NEP - a transition from the policy of “war communism”, from surplus appropriation to tax in kind according to the decision of the X Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (6) and March 1921 with the permission of internal free trade while maintaining the state’s monopoly of foreign trade and large-scale industry. Allowance of state capitalism in the form of lease concessions for small industrial enterprises and land under state control, transfer of state industry to self-financing. Used commodity-money relations to revive the country's economy. Since the late 20s. discontinued.
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New Economic Policy
NEP) a set of economic and political reforms aimed at restoring the people. x-va, the creation of a modern "connection" of the state. sectors with other forms of farming in order to strengthen the power of the ruling Bolshevik party. The first step of the NEP was the decision of the X Congress of the RCP(b) on March 15, 1921 to replace the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind, the amount of which was 40% less than the surplus appropriation system. The decree of March 28, 1921 allowed the free exchange of agricultural products. These measures made it possible to win the trust of most of the peasantry, restore trade turnover between the city and the village, and contributed to the pacification of the rebellion, which had previously threatened to develop into a cross. war. Cross. restore prevented the spring sowing of 1921 in many cases. U. counties; drought, crop failure and famine of 1921 aggravated the deep agricultural crisis, therefore the system of measures provided for by the NEP had a beneficial effect on the village. x-in only in 1923. Entry into force of the Land Code 1 December. 1922 allowed the cross. freely choose the form of agriculture (individual or collective), as well as renting land and using hired labor. The practice of planting communes in the village. was replaced by the encouragement of organization and development of simple forms of cooperation (consumer, trade, agricultural, credit, etc.). The number of collective farms in the Ukraine decreased from 714 in 1921 to 442 in 1923. Rural consumption. Ukrainian cooperation in 1923 covered 7.7% of us. and took 1st place in cooperation cross. in the country. The logic of development is cross. economy demanded that the state allow certain forms of private entrepreneurship in industry. and trade, while maintaining control over banks, transport, large industrial enterprises. enterprises and foreign trade. By the spring of 1924, grain, meat, salt, and textile trade in the Ukraine was almost entirely in the hands of private traders. In prom. private capital was allowed into the main in the form of lease of state-owned enterprises and foreign concessions. By 1925, there were 111 rented handicraft enterprises in the Ukraine (mills, oil mills, etc.), which employed 2,260 people, which accounted for 2% of the total number of workers. and factory workers. In the heavy industry in the U., meth was leased. enterprises: Bilimbaevsky, Nyazepetrovsky, Sysertsky, Ilyinsky plants, iron-lite. a factory at the Khrompik station, a number of workshops at the Kyshtym, Nizhne-Tagil and Visimo-Utkinsk factories. However, after 8 months, under the pretext of “production necessity,” the lease of the Bilimbaevsky plant was terminated. Soon the same fate befell other heavy industrial enterprises. The lease remained in the main. enterprises cf. and small industrial Of the concession enterprises, most The major ones were Armand Hammer's concession for asbestos mines in the Alapaevsky district and Lena Goldfields Limited. Thus, with the introduction of the NEP, the structure of the multi-structure economy became more complex; it clearly distinguished state, cooperative, private small-commodity, state capitalist and capitalist sectors. By 1925 in industrial U. state enterprises sectors provided 87.7% of its gross output, cooperative - 6.7%, small-scale commodity - 11.5%, capitalist together with state capitalist - 1.3%; in gross agricultural output. the small-scale commodity sector accounted for 93%. Aug 12 1921 The Council of Labor and Defense defined new principles for the organization of large-scale industry: state-owned enterprises gain independence in management, build their activities on commercial principles, most notably. large enterprises are united into trusts. The Kamuralbumles, Uralkhim, and other trusts were organized in the Ukraine. In 1925, a large industrial enterprise. region consisted of 31 trusts, incl. 10 - all-Union subordination, 3 - republic, 18 - region. Oct 4 1921 The decree on the resumption of the activities of the State came into force. jar. For the purpose of planned regulation of the market, owls were created. commodity exchanges. A commodity exchange was opened in Perm in 1921, and in Ekat in 1922. and Chelyab. The Irbit yoke has resumed. 5-22 Feb. 1924 monetary reform was carried out: Soviet notes were withdrawn from circulation after they were exchanged for new money at the rate of 1 new ruble for 50 thousand old ones. The monetary system has stabilized. The administrative-command control system was gradually eroded. There were two regulators in the economy: the market and the government. Attempts by the authorities to limit the development of commodity-money relations led to crises (1923 - “sales crisis”, 1924 - commodity famine, 1925 - growth of inflation processes and commodity famine, 1927-1928 - grain procurement crises). In the life of owls. about the transition to NEP also meant the retreat of the state. “serfdom”: universal labor conscription was abolished, it was replaced by the law on voluntary recruitment to work (LLC, 1922), equalization and wages in kind were abolished; by 1922 the card system was abolished; the lawlessness of the punitive authorities has been weakened; There has been an increase in social differentiation in society. The NEP led to significant changes in politics. sphere. In 1921-24, a restructuring of the state took place. structures, especially after the formation of the USSR in 1922 and during the development of the federal constitution adopted in 1924. In the restructuring of certain state. U.'s structures played the role of a kind of testing ground: the structure of villages. desk org-tions and villages. The Soviets, which established themselves in Ukraine in 1921–24, were adopted by other regions of the RSFSR. In 1922, the prosecutor's office was created and the Civil Code was published. code, criminal code. Illegal taxes, fees, fines, mass searches, etc. stopped; the propaganda of legal knowledge among us began. As a result of the reforms carried out, it was possible to ensure the pacification of the society, brutalized by wars, revolution, and military-communist policies, and to achieve almost pre-war economic levels in 1925. In 1925 in Ur. region sowing area amounted to 90% of the pre-war level, the gross grain harvest - 94%, the number of cattle - 92.3%. By the end of 1926, the volume of gross industrial output. reached 93% of the level of 1913. Economic and political. The reforms were accompanied by a tightening of the fight against all manifestations of the opposition, increased ideological pressure, and within the party itself, the strengthening of centralization and control mechanisms. Against the background of disputes about the NEP and its consequences, Stalin gradually eliminated his opponents and laid the foundations for a regime of absolute power leading to the curtailment of the NEP. Held 2-19 Dec. 1927 The XV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) approved the policy of ousting private capital from industry. and stage-by-stage collectivization. x-va for 10-15 years. In Jan. 1928, during a trip to the Ukraine and Siberia, Stalin begins a fierce campaign against the Christians, who refused to hand over grain to the state at low prices. The use of requisitions and arrests of those who disobey the cross. during the grain procurement campaign it was called the “Ural-Siberian method” and meant a decisive refusal to continue the new economic policy. Lit.: Chronology of Russian history: Encyclopedic reference book / Edited by Kont. M., 1994; History of the national economy of the Urals (1917-1945). Part 1. Sverdlovsk, 1988; Kulikov V.M. Preparation and conduct of a comprehensive offensive against capitalist elements in the Urals. 1925-1932. Sverdlovsk, 1987; Metelsky N.N., Tolmacheva R.P., Usov A.N. Co-operative movement in the Urals under the new economic policy. Sverdlovsk, 1990; Plotnikov I.E. About the restructuring of the Soviets in the Ural village (1921-1932) // October in the Urals: history and modernity. Sverdlovsk, 1988. Perestoronina L.I.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY DURING THE NEP PERIOD
Reasons for the transition to the NEP. The events of the spring of 1921 were regarded by the Bolsheviks as a serious political crisis. The Kronstadt “rebellion,” as defined by V.I. Lenin, was more dangerous for the Bolshevik government than Denikin, Yudenich and Kolchak combined, because it combined the spontaneous discontent of the peasants with the military power of the army. Moreover, the slogans put forward by the rebels coincided with the program of the socialist opponents of the Bolsheviks - the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. Kronstadt showed the real possibility of uniting these three forces. Lenin was the first to understand this danger. He learned two fundamental lessons from the events that took place: firstly, in order to maintain power it is necessary to come to an agreement with the peasantry and, secondly, to tighten the fight against all opposition political forces, right up to their complete destruction, so that no one except the Bolsheviks could exert influence to the masses.
In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP(b), the Bolsheviks abandoned war communism and proclaimed a new economic policy (NEP).
The main directions and essence of the NEP. The first step of the new economic policy was the abolition of food appropriation. Instead, a tax in kind was introduced, which was half the size of the surplus appropriation system and was announced in advance (on the eve of the sowing season). It could not be increased within a year. All surpluses remaining after paying the tax went to the disposal of the peasants. The introduction of a tax in kind created a material incentive to increase agricultural production. But for this incentive to work, the Bolsheviks had to allow free trade.
Fundamental changes have also occurred in the field of industrial production. First of all, the decree on the complete nationalization of industry was canceled. Now small and even some medium-sized enterprises have again been transferred into private hands. Some large industrial enterprises were allowed to be rented by private individuals. The creation of concessions with the involvement of foreign capital, mixed joint-stock companies and joint ventures was allowed.
All these “innovations” required the abolition of forced labor and the introduction of a labor market, reform of the wage system (a tariff system of remuneration was introduced). A monetary reform was carried out, the result of which was the introduction in the country of a hard currency backed by gold - the “golden chervonets”, which was highly valued on the world foreign exchange market. The Soviet chervonets was equal to 5 dollars 14.5 US cents.
At the same time, a significant part of industry and all foreign trade remained in the hands of the state. Decrees of the Council of People's Commissars in 1923 determined a new structure and charter of state industrial enterprises (trusts) and state trade (syndicates). They gained greater economic independence, their activities were based on the principles of self-sufficiency.
At first, Lenin and his comrades viewed the NEP as a forced retreat caused by an unfavorable balance of forces, as a forced respite before a decisive assault on the heights of communism. But already in the fall of 1921 Lenin came to understand the NEP as one of the possible ways of transition to socialism. He stated that the NEP is “serious and long-term.” The essence of this long transition period was reduced to peaceful economic competition between different structures in the economy, as a result of which the socialist system should gradually supplant private capitalist forms of economy. The key to this victory, Lenin believed, would be political power the proletariat, or rather its party, and the concentration in the hands of the proletarian state of the “commanding heights” in the economy, i.e., the most important spheres of industrial production, foreign trade and finance.
Socio-economic results of the NEP. Small industry, retail trade and the countryside quickly adapted to the NEP. The recovery of heavy industry proceeded at a slower pace. But the introduction of self-financing, material interest, and the newly emerging concept of profit still bore fruit.
After the terrible drought of 1921 and the famine of 1922, agriculture began to gradually increase production volumes. By 1923, pre-revolutionary sown areas had largely been restored. By 1927, the pre-war level had been achieved in general and in livestock farming. In the village, middle peasant farms mainly predominated (over 60%), there were 3-4% of kulaks, 22-26% of poor people, and 10-11% of farm laborers.
Industrial production also developed. By 1928, the country had reached pre-war levels in terms of basic economic indicators, including national income. And yet, there was a sharp shortage of industrial goods, which led to an increase in prices, and this, in turn, hampered the growth of the population's living standards.
The introduction of the NEP caused a change in the social structure and way of life of people. The most colorful figures of that time were representatives of the new Soviet bourgeoisie - the “NEPmen”. These people largely determined the face of the era, but they were, as it were, outside of Soviet society: they were deprived of voting rights and could not become members of a trade union. Entrepreneurs were keenly aware of the precariousness of their position. Therefore, the share of private industry in total production was low. Private capital flowed primarily into trade.
Significant changes have occurred in the traditional segments of the population. During the civil war, the already small Russian bourgeoisie, as well as the landowners, were completely destroyed. The intelligentsia suffered serious damage.
The proletariat emerged from the civil war and the devastation that accompanied it, in Lenin’s words, “weakened and, to a certain extent, declassed by the destruction of its life basis - large-scale machine industry.” In 1920, there were 1.7 million industrial workers in Russia, with regular workers making up no more than 40%. By 1928, the size of the working class increased 5 times, mainly due to the rural population.
The workers' financial situation has improved. Wages increased, coming very close to pre-war levels. Workers received the right to annual leave which was at least two weeks. However, the growth of living standards was hampered by high prices, a shortage of essential goods, and an acute housing problem. In addition, despite the growth of industry, unemployment was increasing in the country.
The equal redistribution of land, as well as the policy of restraining the growth of wealthy farms through taxation and state support for the poor led to the “middleization” of the countryside. Many peasant farms were rapidly growing. Rural residents began to eat better than before the revolution, they began to eat more bread and meat.
