Off-balance sheet bank accounts. Balance sheet and off-balance sheet accounts

NEP (reasons, goals, content, results) New economic policy - economic policy pursued in Soviet Russia and the USSR in the 20s. It was adopted on March 15, 1921 by the X Congress of the RCP (b), replacing the policy of “war communism” pursued during the Civil War. The new economic policy had purpose restoration of the national economy and subsequent transition to socialism. The main content of the NEP is the replacement of surplus appropriation with a tax in kind in the countryside (up to 70% of grain was confiscated during surplus appropriation, and about 30% with a tax in kind), the use of the market and various forms of ownership, attracting foreign capital in the form of concessions, carrying out a monetary reform (1922-1924), in as a result of which the ruble became a convertible currency.

NEP: goals, objectives and main contradictions. NEP results

Reasons for the transition to the NEP. During the civil years war, the policy of “military” was pursued. communism." While the citizen was walking. war, the peasants put up with the surplus appropriation policy, but when the war began to come to an end, the peasants began to express dissatisfaction with the surplus appropriation system. It was necessary to immediately cancel the policy of “war communism”. 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 spread Tambov region, Ukraine, Don, Kuban, Volga region and Siberia. The peasants demanded a change in the agrarian black policy, the elimination of the dictatorship of the RCP (b), the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal equal suffrage [ source not specified 1970 days] . 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 “ BehindAdviсewithoutcommunists! “demanded the release from imprisonment of all representatives of socialist parties, holding re-elections 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 economy, that is, liquidation

surplus appropriation

From the appeal of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee of Kronstadt:

Comrades and citizens! Our country is going through a difficult moment. Hunger, cold, and economic devastation have been holding us in an iron grip for three years now. The Communist Party, which rules the country, has become disconnected from the masses and has been unable to bring it out of the state of general devastation. It did not take into account the unrest that had recently occurred in Petrograd and Moscow and which quite clearly indicated that the party had lost the trust of the working masses. It also did not take into account the demands made by the workers. She considers them the machinations of counter-revolution. She is deeply mistaken. These unrest, these demands are the voice of all the people, all the working people. All workers, sailors and Red Army soldiers clearly see at the moment that only through common efforts, the common will of the working people, can we give the country bread, firewood, coal, clothe the shoeless and undressed, and lead the republic out of the dead end...

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.

In March 1921, at the Tenth Congress of the Bolshevik Party (RCP (b)), the transition to the NEP was proclaimed. NEP - new economics. politics is a transition period from capitalism to socialism. The main political goal of the NEP is to relieve social tensions, strengthen the social base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants - “a bond between city and countryside.” The economic goal is to prevent further deterioration, get out of 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.

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 materials were exhausted by 1920
Marketability Agriculture fell 2.5 times
In 1920, the volume of railway transportation was one-fifth of that 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 political sphere the undivided dictatorship of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was established
Worker strikes and uprisings of peasants and sailors began

The essence of 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 bureaucracy
Introduction of self-financing
Creation of the State Bank, savings banks
Restoring 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 1921-1928- one of the important stages in the development of the USSR. After the end, the situation in the country became catastrophic. A significant part of production was stopped, there was no coordination, as well as the distribution of labor. Major changes were needed to rebuild the country.

The previously existing surplus appropriation system did not justify itself. It caused people's discontent and riots; a country without governance still could not provide itself with food. During the transition, the tax was reduced by half, creating a favorable situation for further development.

NEP period.

During the founding of the NEP, the party began to restore production, and began to build some factories that were necessary for the new state. Workers began to be recruited. The main task is to provide everyone with opportunities for full-fledged work for the benefit of the USSR.

Elements entered market economy. This was inevitable, because its complete destruction at the founding of the Soviet Union dealt a serious blow to the country.

During this period, a command economy was built. From now on, the state managed production, sent norms and orders to factories. The party could connect several enterprises in unified system and established contacts between them. All this was necessary for the consistent production of products, because some complex products require the involvement of several factories.

During the NEP period, enterprises and other participants economic processes received significant funding. Factories could issue their own bonds to attract funds from people and invest them in upgrading production.

Basic goals:

establishing economic ties;
gradual introduction command economy and adaptation of enterprises to new system relationships between industries;
stimulating the development and renovation of factories;
providing maximum opportunities for enterprise growth;
rational use of labor and financial resources;
carrying out monetary reform and introducing a new payment unit.

Results of the NEP.

Results conditioned by victory over devastation and chaos, which was poorly controlled by the state. The economy was restored, relationships between participants in economic processes were established, and equipment renewal at enterprises began. But the problem was the lack of management personnel and qualifications of these people, the minimum number foreign investment, restraining the development of the private sector.

