Have a good day everyone! In this post we will focus on this important topic, as the policy of war communism - we will briefly analyze its key provisions. This topic is very difficult, but it is constantly tested in exams. Ignorance of concepts and terms related to this topic will inevitably entail a low grade with all the ensuing consequences.
The essence of the policy of war communism
The policy of war communism is a system of socio-economic measures that were implemented by the Soviet leadership and which was based on the key postulates of Marxist-Leninist ideology.
This policy consisted of three components: Red Guard attack for capital, nationalization and confiscation of grain from peasants.
One of these postulates states that it is an inevitable evil for the development of society and the state. It gives rise, firstly, to social inequality, and, secondly, to the exploitation of some classes by others. For example, if you own a lot of land, you will hire hired workers to cultivate it - and this is exploitation.
Another postulate of Marxist-Leninist theory says that money is evil. Money makes people be greedy and selfish. Therefore, money was simply eliminated, trade was prohibited, even simple barter - the exchange of goods for goods.
Red Guard attack on capital and nationalization
Therefore, the first component of the Red Guard's attack on capital was the nationalization of private banks and their subordination to the State Bank. The entire infrastructure was nationalized: communication lines, railways And so on. Worker control was also approved at factories. In addition, the decree on land abolished private ownership of land in the countryside and transferred it to the peasantry.
All foreign trade was monopolized so that citizens could not enrich themselves. Also, the entire river fleet became state property.
The second component of the policy under consideration was nationalization. On June 28, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars issued a Decree on the transfer of all industries into the hands of the state. What did all these measures mean for the owners of banks and factories?
Well, imagine - you are a foreign businessman. You have assets in Russia: a couple of steel production plants. October 1917 comes, and after some time the local Soviet government announces that your factories are state-owned. And you won't get a penny. She cannot buy these enterprises from you because she has no money. But it’s easy to appropriate. So how? Would you like this? No! And your government won't like it. Therefore, the response to such measures was the intervention of England, France, and Japan in Russia during the civil war.
Of course, some countries, for example Germany, began to buy shares from their businessmen in companies that the Soviet government decided to appropriate. This could have led to the intervention of this country in the process of nationalization. That is why the above-mentioned Decree of the Council of People's Commissars was adopted so hastily.
Food dictatorship
In order to supply cities and the army with food, the Soviet government introduced another measure of military communism - food dictatorship. Its essence was that now the state voluntarily and forcibly confiscated grain from the peasants.
It is clear that the latter will not hurt to hand over bread for free in the quantity required by the state. Therefore, the country's leadership continued the tsarist measure - surplus appropriation. Prodrazverstka is when the required amount of grain was distributed to the regions. And it doesn’t matter whether you have this bread or not, it will still be confiscated.
It is clear that the lion's share of the grain went to wealthy peasants - kulaks. They definitely won’t hand over anything voluntarily. Therefore, the Bolsheviks acted very cunningly: they created committees of the poor (kombedas), which were entrusted with the responsibility of confiscating grain.
Well, look. Who is more on the tree: poor or rich? It’s clear - the poor. Are they jealous of their wealthy neighbors? Naturally! So let them confiscate their bread! Food detachments (food detachments) helped confiscate bread for the poor people. This is, in fact, how the policy of war communism took place.
To organize the material, use the table:
| Politics of War Communism | ||||||||
| "Military" - this policy was caused by the emergency conditions of the Civil War | “Communism” - the ideological beliefs of the Bolsheviks, who strived for communism, had a serious influence on economic policy | |||||||
| Why? | ||||||||
| Main events | ||||||||
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ||||||
| In industry | In agriculture | In the field of commodity-money relations | ||||||
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ||||||
| All enterprises were nationalized | The committees were dissolved. A Decree on the allocation of grain and fodder was issued. | Prohibition of free trade. Food was given as wages. | ||||||
Post Scriptum: Dear school graduates and applicants! Of course, it is not possible to fully cover this topic in one post. Therefore, I recommend that you purchase my video course
Prodrazvyorstka
Diplomatic isolation of the Soviet government
Russian Civil War
The collapse of the Russian Empire and the formation of the USSR
War communism
After October 1917:
War communism- Name domestic policy Soviet State, held in 1918 - 1921. in conditions of the Civil War. Its characteristic features were extreme centralization of economic management, nationalization of large, medium and even small industry (partially), state monopoly on many agricultural products, surplus appropriation, prohibition of private trade, curtailment of commodity-money relations, equalization in the distribution of material goods, militarization of labor. This policy was consistent with the principles on which Marxists believed a communist society would emerge. In historiography there are different opinions on the question of the reasons for the transition to such a policy - some historians believed that it was an attempt to “introduce communism” using a command method, others explained it by the reaction of the Bolshevik leadership to the realities of the Civil War. The same contradictory assessments were given to this policy by the leaders of the Bolshevik Party themselves, who led the country during the Civil War. The decision to end war communism and transition to the NEP was made on March 15, 1921 at the X Congress of the RCP(b).
Basic elements of "war communism"
Liquidation of private banks and confiscation of deposits
One of the first actions of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution was the armed seizure of the State Bank. The buildings of private banks were also seized. On December 8, 1917, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the abolition of the Noble Land Bank and the Peasant Land Bank" was adopted. By the decree “on the nationalization of banks” of December 14 (27), 1917, banking was declared a state monopoly. The nationalization of banks in December 1917 was reinforced by the confiscation of public funds. All gold and silver in coins and bars, and paper money were confiscated if they exceeded the amount of 5,000 rubles and were acquired “unearnedly.” For small deposits that remained unconfiscated, the norm for receiving money from accounts was set at no more than 500 rubles per month, so that the non-confiscated balance was quickly eaten up by inflation.
