped out of the village by raising prices for manufactured goods, or they can be printed further. But raising prices for manufactured goods did not mean getting more food from the village. The peasantry simply did not buy these goods, leading a subsistence economy; His incentive to sell bread became less and less. This threatened to reduce the export of bread and the import of equipment, which, in turn, in turn, hampered the construction of new and expansion of old industries.
In 1925-1926 got out of difficulties due to foreign currency reserves and allowing state sales of alcohol. However, there was little prospect of the situation improving. In addition, in just one year, unemployment in the country, due to agrarian overpopulation, increased by a thousand people and amounted to . 1 million 300 thousand.
Third crisis NEP was associated with industrialization and collectivization. This policy required the expansion of planned principles in the economy, an active attack on the capitalist elements of the city and countryside. Practical steps to implement this party line led to the completion of the reconstruction of the administrative-command system.
Collapsing NEP
Until recently, scientists disagreed regarding the end of the NEP. Some believed that by the mid-30s the tasks set for the new economic policy had been solved. The New Economic Policy “ended in the second half of the 1930s. victory of socialism. Nowadays, the beginning of the NEP restrictions dates back to 1924 (after the death of V.I. Lenin). V.P. Danilov, one of the most authoritative researchers of the agrarian history of Russia, believes that 1928 was the time of transition to the frontal scrapping of the NEP, and in 1929 it was finished. Modern historians A.S. Barsenkov and A.I. Vdovin, the authors of the textbook “History of Russia 1917-2004,” connect the end of the NEP with the beginning of the first five-year plan.
History shows that the assumption of multi-structure and the determination of the place of each of these structures in the socio-economic development of the country occurred in an atmosphere of intense struggle for power between several party groups. In the end, the struggle ended in victory for the Stalinist group. By 1928-1929 she mastered all the heights of the party and state leadership and pursued an openly anti-NEP line.
The NEP was never officially cancelled, but in 1928 it began to wind down. What did this mean?
In the public sector, planned principles of economic management were introduced, the private sector was closed, and in agriculture a course was taken to eliminate the kulaks as a class. The collapse of the NEP was facilitated by internal and external factors.
Domestic:
Private entrepreneurs have strengthened economically, both in the city and in the countryside; The restrictions on profits introduced by the Soviet government reached their maximum. The experience of socio-political development shows: whoever has a lot of money wants power. Private owners needed power to remove restrictions on making profits and to increase them;
The party's policy of collectivization in the countryside aroused resistance from the kulaks;
Industrialization required an influx of labor, which only the countryside could provide;
The peasantry demanded the abolition of the foreign trade monopoly, claiming access to the world market, and refused to feed the city under conditions of low purchase prices for agricultural products, primarily grain;
In the country, dissatisfaction with the everyday behavior of the “Nepmen” was becoming more and more acute among the general population, who staged revelries and various entertainments in full view.
External:
The aggressiveness of capitalist states against the USSR increased. The very fact of the existence of the Soviet state and its successes aroused the furious hatred of the imperialists. International reaction aimed to disrupt the industrialization that had begun in the USSR at any cost and to create a united front of capitalist powers for anti-Soviet military intervention. An active role in anti-Soviet politics during this period belonged to the British imperialists. It is enough to note that W. Churchill, an outstanding politician of that time, repeatedly noted that we did not leave Soviet Russia out of our attention for a single day, and constantly directed efforts to destroy, at any cost, the communist regime. In February 1927, an attack was organized on the Soviet plenipotentiary mission in London and Beijing, and the plenipotentiary representative in Poland P.L. was killed. Voikova;
The Kuomintang government of China in 1927 suspended diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and closed all Soviet diplomatic missions.
In 1929, emergency measures to limit the free sale of bread were legalized. Priority sale of grain under government obligations is established. Already in the second half of 1929, partial expropriation of the kulaks began. The year 1929 was essentially decisive in the rejection of the NEP. The year 1929 went down in the history of the USSR as the “Year of the Great Turning Point.”
In the early 30s, there was an almost complete displacement of private capital from various sectors of the economy. The share of private enterprises in industry in 1928 was 18%, in agriculture - 97%, in retail trade - 24%, and by 1933 - 0.5%, 20% and zero, respectively.
