Terms

New Economic Policy (NEP). Reasons for the transition to NEP in Soviet Russia Reasons for NEP

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 happy with the new economic policy.

Officially, the NEP was discontinued on October 11, 1931, but in fact, already in October 1928, implementation of the first five-year plan began, as well as collectivization in the countryside and accelerated industrialization of production.

Introduction

When studying the history of the Soviet state, it is impossible not to pay attention to the period from 1920 to 1929.

To find a way out of the current economic crisis, not only the experience of other countries, but also the historical Russian experience can be useful. It should also be noted that the knowledge acquired empirically as a result of the NEP has not lost its significance today.

I made an attempt to analyze the reasons for the introduction of the NEP and solve the following problems: first, to characterize the purpose of this policy; secondly, to monitor the implementation of the principles of the NEP in agriculture, industry, finance and planning. Thirdly, by examining the material at the final stage of the NEP, I will try to find an answer to the question of why the policy, which had not exhausted itself, was replaced.

NEP- This is an anti-crisis program, the essence of which was to recreate a multi-structured economy while maintaining the “commanding heights” in politics, economics, and ideology in the hands of the Bolshevik government.

Reasons and prerequisites for the transition to the NEP

- A deep economic and financial crisis that has engulfed industry and agriculture.
- Mass uprisings in the countryside, performances in the cities, and armies at the front.
- The collapse of the idea of “introducing socialism through the elimination of market relations”
- The Bolsheviks' desire to retain power.
- Decline of the revolutionary wave in the West.

Goals:

Political: relieve social tension, strengthen social the base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants;

Economic: get out of the crisis, restore agriculture, develop industry based on electrification;

Social: without waiting for the world revolution, to ensure favorable conditions for building a socialist society;

Foreign policy: overcome international isolation and restore political and economic relations with other states.

The leading ideologists of the NEP, besides Lenin, were N.I. Bukharin, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, Yu. Larin.

By the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of March 21, 1921, adopted on the basis of the decisions of the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), the surplus appropriation system was abolished and replaced by a tax in kind, which was approximately half as much. Such a significant relaxation gave a certain incentive to the development of production for the war-weary peasantry.

The introduction of a tax in kind was not an isolated measure. The 10th Congress proclaimed the New Economic Policy. Its essence is the assumption of market relations. The NEP was seen as a temporary policy aimed at creating the conditions for socialism.

There was no organized tax or financial system in the country. There was a sharp drop in labor productivity and real wages of workers (even when taking into account not only the monetary part, but also supplies at fixed prices and free distributions).

The peasants were forced to hand over all their surpluses, and most often even part of the essentials, to the state without any equivalent, because there were almost no industrial goods. Products were forcibly confiscated. Because of this, mass protests by peasants began in the country.

From August 1920, the “kulak” rebellion, led by the Socialist-Revolutionary A. S. Antonov, continued in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces; a large number of peasant formations operated in Ukraine (Petliurists, Makhnovists, etc.); rebel centers arose in the Middle Volga region, on the Don and Kuban. West Siberian “rebels”, led by Socialist Revolutionaries and former officers, created armed formations of several thousand people in February-March 1921 and captured almost the entire territory

Tyumen province, the cities of Petropavlovsk, Kokchetav, etc., interrupting railway communication between Siberia and the center of the country for three weeks.

The decree on the tax in kind was the beginning of the elimination of the economic methods of “war communism” and a turning point towards the New Economic Policy. The development of the ideas underlying this decree was the basis of the NEP. However, the transition to the NEP was not seen as a restoration of capitalism. It was believed that, having strengthened its main positions, the Soviet state would subsequently be able to expand the socialist sector, displacing capitalist elements.

An important point in the transition from direct product exchange to a money economy was the decree of August 5, 1921 on the restoration of mandatory payment for goods sold by state bodies to individuals and organizations, incl. cooperative. For the first time, wholesale prices began to form, which were previously absent due to the planned supply of enterprises. The Price Committee was responsible for establishing wholesale, retail, and procurement prices and charges for the prices of monopoly goods.

Thus, until 1921, the economic and political life of the country took place in accordance with the policy of “war communism”, a policy of complete rejection of private property, market relations, absolute control and management by the state. Management was centralized, local enterprises and institutions had no independence. But all these fundamental changes in the country’s economy were introduced spontaneously, were not planned and were not viable. Such a harsh policy only worsened the devastation in the country. It was a time of fuel, transport and other crises, the decline of industry and agriculture, shortages of bread and food rationing. There was chaos in the country, strikes and demonstrations were constantly occurring. In 1918, martial law was introduced in the country. To get out of the disastrous situation created in the country after wars and revolutions, it was necessary to make fundamental socio-economic changes.