Nationalization of industry
Already in June-July 1917, “capital flight” began from Russia. The first to flee were foreign entrepreneurs, looking for cheap prices in Russia. labor: after the February Revolution, the establishment of an 8-hour working day by default, the struggle for increase wages, legalized strikes deprived entrepreneurs of their excess profits. The constantly unstable situation prompted many domestic industrialists to flee. But thoughts about the nationalization of a number of enterprises visited the completely left-wing Minister of Trade and Industry A.I. Konovalov even earlier, in May, and for other reasons: constant conflicts between industrialists and workers, which caused strikes on the one hand and lockouts on the other, disorganized the already economy damaged by the war.
The Bolsheviks faced the same problems after the October Revolution. The first decrees of the Soviet government did not imply any transfer of “factories to workers,” as eloquently evidenced by the Regulations on Workers’ Control approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars on November 14 (27), 1917, which specifically stipulated the rights of entrepreneurs. However, the new government also faced questions: what to do with abandoned enterprises and how to prevent lockouts and other forms of sabotage?
What began as the adoption of ownerless enterprises, nationalization later turned into a measure to combat counter-revolution. Later, at the XI Congress of the RCP(b), L. D. Trotsky recalled:
...In Petrograd, and then in Moscow, where this wave of nationalization rushed, delegations from Ural factories came to us. My heart ached: “What will we do? “We’ll take it, but what will we do?” But from conversations with these delegations it became clear that military measures are absolutely necessary. After all, the director of a factory with all his apparatus, connections, office and correspondence is a real cell at this or that Ural, or St. Petersburg, or Moscow plant - a cell of that very counter-revolution - an economic cell, strong, solid, which is armed in hand is fighting against us. Therefore, this measure was a politically necessary measure of self-preservation. We could move on to a more correct account of what we can organize and begin economic struggle only after we had secured for ourselves not an absolute, but at least a relative possibility of this economic work. From an abstract economic point of view, we can say that our policy was wrong. But if you put it in the world situation and in the situation of our situation, then it was, from a political and military point of view, in in a broad sense words, absolutely necessary.
The first to be nationalized on November 17 (30), 1917 was the factory of the Likinsky Manufactory Partnership of A. V. Smirnov (Vladimir Province). In total, from November 1917 to March 1918, according to the 1918 industrial and professional census, 836 were nationalized industrial enterprises. On May 2, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree on the Nationalization of the sugar industry, and on June 20 - the oil industry. By the fall of 1918, 9,542 enterprises were concentrated in the hands of the Soviet state. All large capitalist property in the means of production was nationalized by the method of gratuitous confiscation. By April 1919, almost all large enterprises (with more than 30 employees) were nationalized. By the beginning of 1920, medium-sized industry was also largely nationalized. Strict centralized production management was introduced. It was created to manage the nationalized industry.
Monopoly of foreign trade
At the end of December 1917, foreign trade was brought under the control of the People's Commissariat of Trade and Industry, and in April 1918 it was declared a state monopoly. The merchant fleet was nationalized. The decree on the nationalization of the fleet declared shipping enterprises belonging to joint stock companies, mutual partnerships, trading houses and individual large entrepreneurs owning sea and river vessels of all types.
Forced labor service
Compulsory labor conscription was introduced, initially for the "non-labor classes". The Labor Code (LC) adopted on December 10, 1918 established labor service for all citizens of the RSFSR. Decrees adopted by the Council of People's Commissars on April 12, 1919 and April 27, 1920 prohibited unauthorized transition to new job and absenteeism, strict labor discipline was established at enterprises. The system of unpaid voluntary-forced labor on weekends and holidays in the form of “subbotniks” and “resurrections” has also become widespread.
However, Trotsky’s proposal to the Central Committee received only 4 votes against 11, the majority led by Lenin was not ready for a change in policy, and the IX Congress of the RCP (b) adopted a course towards “militarization of the economy.”
Food dictatorship
The Bolsheviks continued the grain monopoly proposed by the Provisional Government and the surplus appropriation system introduced by the Tsarist Government. On May 9, 1918, a Decree was issued confirming the state monopoly of grain trade (introduced by the provisional government) and prohibiting private trade in bread. On May 13, 1918, the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars “On granting the People's Commissar of Food emergency powers to combat the rural bourgeoisie harboring and speculating on grain reserves” established the basic provisions of the food dictatorship. The goal of the food dictatorship was to centralize the procurement and distribution of food, suppress the resistance of the kulaks and combat baggage. The People's Commissariat for Food received unlimited powers in the procurement of food products. Based on the decree of May 13, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established per capita consumption standards for peasants - 12 poods of grain, 1 pood of cereals, etc. - similar to the standards introduced by the Provisional Government in 1917. All grain exceeding these standards was to be transferred to the disposal of the state at prices set by it. In connection with the introduction of the food dictatorship in May-June 1918, the Food Requisition Army of the People's Commissariat of Food of the RSFSR (Prodarmiya) was created, consisting of armed food detachments. To manage the Food Army, on May 20, 1918, the Office of the Chief Commissar and Military Leader of all food detachments was created under the People's Commissariat of Food. To accomplish this task, armed food detachments were created, endowed with emergency powers.