The peasants expressed dissatisfaction with the political restrictions for village residents that existed in the “state of the dictatorship of the proletariat.” Having received significant economic relief from the NEP, they were not averse to receiving the right to defend their interests with the help of their own political organizations.
Another social result of the NEP was the exorbitant increase in the bureaucratic apparatus. This was facilitated not only by the active intervention of the state in the sphere of production and distribution, but also by the low qualifications of personnel, which forced several people to work in one area. In 1917, about 1 million officials worked in institutions, in 1921 - 2.5 million. Most people went to work in Soviet institutions for the privileges, primarily for food rations.
Economic contradictions of the NEP. The significant rates of economic growth during the NEP period were largely explained by the “restorative effect”: in industry - by the commissioning of existing equipment that was not used during the era of wars and revolutions; in agriculture - restoration of abandoned arable land. When in the late 20s. these reserves dried up, the country needed huge capital investments to reconstruct old factories and create new industries.
The Bolsheviks were unable to follow the beaten path of attracting foreign investment, although they tried. Foreign entrepreneurs did not want to risk their capital in the conditions of complete unpredictability of the Bolshevik regime. In addition, they had already been taught by the experience of the gratuitous nationalization of foreign property carried out after October revolution. The last hopes that “abroad will help us” collapsed in 1929, when a large-scale economic crisis broke out in the West.
Internal reserves were minimal. Private capital was not allowed into large and, to a large extent, even into medium-sized industry; the lack of legal guarantees forced the population to hide their savings, keep them in hiding places, and use them for speculation. Thus, private capital was unable to modernize the Russian economy. The public sector, although recognized as the leading one, was low-income. It was also impossible to count on agriculture, which had once been a supplier of export products. The fragmentation of peasant farms and the middleization of the countryside led to a decrease in the production of marketable products, since the middle peasant produced products primarily for his own consumption and had almost no connection with the market. Before the revolution, the main suppliers of commercial grain were landowners' farms. Now they have been eliminated. Low marketability led to a decrease in the volume of exports of agricultural products, and consequently, imports of equipment so necessary for modernizing the country, not to mention the import of consumer goods. In 1928, half as much equipment was imported into the USSR as in the pre-revolutionary period.
Agricultural problems were aggravated by a hunger for manufactured goods. The peasants lost the incentive to expand commodity production: why bother if there is nothing to buy with the money raised.
Grain procurement crisis. In 1927, due to a shortage of industrial goods that the state provided in exchange for grain, low state purchasing prices, and crop failure in a number of areas, the sale of grain and other products to the state decreased. The situation was aggravated by diplomatic conflicts with European countries. The smell of war was in the air. Taught by bitter experience, the townspeople rushed to buy essential goods. This was an additional incentive for peasants to hide more grain away. The plan to export grain abroad was thwarted, the country received less foreign currency, which led to a reduction in industrial programs. As a result, the commodity shortage worsened even more, and prices jumped sharply. In the fall of 1927, city stores presented a long-forgotten spectacle: butter, cheese, and milk disappeared from the shelves. Then there were shortages of bread, and long lines formed for it.
To eliminate the crisis, extraordinary measures were taken: 30 thousand party members were sent to the villages to beat out bread. All party leaders went “to the field” to conduct explanatory work. The leader of the party, J.V. Stalin, went to Siberia. He allowed local party workers to apply criminal measures to peasants who do not hand over grain. The “poor” were again invited to forcibly confiscate the hidden grain, and were given 25% of the confiscated grain for a low fee or on credit. Stalin's "Ural-Siberian" method spread throughout the country.
However, these measures did not bring the desired results. In April 1929, rationing for bread was introduced. By the end of the year, the card system extended to all food products, and then to industrial products. It became clear that immediate adjustments to economic policy were required.
POLITICAL LIFE IN THE 1920s
Merging of the state and party apparatus. During the civil war, a political system emerged, which at the XII Party Congress was called the “dictatorship of the party.” In emergency conditions, the RCP(b) actually began to perform the functions of state leadership and administration. The most important decisions were first made by the Party's Central Committee. Previously, they were discussed in the governing body created in 1919 - the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). The Politburo in 1921 included G. E. Zinoviev, L. B. Kamenev, V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin, L. D. Trotsky, as well as N. I. Bukharin, M. I. Kalinin, V.M. Molotov as candidates. The decisions made by the party leadership were “fixed” in state documents, i.e. Soviet authorities. However, among the leaders of the state we meet all the same names familiar to us from the party.
At the same time, the Communist Party itself turned into a strictly centralized organization based on the principles of unity of command. A group called the “workers’ opposition” spoke out against the party monopoly on control over all spheres of life of society and the state. It was headed by prominent party and trade union figures A. G. Shlyapnikov, A. M. Kollontai, S. P. Medvedev. The “worker opposition” accused the party leadership of degeneration, of unwillingness to deal with the problems of life and everyday life of workers, and also put forward a demand for freedom of factions and groupings in the party.
It was decided to discuss the disagreements that arose in the party ranks at the X Congress of the RCP(b). However, a few days before the start of the congress (it opened on March 8, 1921), an uprising broke out in Kronstadt. This event changed not only the agenda of the congress, but also the mood of the delegates who took part in suppressing the “rebellion.” The leitmotif of the congress was the idea of party unity. It sounded in numerous speeches by Lenin. The congress adopted a resolution “On Party Unity,” which prohibited the creation in the RCP(b) of factions or groups that had a point of view different from the party leadership and defended it at all levels and using various methods (all-party discussions were popular at that time). The congress recognized the views of the “workers’ opposition” as incompatible with the party line on the leading role of the RCP(b) in socialist construction.
The final formation of the one-party political system. Having introduced unanimity in its ranks, the Bolshevik leadership began to attack political opponents outside the ranks of the party. In December 1921, at the proposal of the Chairman of the All-Russian Cheka F. E. Dzerzhinsky, the Central Committee decided to hold an open trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries, which took place in June-August 1922. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee Tribunal accused prominent Socialist Revolutionary figures arrested at different times of organizing conspiracies to the overthrow of Soviet power, in aiding the White Guards and interventionists, as well as in counter-revolutionary propaganda. Twelve defendants were sentenced to death. But after protests from the world community, the execution was postponed and made dependent on the behavior of the members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party who remained free. In June 1923, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) developed a secret instruction “On measures to combat the Mensheviks,” which set the task of “uprooting Menshevik ties in the working class, completely disorganizing and breaking up the Menshevik party, completely discrediting it before the working class ". The Bolsheviks did not risk holding the same “show” trial against the Mensheviks as against the Socialist Revolutionaries, given the negative reaction of the world socialist movement. However, a powerful campaign was launched to defame his recent party comrades. For many years, the word “Menshevik” became almost a dirty word, among other negative ideological concepts. In 1923, the collapse of the Menshevik Party began.
Political opposition outside the Bolshevik Party ceased to exist. A one-party political system was finally established in the country.
The main contradiction of the NEP. The "leader" problem. There was a deep contradiction between the NEP economic and political systems. If there was liberalization in the economy, then in the political sphere there was a tightening of the regime. The one-party system deprived the various social groups that emerged during the NEP of the opportunity to defend their interests. However, this contradiction was largely smoothed over by the fact that the head of the state was a man who enjoyed unconditional authority in the party and the trust of the majority of the population - V. I. Lenin. Formally, he did not hold the most important party position, but nevertheless led meetings of the plenums of the Central Committee and the Politburo. The secretariat of the Central Committee helped him manage party work.
In 1922, Lenin became seriously ill. The position of head of the secretariat was required so that he could conduct party affairs in Lenin’s absence. The choice fell on Stalin, who, on behalf of the Politburo, was involved in all organizational work in the Central Committee. At the same time, in order to raise the authority of this position, it was decided to give it a name - general secretary. At the end of December 1922 - beginning of January 1923, Lenin dictated a "Letter to the Congress", in which he gave political characteristics to his closest associates - L. D. Trotsky, L. B. Kamenev, G. E. Zinoviev, N. I. Bukharin, L. G. Pyatakov, I. V. Stalin. In each of them he found certain shortcomings that did not allow Lenin to name his successor. He saw the main danger for the party in the rivalry between Stalin and Trotsky. Lenin paid special attention to the characterization of Stalin.
From “Letter to the Congress” by V. I. Lenin:
“Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be able to use this power carefully enough. Stalin is too rude, and this deficiency, quite tolerable in the environment and in communications between us communists, becomes intolerant in the position of General Secretary. Therefore, I suggest that the comrades consider a way to remove Stalin from this place and appoint another person to this place, who in all other respects differs from Comrade Stalin in only one advantage, namely, he is more tolerant, more loyal, more polite and more attentive to his comrades, less moodiness, etc.”
Stalin versus Trotsky. In October 1923, L. D. Trotsky and his supporters criticized the established order in the party. They were alarmed by the “progressive division of the party into a secretarial hierarchy and “laymen”, into professional party functionaries elected from above, and into the party masses who do not participate in party life.” This was an attack against Stalin, who led the party apparatus.
On January 21, 1924, V.I. Lenin died. In May, the XIII Congress of the RCP(b) took place, where Lenin’s “Letter to the Congress” was announced. Congress delegates were in favor of leaving Stalin in office Secretary General The Central Committee, motivating its decision by the difficult situation within the party and the threat of a split in the party ranks from Trotsky.
Gradually relying on individual statements of Lenin, Stalin began to replace the central idea of Bolshevism - the idea of world revolution - with the theory of the possibility of building socialism in “one, separate country.” This new attitude allowed the party to extricate itself from a delicate situation when the proletariat of European countries was in no hurry to carry out a world socialist revolution. Stalin accused Trotsky and his supporters of not believing in the possibility of building socialism in the USSR. The XV Conference of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, held in October 1926 (in December 1925, the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks was renamed the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)) approved the Stalinist thesis as the main party principle.
Period 1924 -1925 was difficult for the party: crop failure, increasing commodity hunger, attempts to create a peasant political organization. The threat of getting a new Kronstadt forced the party leadership to satisfy some peasant demands in both the political and economic spheres. In the spring of 1925, agricultural taxes were reduced by 100 million rubles. Peasants, under certain conditions, were allowed to lease land and use hired labor; handicraftsmen and artisans received tax benefits. The inspirer of this shift “to the right” was N.I. Bukharin. He addressed the peasants with the words: “Get rich, develop your farm and don’t worry about being squeezed. We must ensure that our poor disappear as quickly as possible, and cease to be poor.”
Bukharin’s course was supported by Stalin; Kamenev and Zinoviev opposed it, believing that such a policy would lead to “erosion of the proletarian line.” Lenin's widow N.K. Krupskaya joined them. They also raised serious objections to Stalin’s idea of “building socialism in one country.” The so-called “new opposition” arose. In the ensuing discussion, Trotsky initially took a wait-and-see attitude. But the sharp strengthening of Stalin’s positions, his assignment of the functions of the sole custodian of Lenin’s “testaments” forced the opposition to act as a single bloc, which Stalin dubbed “Trotskyist-Zinovievsky.”
In 1927, Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev were expelled from the party for attempting to organize an alternative demonstration in honor of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. At the beginning of 1928, a large group of oppositionists led by Trotsky was expelled from Moscow to Alma-Ata. In 1929, Trotsky was expelled from the USSR.
"Right bias." Political disagreements within the party leadership flared up with renewed vigor in 1927 due to the grain procurement crisis. An analysis of its causes and the search for ways out of a difficult situation led to the formation of two points of view. Stalin believed that the crisis was caused by a violation of economic proportions. Weak industry could not provide the production of necessary goods. The commodity famine did not allow the peasants to obtain bread economically - in exchange for manufactured goods. At the same time, small peasant farming was, in principle, unable to satisfy the needs of growing industry. The large kulak producer deliberately sabotaged grain procurements. Stalin proposed concentrating all financial and material resources on solving the problem of industrialization and reorganizing agriculture on the basis of creating high-quality collective farms, which were supposed to be not only more effective than individual farms, but also more consistent with the socialist ideal.
Bukharin had a different opinion. He believed that subjective factors led to the crisis: a reserve fund for manufactured goods was not created; the growth of cash income in the village was not balanced by taxes, which exacerbated commodity hunger; Low purchase prices for bread were set. Bukharin proposed eliminating all the reasons mentioned. He did not oppose the creation of large collective farms, but believed that individual peasant farms should remain the basis of the agricultural sector for a long time.