In 1921-1941. The economy of the RSFSR and the USSR went through two stages of development:

1921-1929 gg. - NEP period, during which the state temporarily moved away from total administrative-command methods and moved towards partial denationalization of the economy and the admission of small and medium-sized private capitalist activities;
1929-1941 gg. - the period of return to full nationalization of the economy, collectivization and industrialization, transition to a planned economy.

A significant change in the country's economic policy in 1921 was caused by:

b The policy of “war communism”, which justified itself in the midst of the civil war (1918 - 1920) , became ineffective during the country's transition to peaceful life;

b The “militarized” economy did not provide the state with everything necessary, forced unpaid labor was ineffective;

ь Agriculture was in an extremely neglected state; there was an economic and spiritual break between the city and the countryside, the peasants and the Bolsheviks;

ь Anti-Bolshevik protests by workers and peasants began across the country (the largest: “Antonovschina” - a peasant war against the Bolsheviks in the Tambuv province led by Antonov: the Kronstadt rebellion);

ь The slogans “For councils without communists!”, “All power to the councils, not parties!”, “Down with the dictatorship of the proletariat!” became popular in society.

With the continued preservation of “war communism”, labor conscription, non-monetary exchange and distribution of benefits by the state the Bolsheviks risked completely losing the trust of the majority of the masses - workers, peasants and soldiers who supported them during the civil war.

At the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921. There is a significant change in the economic policy of the Bolsheviks:

ь At the end December 1920 at the VIII Congress of Councils the GOELRO plan is adopted;

b B March 1921 at the Tenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a decision was made to end the policy of “war communism” and begin a new economic policy (NEP);

b Both decisions, especially on the NEP, were made by the Bolsheviks after heated discussions, with the active influence of V.I. Lenin.

GOELRO plan- The state plan for the electrification of Russia envisaged carrying out work to electrify the country within 10 years. This plan provided for the construction of power plants and power lines throughout the country; distribution of electrical engineering, both in production and in everyday life.

According to V.I. Lenin, electrification was supposed to be the first step to overcome the economic backwardness of Russia. The importance of this task was emphasized by V.I. Lenin's phrase: " Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country.". After the adoption of the GOELRO party, electrification became one of the main directions of the economic policy of the Soviet government. Back to top 1930s in the USSR as a whole, a system of electrical networks was created, the use of electricity was widespread in industry and in everyday life, in 1932s was launched on the Dnieper the first large power plant - Dneproges. Subsequently, the construction of hydroelectric power stations began throughout the country.

The first steps of NEP

1. Replacement of surplus appropriation in the countryside with tax in kind;

Prodrazverstka is a system of procurement of agricultural products. It consisted in the obligatory delivery by peasants to the state at fixed prices of all surpluses (above the established norms for personal and economic needs) of bread and other products. It was carried out by food detachments, brigade committees, and local Soviets. Planned targets were developed for counties, volosts, villages, and peasant households. This caused discontent among the peasants.

2. Abolition of labor conscription - labor ceased to be obligatory (like military service) and became free;

Labor service - voluntary opportunity or legal obligation to perform socially useful work (usually low paid or not paid at all)

3. Gradual abandonment of the distribution and implementation of monetary circulation;
4. Partial denationalization of the economy.

During the implementation of NEP by the Bolsheviks exclusively command-administrative methods began to be replaced:

b State-capitalist methods in large industry

b Partially capitalist methods in small and medium-sized production and service sectors.

At the beginning 1920s are being created throughout the country trusts, which united many enterprises, sometimes industries, and managed them. The trusts tried to operate as capitalist enterprises (they independently organized production and sales of products based on economic interests; they were self-financing), but at the same time they were owned by the Soviet state, and not by individual capitalists. Because of this, this stage NEP got the name state capitalism(as opposed to “war communism”, its management-distribution and private capitalism of the USA and other countries)

Trusts - This is one of the forms of monopolistic associations, in which participants lose production, commercial, and sometimes even legal independence.

The largest trusts Soviet state capitalism were:

ь "Donugol"

ь "Chem Coal"

ь "Yugostal"

b "State Trust of Machine-Building Plants"

ь "Severles"

ь "Sakharotrest"

In small and medium-sized production and the service sector, the state agreed to allow private capitalist methods.