V.I. Lenin explained the existence of surplus appropriation and the reasons for abandoning it:
Tax in kind is one of the forms of transition from a kind of “war communism”, forced by extreme poverty, ruin and war, to correct socialist product exchange. And this latter, in turn, is one of the forms of transition from socialism with features caused by the predominance of the small peasantry in the population to communism.
A kind of “war communism” consisted in the fact that we actually took from the peasants all the surplus, and sometimes not even the surplus, but part of the food necessary for the peasant, and took it to cover the costs of the army and the maintenance of the workers. They mostly took it on credit, using paper money. Otherwise, we could not defeat the landowners and capitalists in a ruined small-peasant country... But it is no less necessary to know the real measure of this merit. “War communism” was forced by war and ruin. It was not and could not be a policy that corresponded to the economic tasks of the proletariat. It was a temporary measure. The correct policy of the proletariat, exercising its dictatorship in a small-peasant country, is the exchange of grain for industrial products needed by the peasant. Only such a food policy meets the tasks of the proletariat, only it is capable of strengthening the foundations of socialism and leading to its complete victory.
Tax in kind is a transition to it. We are still so ruined, so oppressed by the oppression of the war (which happened yesterday and could break out thanks to the greed and malice of the capitalists tomorrow) that we cannot give the peasants industrial products for all the grain we need. Knowing this, we introduce a tax in kind, i.e. the minimum necessary (for the army and for workers).
On July 27, 1918, the People's Commissariat for Food adopted a special resolution on the introduction of a universal class food ration, divided into four categories, providing for measures to account for stocks and distribute food. At first, the class ration was valid only in Petrograd, from September 1, 1918 - in Moscow - and then it was extended to the provinces.
Those supplied were divided into 4 categories (later into 3): 1) all workers working in particularly difficult conditions; breastfeeding mothers up to the 1st year of the child and wet nurses; pregnant women from the 5th month 2) all those working in heavy work, but in normal (not harmful) conditions; women - housewives with a family of at least 4 people and children from 3 to 14 years old; disabled people of the 1st category - dependents 3) all workers engaged in light work; women housewives with a family of up to 3 people; children under 3 years old and adolescents 14-17 years old; all students over 14 years of age; unemployed people registered at the labor exchange; pensioners, war and labor invalids and other disabled people of the 1st and 2nd categories as dependents 4) all male and female persons receiving income from the hired labor of others; persons of liberal professions and their families who are not in public service; persons of unspecified occupation and all other population not named above.
The volume of dispensed was correlated across groups as 4:3:2:1. In the first place, products in the first two categories were simultaneously issued, in the second - in the third. The 4th was issued as the demand of the first 3 was met. With the introduction of class cards, any others were abolished (the card system was in effect from mid-1915).
- Prohibition of private entrepreneurship.
- Elimination of commodity-money relations and transition to direct commodity exchange regulated by the state. The death of money.
- Paramilitary management of railways.
Since all these measures were taken during the Civil War, in practice they were much less coordinated and coordinated than planned on paper. Large areas of Russia were beyond the control of the Bolsheviks, and the lack of communications meant that even regions formally subordinate to the Soviet government often had to act independently, in the absence of centralized control from Moscow. The question still remains - whether War Communism was an economic policy in the full sense of the word, or just a set of disparate measures taken to win the civil war at any cost.
Results and assessment of war communism
The key economic body of War Communism was the Supreme Council of the National Economy, created according to the project of Yuri Larin, as the central administrative planning body of the economy. According to his own recollections, Larin designed the main directorates (headquarters) of the Supreme Economic Council on the model of the German “Kriegsgesellschaften” (centers for regulating industry in wartime).
The Bolsheviks declared “workers’ control” to be the alpha and omega of the new economic order: “the proletariat itself takes matters into its own hands.” "Workers' control" very soon revealed its true nature. These words always sounded like the beginning of the death of the enterprise. All discipline was immediately destroyed. Power in factories and factories passed to rapidly changing committees, virtually responsible to no one for anything. Knowledgeable, honest workers were expelled and even killed. Labor productivity decreased in inverse proportion to the increase in wages. The attitude was often expressed in dizzying numbers: fees increased, but productivity dropped by 500-800 percent. Enterprises continued to exist only because either the state, which owned the printing press, took in workers to support it, or the workers sold and ate up the fixed assets of the enterprises. According to Marxist teaching, the socialist revolution will be caused by the fact that the productive forces will outgrow the forms of production and, under new socialist forms, will have the opportunity for further progressive development, etc., etc. Experience has revealed the falsity of these stories. Under “socialist” orders there was an extreme decline in labor productivity. Our productive forces under “socialism” regressed to the times of Peter’s serf factories. Democratic self-government has completely destroyed our railways. With an income of 1½ billion rubles, the railways had to pay about 8 billion for the maintenance of workers and employees alone. Wanting to seize the financial power of “bourgeois society” into their own hands, the Bolsheviks “nationalized” all banks in a Red Guard raid. In reality, they only acquired those few measly millions that they managed to seize in the safes. But they destroyed credit and deprived industrial enterprises of all funds. To ensure that hundreds of thousands of workers were not left without income, the Bolsheviks had to open for them the cash desk of the State Bank, which was intensively replenished by the unrestrained printing of paper money.