Reasons for the transition to the new economic policy

In the first half of the 20s. The situation in Soviet Russia was simply catastrophic. This situation arose at the end of the Civil War. Firstly, the country experienced two revolutions in 1917, while simultaneously experiencing the events of World War I, where the situation at the fronts for the Russian army was unsuccessful. Immediately after the end of the October 1917 revolution. The Civil War began. The country did not have time to rest. Devastation and crisis were observed everywhere. 1921 was even called a “total crisis”, and Lenin described the country during this period as “a man beaten half to death”

The results of World War I, civil war and intervention are as follows:

¼ of the national wealth was destroyed; in 1920 Coal production decreased sharply, it amounted to 30% of the 1913 level, oil production in 1920. It was produced as much as in 1899. those. 2 times less than in 1913. This led to a fuel crisis, which led to the closure industrial enterprises, reduction in industrial production, unemployment;

Demographic crisis, because for 1918 – 1922 9.5 million people died, according to medical statistics, famine 1921 - 1922. took away 5 million people, 1.5 - 2 million people emigrated. The demographic catastrophe has resulted in a mass of unborn children, and with them losses are estimated at 25 million people;

The crisis in agricultural production was aggravated by the drought of 1921, which struck in 1920. 7 provinces, and in 1921 – 13 and a territory with a population of 30 million people. Grain production fell by 50%;

The war isolated our economy from the world one, because... confrontation with capitalist powers intensified;

The acuteness of class consciousness, born of war and revolution, took hold for a long time, no one considered themselves sinners, people got used to killing, they became more cruel;

But the heaviest burden on the shoulders of the people fell on the policy of “War Communism”. It was she who led the country to complete collapse. It was not possible to quickly restore the mines of Donbass, the Urals, and Siberia. The workers were forced to leave their homes and go to the countryside. Petrograd lost 60% of workers when the Putilov, Obukhov and other factories closed, Moscow - 50%. Traffic stopped at 30 railways. Inflation increased uncontrollably. The sown area decreased by 25%, because... the peasants were not interested in expanding their farms.

The Bolshevik government did not immediately realize the failure of the “War Communism” policy. In 1920 Council of People's Commissars created State Commission(Gosplan) to develop current and long-term plans for the economic development of the country. The range of agricultural products that were subject to surplus appropriation expanded. A decree on abolition was being prepared money circulation. However, these measures conflicted with the demands of workers and peasants. They stopped understanding what they were fighting for in 1917? And Lenin understood this perfectly. The economic crisis was aggravated by the social crisis. The workers were irritated by unemployment and food shortages; they were dissatisfied with the infringement of trade union rights, the introduction of forced labor and its equalization of pay. Therefore, in cities at the end of 1920 - beginning. 1921 Strikes began in which workers advocated for the democratization of the country's political system, the convening of a Constituent Assembly, and the abolition of special distributions and rations. This is already a crisis of workers' confidence in the ruling Bolshevik party. There was a threat of the party losing power in the country due to the delay in the transition to peacetime politics after the end of the Civil War.

The peasants, outraged by the actions of the food detachments, not only stopped handing over grain according to the surplus appropriation system, 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 Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal suffrage. Units of the Red Army and the Cheka were sent to suppress these protests.

Thus, by the end of the Civil War, the country was gripped by a total crisis, threatening the existence of power, established after October 1917, requiring an urgent change in policy. The event that accelerated the introduction of the NEP was the Krondstadt rebellion. In March 1921 sailors and Red Army soldiers of the naval fortress of Krondstadt demanded the release from prison of all representatives of socialist parties, re-election of the Soviets and expulsion of communists from them, freedom of speech, assembly and unions for all parties, ensuring freedom of trade, allowing peasants to freely use the land and dispose of the products of their farms , i.e. liquidation of surplus appropriation. The workers of Kronstadt supported them. In response, the government declared a state of siege in Petrograd, declared the rebels rebels and refused to negotiate with them. Regiments of the Red Army, reinforced by detachments of the Cheka and delegates of the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), who specially arrived from Moscow, took Kronstadt by storm. 2.5 thousand sailors were arrested, 6-8 thousand emigrated to Finland. Devastation and hunger, workers' strikes, an uprising of peasants and sailors - everything testified to the Crisis state of affairs. In addition, by the spring of 1921. the hope for a quick world revolution and material and technical assistance from the European proletariat had been exhausted. Therefore, V.I. Lenin revised the internal political course and recognized that only satisfying the demands of the peasantry could save the power of the Bolsheviks.

The essence of the NEP

So, in the first half of the 20s. The main task for the party was to restore the destroyed economy, create a material, technical and socio-cultural basis for building socialism, promised by the Bolsheviks to the people.