The most common areas of application of private capital:

- Agriculture
- Small trade
- Handicraft
- Service sector

Private shops, shops, restaurants, workshops, and private farms in rural areas are being created throughout the country.

“... By the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, the appropriation is canceled, and a tax on agricultural products is introduced instead. This tax should be less than grain appropriation. It should be appointed even before the spring sowing, so that each peasant can take into account in advance what share of the harvest he must give to the state and how much will remain at his full disposal. The tax should be levied without mutual responsibility, that is, it should fall on an individual householder, so that a diligent and hardworking owner does not have to pay for a sloppy fellow villager. Upon completion of the tax, the surplus remaining with the peasant comes to his full disposal. He has the right to exchange them for products and equipment that the state will deliver to the village from abroad and from its factories and factories; he can use them to exchange for the products he needs through cooperatives and at local markets and bazaars ... "

The tax in kind was initially set at approximately 20% of the net product of peasant labor (that is, to pay it it was necessary to hand over almost half as much grain as during the surplus appropriation system), and subsequently it was planned to be reduced to 10% of the harvest and converted into cash.

By 1925, it became clear that the national economy had reached a contradiction: further progress towards the market was hampered by political and ideological factors, the fear of the “degeneration” of power; a return to the military-communist type of economy was hampered by memories of the peasant war of 1920 and mass famine, and fear of anti-Soviet protests.

The most common form of small private farming was cooperation - association of several persons for the purpose of carrying out economic or other activities. Production, consumer, trade, and other types of cooperatives are being created throughout Russia.

NEP is an abbreviation made up of the first letters of the phrase “New Economic Policy”. The NEP was introduced in Soviet Russia on March 14, 1921 by the decision of the Tenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) to replace the policy.

“- Be silent. And listen! - Izya said that he had just gone into the printing house of the Odessa Provincial Committee and saw there... (Izya choked with excitement)...a typesetting of the speech Lenin recently delivered in Moscow on the new economic policy. A vague rumor about this speech had been wandering around Odessa for the third day. But no one really knew anything. “We must print this speech,” said Izya... The operation of stealing the set was done quickly and silently. Together and quietly we carried out the heavy lead type of speech, put it on a cab and went to our printing house. The set was placed in the car. The machine rattled and rustled quietly as it printed the historical speech. We read it greedily by the light of a kitchen kerosene lamp, worrying and realizing that history was standing next to us in this dark printing house and we, too, were to some extent participating in it... And the next morning, April 16, 1921, the old Odessa newspaper sellers were skeptics, misanthropes and sclerotics - they began to hastily shuffle along the streets with pieces of wood and shout in hoarse voices: - The newspaper "Morak"! Speech by Comrade Lenin! Read everything! Only in Morak, you won’t read it anywhere else! Newspaper "Morak"! The issue of “Sailor” with a speech sold out in a few minutes.” (K. Paustovsky “Time of great expectations”)

Reasons for the NEP

From 1914 to 1921, the volume of gross output of Russian industry decreased by 7 times
Reserves of raw materials and supplies were exhausted by 1920
Agricultural marketability fell 2.5 times
In 1920, the volume of railway traffic was one fifth of what it was in 1914.
Cultivated areas, grain yields, and production of livestock products have decreased.
Commodity-money relations were destroyed
A “black market” formed and speculation flourished
The standard of living of workers has fallen sharply
As a result of the closure of many enterprises, the process of declassification of the proletariat began
In the political sphere, the undivided dictatorship of the RCP (b) was established.
Worker strikes and uprisings of peasants and sailors began

The essence of the NEP

Revival of commodity-money relations
Providing freedom of operation to small producers
Replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind, the tax amount decreased by almost half compared to the food appropriation system
The creation of trusts in industry - associations of enterprises that themselves decided what to produce and where to sell the products.
Creation of syndicates - associations of trusts for wholesale sales of products, lending and regulation of trade operations on the market.
Reduction of the bureaucracy
Introduction of self-financing
Creation of the State Bank, savings banks
Restoration of the system of direct and indirect taxes.
Carrying out monetary reform

Results of the NEP

The success of the NEP was the restoration of the destroyed Russian economy and overcoming famine

Legally, the new economic policy was curtailed on October 11, 1931 by a party resolution on a complete ban on private trade in the USSR. But in fact it ended in 1928 with the adoption of the first five-year plan and the announcement of a course for accelerated industrialization and collectivization of the USSR

NEP (New Economic Policy) was carried out by the Soviet government from 1921 to 1928. This was an attempt to bring the country out of the crisis and give impetus to the development of the economy and agriculture. But the results of the NEP turned out to be terrible, and ultimately Stalin had to hastily interrupt this process to create industrialization, since the NEP policy almost completely killed heavy industry.