After seven years of the First World War and the Civil War, the country's situation was catastrophic. It has lost more than a quarter of its national wealth. There was a shortage of basic food products.
According to some reports, human losses since the beginning of the First World War from combat, hunger and disease, “red” and “white” terror amounted to 19 million people. About 2 million people emigrated from the country, and among them were almost all representatives of the political, financial and industrial elite of pre-revolutionary Russia.
Until the fall of 1918, huge supplies of raw materials and food were carried out, according to peace terms, to Germany and Austria-Hungary. Retreating from Russia, the invaders took with them furs, wool, timber, oil, manganese, grain, and industrial equipment worth many millions of gold rubles.
Dissatisfaction with the policy of “war communism” became more and more evident in the villages. In 1920, one of the most massive peasant insurgent movements unfolded under the leadership of Antonov - “Antonovshchina”.
Dissatisfaction with the Bolshevik policies also spread in the army. Kronstadt, the largest naval base of the Baltic Fleet, “the key to Petrograd,” rose up in arms. The Bolsheviks took emergency and brutal measures to eliminate the Kronstadt rebellion. A state of siege was introduced in Petrograd. An ultimatum was sent to the Kronstadters, in which those who were ready to surrender were promised to spare their lives. Army units were sent to the walls of the fortress. However, the attack on Kronstadt launched on March 8 ended in failure. On the night of March 16-17, the 7th Army (45 thousand people) under the command of M.N. moved across the already thin ice of the Gulf of Finland to storm the fortress. Tukhachevsky. Delegates from the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b), sent from Moscow, also took part in the offensive. By the morning of March 18, the performance in Kronstadt was suppressed.
The Soviet government responded to all these challenges with the NEP. It was an unexpected and strong move.
History.RF: NEP, infographic video
HOW MANY YEARS LENIN GAVE NEP
The expression “Seriously and for a long time.” From the speech of the Soviet People's Commissar of Agriculture Valerian Valerianovich Osinsky (pseudonym of V.V. Obolensky, 1887-1938) at the X Conference of the RCP (b) on May 26, 1921. This is how he defined the prospects for the new economic policy - NEP.
The words and position of V.V. Osinsky are known only from the reviews of V.I. Lenin, who in his final speech (May 27, 1921) said: “Osinsky gave three conclusions. The first conclusion is “seriously and for a long time.” And also; “seriously and for a long time - 25 years.” I'm not such a pessimist."
Later, speaking with a report “On the internal and foreign policy of the republic” at the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets, V. I. Lenin said about the NEP (December 23, 1921): “We are pursuing this policy seriously and for a long time, but, of course, how right already noticed, not forever.”
It is usually used in the literal sense - thoroughly, fundamentally, firmly.
ABOUT REPLACEMENT OF PRODRAZAPERSTERY
The decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee “On replacing food and raw material allocation with a tax in kind”, adopted on the basis of the decision of the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) “On replacing appropriation with a tax in kind” (March 1921), marked the beginning of the transition to a new economic policy.
1. To ensure correct and calm management of the economy on the basis of more free disposal of the farmer with the products of his labor and his own economic means, to strengthen the peasant economy and raise its productivity, as well as to accurately establish the state obligations falling on farmers, appropriation as a method of state procurement food, raw materials and fodder, is replaced by a tax in kind.
2. This tax should be less than that imposed hitherto through appropriation. The amount of the tax should be calculated so as to cover the most necessary needs of the army, urban workers and the non-agricultural population. The total amount of the tax should be constantly reduced as the restoration of transport and industry allows the Soviet government to receive agricultural products in exchange for factory and handicraft products.
3. The tax is levied in the form of a percentage or share of the products produced on the farm, based on the harvest, the number of eaters on the farm and the presence of livestock on it.
4. The tax must be progressive; the percentage of deductions for the farms of middle peasants, low-income owners and for the farms of urban workers should be reduced. The farms of the poorest peasants may be exempt from some, and in exceptional cases from all types of tax in kind.
