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The policy of War Communism of 1918-1921 is the internal policy of the Soviet state, which was carried out during the Civil War.
Prerequisites and reasons for the introduction of the policy of war communism
With the victory of the October Revolution, the new government began the most daring transformations in the country. However, the outbreak of the Civil War, as well as the extreme depletion of material resources, led to the fact that the government faced the problem of finding solutions to its salvation. The paths were extremely tough and unpopular and were called the "policy of war communism."
Some elements of this system were borrowed by the Bolsheviks from the policy of the government of A. Kerensky. Also, requisitions took place, and practically a ban was introduced on the private trade in bread, nevertheless, the state kept under control its accounting and procurement at persistently low prices.
In the countryside, the seizure of the landowners' lands was in full swing, which the peasants themselves divided among themselves, according to the eaters. This process was complicated by the fact that embittered former peasants returned to the village, but in military greatcoats and with weapons. Food supplies to the cities have practically ceased. The peasant war began.
Characteristic features of war communism
Centralized management of the entire economy.
The practical completion of the nationalization of the entire industry.
Agricultural products completely fell into the state monopoly.
Minimizing private trade.
Restriction of commodity and money turnover.
Equalization in all areas, especially in the area of essential goods.
Closure of private banks and confiscation of deposits.
Industry nationalization
The first nationalizations began under the Provisional Government. It was in June-July 1917 that the "flight of capital" from Russia began. Among the first to leave the country were foreign entrepreneurs, followed by domestic industrialists.
The situation worsened with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, but here a new question arose of how to deal with enterprises that were left without owners and managers.
The firstborn of nationalization was the factory of the Likinskaya manufactory partnership of A.V. Smirnov. Then this process could not be stopped. Enterprises were nationalized almost daily, and by November 1918 there were already 9,542 enterprises in the hands of the Soviet state. By the end of the War Communist period, nationalization was generally completed. At the head of this whole process was the Supreme Council of the National Economy.
Monopolization of foreign trade
The same policy was pursued with regard to foreign trade. It was taken under the control of the People's Commissariat of Trade and Industry and later declared a state monopoly. In parallel, the merchant fleet was also nationalized.
Labor service
The slogan "who does not work, he does not eat" was actively implemented. For all "non-working classes", labor service was introduced, and a little later, compulsory labor service was extended to all citizens of the Land of Soviets. On January 29, 1920, this postulate was even legalized in the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the procedure for universal labor service."
Food dictatorship
Vital important issue became a food problem. The famine engulfed almost the entire country and forced the authorities to continue the grain monopoly introduced by the Provisional Government and the food appropriation system introduced by the tsarist government.
Per capita consumption norms for peasants were introduced, and they corresponded to the norms that existed under the Provisional Government. All the remaining bread passed into the hands of the government at fixed prices. The task was very difficult, and food detachments with special powers were created to carry it out.
On the other hand, food rations were adopted and approved, which were divided into four categories, and measures were envisaged for the accounting and distribution of food.
Results of the policy of war communism
A tough policy helped the Soviet government turn the general situation in its favor and win on the fronts of the Civil War.
But on the whole, such a policy could not be effective in the long term. She helped the Bolsheviks to hold out, but destroyed production ties and aggravated the government's relations with the broad masses of the population. The economy not only did not rebuild, but began to fall apart even faster.
The negative manifestations of the policy of war communism led to the fact that the Soviet government began to look for new ways of developing the country. It was replaced by the New Economic Policy (NEP).
The economic strategy of the Bolsheviks who came to power was developed by V. I. Lenin in the summer of 1917. This strategy was based on the theoretical provisions on the model of socialism developed by K. Marx and F. Engels.
In theory, the new society should have a commodity-free and moneyless mechanism. But at the first stage of building a new society, it was still assumed that commodity-money relations, and material base these processes were intended to be the nationalization of all banks and syndicates. According to the Bolsheviks' plan, nationalization was not supposed to destroy economic capitalist ties, but, on the contrary, to unite them on a national scale, become a form of capital functioning and the period of transition to socialism, and lead society to self-government.
First of all, the Russian State Bank passed into the hands of the new government, although this was not nationalization, since it was a state bank before. Then joint-stock and private banks were nationalized. A banking monopoly was established in the country.
According to the Decree on Land, the land was nationalized, i.e. abolished private ownership of land. It was divided among the peasants according to the communal principle of equalizing land use - equally, that is, according to the labor rate - according to the number of workers in the family or according to the consumption rate - according to the number of eaters in the family.
Industry was nationalized. At first, individual enterprises that were of particular importance for the state were transferred to the disposal of the Soviet government - first of all, large military-purpose plants, then all the others. In practice, the idea of nationalization turned into confiscation, which had a negative effect on the work of industry, since economic ties were often disrupted, management throughout the country became difficult, and a crisis was growing.
Transport was nationalized - railways, sea and river fleets.
Along with nationalization in 1918, a state monopoly was established on trade in the most important consumer goods and a centralized distribution of consumer goods was established.
In April 1918, the nationalization of foreign trade was announced. Now only the state could deal with foreign trade. Although during this period the young, unrecognized Soviet state was in economic isolation, and the decree on the nationalization of foreign trade was only of fundamental importance for the future.
As a result of the revolution and war, a very difficult situation has developed in the country. The Urals, Siberia, Ukraine, the Caucasus were cut off. These areas provided 85% of iron ore, 90% of coal mined in the country, almost all oil, 70% of steel, cotton. Fuel and raw materials were not supplied to the central part of the country. Industrial production fell catastrophically. Transport was in a very difficult situation. Railways were destroyed, locomotives were out of order.
