What situation characterizes the new economic policy. New Economic Policy (NEP)

At the very end of the Civil War, the leadership of the RCP(b) decided to move from the policy of war communism to the NEP. On the one hand, this decision was dictated by the need to revive the economy destroyed by the war, and on the other, by the desire of the Soviet government to achieve recognition on the world stage. For residents of Soviet Russia, the NEP was an era of temporary revival of small private enterprise and the resumption of commodity-money relations. In foreign policy, the NEP and the associated emission of the first sustainable Soviet currency- golden chervonets - became the first steps towards Soviet Russia gaining international recognition.

Many of the hallmarks of the NEP were contrary to fundamental communist teachings. By the end of the 20s, the NEP fulfilled the function of improving the economy, and the state switched to a policy of forced cooperation of privately owned farms with the subsequent establishment of full state control over established enterprises and the elimination of the free market.

The NEP policy assumed:

1. high food tax from peasants
2. limiting the number of large private banks to the list
3. replacement of surplus appropriation with tax in kind
4. precise fixation of limited norms for the delivery of grain by peasants to the state
5. some freedom of enterprise for citizens
6. free trade in consumer goods
7. allowing industrial enterprises to freely enter the foreign market
8. permitting the rental of small enterprises by private individuals
9. creation of concessions involving foreign capital
10. opening labor exchanges to eliminate unemployment
11. introduction of a hard national currency
12. creation of a national banking system
13. development state capitalism in its various forms
14. cash wages
15. introduction of a tariff system of remuneration
16. development of production and consumer cooperation
17. close economic interaction between city and countryside
18. the right granted by the state to engage in self-employment for the purpose of making a profit
19. government-granted right to employ hired labor
20. the right granted by the state to engage in trade and intermediary activities.
21. During the years of the New Economic Policy, “firm”, fixed prices for industrial and food products were introduced

From a letter written during the NEP by a “bourgeois specialist” (as he calls himself): “Of course, there are limits to nationalization, and a new economic policy, returning to the previous owners a number of small enterprises that were wasted and unreasonably taken from them, itself clearly outlines these limits.” Name a word that explains what kind of enterprise (by size) we are talking about.

The food tax, introduced in 1921, provided for the gratuitous delivery to the state of part of the output of peasant farms with the right to sell the rest on the market.

Socio-economic consequences of the NEP:

1. revival of trade
2. improving living standards
3. agricultural restoration

Excess - rising unemployment

The absolute number of unemployed people registered by labor exchanges increased during the NEP period (from 1.2 million people at the beginning of 1924 to 1.7 million people at the beginning of 1929), but the expansion of the labor market was even more significant (the number of workers and employees in all sectors of the national economy increased from 5.8 million in 1924 to 12.4 million in 1929), so that in fact the unemployment rate decreased.

NEP is an introduction economic methods economic management.

During the NEP years, the number of working class:

In 1921, Russia was literally in ruins. From an ex Russian Empire the territories of Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Western Belarus, the Kara region of Armenia and Bessarabia were ceded. According to experts, the population in the remaining territories barely reached 135 million. Losses in these territories as a result of wars, epidemics, emigration, and a decline in the birth rate have amounted to at least 25 million people since 1914. During the hostilities, the Donbass, the Baku oil region, the Urals and Siberia were especially damaged; many mines and mines were destroyed. Factories shut down due to a lack of fuel and raw materials. Workers were forced to leave the cities and go to the countryside. The total volume of industrial production decreased by 5 times.

The equipment has not been updated for a long time. Metallurgy produced as much metal as it was smelted under Peter I. The volume of agricultural production decreased by 40% due to the depreciation of money and a shortage of industrial goods. Society has degraded, its intellectual potential has weakened significantly. Most of the Russian intelligentsia were destroyed or left the country.