Diligent peasant owners who increase the sowing area on their farms, as well as increase the productivity of farms as a whole, receive benefits for the implementation of the tax in kind. (...)
7. Responsibility for fulfilling the tax is assigned to each individual owner, and the bodies of Soviet power are instructed to impose penalties on everyone who has not complied with the tax. Circular liability is abolished.
To control the application and implementation of the tax, organizations of local peasants are formed according to groups of payers of different tax amounts.
8. All supplies of food, raw materials and fodder remaining with farmers after they have fulfilled the tax are at their full disposal and can be used by them to improve and strengthen their economy, to increase personal consumption and for exchange for products of factory and handicraft industries and agricultural production. Exchange is allowed within the limits of local economic turnover, both through cooperative organizations and in markets and bazaars.
9. Those farmers who wish to hand over the surplus remaining to them after completing the tax to the state, in exchange for these voluntarily surrendered surpluses, should be provided with consumer goods and agricultural implements. For this purpose, a state permanent stock of agricultural implements and consumer goods is created, both from domestically produced products and from products purchased abroad. For the latter purpose, part of the state gold fund and part of the harvested raw materials are allocated.
10. Supply of the poorest rural population is carried out in the state order according to special rules. (...)
Directives of the CPSU and the Soviet government on economic issues. Sat. documents. M.. 1957. T. 1
LIMITED FREEDOM
The transition from “war communism” to the NEP was proclaimed by the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party on March 8-16, 1921.
In the agricultural sector, surplus appropriation was replaced by a lower tax in kind. In 1923‑1924 it was allowed to pay tax in kind in food and money. Private trade in surplus was allowed. The legalization of market relations entailed a restructuring of the entire economic mechanism. The hiring of labor in the village was facilitated, and land rental was allowed. However, tax policy (the larger the farm, the higher the tax) led to the fragmentation of farms. The kulaks and middle peasants, dividing farms, tried to get rid of high taxes.
The denationalization of small and medium-sized industry was carried out (transfer of enterprises from state ownership to private lease). Limited freedom of private capital in industry and trade was allowed. The use of hired labor was allowed, and the possibility of creating private enterprises became possible. The largest and most technically developed factories and plants united into state trusts that operated on self-support and self-sufficiency (“Khimugol”, “State Trust of Machine-Building Plants”, etc.). The state supply initially included metallurgy, the fuel and energy complex, and partly transport. Cooperation developed: consumer agricultural, cultural and commercial.
Equal wages, characteristic of the Civil War, were replaced by a new incentive tariff policy that took into account the qualifications of workers, the quality and quantity of products produced. The card system for distributing food and goods was abolished. The “ration” system has been replaced by a monetary form of wages. Universal labor conscription and labor mobilizations were abolished. Large fairs were restored: Nizhny Novgorod, Baku, Irbit, Kiev, etc. Trade exchanges opened.
In 1921-1924 financial reform was carried out. A banking system has been created: the State Bank, a network of cooperative banks, the Commercial and Industrial Bank, the Bank for Foreign Trade, a network of local communal banks, etc. Direct and indirect taxes have been introduced (trade, income, agricultural, excise taxes on consumer goods, local taxes), as well as fees for services (transport, communications, utilities, etc.).
In 1921, monetary reform began. At the end of 1922, a stable currency was released into circulation - the Soviet chervonets, which was used for short-term lending in industry and trade. Chervonets was provided with gold and other easily sold valuables and goods. One chervonets was equivalent to 10 pre-revolutionary gold rubles, and on the world market it cost about 6 dollars. To cover the budget deficit, the old currency continued to be issued - depreciating Soviet notes, which were soon replaced by the chervonets. In 1924, instead of Sovznak, copper and silver coins and treasury notes were issued. During the reform, it was possible to eliminate the budget deficit.
The NEP led to a rapid economic recovery. The economic interest that appeared among peasants in the production of agricultural products made it possible to quickly saturate the market with food and overcome the consequences of the hungry years of “war communism.”
However, already at the early stage of the NEP, recognition of the role of the market was combined with measures to abolish it. Most Communist Party leaders viewed the NEP as a “necessary evil,” fearing that it would lead to the restoration of capitalism.