Devastation began. Under these conditions, the economic regulators of economic life - money, market, profit, material interest - ceased to operate. They had to be replaced by coercion and administrative measures. In the spring of 1918, famine broke out in the cities of northern Russia. The population of the cities began to go to the villages. Food did not reach the cities. Money depreciated, and there were almost no industrial goods to be exchanged for peasant products and grain.
Trade turnover between town and country has been disrupted. Now Agriculture not only did it not produce marketable products, it itself began to consume its entire product. It became possible to obtain food for the city only through compulsion.
In 1919, a surplus appropriation system was introduced in the countryside: the peasants were obliged to surrender all foodstuffs, with the exception of the minimum necessary for life, first at a fixed state price, that is, for a nominal payment, and then completely free of charge.
Private food trade was banned as it was considered important part of bourgeois economy, so all marketable products had to be handed over to the state free of charge.
Trade in manufactured goods was also prohibited.
In industry, centralization of management was established - all enterprises were subordinate to their central branch bodies (chapters). Everything economic relations stopped. All businesses in administratively received from the state everything necessary for production and also handed over the produced products free of charge. Cash settlements were not carried out; profitability and production costs were now irrelevant.
The collected food went into the disposal of the People's Commissariat for Food and was distributed in the cities by cards.
With the outbreak of the civil war in the summer of 1918 and foreign intervention, the country was declared a single military camp, and a military regime was established. The goal of the military regime is to concentrate all available resources in the hands of the state and to save the remnants of economic ties.
The period of "war communism" has come. Compulsory universal labor service was proclaimed. Labor was now viewed not as a commodity to be sold, but as a form of service to the state. Wages were abolished and declared a bourgeois relic. Evasion of labor service was considered desertion and was punishable by wartime laws. This was a forced policy due to devastation, hunger and the need to mobilize all the country's resources to win the outbreak of civil war.
In this situation, the idea of the immediate construction of commodity-free socialism was ripening by replacing trade with a planned distribution of products organized on a national scale. In 1920, "military-communist" measures were purposefully carried out, the Council of People's Commissars created Decrees: "On Free Leave to the Population of Food Products" (December 4), "On Free Leave to the Population of Consumer Goods" (December 17), "On the Abolition of Payment for I (some kind of fuel "(December 23). Projects were proposed to abolish money, and instead of money - the use of accounting labor and energy units -" threads "and" eneds. "However, the crisis state of the economy indicated the ineffectiveness of the measures taken.
The civil war, which engulfed the entire country, demanded huge expenses from the state. But the usual sources of government revenue were no longer there. Taxes have been abolished, duties were not collected in conditions of economic isolation of the state. There could be no foreign loans now. To at least partially cover military expenses, the state took "extraordinary" measures:
1. Introduced extraordinary taxes on the bourgeoisie. But this was simply the confiscation of the preserved values from the bourgeoisie by the state - gold, silver, precious stones.
2. Carried out paper money issue, ie, increased the issue of paper money, which were now called "settlement tokens" or "banknotes". The amount of such money has increased 44 times during the years of the civil war! This immediately led to inflation. By 1920, the value of the paper ruble had fallen 13,000 times over the 1913 level. In 1922, 100,000 rubles. banknotes cost 1 pre-war kopeck.
For several years in money circulation a series of paper banknotes of all kinds of issues - up to urban, cooperative, factory and similar bonds - continuously replaced each other. Among them, there were also a few types of metal banknotes. The most famous are Armavir coins in 1, 3 and 5 rubles in 1918, bonds of the Kiev cooperative organization "Reason and Conscience" in 1921, testifying to an attempt to base the value of money on materialized labor, with the inscription "a pood of bread - a ruble of labor." Also known are the bonds of 1922 of the Petrograd saddlery-suitcase factory in 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 50 kopecks and in 1, 3, 5 and 10 rubles, minted from copper, bronze and aluminum. Their bonds were also issued in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The issue of paper money led to the fact that money went out of circulation altogether. In the market, money exchange was replaced by natural exchange: they exchanged goods for goods, no one wanted to sell anything for money. As a result, the banking and credit system became unnecessary and banks were closed.
The consequences of the policy of "war communism" in economic sphere the country was a violation of market relations, the collapse of finance, a reduction in production in industry and agriculture, the revival of handicraft, famine.
V legal sphere there was an increase in speculation and massive embezzlement, a large number of special commissions appeared, divided by special powers, and massive repressions began. In the social sphere, the elimination of estates took place, and a massive exodus of workers to the villages took place.
Thus, the first economic transformations of the Soviet regime were based on a non-market, centralized economy, with the predominant influence of the role of the state. The policy of "war communism" not only did not bring Russia out of economic ruin, but also aggravated it. However, the centralization of governing the country made it possible to mobilize all resources and retain power during the civil war.
The civil war and foreign intervention were a terrible disaster for the peoples of Russia. They led to a further deterioration of the economic situation in the country, the final destruction of trade and trade relations, to complete economic ruin. Material damage amounted to more than 50 billion rubles. gold. There was a reduction industrial production and stop transport system... The dictatorship of the Bolsheviks was established in political life. The formation of a totalitarian system began.
Causes of occurrence... The internal policy of the Soviet state during the civil war was called "the policy of war communism." The term "war communism" was proposed by the famous Bolshevik A.A. Bogdanov back in 1916. In his book "Questions of Socialism" he wrote that during the war the internal life of any country is subject to a special logic of development: most of the able-bodied population leaves the sphere of production, producing nothing, and consumes a lot. The so-called "consumer communism" emerges. At the same time, a significant part of the national budget is spent on military needs. This inevitably requires restrictions on consumption and state control over distribution. War also leads to the collapse of democratic institutions in the country, so we can say that War communism was driven by the needs of wartime.