Reasons for introducing the NEP

With the beginning of the winter of 1920, the RSFSR plunged into a terrible crisis. It was largely due to the fact that in 1921-1922 there was a famine in the country. The Volga region suffered mainly (we all remember the infamous phrase " Starving Volga region"). Added to this was the economic crisis, as well as popular uprisings against the Soviet regime. No matter how many textbooks told us that people greeted the power of the Soviets with applause, this was not so. For example, uprisings took place in Siberia, on the Don, in the Kuban, and the largest one was in Tambov. It went down in history as the Antonov uprising or “Antonovschina.” In the spring of 21, about 200 thousand people were involved in the uprising, considering that the Red Army was extremely weak at that time, this was a very serious threat. for the regime. Then the Kronstadt rebellion was born. At the cost of efforts, all these revolutionary elements were suppressed, but it became obvious that the approach to governing the country needed to be changed. And Lenin formulated them as follows:

The driving force of socialism is the proletariat, which means the peasants. Therefore, the Soviet government must learn to get along with them.
it is necessary to create a unified party system in the country and destroy any dissent.

This is precisely the essence of the NEP - “Economic liberalization under strict political control.”

In general, all the reasons for the introduction of the NEP can be divided into ECONOMIC (the country needed an impetus for economic development), SOCIAL (social division was still extremely acute) and POLITICAL (the new economic policy became a means of managing power).

Beginning of the NEP

The main stages of the introduction of the NEP in the USSR:

Decision of the 10th Congress of the Bolshevik Party of 1921.
Replacement of appropriation with a tax (in fact, this was the introduction of the NEP). Decree of March 21, 1921.
Allowing free exchange of agricultural products. Decree March 28, 1921.
Creation of cooperatives, which were destroyed in 1917. Decree of April 7, 1921.
Transfer of some industry from state hands to private hands. Decree May 17, 1921.
Creating conditions for the development of private trade. Decree May 24, 1921.
Permission to TEMPORARILY provide the opportunity for private owners to lease state-owned enterprises. Decree July 5, 1921.
Permission for private capital to create any enterprise (including industrial) with a staff of up to 20 people. If the enterprise is mechanized - no more than 10. Decree of July 7, 1921.
Adoption of a “liberal” Land Code. He allowed not only the rental of land, but also wage labor on it. Decree of October 1922.

The ideological foundation of the NEP was laid at the 10th Congress of the RCP (b), which met in 1921 (if you remember, its participants went straight from this congress of delegates to suppress the Kronstadt rebellion), adopted the NEP and introduced a ban on “dissent” in the RCP (b). The fact is that before 1921 there were different factions in the RCP (b). This was allowed. According to logic, and this logic is absolutely correct, if economic relief is introduced, then within the party there must be a monolith. Therefore, there are no factions or divisions.

The ideological concept of the NEP was first given by V.I. Lenin. This happened at a speech at the tenth and eleventh congresses of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, which took place in 1921 and 1922, respectively. Also, the justification for the New Economic Policy was made at the third and fourth congresses of the Comintern, which also took place in 1921 and 1922. In addition, Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin played a major role in formulating the tasks of the NEP. It is important to remember that for a long time Bukharin and Lenin acted as opposition to each other on NEP issues. Lenin proceeded from the fact that the time had come to ease the pressure on the peasants and “make peace” with them. But Lenin was going to get along with the peasants not forever, but for 5-10 years. Therefore, the majority of members of the Bolshevik Party were sure that the NEP, as a forced measure, was being introduced for just one grain procurement company, as a deception for the peasantry. But Lenin especially emphasized that the NEP course is taken for a longer period. And then Lenin said a phrase that showed that the Bolsheviks were keeping their word - “but we will return to terror, including economic terror.” If we remember the events of 1929, then this is exactly what the Bolsheviks did. The name of this terror is Collectivization.

The New Economic Policy was designed for 5, maximum 10 years. And it certainly fulfilled its task, although at some point it threatened the existence of the Soviet Union.