Stalin accused Bukharin of deviating from the general line “to the right.” Now he launched a fight against the “right deviation,” which included all adherents of the NEP. At the November (1929) plenum of the Central Committee, belonging to the “right deviation” was recognized as incompatible with being a member of the party. In a short period of time, 149 thousand people were expelled from it. Bukharin was removed from the Politburo; Rykov lost his post as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Stalin's faithful follower V.M. Molotov was appointed in his place.
The reasons for Stalin's victory in the struggle for power. Stalin's victory in the struggle for personal power was due to a number of reasons. As the role of the apparatus in the life of the party and the role of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in state affairs grew, the influence of Stalin, who, as General Secretary, led the entire party apparatus and controlled all personnel appointments in the party, also grew. In addition, he very sensitively managed to grasp the mood that reigned in the party and society. The people were impressed by the prospect put forward by Stalin of the possibility of quickly building socialism in one country. By this time, in certain sections of the population, both in the countryside and in the city, irritation was intensifying over the lack of real results revolution with its initial goals for universal equality. New program Stalin instilled certain hopes in people.
The atmosphere in the party itself also changed. Immediately after Lenin's death, Stalin, seeking to strengthen his position, initiated the so-called "Leninist call." From February to August 1924, 203 thousand people were admitted to the party, which increased its composition by one and a half times. Many joined the party not at the behest of their souls, but in order to receive a number of privileges that were due to members of the RCP (b). And the party leaders are already quite tired of endless discussions, of the need to understand the complex nuances that distinguished the “right” from the “left,” “Trotskyists” from “Zinovievites,” “Zinovievites” from “Bukharinites.” Everyone wanted to put an end to the personal squabbles of the party leaders as soon as possible, to find a single leader, a clear goal for which they could fight using the usual revolutionary methods.
Stalin not only grasped the mood of the masses and the party, but also skillfully fueled them. He stated that financial situation the people are not improving because the country is flooded with “internal enemies” and “external enemies.” The first “proof” of this was the so-called “Shakhty trial” in 1928, in which the leaders and specialists of the Donbass coal industry were accused of sabotage and espionage. The word "pest" became one of the most common words of the time. During the work of the Supreme Court, which considered this case, a noisy newspaper campaign was launched to harass the accused. Its culmination was the publication of a statement by the 12-year-old son of one of the arrested with a request to shoot his father.
Stalin, summing up the results of the Shakhty affair at the plenum of the Central Committee in July 1928, put forward a thesis that became fundamental for all his subsequent policies: as the country moves towards socialism, the class struggle will inevitably intensify. This attitude made it possible to explain why the old revolutionaries suddenly became “enemies of the people” and led people to the idea of the need to rally around the leader.
SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE USSR IN THE 1920s
The fight against illiteracy. Construction of a Soviet school. IN AND. Lenin, identifying the main enemies of the socialist revolution, among others, also named the illiteracy of the Russian population.
In 1918, the restructuring of public education began. On September 30, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the “Regulations on the Unified Labor School of the RSFSR.” This document was based on the most advanced ideas of both Russian and foreign teachers for that time. The new Soviet school was free, and elements of self-government were introduced into it. Pedagogical innovation was encouraged and respect for the child’s personality was cultivated. However, sometimes the pedagogical searches of that time crossed all boundaries of reason: desks were expelled from school, the lesson system, homework, textbooks, and grades were abolished.
By the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of August 2, 1918, “On the Rules for Admission to Higher Educational Institutions,” the workers and poor peasants received priority when entering universities. In order to raise their general educational level to the minimum required when studying in higher school, workers' faculties (workers' faculties) were created at universities and institutes. By 1925, graduates of workers' faculties, sent to study on party and Komsomol vouchers, made up half of all applicants. The state provided them with scholarships and hostels. This is how the Soviet intelligentsia began to be created.
Power and the intelligentsia. The luminaries of artistic culture of the “Silver Age” met the proletarian revolution in the prime of their creative powers. Some of them very soon realized that in the new conditions, Russian cultural traditions would either be trampled upon or brought under the control of the authorities. Valuing creative freedom above all else, they chose the lot of emigrants. By the mid-20s, many of the most prominent cultural masters found themselves abroad (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin, A. K. Glazunov, S. S. Prokofiev, S. V. Rachmaninov, F. I. Shalyapin, I. E. Repin, V. V. Kandinsky, M. 3. Chagall and many others). M. Gorky also took a critical position towards the Bolshevik government, who in 1921 went abroad and settled on the island. Capri (Italy). However, not everyone chose the fate of emigrants. Some outstanding cultural figures, having gone into deep spiritual opposition to the ruling regime, continued to create in the traditions of Russian dissent - A. A. Akhmatova, M. A. Voloshin, M. M. Prishvin, M. A. Bulgakov.
The Bolsheviks, having come to power, sought to attract scientists to close cooperation, especially those who in one way or another contributed to strengthening the defense and economy of the country or had unconditional world recognition. They were provided with more tolerable living and working conditions compared to other segments of the population. Many famous scientists considered it their duty to work for the good of the Motherland, although this did not mean that they shared the political and ideological views of the Bolsheviks. Among them we find the names of the founder of the theory of modern aircraft construction N. E. Zhukovsky, the creator of geochemistry and biochemistry V. I. Vernadsky, the outstanding chemist N. D. Zelinsky, biochemist A. N. Bach, the father of astronautics K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Nobel laureate Prizes of the physiologist I. P. Pavlov, test agronomist I. V. Michurin, the largest specialist in plant growing K. A. Timiryazev and others.
The beginning of party control over spiritual life. After the end of the civil war and especially after the events in Kronstadt, the Bolsheviks began to increasingly take control of the spiritual life of the country. In August 1921, newspapers published sensational material about the exposure of the so-called Petrograd militant organization, which was allegedly preparing a “bloody coup.” A group of famous Russian scientists and cultural figures was declared active participants in this organization. Although the investigation was carried out hastily and did not have convincing evidence of the guilt of those arrested, some of them were sentenced to death. Among those executed were the famous chemist Professor M. M. Tikhvinsky and the greatest Russian poet N. S. Gumilyov.
At the end of August 1922, the Soviet government expelled 160 of the largest Russian scientists from the country - the pride of not only Russian but also world science. Among those expelled were philosophers N.A. Berdyaev, S.N. Bulgakov, L.P. Karsavin, E.N. Trubetskoy, historian A.A. Kizevetter, sociologist P.A. Sorokin and others. These people did not at all strive leave Russia. While not sharing the ideological principles of Bolshevism, they nevertheless were not active fighters against it.
In 1922, a special censorship committee was established - Glavlit, which was obliged to exercise control over all printed products so that materials that were not acceptable to the authorities did not leak onto its pages. A year later, Glavlit was supplemented by the Glavrepertkom, designed to control the repertoire of theaters and other entertainment events.
Nevertheless, until 1925, culture developed in conditions of relative spiritual freedom. Stormy internal party disputes between the Bolshevik leaders prevented them from developing a unified line in the field of ideology. With the strengthening of the positions of J.V. Stalin, the party “turns its face to culture.” In 1925, the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was adopted “On the party’s policy in the field fiction". She marked the beginning of ideologization and party dictatorship in relation to artistic creativity. Speaking to the intelligentsia, N.I. Bukharin invited them to “go under the banner of the workers’ dictatorship and Marxist ideology.” The abolition of artistic diversity began.
Bolsheviks and the Church. The Bolsheviks set themselves the goal of raising a “new man” worthy of living in a communist society. One of the directions of communist education was the moral improvement of the individual, which at all times was the prerogative of the church. Therefore, the fight against religion was determined not only by the atheistic views of the Bolsheviks, but also by their desire to remove a dangerous competitor from the spiritual sphere of society.
The first act of eliminating the church from public life was the decree of January 23, 1918 on the separation of church from state and school from church. This decree served as the basis for complete arbitrariness in the localities in relation to the church and its ministers. Temples and monasteries began to close everywhere. Their property and religious objects were confiscated “for revolutionary needs.” Clergymen were arrested and sent to forced labor. They were deprived of voting rights and subjected to the highest taxes.
Head of the Russian Orthodox Church after the restoration of the patriarchate in 1917, Tikhon became Metropolitan of Moscow. In January 1918, he anathematized the Bolsheviks. When a terrible famine broke out in the Volga region in 1921, Patriarch Tikhon turned to the heads of Christian churches with an appeal to help the starving. The Church Relief Committee he created began active work, rousing all believers in Russia to fight hunger.
Bolshevik leaders could not accept the fact that the church had seized the initiative from the state. In February 1922, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the confiscation of church valuables in favor of the starving. The implementation of the decree in some places resulted in a genuine robbery of church property. This caused a massive protest; over the course of three months, more than a thousand clashes between believers and detachments carrying out requisitions occurred. Lenin decided to use these events to deal a decisive blow to the church.
In April-May 1922, noisy trials of church leaders were organized in Moscow and in July in Petrograd. Several clergy - bishops and metropolitans - were sentenced to death on charges of counter-revolutionary activities. Patriarch Tikhon was placed under house arrest and then transferred to prison.
Anti-religious propaganda intensified, the Union of Militant Atheists was created, and the mass magazine “Atheist” began to be published. After Tikhon's death in 1925, the authorities did not allow the election of a new patriarch. Metropolitan Peter, who took on patriarchal duties, was exiled to Solovki in 1926.
The beginning of a "new" art. New trends and phenomena in the field of artistic culture were gaining strength. The literary, artistic, cultural and educational organization, called Proletkult, began to make itself known more and more loudly. The Proletcultists considered their main task to be the formation of a special, socialist culture through the development of the creative initiative of the proletariat. To do this, they created special art studios and clubs that united creatively inclined proletarians. By 1920, Proletkult organizations numbered up to 400 thousand members. The Theater of Working Youth (TRAM) was created. Future luminaries of Soviet art began their creative activity there: film directors S. M. Eisenstein and I. A. Pyryev, actors M. M. Shtraukh, E. P. Garin and others. Preaching the idea of “pure” proletarian culture, the Proletcultists called for throwing out “to the dustbin of history” all the cultural achievements of the past.
In 1925, the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP) was formed, which also evaluated literary works based not on their artistic merits, but from the point of view of the social origin of the authors. Therefore, everything that came from the pens of writers who were not of worker-peasant origin was declared “ideologically harmful.”
Writers of a new generation appeared, participants in the revolution and civil war. They not only glorified revolutionary romance, but also explored the most complex life problems and psychological conflicts. Works by I. E. Babel (“Cavalry”), A. S. Serafimovich (“Iron Stream”), K. A. Trenev (“Yarovaya Love”), M. A. Sholokhov (“Don Stories”), D. A. Furmanova (“Chapaev”) were talented and reflected the mood of the people. With their help, literature descended from the transcendental heights of “pure” art and became more accessible to the understanding of the broad masses.
Significant changes have occurred in the visual arts. The communists who seized power needed new forms to appeal to the feelings agitating for a communist future. The art of posters flourished, and talented masters of this genre appeared - V. N. Denis, D. S. Moor. At the same time, a variety of groups emerged in the fine arts with their own platforms, manifestos, and systems of visual media. Among them, the leading place was occupied by the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR). In their declaration, the “Ahrrovites” declared that the civic duty of every master is “the artistic and documentary recording of the greatest moment in history in its revolutionary impulse.” This idea was embodied in the works of I. I. Brodsky, A. M. Gerasimov, M. B. Grekov.
The architects had a lot of ideas. They created gigantic plans for the construction of previously unseen “cities of the future,” the style of which was dominated by the ideas of constructivism. In 1919, V. E. Tatlin designed a unique work, “Tower of the Third International,” which laid the foundations of modern industrial design.
Cinema continued to develop. In the 20s The history of world cinema included the films of S. M. Eisenstein “Battleship Potemkin”, “October”, which marked the beginning of the development of a revolutionary theme in this art form.
What you need to know about this topic:
Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.
Internal policy of tsarism. Nicholas II. Increased repression. "Police Socialism"
Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, progress, results.
Revolution 1905 - 1907 Character, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.
Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'etat of June 3, 1907
Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. The alignment of political forces in the Duma. Activities of the Duma. Government terror. Decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910.
Stolypin agrarian reform.
IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Activities of the Duma.
Political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. Labor movement in the summer of 1914. Crisis at the top.
International position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of the war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude to the war of parties and classes.
Progress of military operations. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. Role Eastern Front in the first world war.
The Russian economy during the First World War.
Worker and peasant movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. The growth of anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.
Russian culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries.
The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Temporary Committee of the State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. The reasons for the emergence of dual power and its essence. The February revolution in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.
From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government regarding war and peace, on agrarian, national, and labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. Arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.
Political parties (Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.
Crises of the Provisional Government. Attempted military coup in the country. The growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital's Soviets.
Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.
II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Formation of government and management bodies. Composition of the first Soviet government.
Victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Elections to the Constituent Assembly, its convocation and dispersal.
The first socio-economic transformations in the fields of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.
Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. Introduction of food dictatorship. Working food detachments. Combeds.
The revolt of the left Socialist Revolutionaries and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.
The first Soviet Constitution.
Causes of intervention and civil war. Progress of military operations. Human and material losses during the civil war and military intervention.
Domestic policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War communism". GOELRO plan.
The policy of the new government regarding culture.
Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Russia's participation in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition of the USSR by the main capitalist countries.
Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine 1921-1922 Transition to a new economic policy. The essence of NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. Financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP period and its collapse.
Projects for the creation of the USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.
Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intra-party struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime.
Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - goal, forms, leaders.
Formation and strengthening of the state system of economic management.
The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.
Results of industrialization and collectivization.
Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intra-party struggle. Political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalin's regime and the USSR Constitution of 1936
Soviet culture in the 20-30s.
Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.
Domestic policy. Growth of military production. Emergency measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Armed forces. The growth of the Red Army. Military reform. Repressions against the command cadres of the Red Army and the Red Army.
Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish war. Inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories into the USSR.
Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. The initial stage of the war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events. Surrender of Nazi Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.
Soviet rear during the war.
Deportation of peoples.
Guerrilla warfare.
Human and material losses during the war.
Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. "Big Three" conferences. Problems of post-war peace settlement and comprehensive cooperation. USSR and UN.
The beginning of the Cold War. The USSR's contribution to the creation of the "socialist camp". CMEA education.
Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-40s - early 50s. Restoration of the national economy.
Social and political life. Policy in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad case". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "The Doctors' Case"
Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.
Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repression and deportation. Internal party struggle in the second half of the 50s.
Foreign policy: creation of the Department of Internal Affairs. Entry of Soviet troops into Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. Split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American relations and the Cuban missile crisis. USSR and "third world" countries. Reduction in the size of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Tests.
USSR in the mid-60s - first half of the 80s.
Socio-economic development: economic reform of 1965
Growing difficulties economic development. Declining rates of socio-economic growth.
Constitution of the USSR 1977
Social and political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.
Foreign Policy: Non-Proliferation Treaty nuclear weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow Treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. Entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.
USSR in 1985-1991
Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.
Exacerbation of the national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. "Novoogaryovsky trial". Collapse of the USSR.
Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Agreements with leading capitalist countries. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization.
Russian Federation in 1992-2000.
Domestic policy: “Shock therapy” in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. Intensification of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches. Dissolution of the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events of 1993. Abolition of local bodies of Soviet power. Elections to the Federal Assembly. Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 Formation of a presidential republic. Exacerbation and overcoming national conflicts in the North Caucasus.
Parliamentary elections of 1995. Presidential elections of 1996. Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. Financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections of 1999 and early presidential elections of 2000. Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. Participation of Russian troops in “hot spots” of the neighboring countries: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Relations between Russia and foreign countries. Withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and neighboring countries. Russian-American agreements. Russia and NATO. Russia and the Council of Europe. Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia’s position.
- Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.
"The Soviet country in the years
NEP (1921 – 1927) »
INTRODUCTION
1. Transition to a new economic policy
2. The essence of the new economic policy
2.1. Goals and objectives of the NEP
2.2. Characteristics of NEP measures
2.3. The results of the NEP measures and its collapse
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
A special place in the history of Russia and the USSR is occupied by the beginning
20s. This is, first of all, the transition from civil war to peace, the rejection of the policy of “war communism”, which led to a serious political crisis. The transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP) was objectively determined and vitally necessary. The main reason for replacing the policy with the NEP was that the internal political crisis led to discontent not only among a significant part of the peasantry, but also among the workers.
The NEP period is perhaps the most difficult of all periods of Soviet history. At the same time, it is he who is most significant for us today.
The purpose of this work is to reveal the meaning of the introduction of a new economic policy.
The task is to consider the reasons that led to the emergence of the NEP, the course of development of the new economic policy and the results of its implementation for the country.
Thus, the urgent problem in Russia at this time was the need for a radical change in economic policy in order to improve the state of the country - to prevent economic devastation, hunger, and growing mass public strikes. To this end, the Bolsheviks decided to introduce a new course, called the new economic policy.
1. Transition to a new economic policy
The First World War and the Civil War caused enormous damage to the country's well-being. The total population losses since 1914 amounted to more than 20 million people.
The reasons that led to the deepest economic, food and political crisis in the country:
Significant reduction in industrial and agricultural production;
Severance of economic ties between city and countryside due to the policy of “war communism”;
Crop failure 1920-1921
Peasant discontent with surplus appropriation resulted in a wave of anti-Bolshevik uprisings, the largest of which was the uprising of the peasants of the Tambov and Voronezh provinces under the leadership of A. Antonov (“Antonovism”).
The most dangerous for the Soviet government was the Kronstadt uprising, which broke out in February 1921. The sailors adopted a resolution in which they demanded the re-election of the Soviets on the basis of free elections, political freedoms, the release of all political prisoners, and an end to forced confiscations. Slogans were put forward: “For Soviets without communists!” and “Power to the Soviets, not to the parties!” The uprising in Kronstadt was suppressed by troops under the leadership of M. Tukhachevsky.
To bring the country out of the crisis as quickly as possible, the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), which met in March 1921, made a fundamental decision to replace the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind. This marked the beginning of the transition to a new (in relation to “war communism”) economic policy (NEP).
2. The essence of the new economic policy
2.1. Goals and objectives of the NEP
In March 1921, at the Tenth Congress of the Bolshevik Party, many issues were resolved, but the main ones were:
· About trade unions
· On the unity of the party
· On replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind.
On the first issue, the so-called “workers’ opposition” (Shlyapnikov and others) spoke out, which insisted on transferring all management of the economy to workers’ trade unions. But the congress adopted the “platform of ten” (Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, etc.), which stated that only the communist party can exercise the dictatorship of the proletariat; Only the party should manage the national economy.
There was a very heated discussion about intra-party democracy, about factional struggle within the party. At Lenin’s insistence, the resolution “On Party Unity” was adopted, which became the basis of the internal party regime for many decades. By decision of the faction, factionalists could be expelled from the party for violations.
The issue of replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind was considered on the seventh day of the congress. The decision was made with virtually no discussion based on Lenin's report.
In May 1921, the new course was called the New Economic Policy (NEP). The legislative transition to the NEP was formalized in December of the same 1921 by the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, and the decisions of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
It was an anti-crisis program, the essence of which was to recreate a multi-structured economy and use the organizational and technical experience of capitalists while maintaining the “commanding heights” of the Bolsheviks - political and economic levers of influence: the absolute power of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the public sector in industry, a centralized financial system and monopoly foreign trade.
The leading ideologists of the New Economic Policy, except V.I. Lenin, there were N.I. Bukharin, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, Yu. Larin, who developed the main tactical goals of the NEP:
The political goal of the NEP is to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society, without waiting for the world revolution.
The economic goal is to prevent further deterioration, overcome the crisis and restore the economy through the development of private initiative and attracting foreign capital.
Internationally, the NEP was aimed at restoring foreign policy and foreign economic relations and overcoming Russia’s international isolation.
In addition, the NEP was supposed to solve the following problems:
· Strengthen economic ties between city and countryside
· Develop industry based on electrification
· To cooperate the population of the country
· Introduce cost accounting based on personal interest in the results of labor
· Improve government planning and management
· Use commodity-money relations, ensure freedom of trade
· Introduce capitalist elements into the economy, develop market relations.
2.2. Characteristics of NEP measures
The New Economic Policy included a complex of economic and socio-political measures.
In economics, the introduction of the NEP began with agriculture:
· Replacement of surplus appropriation with tax in kind. Its size was set before the sowing campaign (until spring), remained throughout the year and was 2 times less than the allocation. After state deliveries were completed, free trade in the remaining products of the economy was allowed.
· It was possible for one owner to open a handicraft or industrial production (up to 20 hired workers).
· The forced establishment of communes stopped, which allowed the private, small-scale commodity sector to gain a foothold in the countryside. Individual peasants provided 98.5% of agricultural products.
· Material incentives for workers were introduced and wages increased.
· It was allowed to rent premises and entire enterprises in the city, land and equipment in the countryside.
In industry and trade, individuals were allowed to open small and rent medium-sized enterprises. The decree on general nationalization was canceled. Large domestic and foreign capital were granted concessions - joint-stock and joint ventures with the state. A state-capitalist sector emerged.
State-owned enterprises were transferred to self-financing, which made it possible to transition to self-sufficiency and self-financing, which at their discretion disposed of part of their profits.
The sectoral management system was replaced by a territorial-sectoral one - the Supreme Economic Council and its headquarters managed industry through local councils of the national economy (sovnarkhozes) and sectoral economic trusts.
The process of forming the Nepman bourgeoisie (Nepmans) began. Their main field of activity was trade and, to a lesser extent, entrepreneurship. Thus, the new economic policy provided people with economic freedom, the opportunity to show initiative and entrepreneurship.
In the financial sphere, in addition to the unified State Bank, restored in October 1921, private and cooperative banks, insurance companies appeared, and cooperation developed. In the first years of the NEP, cooperation gained a certain independence, which was freed from state control. But in general, the Soviet government behaved extremely inconsistently towards cooperators: either their economic functions were narrowed, or they were given economic autonomy.
The provision of free services to the population ceased - fees were charged for the use of transport, communication systems and utilities.
Government loans, a system of taxes, and credits were forcibly placed among the population for the purpose of flexible government regulation, as well as for the development of industry.
It was necessary to carry out a monetary reform, which was started by the People's Commissar of Finance G.Ya. Sokolnikov together with a group of old specialists. At the end of 1922, the issue of paper money was reduced, and the gold Soviet chervonets was introduced into circulation, which was highly valued on the world foreign exchange market. This made it possible to strengthen the national currency and put an end to inflation. The introduction of hard convertible currency into the USSR required a flexible tax policy. Income tax was divided into basic and progressive. The basic one was paid by all citizens, and the progressive one was paid by those who received additional income: Nepmen, private doctors, lawyers, etc.
In the social sphere, the NEP caused some changes:
· In 1922, a new Labor Code was adopted, which abolished universal labor service and introduced free hiring of labor through the labor exchange.
· Labor mobilizations stopped, labor armies were disbanded.
· Remuneration in kind was replaced by cash payment.
However, social policy had a pronounced class orientation:
· In the elections of deputies to government bodies, workers continued to have an advantage. Part of the population, as before, was deprived of the right to vote.
· In the tax 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.
The NEP did not change the methods of political leadership of the country.
State issues were resolved by the party apparatus, whose numbers increased and its influence increased. The congress resolutions prohibiting the creation of factions made it possible to strengthen the unanimity of the party and its unity, as the most important link in the system of government.
The second link in the political system of Soviet power continued to be the apparatus of coercion - the Cheka, renamed in 1922 into the Main Political Directorate.
The strengthening of party unity and the defeat of political and ideological opponents made it possible to strengthen the one-party political system.
2.3. Results of the new economic policy measures
and its collapse
By the end of 1922, the New Economic Policy began to take shape as a definite economic model. IN AND. Lenin raised the question of the need to reconsider the “point of view on socialism.” However, it would be wrong to consider the Soviet government a supporter of the market. The founder of NEP himself said that “NEP is not being introduced forever.” According to Lenin, this was a temporary measure. Although he assumed a relatively long coexistence of socialist and non-socialist (state-capitalist, private-capitalist, small-scale commodity, patriarchal) structures with the gradual displacement of the latter from the economic life of the country.
One of the tasks of the NEP - overcoming devastation - was solved. The NEP ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy, but soon the first successes gave way to new difficulties due to three reasons:
· Imbalance of industry and agriculture
· Class orientation of domestic policy
· Increasing contradictions between the interests of different sectors of society and the authoritarianism of the Bolshevik leadership.
The Soviet state controlled large industry and banks; the principles and tasks of further strengthening the proletarian dictatorship, ensuring the leading role of the working class, and the one-party system remained unchanged. Lenin considered the NEP to be a roundabout, indirect path to socialism. In 1923, 1924, 1928, crises of the NEP arose, which led to its collapse.
In the fall of 1923, a “sales crisis” broke out - an overstocking of expensive and bad manufactured goods that the population refused to buy.
In 1924, a “price crisis” arose - peasants who had reaped a good harvest refused to give grain to the state at fixed prices, deciding to sell it on the market. Attempts to force peasants to pay grain taxes in kind caused mass uprisings in the Amur region, Georgia and other areas.