Fearful of the NEP, the party and state leaders took measures to discredit it. Official propaganda treated the private trader in every possible way, and the image of the “NEPman” as an exploiter, a class enemy, was formed in the public consciousness. Since the mid-1920s. measures to curb the development of the NEP gave way to a course towards its curtailment.
NEPMANS
So what was he like, a NEP man of the 20s? This social group was formed by former employees of commercial and industrial private enterprises, millers, clerks - people who had certain skills in commercial activities, as well as employees of government offices at various levels, who initially combined their official service with illegal commercial activities. The ranks of the Nepmen were also replenished by housewives, demobilized Red Army soldiers, workers who found themselves on the street after the closure of industrial enterprises, and “downsized” employees.
In terms of their political, social and economic status, representatives of this stratum differed sharply from the rest of the population. According to the legislation in force in the 1920s, they were deprived of voting rights, the opportunity to teach their children in the same schools with children of other social groups, could not legally publish their own newspapers or promote their views in any other way, and were not conscripted into military service. army, were not members of trade unions and did not hold positions in the state apparatus...
The group of entrepreneurs who used hired labor both in Siberia and in the USSR as a whole was extremely small - 0.7 percent of the total urban population (1). Their incomes were tens of times higher than those of ordinary citizens...
Entrepreneurs of the 20s were distinguished by amazing mobility. M. Shaginyan wrote: “The Nepmen are leaving. They magnetize vast Russian spaces, moving around them at courier speed, now to the extreme south (Transcaucasia), now to the far north (Murmansk, Yeniseisk), often back and forth without respite” (2).
In terms of culture and education, the social group of “new” entrepreneurs differed little from the rest of the population and included a wide variety of types and characters. The majority were “nepmen-democrats,” as described by one of the authors of the 20s, “nimble, greedy, strong-willed and strong-headed guys” for whom “the air of the bazaar was more useful and profitable than the atmosphere of a cafe.” In the event of a successful deal, the “bazaar Nepman” “grunts joyfully,” and when the deal falls through, “from his lips comes a juicy, strong, like himself, Russian “word.” Here “mother” sounds in the air often and naturally.” “Well-bred Nepmen,” as described by the same author, “in American bowler hats and boots with mother-of-pearl buttons, made the same billion-dollar transactions in the twilight of a cafe, where subtle conversation was conducted on subtle delicacy.”
E. Demchik. “New Russians”, 1920s. Homeland. 2000, No. 5
The situation in Russia was critical. The country was in ruins. The level of production, including agricultural products, fell sharply. However, there was no longer a serious threat to Bolshevik power. In this situation, in order to normalize relations and social life in the country, at the 10th Congress of the RCP (b), it was decided to introduce a new economic policy, abbreviated as NEP.
The reasons for the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP) from the policy of war communism were:
- the urgent need to normalize relations between the city and the countryside;
- the need for economic recovery;
- problem of money stabilization;
- dissatisfaction of the peasantry with surplus appropriation, which led to an intensification of the insurrectionary movement (kulak rebellion);
- desire to restore foreign policy ties.
The NEP policy was proclaimed on March 21, 1921. From that moment on, food appropriation was abolished. It was replaced by half the tax in kind. He, at the request of the peasant, could be contributed both in money and products. However, the tax policy of the Soviet government became a serious limiting factor for the development of large peasant farms. While the poor were exempt from payments, the wealthy peasantry bore a heavy tax burden. In an effort to evade paying them, wealthy peasants and kulaks split up their farms. At the same time, the rate of fragmentation of farms was twice as high as in the pre-revolutionary period.
Market relations were again legalized. The development of new commodity-money relations entailed the restoration of the all-Russian market, as well as, to some extent, private capital. During the NEP period, the country's banking system was formed. Direct and indirect taxes are introduced, which become the main source of government revenue (excise taxes, income and agricultural taxes, fees for services, etc.).
Due to the fact that the NEP policy in Russia was seriously hampered by inflation and instability of monetary circulation, monetary reform was undertaken. By the end of 1922, a stable monetary unit appeared - the chervonets, which was backed by gold or other valuables.