Another reason for the folding of this policy can be considered Bolshevik Marxist views who came to power in Russia in 1917, Marx and Engels did not elaborate in detail the features of the communist formation. They believed that there would be no place for private property and commodity-money relations in it, but there would be an equalizing principle of distribution. However, it was about the industrially developed countries and about the world socialist revolution as a one-time act. Ignoring the immaturity of the objective prerequisites for the socialist revolution in Russia, a significant part of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution insisted on the immediate implementation of socialist transformations in all spheres of society, including the economy. A trend of "left communists" emerged, the most prominent representative of which was N.I. Bukharin.
Left-wing communists insisted on rejection of any compromises with the world and Russian bourgeoisie, the speedy expropriation of all forms of private property, curtailment of commodity-money relations, the abolition of money, the introduction of the principles of equalizing distribution and socialist orders literally "from today". These views were shared by most of the members of the RSDLP (b), which was clearly manifested in the debate at the VII (Extraordinary) Party Congress (March 1918) on the ratification of the Brest Peace. Until the summer of 1918 V.I. Lenin criticized the views of the left-wing communists, which is especially clearly seen in his work "The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power." He insisted on the need to halt the "Red Guard attack on capital", to organize accounting and control at already nationalized enterprises, to strengthen labor discipline, to fight parasites and idlers, to widely use the principle of material incentives, to use bourgeois specialists, and to allow foreign concessions on certain conditions. When, after the transition to NEP in 1921, V.I. Lenin was asked if he had previously thought about NEP, he answered in the affirmative and referred to "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Power." True, here Lenin defended the erroneous idea of direct product exchange between town and country through the general cooperation of the rural population, which brought his position closer to that of the "left communists". It can be said that in the spring of 1918 the Bolsheviks chose between the policy of attacking the bourgeois elements, of which the "Left Communists" were supporters, and the policy of gradual entry into socialism, which Lenin proposed. The fate of this choice was ultimately decided by the spontaneous development of the revolutionary process in the countryside, the beginning of the intervention and the mistakes of the Bolsheviks in agrarian policy in the spring of 1918.
The policy of "war communism" was largely due to the hopes for the earliest possible implementation of the world revolution. The leaders of Bolshevism viewed the October Revolution as the beginning of a world revolution and expected the arrival of the latter from day to day. In the first months after October in Soviet Russia, if they were punished for an insignificant offense (petty theft, hooliganism), they wrote “imprisoned until the victory of the world revolution,” therefore there was a conviction that compromises with the bourgeois counter-revolution were inadmissible, and that the country would turn into a single military camp, about the militarization of all inner life.
The essence of politics... The policy of "war communism" included a set of measures that affected the economic and socio-political sphere. The basis of "war communism" was extraordinary measures in supplying cities and the army with food, the curtailment of commodity-money relations, the nationalization of the entire industry, including small, food appropriation, supplying the population with food and industrial goods on ration cards, universal labor service and maximum centralization of management of the national economy and the country. generally.
Chronologically, "war communism" falls on the period of the civil war, however individual elements politicians began to emerge at the end
1917 - early 1918 This applies primarily nationalization of industry, banks and transport."Red Guard attack on capital",
which began after the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the introduction of workers' control (November 14, 1917), was temporarily suspended in the spring of 1918. In June 1918, its pace accelerated and in state property all large and medium-sized enterprises are being transferred. In November 1920, the confiscation of small businesses took place. So it happened destruction of private property... A characteristic feature of "War Communism" is extreme centralization of national economy management... At first, the management system was built on the principles of collegiality and self-government, but over time, the inconsistency of these principles becomes obvious. The factory committees lacked the competence and experience to manage. The leaders of Bolshevism realized that they had previously exaggerated the degree of revolutionary consciousness of the working class, which was not ready to rule. The focus is on public administration economic life... On December 2, 1917, the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) was created. Its first chairman was N. Osinsky (V.A.Obolensky). The tasks of the Supreme Council of the National Economy included the nationalization of large-scale industry, the management of transport, finance, the establishment of commodity exchange, etc. By the summer of 1918, local (provincial, district) economic councils, subordinate to the Supreme Council of the National Economy, emerged. The Council of People's Commissars, and then the Council of Defense, determined the main directions of the work of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, its central administrations and centers, with each representing a kind of state monopoly in the corresponding branch of production. By the summer of 1920, almost 50 central administrations had been created to manage large nationalized enterprises. The name of the glavkov speaks for itself: Glavmetall, Glavtextil, Glavsakhar, Glavtorf, Glavkrakhmal, Glavryba, Tsentrokhladobinya, etc.
The centralized management system dictated the need for a commanding style of leadership. One of the features of the policy of "War Communism" was system of emergency authorities, whose task was to subordinate the entire economy to the needs of the front. The Defense Council appointed its own commissioners with extraordinary powers. So, A.I. Rykov was appointed an extraordinary representative of the Defense Council for the supply of the Red Army (Chusosnabarm). He was endowed with the rights to use any apparatus, removal and arrest officials, reorganization and reassignment of institutions, confiscation and requisition of goods from warehouses and from the population under the pretext of "military haste". All defense factories were transferred to Chusosnabarm. To manage them, the Industrial Military Council was formed, the decisions of which were also mandatory for all enterprises.