Kronstadt uprising (rebellion)

The peasants, outraged by the actions of the food detachments, not only refused to hand over grain, but also rose up in armed struggle. The uprisings covered the Tambov region, Ukraine, Don, Kuban, Volga region and Siberia. The peasants demanded a change in agrarian policy, the elimination of the dictates of the RCP (b), and the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal equal suffrage. Units of the Red Army were sent to suppress these protests.

Discontent spread to the army. On March 1, 1921, sailors and Red Army soldiers of the Kronstadt garrison under the slogan “For Soviets without Communists!” demanded the release from prison of all representatives of socialist parties, re-election of the Soviets and, as follows from the slogan, the expulsion of all communists from them, granting freedom of speech, meetings and unions to all parties, ensuring freedom of trade, allowing peasants to freely use their land and dispose of the products of their farms , that is, the elimination of surplus appropriation. Convinced of the impossibility of reaching an agreement with the rebels, the authorities launched an assault on Kronstadt. By alternating artillery shelling and infantry actions, Kronstadt was captured by March 18; Some of the rebels died, the rest went to Finland or surrendered.

Thus, the main task The internal policy of the RCP(b) and the Soviet state consisted of restoring the destroyed economy, creating a material, technical and socio-cultural basis for building socialism, promised by the Bolsheviks to the people.

The New Economic Policy aimed at restoring the national economy and the subsequent transition to socialism. The main content of the NEP is the replacement of surplus appropriation with a tax in kind in the countryside, the use of the market and various forms of ownership, the attraction of foreign capital in the form of concessions, and the implementation of a monetary reform (1922-1924), as a result of which the ruble became a convertible currency.

The main political goal of the NEP is to relieve social tensions and strengthen the social base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants. Economic goal- prevent further deterioration, overcome the crisis and restore the economy. The social goal is to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society, without waiting for the world revolution. In addition, the NEP was aimed at restoring normal foreign policy relations and overcoming international isolation.

What are the main reasons for the abandonment of the NEP in the USSR?

The NEP made it possible to quickly restore the national economy destroyed by the First World War and the Civil War.

But 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.

All this led to discord in political assessments of the situation. In the second half of the 1920s, the first attempts to curtail the NEP began. Syndicates in industry were liquidated, from which private capital was administratively squeezed out, and a strict centralized system economic management (economic people's commissariats). Stalin and his entourage headed for the forced confiscation of grain and the forced collectivization of the countryside. Repressions were carried out against management personnel (the Shakhty case, the Industrial Party trial, etc.). By the beginning of the 1930s, the NEP was actually curtailed.

• · Rapid restoration of agriculture, industry, transport
• · Revival of trade
• · Urban population growth
• ·Increasing worker productivity
• ·Increasing standard of living
• · Accelerated social differentiation in the city
• The emergence of a "new bourgeoisie"
• Acceleration of the stratification of the peasantry
• · Increasing economic instability
• Regular economic crises
• · Rising unemployment

Let us also consider the tasks, contradictions and results of the NEP in the table below.

It would be wrong to imagine the country's development during the NEP period in cloudless terms. The new economic policy was fraught with deep contradictions. The main one was that the Bolshevik regime, having made forced concessions to the “private owner,” retained in its hands the main economic and political levers of power. Despite the introduction of self-financing, a bureaucratic system of industrial management remained. All leading positions were occupied by communists, often without the necessary competence. Naturally, the activities of such “managers” reduced the efficiency of state industry. The maintenance of this large administrative apparatus also required significant expenses. In an effort to maintain the support of workers, the regime artificially established relatively high level wages, which does not correspond to real labor productivity. All these factors inevitably caused an increase in production costs. “Price scissors” became a permanent feature of the NEP economy and caused growing discontent among the peasantry.