In the mid-20s, the volume of state procurements of bread and raw materials fell - a grain procurement crisis emerged. This reduced the ability to export agricultural products and reduced foreign exchange earnings needed to purchase industrial equipment abroad.
To overcome the newly emerging economic crisis, the government took a number of administrative measures:
· Strengthened centralized management of the economy
· The independence of enterprises is limited
· Confiscation of grain from peasants began
· Increased taxes for private entrepreneurs, traders and kulaks.
This practice only meant the curtailment of the NEP by 1928.
It should be noted that a short time The new economic policy has also achieved significant positive results.
Firstly, the area under cultivation has reached pre-war levels. In 1925, the gross grain harvest was 20% higher than the average annual harvest of 1909-1913; a year later, livestock production reached the level of three years.
Secondly, by 1925 it was possible to achieve 75% of the output of heavy industry; Labor productivity increased 1.5 times; production of new equipment began; 200 power plants were built; Small and handicraft industries rose sharply.
Thirdly, the convertible ruble has received an international vocation.
Fourth, the living conditions of the urban and rural population have improved; The rationing system for food distribution began to be abolished.
Fifthly, culture developed fruitfully.
3. Cultural Revolution
The main goal of the cultural transformations carried out by the Bolsheviks in the 1920-1930s was the subordination of science and art to Marxist ideology.
A huge undertaking for Russia was the elimination of illiteracy (educational program). A unified state system of public education was created, and a Soviet school of several levels arose. In the 1st Five-Year Plan, compulsory four-year education was introduced, and in the 2nd Five-Year Plan, seven-year education was introduced. Universities and technical schools were opened, workers' faculties (faculties for preparing workers for entry into higher and secondary educational institutions) operated. The training was ideological in nature. A new, Soviet intelligentsia was formed, but the Bolshevik government treated the old intelligentsia with suspicion.
In the fall of 1922, 160 major scientists, philosophers, historians, and economists who did not share the ideological principles of Bolshevism were expelled from Russia. The dominance of Bolshevik ideology was also asserted in anti-church propaganda, the destruction of churches, and the looting of church property. Patriarch Tikhon, elected in November 1917 by the Local Council, was arrested. Repressed were agricultural scientists N.D. Kondratyev, A.V. Chayanov, philosopher P.A. Florensky, the leading biologist-geneticist N.M. Vavilov, writers O.E. Mandelstam, A.B. Babel, B.A. Pilnyak, actor and director V.E. Meyerhold and many others. Aircraft designers A.N. Tupolev, N.N. Polikarpov, physicist L.D. were arrested. Landau, one of the founders of the Aerodynamic Institute S.P. Korolev and others.
At the same time, research centers were created. Geochemists V.I. Vernadsky, A.E. Fersman, physicists P.L. Kapitsa, N.N. Semenov, chemists S.V. Lebedev, A.E. Favorsky, and the creator of the theory of astronautics K. played a major role in the development of science. E. Tsiolkovsky.
In literature and art, the method of “socialist realism” was introduced, identifying the party, its leaders, and the heroics of the revolution. Among the writers were A.N. Tolstoy, M.A. Sholokhov, A.A. Fadeev, A.T. Tvardovsky. The largest phenomena in musical life were the works of S.S. Prokofiev (music for the film “Alexander Nevsky”), A.I. Khachaturian (music for the film “Masquerade”), D.D. Shostakovich (opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, banned in 1936 for formalism). The songs of I. Dunaevsky, A. Aleksandrov, V. Solovyov-Sedoy gained wide popularity. Cinematography has made a significant step in its development: the films “Chapaev” by S. and G. Vasilyev, “Alexander Nevsky” by S. Eisenstein, the comedies by G. Alexandrov “Jolly Fellows”, “Circus”). The most outstanding sculptural work of the 1930s was the monument to V. Mukhina “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”. Through various creative unions, the state directed and controlled all the activities of the creative intelligentsia.
The main guideline in socio-political research was the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”, published in 1938, edited by I.V. Stalin.
CONCLUSION
In this work, the topic “The Soviet country during the years of the NEP (1921 - 1927)” was raised, from which it follows that the NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP), adopted in the spring of 1921 by the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), replaced the policy of “war communism” , designed for the restoration of the national economy and the subsequent transition to socialism.
During its short existence, the New Economic Policy affected all spheres of public life and successfully solved its most important tasks - it coped with economic devastation, restored the pre-war level of Russia, and strengthened the peasant economy.
However, the NEP period (1921 - 1928) is one of the most interesting and mysterious periods in the history of the Soviet state. Thanks to the NEP, the living standards of the people increased, the monetary system strengthened, and culture fruitfully developed.
NEP is a whole complex of measures of an economic, political, social, ideological nature. The new economic policy of the Soviet state became known throughout the country, and its abbreviation was forever fixed in the history of Russia.
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NEP is a policy of the Soviet government, under which all enterprises of one industry were subordinate to a single central management body - the main committee (head office). Changed the policy of “war communism”. The transition from “war communism” to the NEP was proclaimed by the X Congress of the Russian Communist Party in March 1921. The initial idea of the transition was formulated in the works of V.I. Lenin 1921-1923: the ultimate goal remains the same - socialism, but the situation in Russia after the civil war dictates the need resort to a “reformist” method of action in fundamental issues of economic construction. Instead of a direct and complete breakdown of the old system to replace it with a new socio-economic structure, carried out during the years of “war communism”, the Bolsheviks took a “reformist” approach: not to break the old socio-economic structure, trade, small farming, small business, capitalism, but carefully and gradually master them and gain the opportunity to subject them to government regulation. In Lenin's last works, the concept of NEP included ideas about the use of commodity-money relations, all forms of ownership - state, cooperative, private, mixed, self-financing. It was proposed to temporarily retreat from the achieved “military-communist” gains, to take a step back in order to gain strength for the leap to socialism.
Initially, the framework of the NEP reforms was determined by the party leadership by the extent to which the reforms strengthened its monopoly on power. The main measures taken within the framework of the NEP: surplus appropriation was replaced by a food tax, followed by new measures designed to interest broad social strata in the results of their economic activities. Free trade was legalized, private individuals received the right to engage in handicrafts and open industrial enterprises with up to a hundred workers. Small nationalized enterprises were returned to their former owners. In 1922 the right to lease land and use hired labor was recognized; The system of labor duties and labor mobilizations was abolished. Payment in kind was replaced by cash, a new state bank was established and the banking system was restored.
The ruling party carried out all these changes without abandoning its ideological views and command methods of managing socio-political and economic processes. “War communism” gradually lost ground.
For its development, the NEP needed the decentralization of economic management, and in August 1921 the Council of Labor and Defense (SLO) adopted a resolution to reorganize the central administration system, in which all enterprises of the same industry were subordinate to a single central management body - the main committee (main committee). The number of branch headquarters was reduced, and only large industry and basic sectors of the economy remained in the hands of the state.
Partial denationalization of property, privatization of many previously nationalized enterprises, a system of running the economy based on cost accounting, competition, and the introduction of leasing of joint ventures - all these are characteristic features of the NEP. At the same time, these “capitalist” economic elements were combined with coercive measures adopted during the years of “war communism.”
The NEP led to a rapid economic recovery. The economic interest that appeared among peasants in the production of agricultural products made it possible to quickly saturate the market with food and overcome the consequences of the hungry years of “war communism.”
However, already at the early stage of the NEP (1921-1923), recognition of the role of the market was combined with measures to abolish it. Most Communist Party leaders viewed the NEP as a “necessary evil,” fearing that it would lead to the restoration of capitalism. Many Bolsheviks retained “military-communist” illusions that the destruction of private property, trade, money, equality in the distribution of material goods lead to communism, and the NEP is a betrayal of communism. In essence, the NEP was designed to continue the course towards socialism, through maneuvering, social compromise with the majority of the population, to move the country towards the party’s goal - socialism, although more slowly and with less risk. It was believed that in market relations the role of the state was the same as under “war communism”, and economic reform it must be carried out within the framework of “socialism”. All this was taken into account in the laws adopted in 1922 and in subsequent legislative acts.
The admission of market mechanisms, which led to economic recovery, allowed the political regime to strengthen. However, its fundamental incompatibility with the essence of the NEP as a temporary economic compromise with the peasantry and bourgeois elements of the city inevitably led to the rejection of the idea of the NEP. Even in the most favorable years for its development (until the mid-20s), progressive steps in pursuing this policy were made uncertainly, contradictorily, with an eye to the past stage of “war communism.”
Soviet and, for the most part, post-Soviet historiography, reducing the reasons for the collapse of the NEP to purely economic factors, deprived itself of the opportunity to fully reveal its contradictions - between the requirements for the normal functioning of the economy and the political priorities of the party leadership, aimed first at limiting and then completely crowding out private manufacturer.
The country’s leadership’s interpretation of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the suppression of all those who disagree with it, as well as the continued adherence of the majority of the party’s cadres to the “military-communist” views adopted during the civil war, reflected the communists’ inherent desire to achieve their ideological principles. At the same time, the strategic goal of the party (socialism) remained the same, and the NEP was seen as a temporary retreat from the “war communism” achieved over the years. Therefore, everything was done to prevent the NEP from going beyond limits dangerous for this purpose.
Market methods of regulating the economy in NEP Russia were combined with non-economic methods, with administrative intervention. The predominance of state ownership of the means of production and large-scale industry was the objective basis for such intervention.
During the NEP years, the party and state leaders did not want reforms, but were concerned that the private sector would gain an advantage over the public sector. Fearful of the NEP, they took measures to discredit it. Official propaganda treated the private trader in every possible way, and the image of the “NEPman” as an exploiter, a class enemy, was formed in the public consciousness. Since the mid-20s, measures to curb the development of the NEP gave way to a course towards its curtailment. The dismantling of NEPA began behind the scenes, first with measures to tax the private sector, then depriving it of legal guarantees. At the same time, loyalty to the new economic policy was proclaimed at all party forums. On December 27, 1929, in a speech at a conference of Marxist historians, Stalin stated: “If we adhere to the NEP, it is because it serves the cause of socialism. And when it ceases to serve the cause of socialism, we will throw the new economic policy to hell.”
At the end of the 20s, considering that the new economic policy had ceased to serve socialism, the Stalinist leadership discarded it. The methods by which it curtailed the NEP indicate the difference in the approaches of Stalin and Lenin to the new economic policy. According to Lenin, with the transition to socialism, the NEP will become obsolete in the course of the evolutionary process. But by the end of the 20s there was no socialism in Russia yet, although it had been proclaimed, the NEP had not outlived its usefulness, but Stalin, contrary to Lenin, made the “transition to socialism” by violent, revolutionary means.
One of the negative aspects of this “transition” was the policy of the Stalinist leadership to eliminate the so-called “exploiting classes”. During its implementation, the village “bourgeoisie” (kulaks) were “dekulakized”, all their property was confiscated, exiled to Siberia, and the “remnants of the urban bourgeoisie” - entrepreneurs engaged in private trade, crafts and the sale of their products (“NEPmen”), as well as their family members were deprived of political rights (“disenfranchised”); many were prosecuted.
NEP (details)
IN extreme conditions During the civil war, the internal policy pursued by the Soviet government was called “war communism.” The prerequisites for its implementation were laid by the widespread nationalization of industry and the creation of a state apparatus to manage it (primarily the All-Russian Council of the National Economy - VSNKh), the experience of military-political solutions to food problems through committees of the poor in the countryside. On the one hand, the policy of “war communism” was perceived by part of the country’s leadership as a natural step towards the rapid construction of market-free socialism, which supposedly corresponded to the principles of Marxist theory. In this they hoped to rely on the collectivist ideas of millions of workers and poor peasants who were ready to divide all property in the country equally. On the other hand, it was a forced policy, caused by the disruption of traditional economic ties between city and countryside, and the need to mobilize all resources to win the civil war.