One of the main features of the policy of "War Communism" is curtailment of commodity-money relations... This was manifested primarily in the introduction of unequal exchange in kind between town and country... Under conditions of galloping inflation, the peasants did not want to sell grain for depreciated money. In February - March 1918, the consuming regions of the country received only 12.3% of the planned amount of bread. The ration of bread rationed in industrial centers has been reduced to 50-100 grams. in a day. Under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace, Russia lost areas rich in bread, which aggravated
food crisis. Hunger was approaching. It should also be remembered that the attitude of the Bolsheviks towards the peasantry was twofold. On the one hand, he was viewed as an ally of the proletariat, and on the other (especially the middle peasants and kulaks) - as a support for the counter-revolution. They looked at the peasant, even a low-powered middle peasant, with suspicion.
Under these conditions, the Bolsheviks set a course for establishment of a grain monopoly... In May 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted decrees "On granting the People's Commissariat of Food with extraordinary powers to fight the village bourgeoisie, hiding and speculating grain reserves" and "On the reorganization of the People's Commissariat of Food and local food bodies." In the conditions of the impending famine, the People's Commissariat of Education was granted emergency powers, a food dictatorship was established in the country: a monopoly on the grain trade and fixed prices were introduced. After the adoption of the decree on the grain monopoly (May 13, 1918), trade was actually banned. To withdraw food from the peasantry, they began to form food squads... The food detachments acted according to the principle formulated by the People's Commissar of Food Tsuryupa “if it is impossible
if you take bread from the rural bourgeoisie by ordinary means, you must take it by force. " To help them, on the basis of the Central Committee decrees of June 11, 1918, committees of the poor(kombeds )
... These measures Soviet power forced the peasantry to take up arms. According to the prominent agrarian N. Kondratyev, "the village, flooded with soldiers returning after the spontaneous demobilization of the army, responded to armed violence with armed resistance and a whole series of uprisings." However, neither the food dictatorship nor the kombedi could solve the food problem. Attempts to prohibit market relations between the city and the countryside and the forcible confiscation of grain from the peasants only led to a wide illegal trade in grain at high prices. The urban population received no more than 40% of the bread consumed by cards, and 60% through illegal trade. Having failed in the struggle against the peasantry, in the fall of 1918 the Bolsheviks were forced to somewhat weaken the food dictatorship. By a series of decrees adopted in the fall of 1918, the government tried to ease the taxation of the peasantry, in particular, the "extraordinary revolutionary tax" was abolished. According to the decisions of the VI All-Russian Congress of Soviets in November 1918, the kombeds were merged with the Soviets, however, this did not change much, since by this time the Soviets in the countryside consisted mainly of the poor. Thus, one of the main demands of the peasants was realized - to put an end to the policy of splitting the countryside.
On January 11, 1919, in order to streamline the exchange between town and country, a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee introduced surplus appropriation. It was prescribed to withdraw the surplus from the peasants, which were initially determined by "the needs of the peasant family, limited by the established norm." However, the surplus soon began to be determined by the needs of the state and the army. The state announced in advance the figures of its needs for bread, and then they were divided by provinces, counties and volosts. In 1920, in the instructions sent down to the places from above, it was explained that "the allotment given to the volost is already in itself a definition of surplus." And although the peasants were left with only a minimum of grain for the surplus, nevertheless, the initial assignment of supplies brought certainty, and the peasants considered the surplus appropriation as a blessing in comparison with the food detachments.
The collapse of commodity-money relations was also facilitated by prohibition in the fall of 1918 in most of the provinces of Russia wholesale and private trade... However, the Bolsheviks still did not succeed in destroying the market to the end. And although they were supposed to destroy money, the latter were still in use. The single monetary system has disintegrated. Only in Central Russia, 21 banknotes were in circulation, money was printed in many regions. In 1919, the ruble fell 3136 times. Under these conditions, the state was forced to switch to natural wages.
The current economic system did not stimulate productive work, the productivity of which was steadily declining. The output per worker in 1920 was less than one third of the pre-war level. In the fall of 1919, the earnings of a highly skilled worker exceeded the earnings of a general laborer by only 9%. Material incentives to work disappeared, and with them the very desire to work disappeared. In many enterprises, absenteeism accounted for up to 50% of working days. Mainly administrative measures were taken to strengthen discipline. Forced labor grew out of egalitarianism, lack of economic incentives, poor living conditions for workers, and a catastrophic shortage of workers. The hopes for the class consciousness of the proletariat were not justified either. In the spring of 1918 V.I. Lenin writes that “the revolution ... requires unquestioning obedience the masses united will leaders labor process". The method of the policy of "war communism" is becoming militarization of labor... Initially, it covered the workers and employees of the defense industries, but by the end of 1919, all branches of industry and railway transport were transferred to martial law. On November 14, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the "Regulations on Workers 'Disciplinary Comrades' Courts." It provided for such punishments as sending persistent violators of discipline to serious public Works, and in the case of "stubborn unwillingness to submit to comradely discipline" subject "as a non-labor element to dismissal from enterprises with transfer to a concentration camp."
In the spring of 1920, it was believed that the civil war had already ended (in fact, it was only a peaceful respite). At this time, the IX Congress of the RCP (b) wrote in its resolution on the transition to a militarized system of the economy, the essence of which “should be in all possible approach of the army to production process, so that the living human power of certain economic regions is at the same time the living human power of certain military units". In December 1920, the VIII Congress of Soviets declared the maintenance of a peasant economy a state obligation.
Under the conditions of "war communism" there was general labor service for persons from 16 to 50 years old. On January 15, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the first revolutionary army of labor, which legalized the use of army units in household work. On January 20, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree on the procedure for carrying out labor service, according to which the population, regardless of permanent work, was involved in performing labor service (fuel, road, horse-drawn, etc.). Redistribution was widely practiced work force, carrying out labor mobilizations. Introduced work books... A special committee headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky. Those who evaded socially useful work were severely punished and deprived of food ration cards. On November 14, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the aforementioned "Regulations on Workers' Disciplinary Comrades Courts."