Another major contradiction of the NEP was that private entrepreneurs and traders (“nepmen”), having received the opportunity to engage in relevant activities, did not acquire the necessary social and legal guarantees. They still did not have voting rights and were subject to various forms of political discrimination. Their businesses could be confiscated at any time. In addition, soon after the introduction of the NEP, considering that the “private traders” had done their job, the authorities began to strangle them with exorbitant taxes. For their part, the “nepmen”, not feeling the necessary stability, were afraid to invest capital in production and preferred the path of speculation and various frauds. A significant part of the profit was simply wasted. This caused a negative attitude of the masses towards “private traders”, which was carried over to the NEP message.

No less acute contradictions characterized the development of agriculture during the NEP period. Overcoming devastation and the economic revival of the countryside inevitably led to the stratification of the peasantry. It is clear that large peasant farms were more efficient and marketable. Meanwhile, despite all the “mitigations,” the regime continued to persecute the “kulaks” - at best, they were simply tolerated for the time being. "Kulaks" were still deprived of voting rights and were subjected to various oppressions. Since the peasantry for the most part was poor, and there were few real rich people, local authorities and “activists” regarded the slightest signs of prosperity as grounds for classifying them as kulaks. This approach had fatal consequences for millions of peasants later, during the years of collectivization, but its results were already evident during the NEP period.

As a result of such a policy, the peasantry was deprived of incentives to work: the more hardworking and skillful the owner was, the more likely he was to get into the “kulaks”. Many came to the conclusion that it was better to be a “poor”, since this category of the population was considered the “support of Soviet power” and received various types of help.

In the second half of the 20s. 35% of peasant farms as “poor” were exempt from agricultural tax, the main burden of which fell on the wealthier peasants. In an effort to avoid the exorbitant tax pressure, strong farms were fragmented, artificially turning into “poor people.” In the 20s the rate of fragmentation of peasant farms was 2 times higher than before the revolution, which became one of the most important reasons for the decline in the marketability of agriculture.

Accordingly, the export of agricultural products fell, and, consequently, the possibility of importing equipment necessary for industrial modernization was reduced. Compared to 1909-1913. in 1925 The USSR was able to import half as much equipment as pre-revolutionary Russia in 1913. .

Thus, paradoxically, by the end of the 20s. a significant part of the population was dissatisfied with the NEP. The communists and some of the workers considered him a “betrayal of the revolution”; the Nepmen and the mass of peasants were dissatisfied with the insufficient concessions from the regime. Therefore, when Stalin took the path of eliminating the NEP, he did not meet the necessary resistance.

During the period of the NEP, such a sharp reform movement, largely unexpected from the point of view of a change in political and tactical guidelines for the new party and state power, the unity and cohesion of its leadership was required. Meanwhile, changes in the economy have affected almost all parts of the national economy: agriculture, industry, and trade. The assumption of multi-structure and the determination of the place of each of these structures in the socio-economic development of the country took place in an atmosphere of intense struggle for power between several party groups. In the struggle of party-state leaders, there was a settling of personal scores, tactical maneuvering in order to create dominant groups that were supposedly “true exponents of Lenin’s legacy” and could most accurately reflect the opinion of the broad party masses.

In the end, the struggle for power ended in victory for the Stalinist group. It was the Stalinist authoritarian team, in the fight against the right-wing opposition, achieving its complete defeat by 1928-1929, that captured all the heights of the party and state leadership and pursued an openly anti-NEP line.

Speaking about the results of the NEP, we note that its beginning coincided with unprecedented difficulties. The first year of the NEP was accompanied by a catastrophic drought that affected the Volga region, southern Ukraine and North Caucasus- those areas where during the Civil War the interventionists and White Guards carried out their rampages especially violently and for a long time. Of the 38 million dessiatines sown in European Russia, 14 million of them were completely lost, so that only 150 million poods of tax in kind were collected. Residents of the affected areas were evacuated to Siberia; a mass of people (about 1.3 million people) walked independently to Ukraine and Siberia. The official figure of those affected by the famine was 22 million people. According to official data, more than 5 million people died as a result of the famine.