Briefly, the NEP, according to Lenin, is a bond between the peasantry and the proletariat. This is precisely what formed the basis of the events of those days - if you are against the bond between the peasantry and the proletariat, then you are an opponent of the workers’ power, the Soviets and the USSR. The problems of this bond became a problem for the survival of the Bolshevik regime, because the regime simply did not have the army or equipment to crush the peasant revolts if they began en masse and in an organized manner. That is, some historians say that the NEP is the Brest peace of the Bolsheviks with their own people. That is, what kind of Bolsheviks are the International Socialists who wanted a world revolution. Let me remind you that it was precisely this idea that Trotsky promoted. First, Lenin, who was not a very great theorist, (he was a good practitioner), he defined the NEP as state capitalism. And immediately for this he received a full portion of criticism from Bukharin and Trotsky. And after this, Lenin began to interpret the NEP as a mixture of Socialist and capitalist forms. I repeat - Lenin was not a theorist, but a practitioner. He lived by the principle - it is important for us to take power, but what it will be called is unimportant.

Lenin, in fact, accepted Bukharin’s version of the NEP with its wording and other attributes..

The NEP is a socialist dictatorship based on socialist production relations and regulating the broad petty-bourgeois organization of the economy.
Lenin

According to the logic of this definition, the main task facing the leadership of the USSR was the destruction of the petty-bourgeois economy. Let me remind you that the Bolsheviks called peasant farming petty-bourgeois. You need to understand that by 1922 the building of socialism had reached a dead end and Lenin realized that this movement could only be continued through the NEP. It is clear that this is not the main path, and it contradicted Marxism, but as a workaround it was quite suitable. And Lenin constantly emphasized that the new policy was a temporary phenomenon.

General characteristics of NEP

The totality of the NEP:

rejection of labor mobilization and an equal wage system for all.
transfer (partial, of course) of industry into private hands from state ones (denationalization).
creation of new economic associations - trusts and syndicates. Widespread introduction of self-financing
the formation of enterprises in the country at the expense of capitalism and the bourgeoisie, including the Western one.

Looking ahead, I will say that the NEP led to the fact that many idealistic Bolsheviks shot themselves in the forehead. They believed that capitalism was being restored, and they shed blood in vain during the Civil War. But the non-idealistic Bolsheviks used the NEP very well, because during the NEP it was easy to launder what was stolen during the Civil War. Because, as we will see, NEP is a triangle: it is the head of a separate link of the party’s Central Committee, the head of a syndicator or trust, and also NEPman as a “huckster,” in modern language, through whom this whole process takes place. In general, this was a corruption scheme from the very beginning, but the NEP was a forced measure - the Bolsheviks would not have retained power without it.

NEP in trade and finance

Development of the credit system. In 1921, a state bank was created.
Reforming the financial and monetary system of the USSR. It was achieved through the reform of 1922 (monetary) and the replacement of money of 1922-1924.
The emphasis is on private (retail) trade and the development of various markets, including the All-Russian one.

If we try to briefly characterize the NEP, then this design was extremely unreliable. It took ugly forms of merging the personal interests of the country's leadership and everyone who was involved in the "Triangle". Each of them played their role. The menial work was done by the NEP man speculator. And this was especially emphasized in Soviet textbooks, saying that it was all private traders who ruined the NEP, and we fought against them as best we could. But in fact, the NEP led to colossal corruption of the party. This was one of the reasons for the cancellation of the NEP, because if it had been maintained further, the party would simply have completely disintegrated.

Beginning in 1921, the Soviet leadership set a course towards weakening Centralization. In addition, much attention was paid to the element of reforming economic systems in the country. Labor mobilizations were replaced by labor exchanges (unemployment was high). Equalization was abolished, the card system was abolished (but for some, the card system was a salvation). It is logical that the results of the NEP almost immediately had a positive impact on trade. Naturally in retail trade. Already at the end of 1921, the Nepmen controlled 75% of trade turnover in retail trade and 18% in wholesale trade. NEPism has become a profitable form of money laundering, especially for those who looted a lot during the civil war. Their loot lay idle, and now it could be sold through the NEPmen. And many people laundered their money this way.

NEP in agriculture

Adoption of the Land Code. (22nd year). Transformation of the tax in kind into a single agricultural tax since 1923 (since 1926, entirely in cash).
Agricultural cooperation cooperation.
Equal (fair) exchange between agriculture and industry. But this was not achieved, as a result of which the so-called “price scissors” appeared.

