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New Economic Policies 1921-1929

New Economic Policies 1921-1929. Effects of Civil War and War Communism (1917-1920). Decline of industry and agriculture Social leveling – landowners and the better-off flee Peasants got the land and retreated to a communal lifestyle Still subject to taxes and expropriations of grain

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New Economic Policies 1921-1929

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  1. New Economic Policies1921-1929

  2. Effects of Civil War andWar Communism (1917-1920) • Decline of industry and agriculture • Social leveling – landowners and the better-off flee • Peasants got the land and retreated to a communal lifestyle • Still subject to taxes and expropriations of grain • Great suffering by workers, who made up the armies • Factories closed, industries wiped out • Workers returned to the countryside and the farms • Bolsheviks in charge but remain paranoid, feel enemies are waiting to pounce • 1920 Bolshevik “Democratic opposition” – objections to bureaucratization, demands for democracy within the party and for worker control of the workplace • 1921 Kronstadt uprising – sailors demand soviets without Bolsheviks, free elections, freedom for workers and peasants • 10th. Party Congress: Far-reaching decision to outlaw factions within the Party • Reaching out to minorities: Stalin becomes Commissar of Nationalities

  3. 1921: NEP begins; Partybecomes all-powerful • Abandon war communism • Government enterprises must show a profit • Free trade in grain; tax rather than expropriation • Encourage small-scale private enterprise • Mining, banking, foreign trade under govt. control • Primacy of the Party • Government subordinated, soviets lose influence • Central Committee makes all major decisions • Party controls key citizen organizations • Labor union branches at every workplace • Komsomol, the Communist youth league • Lenin uses show trials to repress dissidence and demonstrate “correct” line • Arrested and imprisoned members of Cadet Party • 1922 - two dozen Socialist Revolutionaries placed on trial • Gregory Pyatakov sat as chief judge • Central committee members were sentenced to death. But all the sentences were commuted.

  4. A quasi-capitalist economy • Russia imported most of its heavy equipment,including railroad engines, and most machinery • Expense drained domestic budget • Wild fluctuation in industrial and agriculturalprices; high inflation • Economy stabilized by 1924. Currency based on gold. • Private enterprise accounts for more than 50% of national income • Social class distinctions; wealth amidst poverty • “NEPmen,” traders who sold goods to farmers and produce to city dwellers (above photograph) • Citizens free to change jobs; skilled much better pay than unskilled • Opportunities for the better-educated in government work • Wages low, unemployment major factor • Large rural population too large – 80 percent of Russians live on farms • People from countryside flock to cities for jobs

  5. Agriculture during NEP • Weak Government authority outside cities • Farmers isolated, farming is primitive • Farms small, land has been excessivelydivided • Primitive growing practices • Use food for their own needs, sell what’s left to the cities • Bolshevik ideology clashes with peasant practices • Enraged by peasants pricing based on supply & demand • Exaggerated view of class distinctions. Kulaks (“wealthy” farmers) are compared to NEPmen (photo shows Kulaks being dispossessed) • Kulaks feared for their political power • Bolsheviks want more efficient, large-scale communal farming • Two obstacles: insufficient machinery and a hostile rural population

  6. Society during NEP • Bolsheviks appalled at Russia’s backwardness,anxious to advance culture: • Material aspects, including hygiene and electrification • Science, engineering and the arts • Scientists and professors highly valued • They establish laws of nature, much like Marx established laws of society • Writers, musicians, painters valued because they can help spread the gospel • Censorship relatively light-handed • Commissariat for Enlightenment had lists of banned books • Many artists fled, but those who remained got remarkablyfree rein; the Avant-garde flourished (graphic part of 1905-1930 Russian Avant-garde exhibit) • Exception: Newspapers and writings by competing socialist factions – Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries – are strictly censored

  7. Socialist legality • Criminal Code of 1922 formalizes the“revolutionary justice” of war communism • Art. 45: “socialist conception of justice” • Art. 46: “crimes…against the regime” • Art. 47: “harm to the interests of the Stateor the toilers [even when not directed at either] • Art. 58-1 “…directed towards the overthrow, undermining or weakening of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Soviets…” • Art. 58-7: “…undermining of state industry…by working against their normal activities…” • Art. 58-13: “Any act or active struggle against the working class • Heaviest penalties for “counter-revolutionary” rather than ordinary crimes • Concept of “wrecking”