The transfer of industry to self-financing required the abandonment of the wage system established during the times of war communism, which destroyed personal interest in the results of production. During this period, wages in kind for workers, engineers, directors, etc. in the form of rations prevailed over money, and its size was determined not by the intensity and qualifications of the worker’s labor, but by the size of his family. The task of changing the wage system was set already in the first year of the NEP. In December of the same year, a new 17-bit tariff schedule was introduced. The rate of a highly skilled worker was 3.5 times higher than the rate of an unskilled worker. There was a gradual transition from wages in kind to cash. For 1922 specific gravity monetary wages increased from 22.2% to 79%, and in the first half of 1923. the natural part was only 9%. Workers were given the opportunity to increase their earnings with increased labor productivity, regardless of the percentage of the amount of earnings to the basic tariff rate.

Unemployment was a serious problem. The NEP objectively led to an increase in unemployment among managers: by January 1924, among the 1 million unemployed, there were 750 thousand former employees. Unemployment exacerbated class contradictions in the country as a whole.

And yet, in general, there was a sharp shortage of industrial goods, which led to an increase in prices, and this, in turn, hampered the growth of living standards of all categories of the population.

The housing problem, despite the “densification of the bourgeoisie” carried out in the first revolutionary years, not only was not resolved, but also became even more aggravated. A real disaster for the country was agrarian overpopulation: in the countryside there was a multimillion-dollar mass of “surplus” population who had difficulty making ends meet. A huge number of such people flocked to the cities in search of a better life.

Due to expansion bank issue the balance between the size of trade turnover and the amount in circulation was disrupted money supply. A real threat of inflation arose, a sign of which was already in September 1925 the rise in commodity prices and the increasingly felt shortage of essential industrial goods. The peasantry very quickly reacted accordingly to this situation, which led to the disruption of the grain procurement plan. And this entailed the failure to fulfill the export-import program and a reduction in income from the sale of bread abroad. To maintain a stable exchange rate for the chervonets domestic market The State Bank was forced to constantly put gold and foreign currency into circulation in order to withdraw cash surpluses. But these measures did not lead to a reduction in emissions, but to the depletion of foreign exchange reserves.

In the fall of 1923, the so-called “sales crisis” broke out in the country. The desire to obtain maximum profit under the conditions of self-financing pushed workers of the Supreme Economic Council, heads of trusts and syndicates to raise the price of “their” goods to the limit. A good harvest was harvested, but the peasants were in no hurry to hand over grain low prices, since they did not offset the production costs. The relatively low purchasing power of peasants led to the overstocking of warehouses not only with agricultural machines, but also with the simplest and most necessary means of agricultural production: scythes, harrows, plows, etc. The state was forced to intervene in the pricing process, administratively reduce prices for industrial goods, increase purchase prices for agricultural products and organize cheap loan for the peasantry.

Nevertheless, the NEP ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy. The results of the new economic policy are simply impressive. By 1925, the restoration of the national economy was largely completed. General release industrial products over 5 years, NEP grew more than 5 times and in 1925 reached 75% of the level of 1913; in 1926, in terms of gross industrial output, this level was exceeded. There was an upsurge in new industries. In agriculture, the gross grain harvest amounted to 94% of the 1913 harvest, and in many livestock indicators, pre-war indicators were left behind.

Hereby economic miracle can be called the mentioned recovery financial system and stabilization of the domestic currency. In the 1924-1925 business year, the deficit was completely eliminated state budget, and the Soviet ruble became one of the hardest currencies in the world. The rapid pace of restoration of the national economy in the conditions of a socially oriented economy, set by the existing Bolshevik regime, was accompanied by a significant increase in the living standards of the people, the rapid development of public education, science, culture and art.

But, to overcome the crisis, the government took a number of administrative measures, strengthening centralized management of the economy, limiting the independence of enterprises, increasing prices for industrial goods, and raising taxes on private entrepreneurs, traders, and wealthy peasants. The state decided to deal with all the socio-economic troubles at one blow, without developing a mechanism for interaction between the state, cooperative and private sectors of the economy, but by searching for and neutralizing “pests” and “enemies of the people.” All this ultimately led to the collapse of the NEP.