In March 1921, at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), V.I. Lenin proposed a new economic policy. The essence new policy– reconstruction of a multi-structured economy, use of the organizational and technical experience of capitalists while maintaining the “commanding heights” in the hands of the Bolshevik government. They were understood as political and economic levers of influence: the absolute power of the RKB (b), government sector in industry, a centralized financial system and a foreign trade monopoly.

In the assessment of the NEP, modern histories were divided into three main groups:

1) some historians proceed from the fact that the NEP was a purely Russian phenomenon, dictated by the crisis caused by the Civil War;

2) others regard the NEP as an attempt by politicians to return the country to a generally civilized path of development;

3) still others believe that under the conditions of the political monopoly of the Bolsheviks, the NEP was doomed from the very beginning.

The NEP must be looked at, first of all, as a means of getting out of a difficult crisis situation. This approach is not without interest from the point of view of current realities. The question is: where did the idea of the NEP come from?

Many people are considered to be the authors of the idea. For a long time Lenin was recognized as its creator. In 1921 Lenin wrote in the brochure “On the Tax in Kind” that the principles of the NEP were developed by him back in the spring of 1918. in the work “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power” there is a certain “roll call” between the ideas of 1918 and 1921. of course have. This becomes obvious when taking into account what Lenin said about the multi-structured economy of the country and the state policy in relation to individual structures. And yet the different placement of emphasis is striking, which Lenin did not pay attention to.

If in 1918 It was supposed to build socialism through maximum support and strengthening of the public sector, along with the use of elements of state capitalism in opposition to private capital and the “petty-bourgeois elements,” but now they are talking about the need to attract other forms and structures for the needs of restoration. It would be a mistake to associate the NEP only with the name of Lenin. Ideas about the need to change the economic policy pursued by the Bolsheviks were constantly expressed by more far-sighted people, regardless of their political affiliation. The Bolsheviks had a place to emphasize their knowledge of how to rebuild the economy. The ideas of stimulating agricultural production through differentiated taxation, cooperating the sales and supply system, promoting trade and exchange to expand the domestic and foreign markets, stabilizing the currency in the interests of improving the standard of living of the population, demonopolizing the management of industry and its partial denationalization were adopted. However, and this is a significant difference between the reforms of the NEP period and previous and subsequent ones, not particularly trusting their knowledge and experience in practical matters accumulated during the “heroic period,” the Bolshevik leadership widely involved “bourgeois specialists” in economic activities. Under almost every governing body - VSNKh, Gosplan, Narkomfin, Narkomtrud - there was an extensive system of institutions developing scientifically sound and fairly balanced economic policies. The NEP program was most consistently outlined in the 20s. in the works of N.I. Bukharin.

At the height of the implementation of military communist measures in February 1920. one of their main inspirers, L. D. Trotsky, unexpectedly came up with a proposal to replace surplus appropriation with a fixed tax, but his proposal had no concrete consequences. It was rather an impulsive act, a reaction to difficulties associated with food supply. Neither at that moment, nor later, Trotsky never showed himself to be either a consistent supporter of reforms in the spirit of the NEP, or supporters of a return to “war communism,” adhering to pragmatic rather than doctrinal economic views.

So, this policy is called New because it recognized the need for maneuver, allowing some freedom economic activity, trade, commodity-money relations, concessions to the peasantry and private capital.

The main goals of the NEP.

Fundamentally, the goal did not change - the transition to communism remained the programmatic goal of the party and state, but the methods of transition were partly revised.

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.

The economic goal of the NEP is to prevent devastation, overcome the crisis, restore the economy and strengthen the financial system.

The social goal of the NEP is to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society and improve living standards.

Foreign policy goals are the restoration of normal foreign policy and foreign economic relations to overcome international isolation. Achieving these goals led to a gradual recovery from the crisis.

Implementation and main steps of the NEP.

The transition to the NEP was legally formalized by the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, decisions of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1921. The NEP included a complex of economic and socio-political measures. They meant “a retreat from the principles of “war communism”” - the revival of private enterprise, the introduction of freedom of internal trade and the satisfaction of the demands of the peasantry.

Agriculture.

The introduction of the NEP began with agriculture.

1) The surplus appropriation system was replaced by a tax in kind (food tax). It was set before the sowing campaign, could not change during the year and was 2 times less than the allocation.

2) After state deliveries were completed, free trade in the products of one’s own household was allowed.

3) Land lease and rental were allowed work force.

4) The forced establishment of communes stopped, which allowed the private, small-scale commodity sector to gain a foothold in the countryside.

Individual peasants provided 98% of agricultural products.

In general, the tax in kind system provided the opportunity for the accumulation of surplus agricultural products and raw materials among the peasantry, which created an incentive for industrial production. As a result, by 1925 on the restored sown areas, the gross grain harvest was 20.7% higher than the average annual level of pre-war Russia.

The supply of agricultural raw materials to industry has improved.