An acute shortage of capital led to the beginning of active administrative intervention in the economy. First, administrative influence on the industrial sector increased (Regulations on State Industrial Trusts), and soon it spread to the agricultural sector.
As a result, the NEP by 1928, despite frequent crises provoked by the incompetence of new leaders, led to noticeable economic growth and a certain improvement in the situation in the country. National income increased, the financial situation of citizens (workers, peasants, as well as employees) became more stable.
The process of restoration of industry and agriculture was rapidly underway. But, at the same time, the gap between the USSR and the capitalist countries (France, the USA and even Germany, which lost the First World War) inevitably increased. The development of heavy industry and agriculture required large long-term investments. For the further industrial development of the country, it was necessary to increase the marketability of agriculture.
It is worth noting that the NEP had a significant impact on the culture of the country. The management of art, science, education, and culture was centralized and transferred to the State Commission for Education, headed by Lunacharsky A.V.
Despite the fact that the new economic policy was, for the most part, successful, after 1925 attempts to roll it back began. The reason for the collapse of the NEP was the gradual strengthening of contradictions between economics and politics. The private sector and a resurgent agriculture sought to provide political guarantees for their own economic interests. This provoked an internal party struggle. And the new members of the Bolshevik Party - peasants and workers who were ruined during the NEP - were not satisfied with the new economic policy.
Officially, the NEP was discontinued on October 11, 1931, but in fact already in October 1928, the implementation of the first five-year plan began, as well as collectivization in the countryside and accelerated industrialization of production.
By 1921, the Soviet leadership was faced with an unprecedented crisis that affected all areas of the economy. Lenin decided to overcome it by introducing the NEP (New Economic Policy). This sharp turn was the only possible way out of this situation.
Civil war
The Civil War complicated the situation for the Bolsheviks. The grain monopoly and fixed grain prices did not suit the peasantry. The exchange of goods also did not justify itself. The supply of bread to large cities was significantly reduced. Petrograd and Moscow were on the verge of famine.
Rice. 1. Petrograd children receive free lunches.
On May 13, 1918, a food dictatorship was introduced in the country.
It boiled down to the following provisions:
- the grain monopoly and fixed prices were confirmed, peasants were obliged to hand over surplus grain;
- creation of food detachments;
- organization of committees of the poor.
These measures led to the Civil War breaking out in the village.
Rice. 2. Leon Trotsky predicts a world revolution. 1918
The policy of “war communism”
In conditions of an irreconcilable struggle with the white movement, the Bolsheviks accept a series of emergency measures , called the policy of “war communism”:
- grain surplus appropriation according to class principles;
- nationalization of all large and medium-sized enterprises, strict control over small ones;
- universal labor conscription;
- ban on private trade;
- introduction of a card system based on class principles.
Peasant protests
The tightening of policies led to disappointment among the peasantry. The introduction of food detachments and committees of the poor caused particular anger. Increasing cases of armed clashes have led to mass uprisings:
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- Izhevsk-Votkinsk uprising in the Volga region (August-October 1918);
- “Grigorievshchina” in the south of Ukraine (May-July 1919);
- “Antonovschina” in the Tambov province (1920-1921).
Antonov's uprising in the Tambov province was called the “Russian Vendee” by analogy with the revolt of French peasants at the end of the 18th century.
Policy change
By the fall of 1920, the main hostilities of the Civil War had ended. The first priority was the transition to a peaceful path. The main economic reason for the transition to the NEP was the restoration of industry and agriculture.
The NEP eased the situation of the peasantry (the introduction of a tax in kind in March 1921) and gave some freedom to private capital. It was a temporary concession to capitalism to create a solid economic base.
Rice. 3. Collection of tax in kind in the city of Yegoryevsk. 1922
Briefly point by point, the reasons for the transition to the NEP were as follows:
- the surplus appropriation system did not justify itself, causing mass uprisings;
- the ban on private trade practically destroyed commodity-money relations;
- workers' control made most small and medium enterprises unprofitable;
- The class principle led to the dismissal of old specialists; there were simply no new ones.