The Soviet's
government's policy of War Communism during
the Civil War created social distress
and led to riots, strikes and demonstrations. The Kronstadt
Uprising reinforced the idea that the government was unpopular
and accepted and had made a mistake "of deciding upon an immediate
transition to communist production and distribution."
Vladimir
Lenin came to the conclusion that "only by coming to an agreement
with the peasants can we save the socialist revolution". In March,
1921, Vladimir Lenin announced details
of his New Economic Policy (NEP). Farmers were now allowed to sell
food on the open market and could employ people to work for them.
Those farmers who expanded the size of their farms became known as
kulaks.
The NEP
also allowed some freedom of internal trade, permitted some private
commerce and re-established state banks. Factories employing less
than twenty people were denationalized and could be claimed back by
former owners.
The NEP
did improve the efficiency of food distribution and especially benefited
the peasants. However, many urban workers resented the profits made
by private traders. Joseph Stalin announced
the abolition of the NEP in January, 1929 and replaced it with the
first of his Five Year Plans.
(1)
Victor Serge,
Memoirs of a Revolutionary (1945)
The New Economic Policy was, in the space of a few months,
already giving marvellous results. From one week to the next, the
famine and the speculation were diminishing perceptibly. Restaurants
were opening again and, wonder of wonders, pastries which were actually
edible were on sale as a rouble apiece. The public was beginning to
recover its breath, and people were apt to talk about the return of
capitalism, which was synonymous with prosperity. On the other hand,
the confusion among the party rank-and-file was staggering. For what
did we fight, spill so much blood, agree to so many sacrifices? asked
the Civil war veterans bitterly.
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