3. Orlov A. S., Georgiev V. A. History of Russia. – M. 2002 – page 354

Trade

To implement the project, supplies were required that were not available in the devastated country. It became clear that in order to meet growing demand, it is necessary to attract private capital to the production of consumer goods, and this requires the denationalization of some enterprises.

Since state trade could not ensure the growth of trade turnover, private capital was allowed into the sphere of trade and money circulation. As a result of the admission of private relations into trade, the country normalized market relations.

In 1924 The People's Commissariat of Internal Trade of the USSR was created. Fairs began to operate (in 1922–1923 there were more than 600 of them), the largest were Nizhny Novgorod, Kiev, Baku, Irbit, trade exhibitions and exchanges (in 1924 there were about 100 of them), State Trade Stores were formed (GUM, Mostorg, etc.) , state and mixed trading companies (“Bread Product”, “Raw Leather”, etc.). Consumer cooperation played a major role in the market. It was separated from the system of the People's Commissariat of Food and turned into a widely ramified system covering the entire country. Thus, state, cooperative, and private enterprises participated in domestic trade. They complemented each other, and the competition that arose between them further stimulated the growth of trade turnover. By 1924 it already served economic ties in the economy quite well.

Financial system.

In the financial sector, except for one State Bank, private and cooperative banks and insurance companies appeared. Fees were charged for the use of transport, communication systems and utilities. Government loans were issued, which were forcibly distributed among the population in order to pump out personal funds for industrial development. Stabilization monetary system had a positive impact on market relations in the country.

November 16, 1921 were open National Bank RSFSR and specialized banks. Bank lending at this stage becomes not gratuitous financing, but a purely commercial transaction between banks and clients, for violation of the terms of which one must be held accountable by law.

Tax policy is becoming very strict. 70% of the profits of industrial enterprises were transferred to the treasury. The agricultural tax was 5%. decreasing or increasing depending on the quality of the land and the number of livestock. Income tax consisted of basic and progressive. The basic rate was paid by all citizens, except laborers, day laborers, state pensioners, as well as workers and employees with a salary of less than 75 rubles. per month. Progressive tax was paid only by those who received additional profit (nepmen, privately practicing lawyers, doctors, etc.). There were also indirect taxes: on salt, matches, etc.

In 1922 Monetary reform was carried out by Sokolnikov. The so-called Sovznaki were issued. This was the first denomination of banknotes, one new ruble equaled 10 thousand previous rubles. The ruble became convertible. 1 ruble – 5 American dollars. The Soviet chervonets was introduced into circulation - 10 rubles. The issue of paper money has decreased. The Soviet chervonets was highly valued in the world foreign exchange market. This made it possible not only to strengthen national currency, but also to fight inflation. The second denomination was carried out in 1923. The ruble of this model was equal to 1 million of the previous rubles. On the basis of hard currency, it became possible to completely eliminate the budget deficit, which began to play the role of a single state plan, and most budget expenditure items go to economic recovery and development.

Industry

The restoration of industry began with the restructuring of organizational forms and management methods. Decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars (May–August 1921) suspended the nationalization of small and medium-sized industry, allowed private entrepreneurship, and enterprises with up to 20 people could be transferred into private hands. Renting was allowed everywhere. The reorganization of the public sector was envisaged based on the introduction of economic accounting relations. The basic principle of self-financing is operational independence and self-sufficiency. The decree on the general nationalization of industry was canceled. But the state reserved the right to retain commanding heights in such industries as:

Metallurgy

Transport

Fuel industry

Oil production

International trade

This allowed the state to control and influence the growth of capitalist elements. Small and medium-sized enterprises producing consumer goods were leased. Industrial leasing generally yielded positive results: several thousand small enterprises were restored, which contributed to the development of the goods market and the strengthening of economic ties between city and countryside; additional jobs were created; rent increased the material and financial resources of the state.

Another significant capitalist form in the first half of the 20s was concessions. They occupied an important place in the state's relations with foreign capital. Concession (from the Latin “assignment”) is an agreement on the lease to foreign firms of enterprises or plots of land owned by the state, with the right to production activities. The state represented enterprises or territories for the development of natural resources and exercised control over their use without interfering in economic and administrative affairs. Concessions were subject to the same taxes as state-owned enterprises. Part of the profit received (in the form of products) was given as payment to the state, and the other part could be sold abroad. In essence, this is how a new state-capitalist sector arose for the Russian economy. 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. Instead of a sectoral management system, a territorial sectoral one was introduced. After the reorganization of the Supreme Council of National Economy, management was carried out by its chief executives through local councils of the national economy (sovnarkhozes) and sectoral economic trusts. Also large enterprises united into trusts subordinate to the Supreme Economic Council. Labor conscription and labor mobilization were abolished, and wages were introduced at tariffs taking into account the quantity and quality of products. As a result, as a result of the NEP measures in 1926. pre-war levels were reached for the main types of industrial products. Light industry developed faster than heavy industry, which required significant capital investments. Living conditions of urban and rural population have improved significantly. The rationing system for food distribution was abolished.

