Summar
A populist policy bringing back some elements of capitalist practice and reversing the harsh effects of the War Communism policy, put in place against peasant resentment against Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Championed by the political right under Bukharin.
tag yourself i’m the lazy peasant
- grain requisitioning was abolished
- replaced by ‘tax in kind’
- still required peasants to turn over a portion of their harvest to the government, but much less than under requisitioning
- anything left over could be sold on the open market
- small businesses reopened
- because Lenin realised farmers wouldn’t sell their harvest without anything they wanted to buy in the market
- e.g. small workshops, factories making goods like shoes, nails, clothes
- private trade + profit/wealth accumulation now allowed ^3f15e7
- food and goods could now move easily between the countryside and cities
- privately owned shops reopened
- rationing was abolished – people bought food with their own money
- intended to motivate farmers to harvest more produce
- especially private trade and wealth accumulation being allowed
- why?
- for trade; excess produce could be sold + generate excess revenue for the state to spend
- to feed the people
- ==urban-class factory workers== were highly prioritised in Russia’s drive to become an industrial power
- BUT the state retained control of heavy industry
Sounds a lot like capitalism…
- people felt betrayed by the lack of change
- this felt like a return to the old methods, especially for die-hard communists
- the Bolsheviks were divided/polarised on this policy – a schism
- would later lead to the 1923 Nomenklatura system
- possible solutions?
- kill those who opposed you (comes a bit later)
- bribery (possible but unlikely – their passion for communism = they’re uninterested in money)
- WAR (no, we just finished a civil war)
- COMPROMISE (but how? the entire country and even the ruling party was so divided)
- 1921: Lenin said nah and simply BANNED FACTIONALISM, passing the measure during the Tenth Party Congress
- there were too many things going on (famine, revolts, Kronstadt mutiny) for them to fight among themselves
- factions = a group of people taking sides
- banning factionalism meant that once the Central Party Committee passed a measure, the rest of the party was expected to accept it
- the penalty for factionalism was ==expulsion from the party==
- there were too many things going on (famine, revolts, Kronstadt mutiny) for them to fight among themselves
- 👤 Stalin would later take advantage of this resentment + the ban on factionalism to claw his way to the top
Who was for/against the N.E.P.?
| Opposition | Proposition |
|---|---|
| Trotsky | Bukharin |
| Zinoviev | Rykov |
| Kamenev | Tomsky |
| Stalin |
Abandonment of N.E.P. under Stalin
- 1927-1928: Grain Procurement Crisis. (wikipedia)
- grain was no longer reaching urban centres
- Stalin took advantage of the crisis and blamed it on Bukharin’s kind treatment of peasants
- “the carrot doesn’t work! see! we need the stick!”
- KEY POINT: his decrying of the N.E.P. was a decrying of the right
- Bukharin had championed this policy
- this is the moment when he abandoned the right and moved to the lef
- Stalin skilfully manipulated the debate around the N.E.P. and came out on top