On the curtailment of the NEP, V.I. Shishkin in this part expresses his opinion on this reason. The Bolshevik leadership at that time did not even set any serious task of developing the economy on the basis of production voluntary cooperation in the countryside in order to make it the support of the industrial development of the country. State industry, operating on the basis of the NEP, was not able to rhythmically and without contradictions with the peasant economy take a serious step towards industrialization and, in turn, become the basis for a large collective modern sector Soviet village.

After the XIV Congress, the collapse of the NEP began. In words the party advocated the NEP, but in reality it sought to get closer to the previous tough course. Specifically, the logic of curtailing the NEP looked like this.

Increased control and subordination market relations begins around 1925, when, as is known, the growth rate of social production fell sharply due to the completion of the restoration of the national economy and the development of a course towards industrialization. The search for funds to carry out the latter led to a violation of the equivalence of commodity exchange on a value basis and its gradual replacement by state distribution, which strengthened the tendency towards centralization of management of the economy and the country as a whole. In 1927 new line was determined in the decisions of the XV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in which a program was put forward for the “reconstruction” of the NEP to solve the problems of socialist construction, expand the planning principles in the economy, and actively attack the capitalist elements of the city and countryside. Further steps to implement this program led to the completion of the reconstruction of the administrative-command system, which, naturally, differed in form from the military-communist one.

Industry did not supply the required quantity of its products to the village. Agriculture, in turn, intermittently supplied the cities with raw materials and food, and also delivered an insufficient amount of grain for export for the purchase of necessary industrial equipment abroad. The peasantry did not seek to expand its production, as industrial goods became more and more expensive.

In the second half of 1926, the government was faced with the question of in which direction the economy would develop further. The “new opposition” insisted on a return to forced methods of confiscation of agricultural products, replacing the well-known slogan “facing the village.” The “right deviationists” still adhered to the principles of “self-supporting socialism.” The question of grain procurements turned from a purely economic to a political one. The fate of the NEP and the future of “self-supporting socialism” depended on his decision.

The procurement crisis and food difficulties allowed Stalin to defeat the “new opposition.” Gradually, the state revived the emergency measures of the times of “war communism.” To this end, already at the end of 1927, the confiscation of “grain surplus”, illegal searches of peasant barns, and the establishment of checkpoints on roads that prevented the delivery of grain to city markets began.

In open speeches in 1928, Stalin still demanded the abolition of various violations of “revolutionary legality” in relation to the peasants, calling them “relapses of surplus appropriation,” and even insisted on a slight increase in procurement prices for bread. But at closed plenums of the Central Committee, Stalin demanded the application of harsh measures to the kulaks, acceleration of the collectivization process, and sharply criticized “some comrades” who advocated the development of normal market relations in the countryside. He believed that the wobbly mechanism should be dismantled without hesitation market economy, replacing it with command methods that fully corresponded to socialist ideals. Stalin proposed starting this dismantling from the village, without waiting for it to rise again against Soviet power.

As a result, the NEP was completely curtailed. So, it should be recognized that the procurement crises of 1926-1928 meant a complete collapse of the new economic policy, since it fit only into the situation of “civil peace.” The command system could only exist under conditions of extreme tension, through intimidation and terror, which was contrary to the NEP.

It is widely believed that the collapse of the NEP occurred in response to the external danger of the “capitalist encirclement”, which forced the USSR to carry out accelerated industrialization at the expense of other sectors of the economy and a decrease in consumption. However, the threat of war was only a pretext for curtailing the NEP. In fact, there were deeper reasons.

The collapse of the NEP was beneficial to certain influential forces within the country, namely, the bureaucratic apparatus, which had its own interests that differed from the interests of the workers and peasants. Immediately after the revolution, the apparatus began to live in accordance with these interests, subordinating the entire economic and political life of the country.