Thus, one of the goals of the NEP - overcoming devastation - was resolved.

Political sphere in 1921 - 1929 and contradictions of the NEP

New trends in the economy have not changed the methods of political leadership of the country. State issues were still decided by the party apparatus. But the NEP did not pass without a trace for the Bolsheviks. Among them, a discussion began about the role and place of trade unions in the state, about the essence and political significance of the NEP. Factions emerged with their own platforms opposing Lenin’s position. They insisted on democratizing the management system, providing trade unions with broad economic rights (the “labor opposition”). Others proposed further centralizing management and eliminating trade unions (L. D. Trotsky). Many communists left the RCP (b), believing that the introduction of the NEP meant the restoration of capitalism and a betrayal of socialist principles; the party was in danger of splitting.

At the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), resolutions were adopted prohibiting the creation of factions; after the congress, a check was carried out on the ideological stability of party members (“purge”), which reduced its number by a quarter. An important link in the political system in these years was the apparatus of violence - the Cheka, in 1922. it was renamed GPU - Main Political Directorate. The GPU monitored the mood of all layers of society, identified dissidents, and sent them to prison. Special attention was given to political opponents. In 1922 The GPU accused 47 previously arrested leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party of counter-revolutionary activities. The first major political process took place under Soviet rule. In the autumn of 1922 160 scientists and cultural figures who did not share the Bolshevik doctrine were expelled from Russia (“philosophical ship”). The ideological confrontation was over.

Also during the NEP years, a blow was dealt to churches. In 1922 under the pretext of raising funds to fight hunger, a significant part of church valuables was confiscated. Anti-religious propaganda intensified, temples and cathedrals were destroyed. The persecution of priests began. Patriarch Tikhon was placed under house arrest. After Tikhon's death, the government prevented the election of a new patriarch. Many priests were arrested or forced to show loyalty to the Soviet regime. In 1927 they signed a Declaration in which they obliged priests who did not recognize the new government to withdraw from church affairs.

The strengthening of party unity and the defeat of political and ideological opponents made it possible to strengthen the one-party political system, in which the so-called “dictatorship of the proletariat in alliance with the peasantry” in fact meant the dictatorship of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). This political system, with minor changes, continued to exist throughout the years of Soviet power.

After the death of V.I. Lenin, the situation in the party worsened, a struggle for power began, where Stalin, who had held office since 1922, was the favorite. post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). Stalin concentrated enormous power in his hands and placed cadres loyal to him in the localities and in the center.

Different understandings of the principles and methods of socialist construction, the personal ambitions of L. D. Trotsky, A. B. Kamenev, G. E. Zinoviev and their rejection of Stalinist methods - all this caused opposition sentiments in the press party. By pitting political opponents against one another and skillfully interpreting their statements as anti-Leninist, J.V. Stalin eliminated his opponents, i.e. laying the foundation stone for the cult of personality.

Overall, the achievements of the NEP were significant. According to the apt expression of the historian V.P. Dmitrenko, it led to the restoration of backwardness: the tasks of modernization, but did not solve them. Moreover, the NEP was characterized by very serious contradictions, which led to a whole series of crises: the sale of goods in the fall of 1923, the shortage of industrial goods in the fall of 1925, grain procurements in the winter of 1927/28.

NEP contradictions:

1) Political - V.I. Lenin, the author of the NEP, who in 1921 assumed that this would be a policy “seriously and for a long time”, a year later at the 11th Party Congress he declared that it was time to stop the “retreat” towards capitalism and it was necessary to move on to building socialism . He wrote a number of works where he outlined the main goals of the party: industrialization, broad cooperation, cultural revolution. At the same time, Lenin insisted on maintaining the unity and leading role of the party in the state. Lenin warned the party against its bureaucratization; he considered the political rivalry between L. D. Trotsky and J. V. Stalin to be the main danger.

2) Economic contradictions - technical backwardness of industry - high rates of its recovery, urgent need for renewal production capacity and the lack of capital within the country, the impossibility of widely attracting foreign investment, the absolute predominance of small, semi-subsistence peasant farms in the countryside.

3) Social contradictions - increasing inequality, non-acceptance of the NEP by a significant part of the working class and peasantry, a feeling of the temporary nature of their position among many representatives of the NEPman bourgeoisie.

The most important contradiction was between economics and politics: the economy, based on partial recognition of the market and private property, could not develop stably in the conditions of a tightening one-party political regime, the program goals of which were the transition to communism - a society free of private property. The policy towards the peasantry was inconsistent. Price policy distorted the NEP. The country's leadership consciously supported low prices for bread. Inequivalent relations between city and countryside gave rise to the sales crisis of 1923. The abandonment of NEP was officially announced in December 1929.