  8. 1922: Stalin or Trotsky?A question of succession • 1922 – Lenin incapacitated (dies in 1924) • Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev in ruling “troika” (triumvirate) • But real struggle is between Stalin and Trotsky • Trotsky • War hero, popular with military, lower levels of bureaucracy, students • Abrasive, doctrinaire • Backs leftist economics, pushes to tax peasants and force industrialization • An “internationalist” – Communism first requires a world revolution • Stalin • Commissar for Nationalities • 1922 – Chairman of Communist Party Central Committee, in charge of Party bureaucracy • Excellent politician, coalition builder, practical-minded • Counseled by Bukharin to go easy on peasants and workers • Sees world revolution as wildly premature • Championed “socialism in one country” – Russia can go it alone

  9. 1923-1924: Trotsky & Stalinstruggle for supremacy • 1923 – “Left Opposition”: Trotsky, Serebryakov,Piatakov, Smirnov, Radek... • Circulates “Letter of the 46” • Criticizes bureaucratization, lack of democracy within the Party, top-down decision-making • Claims regime farther away from “worker’s democracy” than before • 1923 – Trotsky calls for purge of bureaucrats • Hostile reception by triumvirate and others: is Trotsky splitting the Party? • 1924 – 13th. Party Conference – majority condemns Left Opposition • Stalin and Zinoviev attack Trotsky for factionalism • Trotsky Contradicts NEP, argues against Stalin’s “Socialism in one country.” • Demands more pressure on “kulaks” and “capitalists” • Endorses forced industrialization • Criticizes Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1917 (they said Revolution premature) • Left Opposition censured, Trotsky booted from post as War Commissar

  10. 1924-25: Leftist opposition to Stalin • 1924 – Full members of Politburo (top of the Party Central Committee) • Stalin, Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Rykov, Tomsky, Trotsky • Bukharin allies with Stalin, becomes chief promoter of NEP • Urges relaxations against “Kulaks” • 1924-25 – opposition develops. Includes “Zinovievists” and “Trotskyists.” • Zinoviev and Kamenev form New Opposition • Accuse Stalin of becoming a dictator, argue for democracy in the Party • Criticize “Kulakization” – rich farmers – say it’s a retreat • Endorse concept of world revolution • 1925 – Party Congress repudiates the New Opposition • Kamenev reduced to candidate member of Politburo • United Opposition forms – Kamenev and Zinoviev ally withTrotsky, Muralov, Pyatakov, Radek, Smirnov, Bakayev…

  11. United Opposition defeated,Trotsky exiled to Europe • December 1927 – 15th. Party Congress • Trotsky, Zinoviev expelled from Party CC(Central Committee) • Recommended for expulsion: Kamenev, Pyatakov, Radek, Smirnov… • They attempt a demonstration – supporters arrested • Zinovievists capitulate • Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bakayev readmitted, later gain Party posts • Trotskyists refuse to capitulate • Trotsky gets internal exile, then deported to Europe in 1929 • First in Turkey, then France in 1933, Norway in 1935 Norway, finally Mexico in 1937 • Radek exiled to Siberia • Capitulates in 1929, readmitted to the PartyBut it’s not over until the “rude Georgian” sings...

  12. Stalin moves left,Right Opposition forms • 1928 – Peasants hoard grain, demand better prices • Stalin changes course to the Left • Like Trotsky, demands expropriations • Endorses forced collectivization and rapid industrialization • Bukharin, a moderate, opposes these moves. Supported by Rykov and Tomsky. • 1929 – they publish the “Platform of the Three” • Accuse Stalin of “military-feudal exploitation of the peasantry” • Warn of rupture between peasants and workers • Suggest incentives rather than coercion • Want to expand and improve NEP • Stalin and supporters criticize the three and their followers as “Right Deviationists” who are defending capitalism • 1930-31 political campaign against the Rightists • Rightists lose influence, capitulate The “rude Georgian” is now the de-facto Dictator of the USSR

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