The system of military-communist measures included the abolition of payments for city and rail transport, for fuel, fodder, food, consumer goods, medical services, housing, etc. (December 1920). Approved class-equalizing principle of distribution... From June 1918, card supply was introduced in 4 categories. In the first category, workers of defense enterprises engaged in heavy physical labor and transport workers were supplied. In the second category - the rest of the workers, office workers, domestic workers, paramedics, teachers, handicraftsmen, hairdressers, cabbies, tailors and the disabled. In the third category, directors, managers and engineers were supplied industrial enterprises, most of the intelligentsia and clergymen, and a fourth - persons using hired labor and those who live off incomes on capital, as well as shopkeepers and traders at the stall. Pregnant and lactating women belonged to the first category. Children under three years old received an additional milk card, and up to 12 years old - products in the second category. In 1918 in Petrograd the monthly ration in the first category was 25 pounds of bread (1 pound = 409 grams), 0.5 lbs. sugar, 0.5 lb. salt, 4 lb. meat or fish, 0.5 lb. vegetable oil, 0.25 lb. coffee surrogates. The norms for the fourth category were three times lower for almost all products than for the first. But even these products were distributed very irregularly. In Moscow in 1919, a worker received rations with a caloric value of 336 kcal on ration cards, while the daily physiological norm was 3600 kcal. The workers of the provincial towns received food below the physiological minimum (in the spring of 1919 - 52%, in July - 67%, in December - 27%). According to A. Kollontai, a hungry ration aroused in workers, especially women, feelings of despair and hopelessness. In January 1919, there were 33 types of cards in Petrograd (bread, dairy, shoe, tobacco, etc.).
"War communism" was viewed by the Bolsheviks not only as a policy aimed at the survival of Soviet power, but also as the beginning of the construction of socialism. Proceeding from the fact that every revolution is violence, they widely used revolutionary coercion... A popular 1918 poster read: "We will drive humanity to happiness with an iron hand!" Revolutionary coercion was used especially widely against the peasants. After the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the Decree of February 14, 1919 "On socialist land management and measures for the transition to socialist agriculture" creation of communes and artels... In a number of places, the authorities adopted resolutions on the obligatory transition in the spring of 1919 to collective cultivation of the land. But it soon became clear that the peasantry would not go to socialist experiments, and attempts to impose collective forms of farming would finally alienate the peasants from Soviet power, therefore, at the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1919, the delegates voted for an alliance of the state with the middle peasant.
The contradictory nature of the peasant policy of the Bolsheviks can also be observed in their attitude to cooperation. In an effort to impose socialist production and distribution, they eliminated such a collective form of self-activity of the population in the economic field as cooperation. The decree of the Council of People's Commissars of March 16, 1919 "On consumer communes" put the cooperatives in the position of an appendage of state power. All local consumer societies were forcibly merged into cooperatives - “consumer communes”, which were united into provincial unions, and they, in turn, into Tsentrosoyuz. The state has entrusted the consumer communes with the distribution of food and consumer goods in the country. Cooperation as an independent organization of the population ceased to exist. The name "consumer communes" aroused hostility among the peasants, as they identified them with the total socialization of property, including personal property.
During the years of the civil war, the political system of the Soviet state underwent serious changes. The RCP (b) becomes its central link. By the end of 1920, the RCP (b) numbered about 700 thousand people, half of them were at the front.
The role of the apparatus practicing military methods of work has grown in party life. Instead of elective collectives in the localities, operative bodies, narrow in composition, most often acted. Democratic centralism - the basis of party building - was replaced by an appointment system. The norms of collective leadership in party life were replaced by authoritarianism.
The War Communism years were the time of establishment the political dictatorship of the Bolsheviks... Although representatives of other socialist parties took part in the activities of the Soviets after the temporary ban, nevertheless the communists constituted the overwhelming majority in all government institutions, at congresses of Soviets and in executive bodies. The process of merging party and government agencies... Provincial and district party committees often determined the composition of the executive committees and issued orders for them.
The order that developed within the party, the communists, welded together by strict discipline, willingly or unwillingly transferred to the organizations where they worked. Under the influence of the civil war, a military-command dictatorship took shape in the country, which entailed the concentration of management not in elected bodies, but in executive institutions, strengthening one-man command, the formation of a bureaucratic hierarchy with a huge number of employees, a decrease in the role of the masses in state building and their removal from power.
Bureaucracy for a long time becomes a chronic disease of the Soviet state. Its reasons were the low cultural level of the bulk of the population. The new state inherited a lot from the previous state apparatus. The old bureaucracy soon got positions in the Soviet state apparatus, because it was impossible to do without people who knew managerial work. Lenin believed that bureaucracy could be dealt with only when the entire population (“every cook”) took part in governing the state. But later it became obvious that these views were utopian.
State building was greatly influenced by the war. The concentration of forces, so necessary for military success, demanded a rigid centralization of command. The ruling party placed its main stake not on the initiative and self-government of the masses, but on the state and party apparatus capable of implementing by force the policy necessary to defeat the enemies of the revolution. Gradually, the executive bodies (apparatus) completely subordinated the representative bodies (Soviets). The reason for the swelling of the Soviet state apparatus was the total nationalization of industry. The state, having become the owner of the main means of production, was forced to ensure the management of hundreds of factories and plants, to create huge administrative structures engaged in economic and distribution activities in the center and in the regions, and the role central authorities increased. Management was built "from top to bottom" on rigid directive-order principles, which limited the initiative on the ground.