Results of the NEP

The NEP ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy. By 1925 industry provided 75.5% of pre-war production. It was a great success. Energy construction based on the GOERLO plan played a huge role in it: old power plants were restored and new ones were erected - Kashirskaya, Shaturskaya, Kizelovskaya, Nizhny Novgorod, etc. Electricity production increased 6 times. Despite the thoughtfulness, measures to establish direct trade between the city and the countryside were a complete failure. By the end of 1925 there was a sharp jump in agricultural production: grain yields exceeded the pre-war level: 1913 - 7 c/ha, 1925 - 7.6 c/ha, gross grain harvests increased: 1913 - 65 million tons, 1926 - 77 million tons.

Although the NEP allowed private trade, it was already in 1923. An offensive began against the Nepmen in the capitals, deporting them and their families, and prohibiting them from living and trading in large centers.

Since 1924 private trade is being squeezed out, and with the transition to the NEP, unemployment has increased. Workers in the cities constantly felt the threat of hunger, although there was bread in the country, but due to the siphoning of funds from the countryside, difficulties arose in providing the city with food and, moreover, at prices affordable for the working masses. The standard of living of the peasantry, according to modern economists, was lower than the level of 1913. The process of fragmentation of peasant farms continued, more focused on their own consumption than on the market.

The need to ensure the independence of the country's defense capability required further development of the economy, primarily heavy industry. The transfer of funds from cities to villages began, purchasing prices were lowered, and prices for manufactured goods were artificially inflated. The quality of industrial products was also poor. As a result, 1923 – sales crisis, overstocking with poor, expensive manufactured goods. 1924 - a price crisis, when peasants refused to hand over grain, having reaped a good harvest, at fixed prices, deciding to sell it on the market. Mass uprisings began in the Amur region, Georgia due to the refusal to hand over grain under the tax in kind.

In the mid-20s. the volume of state procurements of bread and raw materials fell. This reduced the ability to export agricultural products, and therefore reduced the foreign exchange earnings needed to purchase industrial equipment abroad. As a result, the government took a number of administrative measures to overcome the crisis. Centralized management of the economy was strengthened, the independence of enterprises was limited, prices for manufactured goods were increased, and taxes were raised for private entrepreneurs, traders and kulaks. This meant the beginning of the collapse of the NEP.

Ulyanovsk State Agricultural

Academy

Department of National History

Test

Discipline: “National History”

On the topic: “New economic policy of the Soviet state (1921-1928)”

Completed by a 1st year SSE student

Faculty of Economics

Correspondence department

Specialty "Accounting, analysis"

and audit"

Melnikova Natalya

Alekseevna

Code No. 29037

Ulyanovsk - 2010

Prerequisites for the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP).

The main task of the Bolsheviks' domestic policy was to restore the economy destroyed by the revolution and civil war, to create a material, technical and socio-cultural basis for building the socialism promised by the Bolsheviks to the people. In the fall of 1920, a series of crises broke out in the country.

1. Economic crisis:

Decrease in population (due to losses during the civil war and emigration);

Destruction of mines and mines (Donbass, Baku oil region, Ural and Siberia were especially affected);

Lack of fuel and raw materials; shutdown of factories (which led to a decline in the role of large industrial centers);

Massive exodus of workers from the city to the countryside;

Stopping traffic on 30 railways;

Rising inflation;

Reduction of sown areas and disinterest of peasants in expanding the economy;

A decrease in the level of management, which affected the quality of decisions made and was expressed in the disruption of economic ties between enterprises and regions of the country, and a decline in labor discipline;

Mass hunger in the city and countryside, a decline in living standards, an increase in morbidity and mortality.

2. Social and political crisis:

Workers' dissatisfaction with unemployment and food shortages, infringement of trade union rights, the introduction of forced labor and its equalization of pay;

The expansion of strike movements in the city, in which workers advocated for the democratization of the country's political system and the convening of the Constituent Assembly;

Peasants' indignation at the continuation of surplus appropriation;

The beginning of the armed struggle of peasants demanding changes in agrarian policy, the elimination of the dictates of the RCP (b), the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal equal suffrage;

Intensification of the activities of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries;

Fluctuations in the army, often involved in the fight against peasant uprisings.

3. Internal party crisis:

Stratification of party members into an elite group and the party mass;

The emergence of opposition groups that defended the ideals of “true socialism” (the “democratic centralism” group, the “workers’ opposition”);

An increase in the number of people claiming leadership in the party (L.D. Trotsky, I.V. Stalin) and the emergence of a danger of its split;

Signs of moral degradation of party members.