52. NEP and its results

Definition:NEP – economic policy of the Soviet state in the transition period from capitalism to socialism. Called “new” in contrast to the policy of “war communism”. Its foundations were developed by Lenin in 1921 and dismantled by Stalin and his circle in 1929.

Cooperation - a form of labor organization in which a large number of people jointly participate in the same or in different, but interconnected labor processes.

Factors of transition to NEP:

Economic devastation: Agricultural production decreased by 1/3, industrial production by 7 times, in Ukraine by 10 times.

War, famine, epidemics → population decline

The brewing political crisis of power management

Complete ban on trade

Discontent of peasants (mass uprisings) and workers (in 1921 - uprising in Kronstadt, etc.). home political goal NEP - to relieve social tensions, strengthen the social base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants.

Economic goal- prevent further deterioration, overcome the crisis and restore the economy.

Social purpose– to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society, without waiting for the world revolution. In addition, the NEP was aimed at overcoming international isolation. The achievement of these goals led to the gradual winding down of the NEP in the second half of the 20s. Refusal of the policy of “war communism”, a sharp transition to the NEP.

What was done:

I. in agriculture

March 1921 X Congress of the RCP (b) - replacement of surplus appropriation with a tax in kind.

It was established before the sowing campaign, could not be changed during the year and was 2 times less than the allocation. After government deliveries were completed, free trade in the products of one's own farm was allowed. The new economic policy in rural areas was aimed at stimulating agricultural production.

Renting land and hiring labor were allowed. The forced establishment of communes stopped, which allowed the private, small-scale commodity sector to gain a foothold in the countryside. in 1924 - the tax in kind was replaced by a single agricultural tax levied in money → stabilization of the situation in the countryside.

Introduction of commodity exchange, creation of exchange offices: the goal is to narrow the field of activity of private traders to a minimum, BUT drought, crop failure, price fluctuations → failure.

Freedom of trade for peasants (the right to sell products at their own discretion): August 1921 - the right to free trade in bread at market prices, December 1921 11th party conference - recognition of the internal all-Russian market → resumption of commodity-money relations in Russia.

October 1922 - Land Code: permission to lease land for long-term lease (up to 12 years), to separate peasants from the community and create a farmstead, for hired labor; support for cooperation → expansion of agricultural cooperation (TOZs, artels, state farms, agricultural communes)Development of agriculture, revival of the sense of ownership of the land, social stratification of the village. In 24-26 The Soviet Union is the main supplier of grain for export.

II

. in industry

1921 - “Order” on the partial privatization (denationalization) of small and part of medium-sized industry → revival of the private economic structure.

The decree on general nationalization was canceled. Large domestic and foreign capital were given the right to create joint ventures with the state. Strict centralization in the supply of raw materials to enterprises and the distribution of finished products was abolished. The activities of state enterprises were aimed at greater independence, self-sufficiency and self-financing. July 5, 1921 – Decree on the lease of state property, the creation of mixed, private-public joint-stock companies.

Decentralization of industrial management: abolition of central administrations, creation of trusts - associations of industry enterprises operating on the principles of self-financing.

Salary depends on labor productivity.

Introduction of elements of long-term planning into the economy (20 - GOERLO Iplan for 10-15 years, 21 - State Planning Commission: task - development of a unified economic plan and control of its implementation). Social politics: changes in social policy . In 1922, a new Labor Code was adopted, abolishing universal labor service and introducing free hiring work force . To stimulate the material interest of workers in increasing labor productivity, a reform of the payment system was carried out. Instead of in-kind rewards, monetary system , based on the tariff schedule. However social politics

had a pronounced class orientation.Part of the population, as before, was deprived of voting rights. In the taxation system, the main burden fell on private entrepreneurs in the city and kulaks in the countryside. The poor were exempt from paying taxes, the middle peasants paid half.

III.