The state sought to establish total control not only over the behavior, but also over the thoughts of its subjects, into whose heads the elementary and primitive basics of communism were implanted. Marxism is becoming a state ideology. The task was set to create a special proletarian culture. Denied cultural values and past achievements. There was a search for new images and ideals. A revolutionary avant-garde was formed in literature and art. Special attention was paid to mass propaganda and agitation media. Art has become completely politicized. Revolutionary perseverance and fanaticism, selfless courage, sacrifice for the sake of a brighter future, class hatred and ruthlessness towards enemies were preached. Supervised this work People's Commissariat Education (People's Commissariat for Education), headed by A.V. Lunacharsky. Actively launched Proletcult- the union of proletarian cultural and educational societies. The proletkultists especially actively called for the revolutionary overthrow of old forms in art, a stormy onslaught of new ideas, and the primitivization of culture. Such prominent Bolsheviks as A.A. Bogdanov, V.F. Pletnev and others. In 1919, more than 400 thousand people took part in the proletkult movement. The dissemination of their ideas inevitably led to the loss of traditions and the lack of spirituality of society, which was unsafe for the authorities in a war. The leftist actions of the proletkultists forced the People's Commissariat of Education to curb them from time to time, and in the early 1920s to completely dissolve these organizations.
The consequences of "War Communism" cannot be separated from the consequences of the civil war. At the cost of tremendous efforts, the Bolsheviks managed to turn the republic into a "military camp" and win by means of agitation, rigid centralization, coercion and terror. But the policy of "war communism" did not and could not lead to socialism. By the end of the war, the inadmissibility of running ahead became obvious, the danger of forcing socio-economic transformations and the escalation of violence. Instead of creating a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a dictatorship of one party arose in the country, for the maintenance of which revolutionary terror and violence were widely used.
The national economy was paralyzed by the crisis. In 1919, due to the lack of cotton, the textile industry almost completely stopped. She gave only 4.7% of the pre-war production. The linen industry provided only 29% of the pre-war level.
Heavy industry was falling apart. In 1919, all the blast furnaces of the country went out. Soviet Russia did not produce metal, but lived on reserves inherited from the tsarist regime. At the beginning of 1920, 15 blast furnaces were launched, and they produced about 3% of the metal smelted in tsarist Russia on the eve of the war. The catastrophe in metallurgy affected the metalworking industry: hundreds of enterprises were closed, and those that worked periodically stood idle due to difficulties with raw materials and fuel. Cut off from the Donbass mines and Baku oil, Soviet Russia was starving for fuel. Firewood and peat became the main types of fuel.
Industry and transport lacked not only raw materials and fuel, but also workers. By the end of the Civil War, less than 50% of the proletariat in 1913 was employed in industry. The composition of the working class changed significantly. Now its backbone was not cadre workers, but immigrants from the non-proletarian strata of the urban population, as well as peasants mobilized from the villages.
Life forced the Bolsheviks to reconsider the foundations of "war communism", therefore, at the X Congress of the Party, the military-communist methods of management, based on coercion, were declared obsolete.
The internal policy of the Soviet government in the summer of 1918 at the beginning of 1921 was called "war communism". The prerequisites for its implementation were laid down by the widespread nationalization of industry and the creation of a powerful centralized state apparatus (VSNKh), the introduction of a food dictatorship and the experience of military-political pressure on the countryside (food detachments, military commanders). Thus, the features of the policy of "war communism" were traced back in the first economic and social measures of the Soviet government.
On the one hand, the policy of "war communism" was prompted by the idea of part of the leadership of the RCP (b) about the possibility of quickly building a market-free socialism. On the other hand, it was a forced policy due to the extreme devastation in the country, the disruption of traditional economic ties between town and country, as well as the need to mobilize all resources to win the civil war. Subsequently, many Bolsheviks recognized the fallacy of the policy of "war communism" and tried to justify it by the difficult internal and external position of the young Soviet state in a wartime situation.
The policy of "war communism" included a set of measures that affected the economic and socio-political sphere. The main thing in this was: the nationalization of all means of production, the introduction of centralized management, equalizing distribution of products, forced labor and the political dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party.
The decree of June 28, 1918 prescribed the accelerated nationalization of large and medium-sized enterprises. In subsequent years, it was extended to small ones, which led to the elimination of private property in industry. At the same time, a rigid sectoral management system was formed. In the spring of 1918, the state monopoly of foreign trade was established.
The food appropriation system became a logical continuation of the food dictatorship. The state determined its needs for agricultural products and forced the peasantry to supply them without taking into account the possibilities of the countryside. On January 11, 1919, the food appropriation system was introduced for bread. By 1920, it spread to potatoes, vegetables, etc. For the withdrawn products, peasants were left with receipts and money that lost their value due to inflation. The fixed prices for products were 40 times lower than market prices. The village desperately resisted and therefore the surplus appropriation was carried out by violent methods with the help of food detachments.
The policy of "war communism" led to the destruction of commodity-money relations. The sale of food and industrial goods was limited, they were distributed by the state in the form of natural wages... An equalizing system of wages among workers was introduced. This gave them the illusion of social equality. The failure of this policy was manifested in the formation of a "black market" and the flourishing of speculation.
In the social sphere, the policy of "War Communism" was based on the principle "He who does not work, he does not eat." In 1918, labor service was introduced for representatives of the former exploiting classes, and in 1920, universal labor service. Forced mobilization of labor resources was carried out with the help of labor armies, sent to restore transport, construction works and others. The naturalization of wages led to the free provision of housing, utilities, transport, postal and telegraph services.