Instead of the unprecedented growth in labor productivity expected by the architects of war communism, the result was not an increase, but, on the contrary, a sharp decline: in 1920, labor productivity decreased, including due to mass malnutrition, to 18% of the pre-war level. If before the revolution the average worker consumed 3820 calories per day, already in 1919 this figure dropped to 2680, which was no longer enough for hard physical labor.
By 1921, industrial output had decreased threefold, and the number of industrial workers had halved. At the same time, the staff of the Supreme Council of National Economy increased approximately a hundredfold, from 318 people to 30 thousand; A glaring example was the Gasoline Trust, which was part of this body, which grew to 50 people, despite the fact that this trust had to manage only one plant with 150 workers.
The situation in Petrograd became especially difficult, whose population decreased from 2 million 347 thousand people during the Civil War. to 799 thousand, the number of workers decreased five times.
The decline in agriculture was just as sharp. Due to the complete disinterest of peasants in increasing crops under the conditions of “war communism,” grain production in 1920 fell by half compared to pre-war. According to Richard Pipes,
In such a situation, it was enough for the weather to deteriorate for famine to occur in the country. Under communist rule, there was no surplus in agriculture, so if there was a crop failure, there would be nothing to deal with its consequences.
To organize the food appropriation system, the Bolsheviks organized another greatly expanded body - the People's Commissariat for Food, headed by A. D. Tsyuryupa. Despite the state's efforts to establish food supply, a massive famine began in 1921-1922, during which up to 5 million people died. The policy of “war communism” (especially the surplus appropriation system) caused discontent among broad sections of the population, especially the peasantry (uprising in the Tambov region, Western Siberia, Kronstadt and others). By the end of 1920, an almost continuous belt of peasant uprisings (“green flood”) appeared in Russia, aggravated by huge masses of deserters and the beginning of mass demobilization of the Red Army.
The difficult situation in industry and agriculture was aggravated by the final collapse of transport. The share of so-called “sick” steam locomotives went from pre-war 13% to 61% in 1921; transport was approaching the threshold, after which there would only be enough capacity to service its own needs. In addition, firewood was used as fuel for steam locomotives, which was extremely reluctantly collected by peasants as part of their labor service.
The experiment to organize labor armies in 1920-1921 also completely failed. The First Labor Army demonstrated, in the words of the chairman of its council (President of the Labor Army - 1) Trotsky L.D., “monstrous” (monstrously low) labor productivity. Only 10 - 25% of it personnel were engaged in labor activity as such, and 14% did not leave the barracks at all due to torn clothes and lack of shoes. Mass desertion from the labor armies was widespread, which in the spring of 1921 was completely out of control.
In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP(b), the objectives of the policy of “war communism” were recognized by the country’s leadership as completed and a new economic policy was introduced. V.I. Lenin wrote: “War communism was forced by war and ruin. It was not and could not be a policy that corresponded to the economic tasks of the proletariat. It was a temporary measure." (Complete collected works, 5th ed., vol. 43, p. 220). Lenin also argued that “war communism” should be given to the Bolsheviks not as a fault, but as a merit, but at the same time it is necessary to know the extent of this merit.
In culture
- Life in Petrograd during the war communism is described in Ayn Rand's novel We Are the Living.
Notes
- Terra, 2008. - T. 1. - P. 301. - 560 p. - ( Great encyclopedia). - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-273-00561-7
- See, for example: V. Chernov. The Great Russian Revolution. M., 2007
- V. Chernov. The Great Russian Revolution. pp. 203-207
- Regulations of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on workers' control.
- Eleventh Congress of the RCP(b). M., 1961. P. 129
- Labor Code of 1918 // Appendix from teaching aid I. Ya. Kiseleva " Labor law Russia. Historical and legal research" (Moscow, 2001)
- The Memo Order for the 3rd Red Army - 1st Revolutionary Army of Labor, in particular, said: “1. The 3rd Army completed its combat mission. But the enemy has not yet been completely broken on all fronts. The predatory imperialists are still threatening Siberia with Far East. The Entente's mercenary troops also threaten Soviet Russia from the west. There are still White Guard gangs in Arkhangelsk. The Caucasus has not yet been liberated. Therefore, the 3rd revolutionary army remains under the bayonet, maintaining its organization, its internal cohesion, its fighting spirit - in case the socialist fatherland calls it to new combat missions. 2. But, imbued with a sense of duty, the 3rd revolutionary army does not want to waste time. During those weeks and months of respite that fell to her lot, she would use her strength and means for the economic upliftment of the country. While remaining a fighting force threatening the enemies of the working class, it at the same time turns into a revolutionary army of labor. 3. The Revolutionary Military Council of the 3rd Army is part of the Council of the Labor Army. There, along with members of the revolutionary military council, there will be representatives of the main economic institutions Soviet Republic. They will provide the necessary leadership in various fields of economic activity.” For the full text of the Order, see: Order-memo for the 3rd Red Army - 1st Revolutionary Army of Labor
- In January 1920, in the pre-congress discussion, “Theses of the Central Committee of the RCP on the mobilization of the industrial proletariat, labor conscription, militarization of the economy and the use of military units for economic needs,” paragraph 28 of which stated: “As one of the transitional forms to the implementation of universal labor conscription and the widest use of socialized labor, military units released from combat missions, up to large army formations, should be used for labor purposes. This is the meaning of turning the Third Army into the First Army of Labor and transferring this experience to other armies" (see IX Congress of the RCP (b). Verbatim report. Moscow, 1934. P. 529)
- L. D. Trotsky Basic issues of food and land policy: “In the same February 1920, L. D. Trotsky submitted to the Central Committee of the RCP (b) proposals to replace surplus appropriation with a tax in kind, which actually led to the abandonment of the policy of “war communism” “. These proposals were the results of practical acquaintance with the situation and mood of the village in the Urals, where in January - February Trotsky found himself as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic."
