War Communism was introduced in 1918. The Bolsheviks were focused on winning the Civil War so the workforce in factories decreased as workers was conscripted into the Red Army. There was a hyperinflation and the rouble became useless. The Bolsheviks only really had control of Petrograd and Moscow. People fled Petrograd and Moscow to escape the Civil War and the food problems. This meant that Petrograd and Moscow’s population decreased by half. War Communism had been introduced to force the peasants to provide more food. The government used force to organise grain from the peasants. The peasants reacted violently so the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and sabotage). The Policy was not a success. The peasants now had no incentive to farm grain so they resorted to subsistence farming. This caused widespread famine and about five million people died. The policy on the whole was a grain failure. Though some Bolshevik members supported the policy, Lenin realised the regime was in danger. Despite Civil War victory, the Bolsheviks own supporters were turning against them as at the Kronstadt uprising. At Tombov the peasants revolted over grain requisitioning. It took about 5,000 red army troops to surpress the revolt. Lenin realised that to stay in power he must stop all the discontent and that the government could not continue the policy on the war communism.
In 1921, the NEP (New Economic Policy) was set up to improve the economy as it is near collapse now. It was an effort to turn around the economy and because war communism was failing. In some aspects the NEP was a success as state requisitioning of grain ended, the market economy was allowed to develop and the peasants would trade freely, some industries were returned to private control and the state bank advanced loans and credit to them, peasants were allowed to trade freely, industry started to produce affordable consumer goods and the rouble was revalued. This helped the money economy to become important again.
Lenin called the NEP a partial and temporary concession to capitalism. Many party members criticised the NEP; the most vocal being Trotsky who claimed the NEP was a dangerous sign for the future of communism in Russia. Although the policy solved a few of the economic problems, it caused a few as well. Industry failed to grow at the same rate of agriculture, there was unemployment in urban areas, manufactured goods remained too expensive for agricultural workers, Nepmen (exploited the poor) were resented as they prospered, the NEP was never fully accepted by all the party members and they didn’t manage to centralise it as they failed to form an integrated economic strategy because the leaders could not agree on things.
The Bolsheviks also used propaganda to try and gain support. It worked in many circumstances but it led people to not believe the Bolsheviks, as they weren’t sure when the Bolsheviks were lying or not.
Lenin created a one party state and banned the constituent assembly. This gained some support for the Bolsheviks as people for forced to vote for them, as they had no one else to vote for. This did cause uprisings, as people wanted freedom.
I think the most important step was the introduction of the NEP as it gave the peasants more freedom and gained him support of the workers ad peasants. It lost him support though in the Bolsheviks as leading members such as Lenin spoke out and opposed him. This was the wake up for Lenin, as he knew that people were prepared to oppose him, even in his own party. I think the NEP was a success as it solved a lot of major problems that needed solving so I think that the problems solved out weighed the problems caused.