4. Crisis of theory.

Russia had to live in conditions of capitalist encirclement, because hopes for a world revolution did not come true. And this required a different strategy and tactics. V.I. Lenin was forced to reconsider the internal political course and admit that only satisfying the demands of the peasantry could save the power of the Bolsheviks.

So, with the help of the policy of “war communism” it was not possible to overcome the devastation caused by 4 years of Russia’s participation in the First World War, revolutions (February and October 1917) and deepened by the civil war. A decisive change in the economic course was required. In December 1920, the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets took place. Among his most important decisions, the following can be noted: a commitment to the development of “war communism” and the material and technical modernization of the national economy based on electrification (GOELRO plan), and on the other hand, a refusal to mass create communes and state farms, relying on the “diligent peasant” was supposed to provide financial incentives.

NEP: goals, essence, methods, main activities.

After the congress, the State Planning Committee was created by decree of the Council of People's Commissars of February 22, 1921. In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP(b), two important decisions were made: to replace surplus appropriation with a tax in kind and on party unity. These two resolutions reflected the internal contradictions of the new economic policy, the transition to which was signaled by the decisions of the congress.

NEP - anti-crisis program, the essence of which was to recreate a mixed economy while maintaining the “commanding heights” in the hands of the Bolshevik government. The levers of influence were to be the absolute power of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the public sector in industry, a decentralized financial system and a foreign trade monopoly.

NEP goals:

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

Economic: prevent devastation, overcome the crisis and restore the economy;

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.

Achieving these goals led to the gradual collapse of the NEP in the second half of the 20s.

The transition to the NEP was legislatively formalized by the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, decisions of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1921. The NEP included a complex economic and socio-political events:

Replacement of surplus appropriation with food tax (until 1925 in in kind); products remaining on the farm after paying the tax in kind were allowed to be sold on the market;

Allowing private trade;

Attracting foreign capital to industrial development;

Leasing by the state of many small enterprises and retaining large and medium-sized industrial enterprises;

Land lease under state control;

Attracting foreign capital to the development of industry (some enterprises were concessioned to foreign capitalists);

Transfer of industry to full self-financing and self-sufficiency;

Hiring labor;

Abolition of the card system and equal distribution;

Payment for all services;

Replacing natural wages with cash wages, established depending on the quantity and quality of labor;

Abolition of universal labor conscription, introduction of labor exchanges.

The introduction of the NEP was not a one-time measure, but was a process extended over several years. Thus, initially trade was allowed to peasants only close to their place of residence. At the same time, Lenin counted on commodity exchange (exchange of production products at fixed prices and only

through state or cooperative stores), but by the autumn of 1921 he recognized the need for commodity-money relations.

NEP was not only economic policy. This is a set of measures of an economic, political, and ideological nature. During this period, the idea of civil peace was put forward, the Code of Labor Laws and the Criminal Code were developed, the powers of the Cheka (renamed OGPU) were somewhat limited, an amnesty was declared for white emigration, etc. But the desire to attract to one’s side the specialists necessary for economic progress (increased salaries technical intelligentsia, creating conditions for creative work, etc.) were simultaneously combined with the suppression of those who could pose a danger to the dominance of the Communist Party (repressions against church ministers in 1921-1922, the trial of the leadership of the Right Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1922, deportation of about 200 prominent figures of the Russian intelligentsia: N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, A.A. Kizevetter, P.A.

In general, the NEP was assessed by contemporaries as a transitional stage. The fundamental difference in positions was associated with the answer to the question: “What does this transition? according to which they existed different points of view:

1. Some believed that, despite the utopian nature of their socialist goals, the Bolsheviks, by moving to the NEP, opened the way to evolution Russian economy to capitalism. They believed that the next stage of the country's development would be political liberalization. Therefore, the intelligentsia needs to support Soviet power. This point of view was most clearly expressed by the “Smena Vekhites” - representatives of the ideological movement among the intelligentsia, who received their name from the collection of articles by the authors of the cadet orientation “Smena Vekh” (Prague, 1921).

2. The Mensheviks believed that on the basis of the NEP the preconditions for socialism would be created, without which, in the absence of a world revolution, there could be no socialism in Russia. The development of the NEP would inevitably lead to the Bolsheviks abandoning their monopoly on power. Pluralism in economic sphere will create pluralism in the political system and undermine the foundations of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

3. The Social Revolutionaries in the NEP saw the possibility of implementing the “third way” - non-capitalist development. Taking into account the peculiarities of Russia - a diverse economy, the predominance of the peasantry - the Socialist Revolutionaries assumed that socialism in Russia required combining democracy with a cooperative socio-economic system.

4. The liberals developed their own concept of the NEP. He saw the essence of the new economic policy in the revival of capitalist relations in Russia. According to liberals, the NEP was an objective process that made it possible to decide main task: to complete the modernization of the country begun by Peter I, to bring it into the mainstream of world civilization.