- V. Danilov, S. Esikov, V. Kanishchev, L. Protasov. Introduction // Peasant uprising of the Tambov province in 1919-1921 “Antonovshchina”: Documents and materials / Responsible. Ed. V. Danilov and T. Shanin. - Tambov, 1994: It was proposed to overcome the process of “economic degradation”: 1) “by replacing the withdrawal of surpluses with a certain percentage deduction (a kind of income tax in kind), in such a way that larger plowing or better processing would still represent a benefit,” and 2) “by establishing greater correspondence between the distribution of industrial products to peasants and the amount of grain they poured not only into volosts and villages, but also into peasant households.” As you know, this is where the New Economic Policy began in the spring of 1921.”
- See X Congress of the RCP(b). Verbatim report. Moscow, 1963. P. 350; XI Congress of the RCP(b). Verbatim report. Moscow, 1961. P. 270
- See X Congress of the RCP(b). Verbatim report. Moscow, 1963. P. 350; V. Danilov, S. Esikov, V. Kanishchev, L. Protasov. Introduction // Peasant uprising of the Tambov province in 1919-1921 “Antonovshchina”: Documents and materials / Responsible. Ed. V. Danilov and T. Shanin. - Tambov, 1994: “After the defeat of the main forces of counter-revolution in the East and South of Russia, after the liberation of almost the entire territory of the country, a change in food policy became possible, and due to the nature of relations with the peasantry, necessary. Unfortunately, L. D. Trotsky’s proposals to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) were rejected. The delay in canceling the surplus appropriation system for a whole year had tragic consequences; Antonovism as a massive social explosion might not have happened.”
- See IX Congress of the RCP(b). Verbatim report. Moscow, 1934. Based on the report of the Central Committee on economic construction (p. 98), the congress adopted a resolution “On the immediate tasks of economic construction” (p. 424), paragraph 1.1 of which, in particular, said: “Approving the theses of the Central Committee of the RCP on the mobilization of industrial proletariat, labor conscription, militarization of the economy and the use of military units for economic needs, the congress decides...” (p. 427)
- Kondratyev N.D. The grain market and its regulation during the war and revolution. - M.: Nauka, 1991. - 487 pp.: 1 l. portrait, ill., table
- A.S. Outcasts. SOCIALISM, CULTURE AND BOLSHEVISM
Literature
- Revolution and civil war in Russia: 1917-1923. Encyclopedia in 4 volumes. - Moscow:
The policy of war communism was based on the task of destroying market and commodity-money relations (i.e. private property), replacing them with centralized production and distribution.
To carry out this plan, a system was needed that was capable of bringing the will of the center to the most remote corners of the huge power. In this system, everything must be registered and brought under control (flows of raw materials and resources, finished products). Lenin believed that “war communism” would be the last step before socialism.
On September 2, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee announced the introduction of martial law; leadership of the country passed to the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense, headed by V.I. Lenin. The fronts were commanded by the Revolutionary Military Council, headed by L.D. Trotsky.
The difficult situation on the fronts and in the country's economy prompted the authorities to introduce a number of emergency measures, defined as war communism.
In the Soviet version, it included surplus appropriation (private trade in grain was prohibited, surpluses and reserves were forcibly confiscated), the beginning of the creation of collective and state farms, the nationalization of industry, the prohibition private trade, introduction of universal labor service, centralization of management.
By February 1918, enterprises belonging to royal family, the Russian treasury and private traders. Subsequently, a chaotic nationalization of small industrial enterprises and then entire industries was carried out.
Although in tsarist Russia the share of state (state) property was always traditionally large, the centralization of production and distribution was quite painful.
The peasants and a significant part of the workers were opposed to the Bolsheviks. And from 1917 to 1921. they adopted anti-Bolshevik resolutions and actively participated in armed anti-government protests.
The Bolsheviks had to create a political-economic system that could give workers minimal opportunities for living and at the same time would make them strictly dependent on the authorities and administration. It was for this purpose that the policy of over-centralization of the economy was pursued. Subsequently, communism was identified with centralization.
Despite the “Decree on Land” (the land was transferred to the peasants), the land received by the peasants during the Stolypin reform was nationalized.
The actual nationalization of land and the introduction of equalized land use, the ban on renting and buying land and expanding arable land led to a terrifying drop in the level of agricultural production. The result was a famine that caused the death of thousands of people.
During the period of "war communism", after the suppression anti-Bolshevik speech Left Socialist Revolutionaries, the transition to a one-party system was carried out.
The Bolsheviks' scientific justification of the historical process as an irreconcilable class struggle led to the policy of "Red Teppopa", the reason for the introduction of which was a series of assassination attempts on party leaders.
Its essence lay in consistent destruction according to the principle “those who are not with us are against us.” The list included the intelligentsia, officers, nobles, priests, and wealthy peasants.
The main method of the “Red Terror” was extrajudicial executions, authorized and carried out by the Cheka. The policy of “red terror” allowed the Bolsheviks to strengthen their power and destroy opponents and those who showed dissatisfaction.