Financial policy Revival of the monetary reform of the state, which collapsed during the Civil War, under the leadership of Finance Minister Sokolnikov: Soviet signs were replaced by hard convertible currency - the chervonets. In 1921 - the restoration of the State Bank, which controlled the network of cooperative banks. In addition to the unified State Bank, private and cooperative banks and insurance companies appeared. Fees were charged for the use of transport, communication systems and utilities. In 1922 it was carried out currency reform: the issue of paper money was reduced and the Soviet chervonets (10 rubles) was introduced into circulation, which was highly valued in the world foreign exchange market. This made it possible to strengthen national currency and end inflation. Evidence of stabilization

financial situation

was the replacement of the tax in kind with its cash equivalent.

In general, the economic policy of the state during the NEP years was characterized by the decentralization of the credit system (In addition to the State Bank there were Roskommercheskiy, Central Agricultural Banks, and Commercial and Industrial Banks).:

The NEP economy had 2 sides: a) the assumption of private property (capitalism); b) restriction and regulation of the economy.

NEP results

The domestic Russian market has been restored

Improving people's lives: abolition of labor conscription, an 8-hour working day, increasing incomes of the population, development of the health care system (the number of doctors doubled, victory over typhus and cholera) → life expectancy increased by 11 years.

Legal support of NEP: 22 - labor code, land, civil, abolition of revolutionary tribunals, resumption of the activities of the prosecutor's office and court, transformation of the Cheka into the GPU (main political department).

By the end of the 20s. The country's leadership found itself faced with another alternative: either surrendering its position to Soviet power and further retreat in the economic sphere (deepening the NEP), or heading for the “complete and final victory” of new socialist relations. The second option was chosen, proposed by the Stalinist party in power and meaning a rejection of the NEP,

Kim, Kukushkin, etc.) believe that the NEP is the policy of the Communist Party, designed for the transition from capitalism to socialism. This period combines economic features of capitalism and socialism

Ostrovsky, Utkin, etc.) cover the events of the Soviet period with the reservations “on the one hand, on the other hand.” The NEP is a purely Russian phenomenon, caused by the crisis of the Civil War and the military-communist delusions of the Bolsheviks. Under the conditions of the political monopoly of the Bolsheviks, private property was doomed from the very beginning, since the ruling party used the orthodox ideas of non-commodity socialism. The NEP period in the USSR 1921–1928.

Gorinov. NEP. Search for ways of development.90;

Orlov. NEP: history, experience, problems., Vert.

Istria of the Soviet state.

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;

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.

Story. New complete guide schoolchildren to prepare for the Unified State Exam Nikolaev Igor Mikhailovich

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Reasons for switching to new economic policy should be sought in the specific situation that developed in Soviet Russia after the end of the Civil War. The First World War and the Civil War, as well as the policy of “war communism,” caused heavy damage to the country’s economy. In some industries, Russia was thrown back to pre-Petrine times. The existence of the surplus appropriation system led to a sharp reduction in cultivated land. Transport was almost completely destroyed. Economic crisis caused mass unemployment and serious food shortages. Famine broke out in some areas of the country. Massive resistance of the population to the policies pursued by the RCP(b) began. Strikes in large industrial centers became a constant phenomenon, powerful peasant uprisings broke out in Siberia and the Tambov province. By this time, it became clear that the world revolution, on which the Bolshevik leadership was banking, would not happen in the foreseeable future, and instead of supporting the Western proletariat, Russia received an international blockade. The Kronstadt uprising, which occurred in March 1921. The sailors who came out in support of the Petrograd workers demanded the abolition of surplus appropriation and freedom of trade, the elimination of the Bolshevik monopoly on power and the holding of elections to the Soviets with the participation of all political parties. The rebels performed under the red flag, and these were the same sailors - “the beauty and pride of the revolution” who in 1917 helped the Bolsheviks seize power in Petrograd. For the ruling party, the situation has become critical. Therefore, all means - both propaganda and military - were used to suppress the rebellion. The sailors were declared “White Guard accomplices”, their families were taken hostage, Kronstadt was blockaded. The suppression of the riot was entrusted to M.N. Tukhachevsky, who also carried out punitive actions against Tambov peasants. Tukhachevsky's troops suppressed the uprising. Thousands of sailors were shot.