5. Bolshevik theorists (Lenin, Trotsky and others) viewed the transition to the NEP as a tactical move, a temporary retreat caused by an unfavorable balance of forces. They were inclined to understand the NEP as one of the possible

paths to socialism, but not direct, but relatively long-term. Lenin believed that, although the technical and economic backwardness of Russia did not allow the direct introduction of socialism, it could be gradually built, relying on the state of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” This plan did not imply a “softening”, but a comprehensive strengthening of the regime of the “proletarian”, but in fact the Bolshevik dictatorship. The “immaturity” of the socio-economic and cultural prerequisites of socialism was intended to compensate (as in the period of “war communism”) with terror. Lenin did not agree with the measures proposed (even by individual Bolsheviks) for some political liberalization - allowing the activity of socialist parties, a free press, the creation of a peasant union, etc. He proposed expanding the use of execution (with replacement by deportation abroad) to all types of activities of the Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, etc. Remains of a multi-party system in the USSR

were liquidated, persecution of the church was launched, and the internal party regime was tightened. However, some Bolsheviks did not accept the NEP, considering it a capitulation.

Development of the political system of Soviet society during the NEP years.

Already in 1921-1924. reforms are being carried out in the management of industry, trade, cooperation, and the credit and financial sphere, and a two-level banking system: State Bank, Commercial and Industrial Bank, Bank for Foreign Trade, network of cooperative and local communal banks. Money issue(issue of money and valuable papers, which is a state monopoly) as the main source of income state budget is being replaced by a system of direct and indirect taxes (commercial, income, agricultural, excise taxes on consumer goods, local taxes), fees for services (transport, communications, utilities, etc.) are introduced.

The development of commodity-money relations led to the restoration of the All-Russian domestic market. Large fairs are being recreated: Nizhny Novgorod, Baku, Irbit, Kiev, etc. Opening trading exchanges. A certain freedom of development of private capital in industry and trade is allowed. The creation of small private enterprises (with no more than 20 workers), concessions, leases, and mixed companies is allowed. According to the terms economic activity consumer, agricultural, and handicraft cooperation were placed in a more advantageous position than private capital.

The rise of industry and the introduction of hard currency stimulated the restoration of agriculture. High tempo growth during the NEP years was largely explained by the “restorative effect”: existing but idle equipment was loaded, and old arable lands abandoned during the civil war were put into use in agriculture. When these reserves dried up at the end of the 20s, the country was faced with the need for huge capital investments in industry - in order to reconstruct old factories with worn-out equipment and create new industrial facilities.

Meanwhile, due to legislative restrictions (private capital was not allowed into large, and to a large extent also into medium-sized industry), high taxation of private owners in both cities and villages, non-state investments were extremely limited.

The Soviet government is not successful in its attempts to attract any significant amount of foreign capital.

So, the new economic policy ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy, but soon after its introduction, the first successes gave way to new difficulties. The party leadership explained its inability to overcome crisis phenomena using economic methods and the use of command-and-directive methods by the activities of class “enemies of the people” (NEPmen, kulaks, agronomists, engineers and other specialists). This was the basis for the deployment of repression and the organization of new political processes.

Results and reasons for the collapse of the NEP.

By 1925, the restoration of the national economy was largely completed. General release industrial products over 5 years, the 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 state budget deficit was completely eliminated, 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.

The NEP also created new difficulties, along with successes. The difficulties were mainly due to three reasons: the imbalance of industry and agriculture; purposeful class orientation of the government's internal policy; strengthening contradictions between the diversity of social interests of different sectors of society and authoritarianism. The need to ensure the independence and defense capability of the country required further development of the economy and, first of all, heavy defense industry. The priority of industry over the agricultural sector resulted in an open transfer of funds from villages to cities through price and tax policy. Sales prices for industrial goods were artificially inflated, and purchase prices for raw materials and products were lowered, that is, the notorious price “scissors” were introduced. The quality of supplied industrial products was low. On the one hand, there was an overstocking of warehouses with expensive and inferior manufactured goods. On the other hand, peasants who reaped good harvests in the mid-20s refused to sell grain to the state at fixed prices, preferring to sell it on the market.

Bibliography.

1) T.M. Timoshina " Economic history Russia", "Filin", 1998.

2) N. Vert “History of the Soviet State”, “The Whole World”, 1998

3) “Our Fatherland: Experience of Political History” Kuleshov S.V., Volobuev O.V., Pivovar E.I. et al., "Terra", 1991

4) " Recent history fatherland. XX century" edited by Kiselev A.F., Shchagin E.M., "Vlados", 1998.

5) L.D. Trotsky “The Betrayed Revolution. What is the USSR and where is it going? (http://www.alina.ru/koi/magister/library/revolt/trotl001.htm)