The policy of war communism aggravated economic devastation and led to the unjustified death of a huge number of innocent people.
University: VZFEI
Year and city: Vladimir 2007
1. Reasons for the transition to War Communism
War communism- the name of the internal policy of the Soviet state during the Civil War. Its characteristic features were extreme centralization of economic management (Glavkism), nationalization of large, medium, and partly small industry, state monopoly on bread and many other agricultural products, surplus appropriation, prohibition of private trade, curtailment of commodity-money relations, introduction of distribution of material goods based on equalization, militarization of labor. These features of economic policy corresponded to the principles on the basis of which, according to Marxists, a communist society should arise. All these “communist” principles were instilled during the civil war Soviet power administrative methods. Hence the name of this period, which appeared after the end of the civil war - “war communism”.
The policy of “war communism” was aimed at overcoming the economic crisis and was based on theoretical ideas about the possibility of directly introducing communism.
In historiography there are different opinions on the issue of the need to transition to this policy. Some authors assess this transition as an attempt to immediately and directly “introduce” communism, others explain the need for “war communism” by the circumstances of the civil war, which forced Russia to be turned into a military camp and all economic issues to be resolved from the point of view of the requirements of the front.
These contradictory assessments were initially given by the leaders of the ruling party themselves, who led the country during the civil war - V.I. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky, and then were perceived by historians.
Explaining the need for “war communism,” Lenin said in 1921: “we then had only one calculation - to defeat the enemy.” Trotsky in the early 20s also stated that all the components of “war communism” were determined by the need to defend Soviet power, but he did not ignore the question of the existing illusions associated with the prospects of “war communism”. In 1923, answering the question whether the Bolsheviks hoped to move from “war communism” to socialism “without major economic changes, shocks and retreats, i.e. along a more or less ascending line,” Trotsky argued: “yes, at that period we really firmly believed that revolutionary development in Western Europe would proceed at a faster pace. And this gives us the opportunity, by correcting and changing the methods of our “war communism,” to arrive at a truly socialist economy.”
2. The essence and main elements of War Communism
During the years of “war communism,” the apparatus of the Communist Party merged with state Soviet bodies. The “dictatorship of the proletariat” proclaimed by the Bolsheviks was realized in the form of party power: from its highest body, the Politburo, to the lower ones - local party committees. These bodies exercised dictatorship on behalf of the proletariat, which in reality was separated from power and property, which, as a result of the nationalization of large, medium and partly small industry, became a state monopoly. This direction of the process of formation of the Soviet military-communist political system was determined by the ideological postulates of the Bolsheviks about the construction of socialism, the dictatorship of the proletariat, monopoly state ownership, and the leading role of the party. The created well-functioning mechanism of control and coercion, merciless in achieving its goals, helped the Bolsheviks win the civil war
Centralization of management of nationalized industry. Private property was eliminated altogether, and a state monopoly of foreign trade was established. A strict sectoral industrial management system was introduced,
Violent cooperation. At the direction of the party, individual peasant farms were united into collective farms, and state farms were created. The Decree on Land was actually cancelled. The land fund was transferred not to workers, but to communes, state farms, and labor artels. An individual peasant could only use the remnants of the land fund.
Equalization distribution
Naturalization of wages. The Bolsheviks viewed socialism as a commodity-free and moneyless society. This led to the abolition of the market and commodity-money relations. All non-state trade was prohibited. The policy of “war communism” led to the destruction of commodity-money relations. Products and manufactured goods were distributed by the state in the form of natural rations, which varied depending on different categories population. Equal wages among workers were introduced (the illusion of social equality). As a result, speculation and the black market flourished. The depreciation of money led to the fact that the population received free housing, utilities, transport, postal and other services.
Militarization of labor
Prodrazverstka is the orderly confiscation of grain. The state determined the norms for the supply of agricultural products to the village without taking into account the capabilities of the village. From the beginning of 1919, the surplus appropriation system was introduced for bread, in 1920 - for potatoes, vegetables, etc. The surplus appropriation system was implemented by violent methods with the help of food detachments.
3. Creation of the Red Army.
The problem of armed defense of power required an immediate solution, and at the beginning of 1918 the Bolsheviks created armed detachments from
volunteer soldiers and chosen commanders. But with the growth of opposition and the beginning of foreign intervention, the government was forced on June 9, 1918 to announce compulsory military service. In connection with large desertions, the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, Trotsky, established strict discipline and introduced a hostage system, when members of his family were responsible for the deserter.
In addition to desertion, there were acute problems of equipment and command of the new
army. The emergency supply commissioner was responsible for the equipment
Red Army and Navy Rykov, he also headed the Industrial Military Council, which managed all military facilities, and where a third of all industrial workers worked. Half of all clothing, shoes, tobacco, and sugar produced in the country went to the needs of the army.
To solve the problem, the command turned to specialists and officers of the tsarist army. Many of them were forced to work under pain of death for themselves or their relatives who were in concentration camps.
In the army, first of all, millions of peasants were taught to read, they were also taught to “think correctly” and to assimilate the foundations of a new ideology. Service in the Red Army was one of the main ways to move up the social ladder and provided the opportunity to join the Komsomol and the party. Most of the army party members then joined the cadres of the Soviet administration, where they immediately imposed the army style of leadership on their subordinates.