The internal situation in the Soviet country was extremely difficult. The country is in crisis:
Political- in the summer of 1920, peasant uprisings broke out in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces (as they were called - “kulak rebellions”) - Antonovism. Peasants' dissatisfaction with surplus appropriation grew into a real peasant war: Makhno's detachments in Ukraine and Antov's “peasant army” in the Tambov region numbered 50 thousand people at the beginning of 1921, the total number of detachments formed in the Urals, Western Siberia, Pomerania , in the Kuban and Don, reached 200 thousand people. On March 1, 1921, the sailors of Kronstadt rebelled. They put forward the slogans “Power to the Soviets, not parties!”, “Soviets without communists!” The rebellion in Kronstadt was eliminated, but peasant uprisings continued. These uprisings were not an accident." In each of them, to a greater or lesser extent, there was an element of organization. It was contributed by a wide range of political forces: from monarchists to socialists. What united these disparate forces was the desire to master the beginning popular movement and, relying on it, eliminate the power of the Bolsheviks;
Economic- the national economy was fragmented. The country produced 3 percent of pig iron; oil was produced 2.5 times less than in 1913. Industrial production fell to 4-2 percent of 1913 levels. The country lagged behind the United States in iron production by 72 times, in steel by 52 times, and in oil production by 19 times. If in 1913 Russia smelted 4.2 million tons of pig iron, then in 1920 it was only 115 thousand tons. This is approximately the same amount as was received in 1718 under Peter I;
Social- Hunger, poverty, unemployment were rampant in the country, crime was rampant, and child homelessness was rampant. The declassification of the working class intensified, people left the cities and went to the countryside so as not to die of hunger. This led to a reduction in the number of industrial workers by almost half (1 million 270 thousand people in 1920 versus 2 million 400 thousand people in 1913). In 1921, about 40 provinces with a population of 90 million were starving, of which 40 million were on the verge of death. 5 million people died from hunger. Child crime, compared to 1913, has increased 7.4 times. Epidemics of typhoid, cholera, and smallpox raged in the country.
Immediate, most decisive and energetic measures were needed to improve the situation of the working people and increase the productive forces.
In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (b), a course towards a new economic policy (NEP) was adopted. This policy was introduced seriously and for a long time.
The purpose of adopting the NEP was aimed at:
To overcome the devastation in the country, restore the economy;
Creating the foundation of socialism;
Development of large industry;
Displacement and liquidation of capitalist elements;
Strengthening the alliance of the working class and peasantry.
“The essence of the new economic policy,” said Lenin, “is the union of the proletariat and the peasantry, the essence lies in the union of the avant-garde, the proletariat, with the broad peasant field.”
The ways to accomplish these tasks were:
All-round development of cooperation;
Widespread encouragement of trade;
The use of material incentives and economic calculations.
Contents of the new economic policy:
Replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind (the peasant could sell the remaining products after paying the tax in kind at his own discretion - either to the state or on the free market);
Introduction of free trade and turnover;
Allowance of private small commercial and industrial enterprises, while maintaining the leading industries (banks, transport, large industry, foreign trade) in the hands of the state;
Permission to rent concessions, mixed companies;
Providing freedom of action to state-owned enterprises (introducing self-financing, self-financing, product sales, self-sufficiency);
Introduction of material incentives for workers;
Elimination of rigid sectoral formations of an administrative nature - headquarters and centers;
Introduction of territorial - sectoral management of industry;
Carrying out monetary reform;
Transition from in-kind to cash wages;
Streamlining the income tax (income tax was divided into basic, which was paid by all citizens except pensioners, and progressive - paid by NEPmen, privately practicing doctors, and all those who received additional income). The greater the profit, the greater the tax. A profit limit was introduced;
Permission to hire labor, rent land, enterprises;
Revival of the credit system - the State Bank was recreated, a number of specialized banks were formed;
The introduction of the NEP caused a change in the social structure and way of life of people. The NEP provided organizational economic freedom to people and gave them the opportunity to show initiative and entrepreneurship. Private enterprises were created everywhere in the country, self-financing was introduced at state enterprises, a struggle arose against bureaucracy and administrative-command habits, and culture improved in all spheres of human activity. The introduction of a tax in kind in the countryside made it possible for the broad development of agriculture, including strong owners, who were later called “kulaks.”
The most colorful figure of that time was the new Soviet bourgeoisie - the “NEPmen”. These people largely defined the face of their era, but they were, as it were, outside of Soviet society: they were deprived of voting rights and could not be members of trade unions. Among the Nepmen, the old bourgeoisie had a large share (from 30 to 50 percent, depending on their occupation). The rest of the Nepmen came from among Soviet employees, peasants and artisans. Due to the rapid turnover of capital, the main area of activity of the Nepmen was trade. Store shelves began to quickly fill with goods and products.
At the same time, criticism of Lenin and the NEP as a “disastrous petty-bourgeois policy” was heard throughout the country.
Many communists left the RCP (b), believing that the introduction of the NEP meant the restoration of capitalism and a betrayal of socialist principles. At the same time, it should be noted that, despite partial denationalization and concession, the state retained at its disposal the most powerful sector of the national economy. Basic industries remained completely outside the market - energy, metallurgy, oil production and refining, coal mining, defense industry, foreign trade, railways, connection.
Important points of the new economic policy:
The peasant was given the opportunity to truly become a master;
Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs were given freedom of development;
Monetary reform, the introduction of convertible currency - the chervonets - stabilized the financial situation in the country.
In 1923, all types of natural taxation in the countryside were replaced by a single agricultural tax in cash, which, of course, was beneficial to the peasant, because allowed you to maneuver crop rotation at your own discretion and determine the direction of development of your farm in terms of growing certain crops, raising livestock, producing handicrafts, etc.
On the basis of the NEP, rapid economic growth began in the city and countryside and a rise in the living standards of the working people. The market mechanism made it possible to quickly restore industry, the size of the working class and, most importantly, increase labor productivity. Already by the end of 1923 year it more than doubled. By 1925, the country had restored the destroyed national economy.
The New Economic Policy made it possible:
Economic relations between city and countryside;
Development of industry based on electrification;
Cooperation based on the country's population;
The widespread introduction of cost accounting and personal interest in the results of labor;
Improving government planning and management;
The fight against bureaucracy, administrative and command habits;
Improving culture in all spheres of human activity.
Showing a certain flexibility in economic policy, the Bolsheviks had no doubts or hesitations in strengthening the control of the ruling party over the political and spiritual life of society.
The most important instrument in the hands of the Bolsheviks here were the bodies of the Cheka (from the 1922 congress - the GPU). This apparatus was not only preserved in the form in which it existed during the era of the civil war, but also developed rapidly, surrounded by the special care of those in power, and more and more fully embraced state, party, economic and other public institutions. There is a widespread opinion that the initiator of these repressive and fiscal measures and their implementer was F.E. Dzerzhinsky, in fact, this is not so. Archival sources and research by historians allow us to note that at the head of the terror was L.D. Trotsky (Bronstein), who, as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, and then the People's Commissar of the Military and Naval Affairs, had punitive bodies unaccountable to the party that administered their justice and reprisals, were in his hands a valid means of usurping power and establishing a personal military-political dictatorship in the country.
During the NEP years, many legally published newspapers and magazines, party associations, and other parties were closed, and the last underground groups of right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were liquidated.
Through an extensive system of secret employees of the Cheka-GPU, control was established over the political sentiments of civil servants, workers and peasants. Particular attention was paid to kulaks and urban private entrepreneurs, as well as the intelligentsia. At the same time, it should be noted that the Soviet government sought to involve the old intelligentsia in active labor activity. Specialists in different areas knowledge provided more tolerable living and working conditions compared to the bulk of the population.
This was especially true for those who were in one way or another connected with strengthening the scientific, economic and defense potential of the state.
The transition to the NEP contributed to the return of emigrants to their homeland. For 1921-1931 181,432 emigrants returned to Russia, of which 121,843 (two thirds) - in 1921,
However, the class approach remained the main principle of building government policy towards the intelligentsia. If opposition was suspected, the authorities resorted to repression. In 1921, many representatives of the intelligentsia were arrested in connection with the Petrograd Combat Organization case. Among them there were few scientific and creative intellectuals. By decision of the Petrograd Cheka, 61 of those arrested, including the prominent Russian poet N.S. Gumilyov, were shot. At the same time, remaining in the position of historicism, it should be noted that many of them opposed the Soviet regime, involving in public and other organizations, including military and combat organizations, all those who did not accept the new system.
The Bolshevik Party is heading towards the formation of its own socialist intelligentsia, devoted to the regime and serving it faithfully. New universities and institutes are opening. The first workers' faculties (workers' faculties) were created at higher educational institutions. The school education system also underwent radical reform. It ensured continuity of education, from preschool institutions to universities. A program to eliminate illiteracy was proclaimed.
In 1923, the voluntary society “Down with Illiteracy” was established, headed by the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin. By the end of the 1920s, about 40 percent of the population could read and write (versus 27 percent in 1913), and a decade later the figure was 80 percent.
During the years of the NEP, the literary and artistic life of Soviet Russia was distinguished by its diversity and abundance of various creative groups and movements. In Moscow alone there were over 30 of them.
The NEP made it much easier for the USSR to break through the economic blockade, enter international markets, and gain diplomatic recognition.
In just 5 years - from 1921 to 1926. the industrial production index increased more than 3 times, agricultural production increased 2 times and exceeded the 1913 level by 18 percent. But even after completion recovery period economic growth continued at a rapid pace: in 1927, 1928. the increase in industrial production was 13 and 19 percent, respectively. In general, for the period 1921-1928. the average annual growth rate of national income was 18 percent.
Monetary reform played an important role in the restoration of the national economy and its further development. At the beginning of 1924, the Soviet government stopped issuing unstable banknotes. Instead, a gold-backed chervonets was introduced into circulation. This contributed to the stabilization of the Soviet ruble and the strengthening of the country's financial system.
An important point during the years of the new economic policy was that impressive economic successes were achieved on the basis of fundamentally new social relations, hitherto unknown to history. The private sector emerged in industry and commerce; some state-owned enterprises were denationalized, others were leased out: private individuals were allowed to create their own industrial enterprises with no more than 20 employees (later this “ceiling” was raised). Among the factories rented by private owners there were those that employed 200-300 people, and in general the private sector during the NEP period accounted for from 1/5 to 1/4 of industrial output and 40-80 percent of retail trade. A number of enterprises were leased to foreign firms in the form of concessions. In 1926-1927, there were 117 existing agreements of this kind. They covered enterprises that employed 18 thousand people and produced just over one percent of industrial output.
In industry, key positions were occupied by state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - by state and cooperative banks. The state put pressure on producers, forced them to find internal reserves for increasing production, to mobilize efforts to increase production efficiency, which alone could now ensure an increase in profits.
NEP Russia, whether it wanted it or not, created the basis of socialism. NEP is both a strategy and tactics of the Bolsheviks. “From NEP Russia,” said V.I. Lenin, “Russia will be socialist.” At the same time, V.I. Lenin demanded that we reconsider our entire point of view on socialism. Driving force NEP should be the working people, the union of the working class and the peasantry. The taxes paid by the Nepmen made it possible to expand the socialist sector. New plants, factories, and enterprises were built. In 1928, industrial production surpassed the pre-war level in a number of important indicators. Since 1929, the country has become a huge construction site.
NEP meant the economic competition of socialism with capitalism. But this was an unusual competition. It took place in the form of a fierce struggle of capitalist elements against socialist forms of economy. The struggle was not for life, but for death, according to the principle of “who will win.” The Soviet state had everything it needed to win the fight against capitalism: political power, commanding heights in the economy, natural resources. There was only one thing missing - the ability to run a household and trade culturally. Even in the first days of Soviet power, V.I. Lenin said: “We, the Bolshevik Party, convinced Russia. We won Russia - from the rich for the poor, from the exploiters for the working people. We must now govern Russia.” The matter of management turned out to be extremely difficult. This was also evident during the years of the New Economic Policy.
The priority of politics over economics, proclaimed by the Bolsheviks in the process of social development, introduced disruptions into the mechanisms of the NEP. During the NEP period, many crisis situations arose in the country. They were caused by both objective and subjective reasons.
First crisis in economics arose in 1923. It went down in history as a sales crisis. 100 million peasants who received economic freedom filled the city market with cheap agricultural products. To stimulate labor productivity in industry (5 million workers), the state artificially inflates prices for industrial goods. By the fall of 1923, the price difference was more than 30 percent. This phenomenon, at the instigation of L. Trotsky, began to be called “scissors” of prices.
The crisis threatened the “link” between city and countryside and was aggravated by social conflicts. Workers' strikes began in a number of industrial centers. The fact is that the loans that enterprises previously received from the state were closed. There was no way to pay the workers. The problem was complicated by rising unemployment. From January 1922 to September 1923, the number of unemployed increased from 680 thousand to 1 million 60 thousand.
At the end of 1923 - beginning of 1924, prices for industrial goods were reduced by an average of more than 25 percent, and in light industry serving the mass consumer - by 30-45 percent. At the same time, prices for agricultural goods were increased almost 2 times. Much work has been done to improve state and cooperative trade. In May 1924, the People's Commissariat of Domestic and Foreign Trade was created. 30-year-old A.I. Mikoyan, the youngest People's Commissar of the USSR, was appointed to this post.
