War Communism was a complete failure. How valid is this statement?

Although War Communism was primarily used as a pragmatic response to the civil war, it was also used to strengthen and consolidate the role and power of Lenin and his Bolshevik party, it also intended to ensure and maintain the newly established Communist regime. The heavily enforced policy was able to eliminate capitalist aspects of Russia, e.g. private property, and implement communist economics instead. War Communism, in this sense, was a fundamental aspect of the Bolsheviks’ revolutionary strategy. The cheka senselessly stamped out any political opposition groups or political resistance that they encountered or rooted out. Arguably, this aim within War Communism wasn’t a failure and was largely successful, as Bolsheviks remained in power, and the communist regime was kept until 1991-2. In spite of the successful maintenance of Bolshevik power, some of the methods used as part of the policy were massively unpopular. This was demonstrated through the Kronstadt uprising that took place in March 1921, the naval soldiers wanted greater freedom. Many took part but the Red Army quickly and brutally put it down, many died. This incident was particularly significant, as the people that resided in the area of Kronstadt previously formed the ‘pride and glory of the Russian revolution’ but were now extremely unhappy with the conditions of War Communism, as well as the communist regime in general. War Communism was a failure in the sense that it was massively unpopular. Many of the Russian population were negatively effected by it; it had brought a national three-year famine and general oppression to the people. Although it must be stressed that War Communism wasn’t a complete failure, it was successful in its aim able to establish government stability.

The forced labour as part of War Communism meant many women had to assume the factory positions typically held by men whilst their husbands were away fighting the white menace, in order to equip the army and provide some kind of financial support for their families. This policy established a sense of equality between men and women, as many women were previously based in the home doing domestic chores because it was the expected role of them, and never before had experienced any other type of labour. Although the policy under War Communism didn’t create absolute equality, it was one of the first steps in creating a more visual sense of equality between the sexes during the 20th century. The growth of work opportunities created by War Communism had increased the feeling of sexual equality but the output of manufactured goods and other factory items fell. Workers were now in control of the factories but were seriously inefficient, general problems in the cities also had a negative effect on the factories’ outputs. The shortage of goods led to soaring price inflation and the value of the rouble collapsed, over half of Petrograd’s workforce had fled from the city by 1919. As a result, there were simply not enough workers to run fully functioning factories. This was a key failure of War Communism; Lenin’s decision to hand over control of factories to the workers proved detrimental to the Russian economy. It wasn’t a complete failure, however, Lenin’s decision and policy of War Communism allowed women to take on different jobs, helping to increase sexual equality.

Overall, War Communism had both successes and failures and therefore cannot be called a complete failure or a complete success. Its failures; however seem more major, such as the 1921-4 famine. Food output decreased dramatically in the three years, and many died as a result. This is not to say that its successes weren’t significant, War Communism’s role in sexual equality triggered further positive changes for the women of Russia. Arguably then, Lenin’s policy wasn’t a complete failure but due to the severity of the problems created by War Communism it can be categorised as a failure that had some successes albeit of small-scale.