4. Nationalization and mobilization of the economy
During three and a half years of war and eight months of revolution, the country's economy was destroyed. The richest regions withdrew from the control of the Bolsheviks: Ukraine, the Baltic states, the Volga region, and Western Siberia. Economic ties between city and countryside have long been severed. Strikes and lockouts of entrepreneurs completed the decomposition of the economy. Having finally abandoned the experience of workers' self-government, which was doomed to failure in the conditions of economic catastrophe, the Bolsheviks took a number of emergency measures. They demonstrated an authoritarian, centralist state approach to the economy. In October 1921, Lenin wrote: “At the beginning of 1918... we made the mistake that we decided to make a direct transition to communist production and distribution.” That “communism,” which, according to Marx, should have quickly led to the disappearance of the state, on the contrary, amazingly hypertrophied state control over all spheres of the economy.
After the nationalization of the merchant fleet (January 23) and foreign trade (April 22), the government on June 22, 1918 began the general nationalization of all enterprises with capital over 500,000 rubles. In November 1920, a decree was issued extending nationalization to all “enterprises with more than ten or more than five workers, but using a mechanical engine.” The decree of November 21, 1918 established a state monopoly on domestic trade.
commissariat for food. In it, the state proclaimed itself the main distributor. In an economy where distribution links had been undermined, securing the supply and distribution of products, especially grain, became a vital problem. The Bolsheviks chose the second of two options - restoring some semblance of a market or coercive measures - because they assumed that strengthening the class struggle in the countryside would solve the problem of supplying food to cities and the army. On June 11, 1918, committees of the poor were created, which, during the period of the gap between the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries (who still controlled a significant number of rural Soviets), should become a “second power” and confiscate surplus production from wealthy peasants. In order to “stimulate” poor peasants, it was assumed that part of the confiscated products would go to members of these committees. Their actions must be supported by units of the “food army.” The number of prodarmiya increased from 12 thousand in 1918 to 80 thousand people. Of these, a good half were workers from standing Petrograd factories, who were “lured” by payment in kind in proportion to the amount of confiscated products.
The creation of the Pobedy Committees testified to the complete ignorance of the Bolsheviks
peasant psychology, in which main role the communal and egalitarian principle played a role. The food appropriation campaign in the summer of 1918 ended in failure. However, the surplus appropriation policy continued until the spring of 1921. On January 1, 1919, the chaotic search for surpluses was replaced by a centralized and planned system of surplus appropriation. Each peasant community was responsible for its own supplies of grain, potatoes, honey, eggs, butter, oilseeds, meat, sour cream, and milk. And only after the deliveries were completed did the authorities issue receipts giving the right to purchase industrial goods, in limited quantities and assortments, mainly essential goods. There was a particularly significant shortage of agricultural equipment. As a result, peasants reduced their acreage and returned to subsistence farming.
The state encouraged the creation of collective farms by the poor with the help of a government fund, however, due to the small amount of land and lack of equipment, the effectiveness of collective farms was low.
Due to a lack of food, the rationing food distribution system did not satisfy the townspeople. Even the wealthiest received only a quarter of the required ration. In addition to being unfair, the distribution system was also confusing. In such conditions, the “black market” flourished. The government tried in vain to legislatively combat bag smugglers. Production discipline fell: workers returned to the village whenever possible. The government introduced the famous subbotniks, work books, universal labor obligation, labor armies were created in areas of military operations.
5. Establishment of a political dictatorship
The years of “war communism” became a period of establishment of a political dictatorship, which completed a two-pronged process that lasted for many years: the destruction or subordination to the Bolsheviks of the independent institutions created during 1917 (Soviets, factory committees, trade unions), and the destruction of non-Bolshevik parties.
Publishing activities were curtailed, non-Bolshevik newspapers were banned, leaders of opposition parties were arrested, who were then outlawed, independent institutions were constantly monitored and gradually destroyed, the terror of the Cheka intensified, and the “rebellious” Soviets were forcibly dissolved (in Luga and Kronstadt). “Power from below,” that is, “the power of the Soviets, which gained strength from February to October 1917, through various decentralized institutions created as a potential “opposition to power,” began to turn into “power from above,” arrogating to itself all possible powers using bureaucratic measures and resorting to violence. (Thus, power transferred from society to the state, and in the state to the Bolshevik Party, which monopolized the executive and legislative powers.) The autonomy and powers of factory committees came under the tutelage of trade unions. The trade unions, in turn, a significant part of which did not submit to the Bolsheviks, were either dissolved on charges of “counter-revolution”, or tamed to play the role of a “drive belt”. At the first trade union congress in January 1918, the independence of the factory committees was lost. Since the new regime “expressed the interests of the working class,” trade unions should become an integral part state power, obeying the Soviets. The same congress rejected the proposal of the Mensheviks, who insisted on the right to strike. A little later, in order to strengthen the dependence of the trade unions, the Bolsheviks placed them under direct control: within the trade unions, the Communists were to unite into cells reporting directly to the party.
Non-Bolshevik political parties were successively destroyed in various ways.
The Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who supported the Bolsheviks until March 1918, disagreed with them on two points: terror, elevated to the rank of official policy, and the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, which they did not recognize. After the coup attempt on July 6-7, 1918, which ended in failure, the Bolsheviks removed the left Socialist Revolutionaries from those bodies (for example, from the rural Soviets) where the latter were still very strong. The rest of the Socialist Revolutionaries declared themselves irreconcilable enemies of the Bolsheviks back in October.