At that time, March 8, 1921, the X Congress of the RCP(b) began its work in Moscow, which went down in history as the transition to the NEP. At the congress, at Lenin’s proposal, the food appropriation system was abolished, and instead it was introduced food tax, the size of which was communicated to the peasants in advance. A difficult and lengthy process of moving away from the principles of “war communism” began. It should be noted that the NEP was not a pre-developed program. The measures taken in line with this policy were a reaction to the demands of life and caused fierce debate among the leadership of the ruling party.

What is the essence of NEP? Specific changes have taken place in the economy: a food tax has been introduced, free internal trade and private entrepreneurship are allowed, foreigners have the opportunity to rent industrial enterprises(cm. Concession). In 1922–1924 Was held currency reform. All these changes took place under the strict control of the state apparatus, in whose hands were the monetary and tax systems, a monopoly on foreign trade, and the right to supervise private initiative.

IN political sphere NEP led to an even greater strengthening of the autocracy of the Bolsheviks. Through the forces of the State Political Administration (since 1922 it replaced the Cheka) the activities of the Social Democrats (Mensheviks) were finally stopped, and in the summer of 1922, on Lenin’s initiative, a show trial of the Socialist Revolutionary Party was held. In the ruling party itself, at the Tenth Congress, all factionalism was prohibited.

Since 1921, a noticeable liberalization of public life began: about 90 private publishing houses were active in the printing market, trade unions of the intelligentsia began to form, a movement for the independence of higher education developed, etc. But already from the summer of 1922, the Bolshevik policy in the sphere of ideology and culture began to tighten. In June, a censorship committee (Glavlit) was created, graduate School was subordinated to the People's Commissariat for Education, many periodicals and private printing houses were closed. In August 1922, with the help of the GPU, about 200 scientists, writers, and public figures, who were the color of Russian culture, were expelled from the country. Shortly before this, at the end of 1921 - beginning of 1922, a campaign of confiscation of church valuables took place, accompanied by mass executions of priests. All church denominations were placed under the control of the GPU.

Thus, the country's communist leadership, by providing freedom in the economic sphere, strengthened the power of the party and Soviet bureaucracy in politics, ideology and culture. If we take into account that the majority of communists considered the NEP as a “temporary retreat before the bourgeoisie,” then, taking into account the above conditions, we can talk about the doom of this policy. The NEP was finally curtailed at the turn of the 20s and 30s.

OPINIONS OF HISTORIANS

ABOUT reasons for the transition to a new economic policy.

In Soviet historiography, the NEP is viewed as a return to Lenin’s plan for the transition from capitalism to socialism, developed by him in his programmatic work “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power” (1918). Therefore, this policy is considered “new” in relation to “war communism”, and not to the plan for building socialism as a whole.

Another concept claims that the NEP was introduced by the Bolshevik leadership solely under the pressure of circumstances (peasant uprisings, Kronstadt rebellion). As evidence, the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 29, 1920 on the socialization of all small handicraftsmen and artisans is cited, the adoption of which suggests that, despite the end of large-scale hostilities of the Civil War, the Bolsheviks intended to continue to pursue the policy of “war communism” in the country " In the preparatory materials for the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) there is not a single draft resolution on replacing food appropriation with a food tax. Therefore the idea new policy in relation to the peasantry, Lenin finally matured in connection with the uprising of the sailors of Kronstadt, and he made a corresponding report only on the seventh day of the congress.

Both positions agree in assessing the NEP as a policy aimed at restoring the destroyed economy with the help of private capital and attracting foreign investment, and define the NEP not as a strategic course, but as a tactic of “temporarily surrendering the positions of the bourgeoisie.”