From War Communism to the NEP period
A. War Communism
A1. Causes
a) as a result of the revolutionary changes, peasants and urban workers controlled over their own labour through a system of land and factory committees > ineffective production > acute shortages (at the same time, pay rises were voted by workers themselves)
> inflation > money bacame almost worthless
b) the pressure of civil war
A2. A command economy in practise
- all factories and businesses were nationalised for the demands of war production
- workers lost their freedom and were forced to work excessive hours without wages but a meagre ration of food, some clothing and lodgings as reward
- workers were bound to the cities they lived by internal passports
- private trade was banned and rationing system was introduced on food and consumer
> rationing system favoured the labour force and the Red Army soldiers who were only given adequate food
- ration tokens replaced money as a form of payment
- peasants had to deliver all grain to the state > soldiers supported by the Cheka agents confisticated crops and livestock > peasants reduced their sowings > an acute food shortage > a terrible famine (In 1921)
- the kulaks were seen as 'the enemies of the people' and the seizure of their stocks was encouraged by the local soviet authorities > the more efficient farmers suffered and grain production collapsed
- as a consequence of hyperinflation money lost all value and in many areas a system of barter replaced the use of money; wages and salaries were paid in kind (< this was welcomed by some War Communism supporters as 'the dying out of money and the breakdown of society and its replacement by a communist system'.)
A3. Economic problems and political unrest
TASK 1:
1.1. Read pages 193 - 196/ 236 - 239 and consider, to what extent were the problems that Russia faced at the beginning of the 1920's influenced by the practises of War Communism.
1.2. Source based task about the Kronstadt uprising is attached below (questions below the source text)
> Return binder for TASK 1
B. The New Economic Policy (NEP)
* teacher's power point
TASK 2:
2.1. Study source D on page 197/ 241. How succesful was the NEP?
2.2. Explain the meaning of the Scissors Crisis by your own words.
A1. Causes
a) as a result of the revolutionary changes, peasants and urban workers controlled over their own labour through a system of land and factory committees > ineffective production > acute shortages (at the same time, pay rises were voted by workers themselves)
> inflation > money bacame almost worthless
b) the pressure of civil war
A2. A command economy in practise
- all factories and businesses were nationalised for the demands of war production
- workers lost their freedom and were forced to work excessive hours without wages but a meagre ration of food, some clothing and lodgings as reward
- workers were bound to the cities they lived by internal passports
- private trade was banned and rationing system was introduced on food and consumer
> rationing system favoured the labour force and the Red Army soldiers who were only given adequate food
- ration tokens replaced money as a form of payment
- peasants had to deliver all grain to the state > soldiers supported by the Cheka agents confisticated crops and livestock > peasants reduced their sowings > an acute food shortage > a terrible famine (In 1921)
- the kulaks were seen as 'the enemies of the people' and the seizure of their stocks was encouraged by the local soviet authorities > the more efficient farmers suffered and grain production collapsed
- as a consequence of hyperinflation money lost all value and in many areas a system of barter replaced the use of money; wages and salaries were paid in kind (< this was welcomed by some War Communism supporters as 'the dying out of money and the breakdown of society and its replacement by a communist system'.)
A3. Economic problems and political unrest
TASK 1:
1.1. Read pages 193 - 196/ 236 - 239 and consider, to what extent were the problems that Russia faced at the beginning of the 1920's influenced by the practises of War Communism.
1.2. Source based task about the Kronstadt uprising is attached below (questions below the source text)
> Return binder for TASK 1
B. The New Economic Policy (NEP)
* teacher's power point
TASK 2:
2.1. Study source D on page 197/ 241. How succesful was the NEP?
2.2. Explain the meaning of the Scissors Crisis by your own words.
