By 1922, the results of the NEP were better than anybody expected the grain harvest and pig iron production levels regained or surpassed their pre 1914 levels. In some areas the ravages of famine remained but on the whole agriculture began to meet the needs of the people and then the industries began to produce the goods required by an expanding market. These high levels that were found in agriculture shows success of the NEP and that Lenin had attempted to solve the problem of such riots as the Kronstadt revolt in order to keep the peasants happy. With Grain harvest going from 37.6 million tons in 1921 to 72.5 million tons in 1925 would have proven the peasants to be happier as under the key features of the NEP the peasants were allowed to sell the surplus that they gained. This would have created a better life style for the peasants than they were used to. Other things such as the Cheka were abolished for being unpopular and were replaced by the GPU (state political administration). Policies such as Bukharin’s order to ‘enrich yourselves’ were taken up enthusiastically. The peasants were give tenure of their land and were allowed to hire labour and rent land. The land under cultivation increased by 50% and between 1921 and 1927 the numbers of livestock also increased. These examples of Lenin’s attempted to keep the peasants happier so that they will be more willing to support the
1. The rise and fall of the Soviet Union.
Party do that the party can remain in control. .
This was a success, as the peasants did seem to be more pleased with the party.
One of the NEP’s objectives was to make Russia more industrialised in order to move on to the final stage, which is a true communist state. Taking into consideration that the NEP was working from a very low base this can be seen as a success as widespread electrification was introduced, transport and communication also slowly improved as it was helped by the importation of over 1000 new engines from Germany and Sweden. This new equipment showed that Lenin was prepared for heavy industrialisation. Russia had become more industrialised as Steel increased from 183 thousand tons in 1921 to 3,141 thousand tons in 1926 this is an increase of 2,958 thousand tons. This shows that an attempt at industrialisation was a success.
Through the NEP allowing the introduction of money being allowed this encouraged production levels to increase. This shows that Lenin stabilised the economy by giving the peasants purchasing power. This shows that the NEP achieved one of its objectives by attempting to solve the problem that money was devalued.
Lenin wanted to prove to the other members of the party that might have had doubts that they were still holding onto socialist principles and were not abandoning the Marxist ideology. This was achieved by 1923 well over 85% of firms were in private hands with the remainder being in the hands of the government but the government employed over 80% of the workers. The state also tightened control over banking, credit facilities, transport, foreign trade, a lot of large scale domestic enterprises and large scale heavy industries. This displays that the communist party still had control over the people.
Although this showed that Lenin was sticking to communist ideas the introduction of the NEP further generated ideals that were against the very ethos of communism such as greed, self-interest, independence and exploitation. With official sanction thousands of little traders, which were to be called the nepmen, began to organise and develop an internal market. This made the people dependant on the black market. As a consequence of this and the fact that the peasants were able to sell their surplus created another class of richer peasants that were the kulaks. This goes against communist ideas and also shows a failure of one of the objectives of the NEP that the peasants would move to the proletarian class because a new class of peasants emerged this was prevented through them oppressing the lower peasants. These new classes would have been seen as an obstacle for Lenin in the long run.
The NEP seemed to have many short answers to the problems as it temporarily solved the problem of feeding the masses but the question of free operation of the market system in agriculture wasn’t sound to some of the other members of the party.
The new freedoms applied more to the workers in agriculture rather than those in industry with the proletariat still being seen as the leaders on the road to the classless society. However, divisions appeared as the use of bourgeois specialists, technicians and the use of wage differentials undermined any idea of proletarian unity. This goes against the idea of preparing them for the revolution and can be seen as a failure of the NEP.
Another example of failure for unity is the lack of symchka this failure can be seen through what is called the ‘ scissors crisis’. This was a widening gap between agricultural and industrial prices. As agricultural production increased in the early 1920’s there was a fall in the price offered for the goods. Conversely the prices for industrial goods increased as the shortages caused by inefficient production and the disruption of the civil war. This meant that the peasants had to pay more for manufactured goods but yet they were on a lower income. This would have created a wide gap in the economic field especially. Many also feared that this would mean that the peasants would lose support for the party.
The NEP didn’t solve the economic problems facing Russia, as there was a reliance on small-scale farming most of which were uneconomic units. They simply couldn’t produce the levels required for the transition to the desired communist state. This displays that the NEP failed to be able to be a path to the desired communist state as it created to many obstacles.
In conclusion the NEP did improve the lives of some people especially after the effects of war communism. If they didn’t so something in 1921 a revolution against them could have occurred and they would have lost power and the NEP prevented this. In the Marxist idea it includes a capitalist state and the only way to achieve this was through gaining capital through NEP. This could be seen that the NEP was vital for survival. However, the NEP in the long run created more problems the majority lying in the heart of the Marxist ideology. Although the NEP achieved some of its objectives such as stabilising Russia it created more obstacles that went against the party ideas.