At the bottom of society, the party leadership's turn to the NEP did not find much support. Many members of the Bolshevik Party were sure that this was a mistake and a transition from socialism to capitalism. Someone simply sabotaged the decision of the NEP, and those who were especially ideological even committed suicide. In October 1922, the New Economic Policy affected agriculture - the Bolsheviks began implementing the Land Code with new amendments. Its difference was that it legalized wage labor in the countryside (it would seem that the Soviet government was fighting precisely against this, but it did the same thing itself). The next stage occurred in 1923. This year, what many had been waiting for and demanding for so long happened - the tax in kind was replaced by an agricultural tax. In 1926, this tax began to be collected entirely in cash.

In general, the NEP was not an absolute triumph of economic methods, as it was sometimes written in Soviet textbooks. It was only outwardly a triumph of economic methods. In fact, there was a lot of other things there. And I don’t just mean the so-called excesses of local authorities. The fact is that a significant part of the peasant product was alienated in the form of taxes, and taxation was excessive. Another thing is that the peasant got the opportunity to breathe freely, and this solved some problems. And here the absolutely unfair exchange between agriculture and industry, the formation of the so-called “price scissors,” came to the fore. The regime increased prices for industrial products and decreased prices for agricultural products. As a result, in 1923-1924 the peasants worked for practically nothing! The laws were such that the peasants were forced to sell approximately 70% of everything that the village produced for next to nothing. 30% of the product they produced was taken by the state at market value, and 70% at a reduced price. Then this figure decreased, and it became approximately 50/50. But in any case, this is a lot. 50% of products are priced below the market price.

As a result, the worst happened - the market ceased to fulfill its direct functions as a means of buying and selling goods. Now it has become an effective means of exploiting the peasants. Only half of the peasant goods were purchased with money, and the other half was collected in the form of tribute (this is the most accurate definition of what happened in those years). The NEP can be characterized as follows: corruption, a swollen apparatus, massive theft of state property. The result was a situation where the products of peasant farming were used irrationally, and often the peasants themselves were not interested in high yields. This was a logical consequence of what was happening, because the NEP was initially an ugly design.

NEP in industry

The main features that characterize the New Economic Policy from the point of view of industry are the almost complete lack of development of this industry and the huge level of unemployment among ordinary people.

The NEP was initially supposed to establish interaction between city and village, between workers and peasants. But it was not possible to do this. The reason is that industry was almost completely destroyed as a result of the Civil War, and it was not able to offer anything significant to the peasantry. The peasantry did not sell their grain, because why sell if you can’t buy anything with money anyway. They simply stored the grain and did not buy anything. Therefore, there was no incentive for the development of industry. It turned out to be such a “vicious circle”. And in 1927-1928, everyone already understood that the NEP had outlived its usefulness, that it did not provide an incentive for the development of industry, but, on the contrary, destroyed it even more.

At the same time, it became clear that sooner or later a new war was coming in Europe. Here is what Stalin said about this in 1931:

If in the next 10 years we do not cover the path that the West has covered in 100 years, we will be destroyed and crushed.
Stalin

To put it in simple words, in 10 years it was necessary to raise industry from the ruins and put it on par with the most developed countries. The NEP did not allow this to be done, because it was focused on light industry and on Russia being a raw materials appendage of the West. That is, in this regard, the implementation of the NEP was ballast, which slowly but surely dragged Russia to the bottom, and if this course had been maintained for another 5 years, it is unknown how World War 2 would have ended.

The slow pace of industrial growth in the 1920s caused a sharp rise in unemployment. If in 1923-1924 there were 1 million unemployed in the city, then in 1927-1928 there were already 2 million unemployed. The logical consequence of this phenomenon is a huge increase in crime and discontent in cities. For those who worked, of course, the situation was normal. But overall the situation of the working class was very difficult.

Development of the USSR economy during the NEP period

Economic booms alternated with crises. Everyone knows the crises of 1923, 1925 and 1928, which also led to famine in the country.
Lack of a unified system for the development of the country's economy. The NEP crippled the economy. It did not provide an opportunity for the development of industry, but agriculture could not develop under such conditions. These 2 spheres slowed each other down, although the opposite was planned.
The grain procurement crisis of 1927-28 28 and, as a result, the course to curtail the NEP.