During the period of "war communism" in political sphere the undivided dictatorship of the RCP (b) was established. The Bolshevik Party ceased to be a purely political organization, its apparatus gradually merged with government agencies... She determined the political, ideological, economic and cultural situation in the country, even the personal life of citizens.
Activities of others political parties who fought against the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks, their economic and social policies: the Cadets, Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries (first the right, and then the left), was banned. Some prominent public figures emigrated, others were repressed. All attempts to revive the political opposition were violently suppressed. In the Soviets of all levels, the Bolsheviks achieved complete autocracy by re-election or dispersal. The activity of the Soviets acquired a formal character, since they only carried out the instructions of the Bolshevik party organs. The trade unions, placed under the party and state control... They ceased to be protectors of workers' interests. The strike movement was forbidden under the pretext that the proletariat should not oppose its state. The proclaimed freedom of speech and press was not respected. Almost all non-Bolshevik publications were closed. In general, publishing activities were strictly regulated and extremely limited.
The country lived in an atmosphere of class hatred. In February 1918 it was restored the death penalty... Opponents of the Bolshevik regime, who organized armed uprisings, were imprisoned and concentration camps. Attempts on V.I. Lenin and the murder of M.S. Uritsky, chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, was summoned by the decree on the "red terror" (September 1918). The arbitrariness of the Cheka unfolded and local authorities, which, in turn, provoked anti-Soviet protests. The rampant terror was generated by many factors: the aggravation of the confrontation between various social groups; low intellectual level of the bulk of the population, poorly prepared for political life;
the uncompromising position of the Bolshevik leadership, who considered it necessary and possible to retain power at any cost.
The policy of "war communism" not only failed to bring Russia out of economic ruin, but also aggravated it. The disruption of market relations caused the collapse of finance, a reduction in production in industry and agriculture. The population of the cities was starving. However, the centralization of governing the country allowed the Bolsheviks to mobilize all resources and retain power during the civil war.
44. New Economic Policy (NEP)
The essence and goals of NEP. At the X Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1921 V.I. Lenin proposed a new economic policy. It was an anti-crisis program.
The main political goal of NEP is to relieve social tension, to strengthen the social base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants. The economic goal is to prevent further aggravation of the devastation, to get out of the crisis and restore the economy. The social goal is to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society, without waiting for the world revolution. In addition, NEP was aimed at restoring normal foreign policy and foreign economic ties, at overcoming international isolation. The achievement of these goals led to the gradual curtailment of NEP in the second half of the 1920s.
Implementation of NEP... The transition to NEP was legislatively formalized by decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, decisions of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1921. NEP included a set of economic and socio-political measures. They meant a "retreat" from the principles of "war communism" - the revival of private enterprise, the introduction of freedom of internal trade and the satisfaction of some of the demands of the peasantry.
The introduction of NEP began with agriculture by replacing the surplus appropriation system with a food tax.
In production and trade, individuals were allowed to open small and lease medium-sized enterprises. The decree on general nationalization was canceled.
Instead of industry system industrial management was introduced territorial and sectoral. After the reorganization of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, leadership was carried out by its central administrations through the local councils of the national economy (economic councils) and sectoral economic trusts.
In the financial sector, except for a single State bank, private and cooperative banks, insurance companies appeared. In 1922, a monetary reform was carried out: the emission of paper money was reduced and the Soviet chervonets (10 rubles), which was highly valued in the world currency market, was introduced into circulation. This made it possible to strengthen the national currency and put an end to inflation. The stabilization of the financial situation was evidenced by the replacement of the tax in kind for its cash equivalent.
As a result of the new economic policy in 1926, the pre-war level was reached for the main types of industrial products. Light industry developed faster than heavy industry, which required significant investment. The living conditions of the urban and rural population have improved. The abolition of the rationing system for the distribution of food products began. Thus, one of the tasks of NEP, overcoming the devastation, was accomplished.
The NEP brought about some changes in social policy. In 1922 was adopted new Code labor laws, which abolished universal labor service and introduced free recruitment of labor
Imposing Bolshevik ideology in society. The Soviet government struck a blow at the Russian Orthodox Church and brought it under its control.
Strengthening the unity of the party, the defeat of political and ideological opponents made it possible to strengthen the one-party political system. This political system, with minor changes, continued to exist throughout the years of Soviet power.
Outcomes domestic policy early 20s. NEP ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy. However, soon after its introduction, the first successes were replaced by new difficulties. Their occurrence was explained by three reasons: imbalance of industry and agriculture; purposefully class orientation of the internal policy of the government; increasing contradictions between the diversity of social interests of different strata of society and the authoritarianism of the Bolshevik leadership.
The need to ensure the independence and defense of the country required further development economy, primarily heavy industry. The priority of industry over agriculture: the economy resulted in the siphoning of funds from village to city through price and tax policies. Sales prices for manufactured goods were artificially raised, purchasing prices for raw materials and products were underestimated (“scissors” of prices). The difficulty of establishing a normal exchange of goods between town and country also gave rise to the unsatisfactory quality of industrial products. In the mid-1920s, the volume of state procurements of grain and raw materials fell. This reduced the ability to export agricultural products and therefore reduced the foreign exchange earnings needed to purchase industrial equipment abroad.
To overcome the crisis, the government took a number of administrative measures... The centralized management of the economy was strengthened, the independence of enterprises was limited, the prices of manufactured goods were increased, and taxes for private entrepreneurs, traders and kulaks were raised. This meant the beginning of the curtailment of NEP.