The economic crisis at this time is closely intertwined with the intensification of the struggle for power within the party due to the illness of the leader, V.I. Lenin. The fate of the country was influenced by internal party discussions that covered a wide range of issues: about worker and party democracy, bureaucracy and the apparatus, about the style and methods of leadership.
Second crisis arose in 1925. It brought new economic problems and difficulties. If during the recovery period the country immediately received a return in the form of agricultural and industrial goods, then during the construction of new and expansion of old enterprises, the return came after 3-5 years, and the construction paid off even longer. The country still received few goods, and wages had to be paid to workers regularly. Where can I get money backed by goods? They can be “pumped out of the village by raising prices for manufactured goods, or they can be printed further. But raising prices for manufactured goods did not mean getting more food from the village. The peasantry simply did not buy these goods, leading a subsistence economy; His incentive to sell bread became less and less. This threatened to reduce the export of bread and the import of equipment, which, in turn, hampered the construction of new and expansion of old industries.
In 1925-1926 got out of difficulties due to foreign currency reserves and allowing state sales of alcohol. However, there was little prospect of the situation improving. In addition, in just one year, unemployment in the country, due to agrarian overpopulation, increased by a thousand people and amounted to . 1 million 300 thousand.
Third crisis NEP was associated with industrialization and collectivization. This policy required the expansion of planned principles in the economy, an active attack on the capitalist elements of the city and countryside. Practical steps to implement this party line led to the completion of the reconstruction of the administrative-command system.
Collapsing NEP
Until recently, scientists disagreed regarding the end of the NEP. Some believed that by the mid-1930s the tasks set for the new economic policy had been solved. The New Economic Policy “ended in the second half of the 1930s. victory of socialism. Nowadays, the beginning of the NEP restrictions dates back to 1924 (after the death of V.I. Lenin). V.P. Danilov, one of the most authoritative researchers of the agrarian history of Russia, believes that 1928 was the time of transition to the frontal scrapping of the NEP, and in 1929 it was finished. Modern historians A.S. Barsenkov and A.I. Vdovin, the authors of the textbook “History of Russia 1917-2004,” connect the end of the NEP with the beginning of the first five-year plan.
History shows that the assumption of multi-structure and the determination of the place of each of these structures in the socio-economic development of the country occurred in an atmosphere of intense struggle for power between several party groups. In the end, the struggle ended in victory for the Stalinist group. By 1928-1929 she mastered all the heights of the party and state leadership and pursued an openly anti-NEP line.
The NEP was never officially cancelled, but in 1928 it began to wind down. What did this mean?
In the public sector, planned principles of economic management were introduced, the private sector was closed, and in agriculture, a course was taken to eliminate the kulaks as a class. The collapse of the NEP was facilitated by internal and external factors.
Domestic:
Private entrepreneurs have strengthened economically, both in the city and in the countryside; The restrictions on profits introduced by the Soviet government reached their maximum. The experience of socio-political development shows: whoever has a lot of money wants power. Private owners needed power to remove restrictions on making profits and to increase them;
The party's policy of collectivization in the countryside aroused resistance from the kulaks;
Industrialization required an influx of labor, which only the countryside could provide;
The peasantry demanded the abolition of the foreign trade monopoly, claiming access to the world market, and refused to feed the city under conditions of low purchase prices for agricultural products, primarily grain;
In the country, dissatisfaction with the everyday behavior of the “Nepmen” was becoming more and more acute among the general population, who staged revelries and various entertainments in full view.
External:
The aggressiveness of capitalist states against the USSR increased. The very fact of the existence of the Soviet state and its successes aroused the furious hatred of the imperialists. International reaction aimed to disrupt the industrialization that had begun in the USSR at any cost and to create a united front of capitalist powers for anti-Soviet military intervention. An active role in anti-Soviet politics during this period belonged to the British imperialists. It is enough to note that W. Churchill, an outstanding politician of that time, repeatedly noted that we did not leave Soviet Russia out of our attention for a single day, and constantly directed efforts to destroy, at any cost, the communist regime. In February 1927, an attack was organized on the Soviet plenipotentiary mission in London and Beijing, and the plenipotentiary representative in Poland P.L. was killed. Voikova;
The Kuomintang government of China in 1927 suspended diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and closed all Soviet diplomatic missions.
In 1929, emergency measures to limit the free sale of bread were legalized. Priority sale of grain under government obligations is established. Already in the second half of 1929, partial expropriation of the kulaks began. The year 1929 was essentially decisive in the rejection of the NEP. The year 1929 went down in the history of the USSR as the “Year of the Great Turning Point.”
In the early 30s, there was an almost complete displacement of private capital from various sectors of the economy. The share of private enterprises in industry in 1928 was 18%, in agriculture - 97%, in retail trade - 24%, and by 1933 - 0.5%, 20% and zero, respectively.
In the extreme conditions of the civil war, the internal policy pursued by the Soviet government was called “war communism.” The prerequisites for its implementation were laid by the widespread nationalization of industry and the creation of a state apparatus to manage it (primarily the All-Russian Council of the National Economy - VSNKh), the experience of military-political solutions to food problems through committees of the poor in the countryside. On the one hand, the policy of “war communism” was perceived by part of the country’s leadership as a natural step towards the rapid construction of market-free socialism, which supposedly corresponded to the principles of Marxist theory. In this they hoped to rely on the collectivist ideas of millions of workers and poor peasants who were ready to divide all property in the country equally. On the other hand, it was a forced policy, caused by the disruption of traditional economic ties between city and countryside, and the need to mobilize all resources to win the civil war.
The internal situation in the Soviet country was extremely difficult. The country is in crisis:
Political - in the summer of 1920, peasant uprisings broke out in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces (as they were called - “kulak rebellions”) - Antonovism. The dissatisfaction of the peasants with the surplus appropriation system grew into a real peasant war: Makhno’s detachments in Ukraine and Antov’s “peasant army” in the Tambov region numbered 50 thousand people at the beginning of 1921, the total number of detachments formed in the Urals, Western Siberia, and Pomorye , in the Kuban and Don, reached 200 thousand people. On March 1, 1921, the sailors of Kronstadt rebelled. They put forward the slogans “Power to the Soviets, not parties!”, “Soviets without communists!” The rebellion in Kronstadt was eliminated, but peasant uprisings continued. These uprisings were not an accident.” In each of them, to a greater or lesser degree, there was an element of organization. It was contributed by a wide range of political forces: from monarchists to socialists. These disparate forces were united by the desire to take control of the emerging popular movement and, relying on it, to eliminate the power of the Bolsheviks;
Economic - The national economy was fragmented. The country produced 3 percent of pig iron; oil was produced 2.5 times less than in 1913. Industrial production fell to 4-2 percent of 1913 levels. The country lagged behind the United States in iron production by 72 times, in steel by 52 times, and in oil production by 19 times. If in 1913 Russia smelted 4.2 million tons of pig iron, then in 1920 it was only 115 thousand tons. This is approximately the same amount as was received in 1718 under Peter I;
Social – Hunger, poverty, unemployment were rampant in the country, crime and child homelessness were rampant. The declassification of the working class intensified, people left the cities and went to the countryside so as not to die of hunger. This led to a reduction in the number of industrial workers by almost half (1 million 270 thousand people in 1920 versus 2 million 400 thousand people in 1913). In 1921, about 40 provinces with a population of 90 million were starving, of which 40 million were on the verge of death. 5 million people died from hunger. Child crime, compared to 1913, has increased 7.4 times. Epidemics of typhoid, cholera, and smallpox raged in the country.
Immediate, most decisive and energetic measures were needed to improve the situation of the working people and increase the productive forces.
In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (b), a course towards a new economic policy (NEP) was adopted. This policy was introduced seriously and for a long time.
The purpose of adopting the NEP was aimed at:
¾ to overcome the devastation in the country and restore the economy;
¾ creating the foundation of socialism;
¾ development of large industry;
¾ displacement and liquidation of capitalist elements;
¾ strengthening the alliance of the working class and the peasantry.
“The essence of the new economic policy,” said Lenin, “is the union of the proletariat and the peasantry, the essence lies in the union of the avant-garde, the proletariat, with the broad peasant field.”
The ways to accomplish these tasks were:
¾ comprehensive development of cooperation;
¾ broad promotion of trade;
¾ use of material incentives and economic calculations.
Contents of the new economic policy:
¾ replacement of the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind (the peasant could sell the remaining products after paying the tax in kind at his own discretion - either to the state or on the free market);
¾ introduction of free trade and circulation;
¾ admission of private small trade and industrial enterprises, while maintaining leading industries (banks, transport, large industry, foreign trade) in the hands of the state;
¾ permission to lease concessions, mixed companies;
¾ providing freedom of action to state-owned enterprises (introduction of self-financing, self-financing, product sales, self-sufficiency);
¾ introduction of material incentives for workers;
¾ elimination of rigid sectoral formations of an administrative nature - headquarters and centers;
¾ introduction of territorial - sectoral management of industry;
¾ carrying out monetary reform;
¾ transition from in-kind to cash wages;
¾ streamlining of income tax (income tax was divided into basic, which was paid by all citizens except pensioners, and progressive - paid by NEPmen, privately practicing doctors, and all those who received additional profit). The greater the profit, the greater the tax. A profit limit was introduced;
¾ permission to hire labor, rent land, enterprises;
¾ revival of the credit system - the State Bank was recreated, a number of specialized banks were formed;
The introduction of the NEP caused a change in the social structure and way of life of people. The NEP provided organizational economic freedom to people and gave them the opportunity to show initiative and entrepreneurship. Private enterprises were created everywhere in the country, self-financing was introduced at state enterprises, a struggle arose against bureaucracy and administrative-command habits, and culture improved in all spheres of human activity. The introduction of a tax in kind in the countryside made it possible for the broad development of agriculture, including strong owners, who were later called “kulaks.”
The most colorful figure of that time was the new Soviet bourgeoisie - the “NEPmen”. These people largely defined the face of their era, but they were, as it were, outside of Soviet society: they were deprived of voting rights and could not be members of trade unions. Among the Nepmen, the old bourgeoisie had a large share (from 30 to 50 percent, depending on their occupation). The rest of the Nepmen came from among Soviet employees, peasants and artisans. Due to the rapid turnover of capital, the main area of activity of nepma.nov was trade. Store shelves began to quickly fill with goods and products.
At the same time, criticism of Lenin and the NEP as a “disastrous petty-bourgeois policy” was heard throughout the country.
Many communists left the RCP (b), believing that the introduction of the NEP meant the restoration of capitalism and a betrayal of socialist principles. At the same time, it should be noted that, despite partial denationalization and concession, the state retained at its disposal the most powerful sector of the national economy. Basic industries remained completely outside the market - energy, metallurgy, oil production and refining, coal mining, defense industry, foreign trade, railways, communications.
Important points of the new economic policy:
¾ the peasant was given the opportunity to truly become a master;
¾ small and medium-sized entrepreneurs were given freedom of development;
¾ monetary reform, the introduction of convertible currency - the chervonets - stabilized the financial situation in the country.
In 1923, all types of natural taxation in the countryside were replaced by a single agricultural tax in cash, which, of course, was beneficial to the peasant, because allowed you to maneuver crop rotation at your own discretion and determine the direction of development of your farm in terms of growing certain crops, raising livestock, producing handicrafts, etc.
On the basis of the NEP, rapid economic growth began in the city and countryside and a rise in the living standards of the working people. The market mechanism made it possible to quickly restore industry, the size of the working class and, most importantly, increase labor productivity. Already by the end of 1923 year it more than doubled. By 1925, the country had restored the destroyed national economy.
The New Economic Policy made it possible:
¾ economic relations between city and countryside;
¾ development of industry based on electrification;
¾ cooperation based on the country’s population;
¾ widespread introduction of cost accounting, personal interest in the results of labor;
¾ improvement of state planning and management;
¾ fight against bureaucracy, administrative and command habits;
¾ improving culture in all spheres of human activity.
Showing a certain flexibility in economic policy, the Bolsheviks had no doubts or hesitations in strengthening the control of the ruling party over the political and spiritual life of society.
