How great a change in policy was the shift from “War Communism” to the “New Economic Policy?”

On one hand the shift from war communism to the NEP could be considered a great change. "Prodrasverstka," grain requisitioning, was abandoned, and this was replaced by a tax. This encouraged growth in the economy, where as Prodrasverstka during war communism did not, - peasants would not work hard when there was no profit to be made. So this can be considered a great shift in policy.

Individuals and not a group now paid the tax, (which was in replacement of Prodrasverstka). This is a great change because during war communism whole villages could be punished and held responsible for one person hoarding grain.

Another great shift in policy was the re-introduction of private trade and small businesses. This encouraged growth in economy by allowing people to make profit. In addition to this, banks began loaning money, allowing peasants and kulaks to make and/or spend it, which the war communism policies did not allow them to do.

Spetsy, middle class managers, were brought back into manage factories. During war communism the Bolsheviks had control. This decreased growth in the economy because they were inexperienced in managing and controlling factories, and by allowing Spetsy to take over skilled people were able to get their jobs back and the factories were ran efficiently. This is another good argument for the great shift in policy that the NEP brought in.

Many communists did not like the NEP. They felt that the Revolution was being betrayed and that kulaks were being allowed too much freedom, this shows how some communists considered it too great a change.

However, in some ways the NEP cannot be considered a great change. The "commanding heights". Such as banks, remained under government control. This therefore limited the success and profits to be made by the peasants.

Furthermore there was still no political freedom. All other parties (SR's) and critics within the party were banned. This was known as "factionalism" and if anybody disagreed with views then they could be kicked out the party. Any other parties were not tolerated and dissolved immediately. Papers that were not Bolshevik were banned. This shows a small shift in policy because still no one had there own rights to be able to voice their opinions or objections.

The mail aim of the communist party was to stay in control by "giving the peasants their little bit of capitalism" to try and keep peace and stability, and the NEP allowed them to do this, and so it was not really a great change.

I am able to draw together information regarding the shift in policy from war communism to the NEP. There were great changes such as stopping Prodrasverstka and allowing small businesses and private trade, however the significance of these shifts in policy greatly were reduced because the "commanding heights" were still under government control, so there was limiting success to what the peasants could achieve. There was also no political relaxation. I am therefore able to conclude that although there were some significant changes made, it was not as great as it first appears. There was simply a relaxation of Communist control in some areas of the system, which most Bolsheviks did not approve of and simply saw it as a short-term method to keep in control of Russia, before they had the opportunity to introduce full-blown communism into the society.