Internal party power struggle... The economic and socio-political difficulties that manifested themselves in the first years of the NEP, the desire to build socialism in the absence of experience in realizing this goal gave rise to an ideological crisis. All the fundamental issues of the country's development caused heated internal party discussions.
IN AND. Lenin, the author of the NEP, who assumed in 1921 that this would be a policy "seriously and for a long time," a year later at the 11th Party Congress announced that it was time to stop the "retreat" towards capitalism and it was necessary to move on to building socialism.
45. Formation and essence of the power of the Soviets. Formation of the USSR.
In 1922 a new state was formed - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The unification of individual states was dictated by the need - to strengthen the economic potential and to act as a united front in the fight against the interventionists. Common historical roots, long-term presence of peoples in one state, friendliness of peoples towards each other, commonality and interdependence of economy, politics and culture made such a union possible. There was no consensus on the ways of uniting the republics. So, Lenin advocated federal unification, Stalin - for autonomy, Skripnik (Ukraine) - for federation.
In 1922, at the first All-Union Congress of Soviets, which was attended by delegates from the RSFSR, Belarus, Ukraine and some Transcaucasian republics, the Declaration and Treaty on the formation of the Union were adopted. Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on a federal basis. In 1924 the Constitution of the new state was adopted. Supreme body the authorities announced the All-Union Congress of Lights. In the intervals between congresses, the Central Executive Committee worked, the organ executive power became SNK (Council People's Commissars). Electoral rights lost nepman, clergy and kulaks. After the emergence of the USSR, further expansion proceeded mainly by violent measures or by splitting up the republics. During the Great Patriotic War, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became socialist. Later, the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs were separated from the ZSFSR.
According to the Constitution of 1936, as the highest all-Union legislative body the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was established, which consisted of two equal chambers of the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities. In the period between sessions of the Supreme Council, the highest legislative and executive body became the Presidium.
Thus, the creation of the Soviet Union had contradictory consequences for the peoples. The development of the center and individual republics proceeded unevenly. Most often, the republics could not achieve full-fledged development due to their strict specialization (Central Asia is a supplier of raw materials for light industry, Ukraine is a supplier of food, etc.). Between the republics, not market relations were built, but economic relations prescribed by the government. Russification and cultivation of Russian culture partly continued the imperial policy on the national question. However, in many republics, thanks to joining the Federation, steps were taken to get rid of the feudal; vestiges, increase the level of literacy and culture, improve the development of industry and agriculture, modernize transport, etc. Thus, the pooling of economic resources and the dialogue of cultures, undoubtedly, had positive results for all republics
46. Economic development USSR during the first five-year plans.
At the XV Congress of the CPSU (b) in 1927, it was decided to develop the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1928 / 29-1932 / ЗЗгг.). The growth of industrial production was supposed to increase to 150%, labor productivity - to 110%, to reduce the cost of products by 35%. More than 70% of the budget was to go to the development of industry. The industrialization plan also provided for a change in production in the direction of the development of advanced industries (energy, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, chemical industry) capable of raising the entire industry and agriculture. It was about progress unparalleled in world history.
In the summer of 1929, an appeal was made: "Five-year plan - in 4 years!" Stalin declared that in a number of industries the plan for the first five-year plan would be fulfilled in three years. At the same time, the planned targets were revised towards their increase. The need was put forward to organize and inspire the masses with lofty ideas for practically free piles and the realization of lofty ideals.
1930-1931 became the time of storming the economy using military-communist methods. The sources of industrialization were the unprecedented enthusiasm of the working people, the regime of the most severe austerity, compulsory loans from the population, the emission (release) of money, and the rise in prices. However, the overstrain led to a breakdown of the entire management system, disruptions in production, and mass arrests of specialists and an influx of untrained workers led to an increase in accidents. They tried to stop the slowdown in development with new repressions, searches for spies and saboteurs, and the involvement of prisoners and forced migrants. However, all the successes achieved did not correspond to the plans set, the tasks of the first five-year plan were actually thwarted. In the early 30s. the pace of development fell from 23 to 5%, the metallurgy development program was failed. The percentage of rejects has increased. The intensification of inflation caused a rise in prices and a fall in the value of the chervonets. Social tension in the countryside grew. The failure of the first five-year plan forced the country's leadership to announce its early implementation and make adjustments to planning.
In January-February 1939, the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b) approved the second five-year plan (1933-1937). The main focus was still on the development of heavy industry. The expected indicators have been reduced in comparison with the first plan. The development of light industry was envisaged - its transfer to sources of raw materials. Most of the textile enterprises were located in Central Asia, Siberia, Transcaucasia. Partially revised the policy of equalizing distribution - temporarily introduced piece-rate wages, changed wage rates, introduced bonuses. Serious role in improving the environment national economy the movements of labor enthusiasts and drummers played.
In 1939, the plan for the third five-year plan (1938-1942) was approved. The development of the country's economy in the third five-year plan was characterized by special attention to increasing industrial production, creating large state reserves, and increasing the capacity of the defense industry. Repression, restoration of command-directive methods of management and militarization of labor, the outbreak of the Patriotic War affected the pace of industrialization. However, despite the difficulties and miscalculations in politics, industrialization has become a reality.
During the years of the first five-year plans, advanced industrial technologies were introduced. A number of new industries have emerged in heavy machine building, the production of new machine tools and tools has been established, the automotive industry, factories, tank building, aircraft building, electric power engineering, etc. The chemical and petrochemical industries, metallurgy, energy, and transport have undergone complete technical reconstruction. National income increased 5 times, industrial production - 6 times. The number of the working class, including highly professional cadres, has grown significantly. The level of education has grown. Thanks to industrialization, it was possible to strengthen the country on the eve of the Great Patriotic War.