The most important instrument in the hands of the Bolsheviks here were the bodies of the Cheka (from the 1922 congress - the GPU). This apparatus was not only preserved in the form in which it existed during the era of the civil war, but also developed rapidly, surrounded by the special care of those in power, and more and more fully embraced state, party, economic and other public institutions. There is a widespread opinion that the initiator of these repressive and fiscal measures and their implementation was F.E. Dzerzhinsky, in fact, this is not so. Archival sources and research by historians allow us to note that at the head of the terror was L.D. Trotsky (Bronstein), who, as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, and then the People's Commissar of the Military and Naval Affairs, had punitive bodies unaccountable to the party that administered their justice and reprisals, were in his hands a valid means of usurping power and establishing a personal military-political dictatorship in the country.
During the NEP years, many legally published newspapers and magazines, party associations, and other parties were closed, and the last underground groups of right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were liquidated.
Through an extensive system of secret employees of the Cheka-GPU, control was established over the political sentiments of civil servants, workers and peasants. Particular attention was paid to kulaks and urban private entrepreneurs, as well as the intelligentsia. At the same time, it should be noted that the Soviet government sought to involve the old intelligentsia in active labor activity. Specialists in various fields of knowledge were provided with more tolerable living and working conditions compared to the general population.
This was especially true for those who were in one way or another connected with strengthening the scientific, economic and defense potential of the state.
The transition to the NEP contributed to the return of emigrants to their homeland. For 1921-1931 181,432 emigrants returned to Russia, of which 121,843 (two thirds) - in 1921,
However, the class approach remained the main principle of building government policy towards the intelligentsia. If opposition was suspected, the authorities resorted to repression. In 1921, many representatives of the intelligentsia were arrested in connection with the Petrograd Combat Organization case. Among them there were few scientific and creative intellectuals. By decision of the Petrograd Cheka, 61 of those arrested, including the prominent Russian poet N.S. Gumilyov, were shot. At the same time, remaining in the position of historicism, it should be noted that many of them opposed the Soviet regime, involving in public and other organizations, including military and combat organizations, all those who did not accept the new system.
The Bolshevik Party is heading towards the formation of its own socialist intelligentsia, devoted to the regime and serving it faithfully. New universities and institutes are opening. The first workers' faculties (workers' faculties) were created at higher educational institutions. The school education system was also subjected to radical reform. It ensured continuity of education, from preschool institutions to universities. A program to eliminate illiteracy was proclaimed.
In 1923, the voluntary society “Down with Illiteracy” was established, headed by the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin. By the end of the 1920s, about 40 percent of the population could read and write (versus 27 percent in 1913), and a decade later the figure was 80 percent.
During the years of the NEP, the literary and artistic life of Soviet Russia was distinguished by its diversity and abundance of various creative groups and movements. In Moscow alone there were over 30 of them.
The NEP made it much easier for the USSR to break through the economic blockade, enter international markets, and gain diplomatic recognition.
In just 5 years - from 1921 to 1926. the industrial production index increased more than 3 times, agricultural production increased 2 times and exceeded the 1913 level by 18 percent. But even after the end of the recovery period, economic growth continued at a rapid pace: in 1927, 1928. the increase in industrial production was 13 and 19 percent, respectively. In general, for the period 1921-1928. the average annual growth rate of national income was 18 percent.
Monetary reform played an important role in the restoration of the national economy and its further development. At the beginning of 1924, the Soviet government stopped issuing unstable banknotes. Instead, a gold-backed chervonets was introduced into circulation. This contributed to the stabilization of the Soviet ruble and the strengthening of the country's financial system.
An important point during the years of the new economic policy was that impressive economic successes were achieved on the basis of fundamentally new social relations, hitherto unknown to history. The private sector emerged in industry and commerce; some state-owned enterprises were denationalized, others were leased out: private individuals were allowed to create their own industrial enterprises with no more than 20 employees (later this “ceiling” was raised). Among the factories rented by private owners there were those that employed 200-300 people, and in general the private sector during the NEP period accounted for from 1/5 to 1/4 of industrial output and 40-80 percent of retail trade. A number of enterprises were leased to foreign firms in the form of concessions. In 1926-1927, there were 117 existing agreements of this kind. They covered enterprises that employed 18 thousand people and produced just over one percent of industrial output.
In industry, key positions were occupied by state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - by state and cooperative banks. The state put pressure on producers, forced them to find internal reserves for increasing production, to mobilize efforts to increase production efficiency, which alone could now ensure an increase in profits.
NEP Russia, whether it wanted it or not, created the basis of socialism. NEP is both a strategy and tactics of the Bolsheviks. “From Russia NEP,” said V.I. Lenin, “Russia will be socialist.” At the same time, V.I. Lenin demanded that we reconsider our entire point of view on socialism. The driving force of the NEP should be the working people, the alliance of the working class and the peasantry. The taxes paid by the Nepmen made it possible to expand the socialist sector. New plants, factories, and enterprises were built. In 1928, industrial production surpassed the pre-war level in a number of important indicators. Since 1929, the country has become a huge construction site.
NEP meant the economic competition of socialism with capitalism. But this was an unusual competition. It took the form of a fierce struggle of capitalist elements against socialist forms of economy. The struggle was not for life, but for death, according to the principle of “who will win.” The Soviet state had everything it needed to win the fight against capitalism: political power, commanding heights in the economy, natural resources. There was only one thing missing - the ability to run a household and trade culturally. Even in the first days of Soviet power, V.I. Lenin said: “We, the Bolshevik Party, convinced Russia. We won Russia - from the rich for the poor, from the exploiters for the working people. We must now govern Russia.” The matter of management turned out to be extremely difficult. This was also evident during the years of the New Economic Policy.
The priority of politics over economics, proclaimed by the Bolsheviks in the process of social development, introduced disruptions into the mechanisms of the NEP. During the NEP period, many crisis situations arose in the country. They were caused by both objective and subjective reasons.
First crisis in economics arose in 1923. It went down in history as a sales crisis. 100 million peasants who received economic freedom filled the city market with cheap agricultural products. To stimulate labor productivity in industry (5 million workers), the state artificially inflates prices for industrial goods. By the fall of 1923, the price difference was more than 30 percent. This phenomenon, at the instigation of L. Trotsky, began to be called “scissors” of prices.
The crisis threatened the “link” between city and countryside and was aggravated by social conflicts. Workers' strikes began in a number of industrial centers. The fact is that the loans that enterprises previously received from the state were closed. There was no way to pay the workers. The problem was complicated by rising unemployment. From January 1922 to September 1923, the number of unemployed increased from 680 thousand to 1 million 60 thousand.
At the end of 1923 - beginning of 1924, prices for industrial goods were reduced by an average of more than 25 percent, and in light industry serving the mass consumer - by 30-45 percent. At the same time, prices for agricultural goods were increased almost 2 times. Much work has been done to improve state and cooperative trade. In May 1924, the People's Commissariat of Domestic and Foreign Trade was created. 30-year-old A.I. Mikoyan, the youngest People's Commissar of the USSR, was appointed to this post.
The economic crisis at this time is closely intertwined with the exacerbationstruggle for power within the party due to the illness of the leader - V.I. Lenin. The fate of the country was influenced by internal party discussions that covered a wide range of issues: about worker and party democracy, bureaucracy and the apparatus, about the style and methods of leadership.
Second crisis arose in 1925. It brought new economic problems and difficulties. If during the recovery period the country immediately received a return in the form of agricultural and industrial goods, then during the construction of new and expansion of old enterprises, the return came after 3-5 years, and the construction paid off even longer. ProductsThe country still received little, and wages had to be paid to workers regularly. Where can I get money backed by goods? They can be pumped outfrom the village, raising prices for manufactured goods, or - print more. But raising prices for manufactured goods did not mean getting more food from the village. The peasantry simply did not buy these goods, leading a subsistence economy; His incentive to sell bread became less and less. This threatened to reduce the export of bread and the import of equipment, which, in turn, in turn, hampered the construction of new and expansion of old industries.
In 1925-1926 got out of difficulties due to foreign currency reserves and allowing state sales of alcohol. However, there was little prospect of the situation improving. In addition, in just one year, unemployment in the country, due to agrarian overpopulation, increased by a thousand people and amounted to . 1 million 300 thousand.
Third crisis NEP was associated with industrialization and collectivization. This policy required the expansion of planned principles in the economy, an active attack on the capitalist elements of the city and countryside.Practical steps to implement this party line led to the completion of the reconstruction of the administrative-command system.
Collapsing NEP
Until recently, scientists disagreed regarding the end of the NEP. Some believed that by the mid-1930s the tasks set for the new economic policy had been solved. The New Economic Policy “ended in the second half of the 1930s. victory of socialism. Nowadays, the beginning of the NEP restrictions dates back to 1924 (after the death of V.I. Lenin). V.P. Danilov, one of the most authoritative researchers of the agrarian history of Russia, believes that 1928 was the time of transition to the frontal scrapping of the NEP, and in 1929 it was over. Modern historians A.S. Barsenkov and A.I. Vdovin, the authors of the textbook “History of Russia 1917-2004,” connect the end of the NEP with the beginning of the first five-year plan.
History shows that the assumption of multi-structure and the determination of the place of each of these structures in the socio-economic development of the country occurred in an atmosphere of intense struggle for power between several party groups. In the end, the struggle ended in victory for the Stalinist group. By 1928-1929 she mastered all the heights of the party and state leadership and pursued an openly anti-NEP line.
The NEP was never officially cancelled, but in 1928 it began to wind down. What did this mean?
In the public sector, planned principles of economic management were introduced, the private sector was closed, and in agriculture, a course was taken to eliminate the kulaks as a class. The collapse of the NEP was facilitated by internal and external factors.
Domestic :
¾ private entrepreneurs have strengthened economically, both in the city and in the countryside; The restrictions on profits introduced by the Soviet government reached their maximum. The experience of socio-political development shows: whoever has a lot of money wants power. Private owners needed power to remove restrictions on making profits and to increase them;
¾ The party's policy of collectivization in the countryside caused resistance from the kulaks;
¾ industrialization required an influx of labor, which only the countryside could provide;
¾ the peasantry demanded the abolition of the foreign trade monopoly, claiming access to the world market, refused to feed the city under conditions of low purchase prices for agricultural products, primarily grain;
¾ in the country, dissatisfaction with the everyday behavior of the “nepmen” became more and more acute among the general population, who staged revelries and various entertainments in plain sight.
External:
¾ the aggressiveness of capitalist states against the USSR intensified. The very fact of the existence of the Soviet state and its successes aroused the furious hatred of the imperialists. International reaction aimed to disrupt the industrialization that had begun in the USSR at any cost and to create a united front of capitalist powers for anti-Soviet military intervention. An active role in anti-Soviet politics during this period belonged to the British imperialists. It is enough to note that W. Churchill, an outstanding politician of that time, repeatedly noted that we did not leave Soviet Russia out of our attention for a single day, and constantly directed efforts to destroy, at any cost, the communist regime. In February 1927, an attack was organized on the Soviet plenipotentiary mission in London and Beijing, and the plenipotentiary representative in Poland P.L. was killed. Voikova;
In 1927, the Kuomintang government of China suspended diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and closed all Soviet diplomatic missions.
In 1929, emergency measures to limit the free sale of bread were legalized. Priority sale of grain under government obligations is established. Already in the second half of 1929, partial expropriation of the kulaks began. The year 1929 was essentially decisive in the rejection of the NEP. The year 1929 went down in the history of the USSR as the “Year of the Great Turning Point.”
In the early 30s, there was an almost complete displacement of private capital from various sectors of the economy. The share of private enterprises in industry in 1928 was 18%, in agriculture - 97%, in retail trade - 24%, and by 1933 - 0.5%, 20% and zero, respectively.
Positive results of the NEP:
1. It was possible to restore the national economy and even surpass the pre-war level due to internal reserves.
2. Revive agriculture, which made it possible to feed the country’s population.
3. National income increased by 18 percent per year and by 1928 by 10 percent per capita, which exceeded the 1913 level.
4. Industrial output grew by 30 percent annually, indicating rapid growth in labor productivity.
5. The national currency has become valid and stable.
6. The material well-being of the population grew noticeably.
Negative results of the NEP:
1. There was a disproportionate development of the main sectors of the national economy.
2. The lag in the pace of industrial revival from agricultural production led the NEP through a period of economic crises.
3. In the village there was a social and property differentiation of the peasantry, which led to increased tension between different poles.
4. Throughout the 20s, the number of unemployed in the city increased, which by the end of the NEP amounted to more than 2 million people.
5. The financial system strengthened only for a while. In the second half of the 20s, due to the active financing of heavy industry, market equilibrium was disrupted and inflation began, which undermined the financial and credit system.
Thus, starting from 1929, replacing the NEP policy, an administrative management system was established in the country's economy.