Social and economic – Lenin, Stalin, GPW, High Stalinism, Krushchev
Lenin –
State Capitalism – Decree on Land – abolished private ownership of land + decree
on workers’ control of their own factories ‘supervise management’ of factories –
legitimized what was already happening
Degree of state control but private markets would remain as an important
feature, Veshenka established in Dec 1917 to supervise and control economic
development – some of his party thought nationalization of industry should be
established
Failed – workers failed to organise factories and output shrank, high inflation
which made peasants hoard produce which led to food shortages, 50 grams of
bread a day in Petrograd in Feb 1918 + food riots
War Communism – programme of grain requisitioning and establishment of
cooperative farming (only tiny minority complied), food supplies policy May 1918
– detachments of soldiers and workers from large towns into countryside to
ensure that grain was delivered to state – brutally confiscated – left peasants with
hardly enough to live on
‘grasping fists’ labelled as enemies of the people and their entire stocks were
seized
misery in rural areas – crops hidden, less grown, requisitioned squads murdered
nationalization of railways, banks, power companies and Putilov Iron Works, by
Nov 1920 nationalization extended to nearly all factories and businesses
workers lost all their previous freedom, working hours extended, ration card
workbooks replace wages and internal passports
ALL PRIVATE TRADE AND MANURFACTURE FORBIDDEN – transition to socialist
economy – political commissars indoctrinated soldiers with marxist theories to
justify harsh economic measures – to ensure red army was supplied with
munitions and food
BY 1921, total industrial output had fallen to 20% of its pre war levels
3 million died of disease in 1920 – typhus epidemic
acute food shortage by 1920, 1/3 land had been abandoned to grass and
thousands of animals slaughtered
harvest of 1921 produced under 50% of 1913 harvest
population had fallen from 170 million to 130 million by 1921 – cannibalism and
trade in dead bodies
Tambov revolt – 70,000 peasants, spread across south-eastern Russia – 100,000
red army troops deployed
food and industrial strikes – Martial Law Jan 1921
Lenin –
State Capitalism – Decree on Land – abolished private ownership of land + decree
on workers’ control of their own factories ‘supervise management’ of factories –
legitimized what was already happening
Degree of state control but private markets would remain as an important
feature, Veshenka established in Dec 1917 to supervise and control economic
development – some of his party thought nationalization of industry should be
established
Failed – workers failed to organise factories and output shrank, high inflation
which made peasants hoard produce which led to food shortages, 50 grams of
bread a day in Petrograd in Feb 1918 + food riots
War Communism – programme of grain requisitioning and establishment of
cooperative farming (only tiny minority complied), food supplies policy May 1918
– detachments of soldiers and workers from large towns into countryside to
ensure that grain was delivered to state – brutally confiscated – left peasants with
hardly enough to live on
‘grasping fists’ labelled as enemies of the people and their entire stocks were
seized
misery in rural areas – crops hidden, less grown, requisitioned squads murdered
nationalization of railways, banks, power companies and Putilov Iron Works, by
Nov 1920 nationalization extended to nearly all factories and businesses
workers lost all their previous freedom, working hours extended, ration card
workbooks replace wages and internal passports
ALL PRIVATE TRADE AND MANURFACTURE FORBIDDEN – transition to socialist
economy – political commissars indoctrinated soldiers with marxist theories to
justify harsh economic measures – to ensure red army was supplied with
munitions and food
BY 1921, total industrial output had fallen to 20% of its pre war levels
3 million died of disease in 1920 – typhus epidemic
acute food shortage by 1920, 1/3 land had been abandoned to grass and
thousands of animals slaughtered
harvest of 1921 produced under 50% of 1913 harvest
population had fallen from 170 million to 130 million by 1921 – cannibalism and
trade in dead bodies
Tambov revolt – 70,000 peasants, spread across south-eastern Russia – 100,000
red army troops deployed
food and industrial strikes – Martial Law Jan 1921
