Lenin's economic policy (agriculture and industrial)
War Communism 1918 - 1921
What it was
Aims
Nationalisation
Factories well managed by well paid specialists - high levels of industrialisation
Reestablish worker discipline by higher pay to harder workers
Production match needs of society - food for all
Consequences
Nationalisation of industry
NEP (New Economic Policy) - (1921-28)
Abolished free market food- grain forcibly requisitioned from peasants by Cheka and rationed - most to soldiers and workers, least to bourgeoisie
Ensure Communist victory in Civil War
Labour discipline - 11 hour working day, compulsory work, fines for lateness and absenteeism, internal passports stop workers fleeing to countryside
Abolition of the market - money worthless due to hyperinflation, private trade made illegal
Military victory - achieved the short term aim to win civil war
Growth of black market
1920 - famine in the countryside due to fail in harvest and grain requostiting, malnutrition was common , death of 6 million
Industrial work force fell as workers fled to countryside for food - those working in factories and mines fell by 50%. Industry fell to 20% of what it was is 1913
What was it : compromise with capitalism
Small factories denationalised and allowed to trade freely
Consequences
Aim (why)
Retain his political power
Bulid socialism
Recover economy
Free market: grain requisitioning ended, surplus could be sold by peasants for profit
Large factories and industries remained nationalised
Money reintroduced
Farming: grain requisitioning ended, free trade, famine ended, farming revived
Industry: slow industrial recovery
The scissors crisis: agriculture recovered quicker than industry- fall in the price of food and rise in the price of industrial goods,crisis did not last long: the government brought industrial prices down instead peasants pay tax
Inequality: large farms did well, small farms did worse - NEPmen travelled the country selling desired goods (arrested by Cheka for profiteering.
Corruption: more prostiution, gambling, drug dealing
Party split: Right wing supported NEP, Left wing opposed NEP, The centre supported NEP
A class-based system of rationing- labour force and army got most, middle class got least.
Peasants unable to make profit so stopped working hard - industrial cities starved of food --> villages burned and populations killed as warning to comply with bolshevik demands , attacks on kulaks in the countryside
Political crisis- loss of support from Kronstadt sailors, peasants
Shops, cafes, restaurants reopened
Mass poverty- shortages of fuel, food
Economic growth and stability
Stalin's Economic policy (industrial and agriculture)
Industry
5 Year Plans (formulated by Gosplan - organisation responsible for economic planning the society union)
Sucesses ✅
Heavy industry increase - coal, steel, oil, electricity all increase massively
Transport growth - First Moscow metro lines 1935
Military - 1940, 1/3 of government spending on military
In 2nd and 3rd 5YPs, productivity rose between 25 and 50% after propaganda campaigns and higher wages for those who worked harder, stakhanovites were those who worked harder and awarded the title and higher wage
1940- USSR worlds second largest industrial power after USA
1500 new factories built
Failures ❌
Quality of products often low (bus quantity rewarded over quality)
Productivity, though improved, still lagged behind other industrialised nations
Very inneficent and wasteful of products as gosplan did not plan how to use materials produced
Industrial managers lied about production levels to avoid punishment --> economic planning harder
Scare consumer goods due to no investment into light industry --> shortages in clothes, shoes
Waste - gosplan did not plan what to do with materials, bad transport for transporting materials, little communication between factories
Stalins Terror killed off many of the experts in Gosplan so there was not enough knowledge for planning
Living conditions for work force was very poor (Industrial towns (Magnitogrorsk) of 1st 5YP were bad condition in tents)
Worker treatment poor- low pay, long hours work often done through slave labour from gulags (eg. Belomor Canal)
Aims
Ideology- abolish capitalist market, lay foundation for socialism
Economic - improve on NEP for moe industrialisation
Military - Industrilaise to prepare for war with capitalist nations
Political - abolish capitalism
BUILD UP HEAVY INDUSTRY
Agriculture
Collectivisation
What was it
Sate owned all farms - Farms called
Equipment from richer peasants taken and given to poorer peasants
Small farms forcibly merged into large farms (20-150 families)
Government executed Kulaks - stalin claimed they were leaders of counter attacks. Kulaks divided into 3 categories: counter-revolutionaries --> shot or sent to forced labour
camps; active opponents of collectivisation --> deported; :others were expelled from farms and settled on poor land.
Grain requisitioning - Red army and Cheka would seize red grain from peasants and use it to feed workers and sell overseas
25,000ers went to countryside backed by military to force peasants to sign a register to be collectivised
Consequences
Falling production - peasants killed around 100 million of their animals in retaliation, grain production decreased massively due to farmers having no incentives as no profit , execution of kulaks who are often most knowledgable farmers
Famine - Ukraine resisted collectivisation and so punished by Stalin by seizing their grain and livestock - 7 million dead - denied by Stalin
Modernisation - more tractors
Grain rrequestioning - much more grain taken from peasants (10 million tons --> 22 million tons) and much more exported and sold to other countries
Farms were less productive than large private farms had been under NEP
Denoucing of other peasants as kulaks
Aims
Make farming more communist by removing private capitalist ownership of farms
Allowed for more wealth to be taken from farms by the government
Wanted to increase agriculture due to food shortages because of NEP in cities - felt collectivisation would lead to increased production and therefore more efficient economy
Allowd stalin to win support from the left of communist party
Economic Policy of Lenin and Stalin