The Mensheviks, under the leadership of Dan and Martov, tried to organize themselves into a legal opposition within the framework of the rule of law. If in October 1917 the influence of the Mensheviks was insignificant, then by mid-1918 it increased incredibly among the workers, and at the beginning of 1921 - in the trade unions, thanks to the propaganda of measures to liberalize the economy, later reworked by Lenin into the principles of the NEP. Since the summer of 1918, the Mensheviks began to be gradually removed from the Soviets, and in February - March 1921, the Bolsheviks made 2 thousand arrests, including all members of the Central Committee. The anarchists, former “fellow travelers” of the Bolsheviks, were treated like ordinary criminals. As a result of the operation, the Cheka shot 40 anarchists in Moscow and arrested 500 anarchists. Ukrainian anarchists under Makhno's leadership resisted until 1921.
Created on December 7, 1917, the Cheka was conceived as an investigative body, but local Chekas quickly took it upon themselves after a short trial to shoot those arrested. After the assassination attempt on Lenin and Uritsky on August 30, 1918, the “Red Terror” began, the Cheka introduced two punitive measures: hostage-taking and labor camps. The Cheka gained independence in its actions, that is, searches, arrests and executions.
As a result of scattered and poorly coordinated actions of the anti-Bolshevik forces, their incessant political mistakes, the Bolsheviks managed to organize a reliable and constantly growing army, which defeated their opponents one by one. The Bolsheviks mastered the art of propaganda in a wide variety of forms with extraordinary dexterity. Foreign intervention allowed the Bolsheviks to present themselves as defenders of the Motherland.
Results
On the eve of October, Lenin said that, having taken power, the Bolsheviks would not lose it. The very concept of the party did not allow for the division of power: this new type of organization was no longer political party in the traditional sense, since its competence extended to all spheres - economy, culture, family, society.
Under these conditions, any attempt to impede party control over social and political development was regarded as sabotage. Destroying parties, independent trade unions, subjugating government bodies, the Bolsheviks always chose violence and no alternative solutions. In the political field, the Bolsheviks achieved success by monopolizing power and ideology.
An army was created that expelled the interventionists, opponents of the regime, at the cost of great casualties and violence.
The struggle for survival placed a heavy burden on the peasantry, and the terror caused protest and discontent among the common masses. Even the vanguard of the October Revolution - the sailors and workers of Kronstadt - even rebelled in 1921. The experiment of “war communism” led to an unprecedented decline in production.
Nationalized enterprises were not subject to any government control.
The “coarsening” of the economy and command methods had no effect.
The fragmentation of large estates, leveling, destruction of communications, surplus appropriation - all this led to the isolation of the peasantry.
There is a crisis in the national economy; there is a need quick solution which was shown by growing uprisings.
The policy of “war communism” caused mass discontent among broad sections of the population, especially the peasantry (mass uprisings in late 1920 - early 1921 in the Tambov region, Western Siberia, Kronstadt, etc.); everyone demanded the abolition of “war communism.”
By the end of the period of “war communism,” Soviet Russia found itself in a severe economic, social and political crisis. The economy was in a catastrophic state: industrial production in 1920 decreased by 7 times compared to 1913, only 30% of coal was mined, the volume of railway transportation fell to the level of the 1890s, and the country's productive forces were undermined. “War communism” deprived the bourgeois-landlord classes of power and economic role, but the working class was also deprived of blood and declassed. A significant part of it, abandoning shutdown enterprises, went to the villages to escape hunger. Discontent with “war communism” gripped the working class and peasantry, who felt deceived by the Soviet regime. Having received additional plots of land after the October Revolution, during the years of “war communism”, peasants were forced to give the state the grain they grew almost without compensation. In 1921, the failure of “war communism” was recognized by the country’s leadership. The search for a way out of the impasse in which the country found itself led it to a new economic policy - NEP.
List of used literature
1. History of the Soviet state. 1900-1991.
Vert N. 2nd ed. - M.: Progress Academy, Whole World, 1996.
2. Russian history
Moscow 1995
3. Encyclopedia Cyril and Methodius.
JSC "New Disk", 2003
To read the report in full, download the file!
Liked? Click on the button below. To you not difficult, and for us Nice).
To download for free Reports at maximum speed, register or log in to the site.
Important! All presented Reports for free downloading are intended for drawing up a plan or basis for your own scientific works.
Friends! You have a unique opportunity to help students just like you! If our site helped you find the right job, then you certainly understand how the work you add can make the work of others easier.
If the Report, in your opinion, is of poor quality, or you have already seen this work, please let us know.
War communism (policy of war communism) is the name of the internal policy of Soviet Russia, carried out during the Civil War of 1918-1921.
The essence of war communism was to prepare the country for a new, communist society, which the new authorities were oriented towards. War communism was characterized by the following features:
- extreme degree of centralization of management of the entire economy;
- nationalization of industry (from small to large);
- a ban on private trade and the curtailment of commodity-money relations;
- state monopolization of many branches of agriculture;
- militarization of labor (orientation towards the military industry);
- total equalization, when everyone received an equal amount of benefits and goods.
It was on the basis of these principles that it was planned to build a new state, where there are no rich and poor, where everyone is equal and everyone receives exactly what is necessary for a normal life. Scientists believe that the introduction of a new policy was necessary in order not only to survive the Civil War, but also to quickly rebuild the country on new type society.