The most important part of the NEP, by the way, one of the few positive features of this policy, is the “lifting of the financial system from its knees.” Let’s not forget that the Civil War has just ended, which almost completely destroyed the Russian financial system. Prices in 1921 compared to 1913 increased 200 thousand times. Just think about this number. Over 8 years, 200 thousand times... Naturally, it was necessary to introduce other money. Reform was needed. The reform was carried out by People's Commissar of Finance Sokolnikov, who was assisted by a group of old specialists. In October 1921, the State Bank began its work. As a result of his work, in the period from 1922 to 1924, depreciated Soviet money was replaced by Chervontsy

The chervonets was backed by gold, the content of which corresponded to the pre-revolutionary ten-ruble coin, and cost 6 American dollars. Chervonets was backed by both our gold and foreign currency.
Historical background

Sovznak were withdrawn and exchanged at the rate of 1 new ruble 50,000 old signs. This money was called “Sovznaki”. During the NEP, cooperation actively developed and economic liberalization was accompanied by the strengthening of communist power. The repressive apparatus also strengthened. And how did this happen? For example, on June 6, 22, GlavLit was created. This is censorship and establishing control over censorship. A year later, GlavRepedKom emerged, which was in charge of the theater’s repertoire. In 1922, by decision of this body, more than 100 people, active cultural figures, were expelled from the USSR. Others were less fortunate and were sent to Siberia. The teaching of bourgeois disciplines was banned in schools: philosophy, logic, history. In 1936 everything was restored. Also, the Bolsheviks and the church did not ignore their “attention”. In October 1922, the Bolsheviks confiscated jewelry from the church, supposedly to fight hunger. In June 1923, Patriarch Tikhon recognized the legitimacy of Soviet power, and in 1925 he was arrested and died. A new patriarch was no longer elected. The patriarchate was then restored by Stalin in 1943.

On February 6, 1922, the Cheka was transformed into the state political department of the GPU. From emergency ones, these bodies turned into state, regular ones.

The NEP culminated in 1925. Bukharin addressed an appeal to the peasantry (primarily to the wealthy peasants).

Get rich, accumulate, develop your farm.
Bukharin

At the 14th party conference, Bukharin's plan was adopted. He was actively supported by Stalin, and criticized by Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev. Economic development during the NEP period was uneven: first crisis, sometimes recovery. And this was due to the fact that the necessary balance between the development of agriculture and the development of industry was not found. The grain procurement crisis of 1925 was the first sound of the bell on the NEP. It became clear that the NEP would soon end, but due to inertia it continued for several more years.

Cancellation of NEP - reasons for cancellation

July and November plenum of the Central Committee of 1928. Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party and the Central Control Commission (to which one could complain about the Central Committee) April 1929.
reasons for the abolition of the NEP (economic, social, political).
whether the NEP was an alternative to real communism.

In 1926, the 15th party conference of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) met. It condemned the Trotskyist-Zinovievist opposition. Let me remind you that this opposition actually called for a war with the peasantry - to take away from them what the authorities need and what the peasants are hiding. Stalin sharply criticized this idea, and also directly voiced the position that the current policy had outlived its usefulness, and the country needed a new approach to development, an approach that would allow the restoration of industry, without which the USSR could not exist.

Since 1926, a tendency towards the abolition of the NEP gradually begins to emerge. In 1926-27, grain reserves for the first time exceeded pre-war levels and amounted to 160 million tons. But the peasants still did not sell bread, and industry was suffocating from overexertion. The left opposition (its ideological leader was Trotsky) proposed confiscating 150 million poods of grain from wealthy peasants, who made up 10% of the population, but the leadership of the CPSU (b) did not agree to this, because this would mean a concession to the left opposition.

Throughout 1927, the Stalinist leadership conducted maneuvers to completely eliminate the left opposition, because without this it was impossible to resolve the peasant question. Any attempt to put pressure on the peasants would mean that the party has taken the path that the “Left Wing” is talking about. At the 15th Congress, Zinoviev, Trotsky and other left oppositionists were expelled from the Central Committee. However, after they repented (this was called in party language “disarming before the party”) they were returned, because the Stalinist center needed them for the future fight against the Bucharest team.

The struggle for the abolition of the NEP unfolded as a struggle for industrialization. This was logical, because industrialization was task number 1 for the self-preservation of the Soviet state. Therefore, the results of the NEP can be briefly summarized as follows: the ugly economic system created many problems that could only be solved thanks to industrialization.

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 the 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