When did the transition to NEP take place? New Economic Policy (NEP). Brief essence of the NEP
In 1920, the civil war was coming to an end, the Red Army was victorious on the fronts of its opponents. But it was too early for the Bolsheviks to rejoice, as a severe economic and political crisis erupted in the country.
The national economy of the country was completely destroyed. The level of production fell to 14% of the pre-war level (1913). And in some sectors (textile) it fell to the level of 1859. In 1920, the country produced 3% of the pre-war sugar production, 5-6% of cotton fabrics, and 2% of iron. In 1919 almost all blast furnaces went out. The production of metal ceased, and the country lived on old stocks, which inevitably affected all industries. Due to the lack of fuel and raw materials, most factories and factories were closed. Donbass, the Urals, Siberia, and the Baku oil region were especially affected. The sore point of the economy is transport. By 1920, 58% of the locomotive fleet was out of order. The loss of the mines of Donbass and Baku oil, the depreciation of the rolling stock of the railways led to a fuel and transport crisis. He bound cities and towns with frost and famine. Trains ran rarely, slowly, without a schedule. Huge crowds of hungry and half-dressed people accumulated at the stations. All this intensified the food crisis, gave rise to massive epidemics of typhus, cholera, smallpox, dysentery, and so on. The infant mortality rate was especially high. Accurate statistics on human losses during the years of the civil war do not exist. According to many scientists, the death rate during the years of the civil war was 5-6 million people from starvation alone, and about 3 million people from various diseases. Since 1914, about 20 million people have died in Russia, while on the fronts of the civil war, losses on both sides totaled 3 million people.
To overcome the crisis, the authorities tried to carry out emergency measures. Among them was the allocation of "shock groups" of factories supplied with raw materials and fuel in the first place, continuous labor mobilization of the population, the creation of labor armies and the militarization of labor, and an increase in rations for workers. But these measures did not give a great effect, since it was impossible to eliminate the causes of the crisis through organizational measures. They lay in the very policy of war communism, the continuation of which after the end of hostilities caused discontent among the majority of the population, especially the peasantry.
As already noted, in the conditions of the civil war, the peasantry, not wanting the return of the previous order, supported the Reds, agreeing with the surplus appraisal. It is also impossible to speak about the complete coincidence of the views of the Bolsheviks and the peasants on the future prospects for the development of the country. Some researchers even believe that during the years of the Civil War, the peasants helped the Reds to destroy the Whites in order to deal with the Reds later. The preservation of the surplus appraisal in peacetime deprived the peasants of their material interest in expanding production. Peasant farming acquired an increasingly natural character: it produced only the most necessary things for a given peasant and his family. This led to a sharp reduction in sown areas, a decrease in the number of livestock, and the cessation of sowing industrial crops, i.e. to degradation Agriculture. Compared with 1913, the gross agricultural output has decreased by more than a third, and the sown area has decreased by 40%. Surplus appropriation plan for 1920-1921. was only half completed. The peasants preferred to hide their bread rather than give it to the state for free. This caused the toughening of the activities of the procurement bodies and food detachments, on the one hand, and the armed resistance of the peasantry, on the other.
It is noteworthy that along with the peasants, representatives of the working class also took part in the rebellions, in whose composition significant changes took place during the years of the civil war. First, its numbers were reduced, since countless mobilizations to the front were carried out primarily among the workers. Secondly, many workers, fleeing hunger and cold, went to the villages and settled permanently. Thirdly, a large number of the most active and conscious workers "from the machine" were sent to state institutions, the Red Army, the police, the Cheka, etc. They have lost contact with the working class, they have ceased to live by its needs. But even those proletarians who remained in the few operating enterprises, in essence, also ceased to be workers, living off by odd jobs, handicrafts, "sacking", etc. The professional structure of the working class deteriorated, it was dominated by low-skilled strata, women and youth. Many yesterday's workers turned into lumpens, joining the ranks of beggars, thieves, and even fell into criminal gangs. Disappointment and apathy reigned among the workers, and discontent grew. The Bolsheviks understood that they were idealizing the proletariat, speaking of its messianic exclusivity. Under the conditions of war communism, he not only did not show high consciousness and revolutionary initiative, but, as already noted, he took part in anti-Soviet peasant uprisings. The main slogans of these speeches are "Freedom of trade!" and "Soviets without communists!".
The bureaucratic management system that had developed over the years of war communism also turned out to be ineffective. It was impossible to manage and regulate from the center in such a huge country as Russia. There were no funds and experience to establish accounting and control. The central leadership had a vague idea of what was being done locally. The activities of the Soviets were increasingly replaced by the activities of the executive committees and various emergency bodies (revolutionary committees, revolutionary troikas, fives, etc.) under the control of the party apparatus. Elections to the Soviets were held formally with low participation of the population. Although since February 1919 the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks took part in the work of the local Soviets along with the Bolsheviks, nevertheless, under the conditions of war communism, the political monopoly belonged, as is known, to the Bolsheviks. The growing crisis in the country was associated with the erroneous policy of the Bolsheviks, which led to a fall in the authority of the party among the people and an increase in discontent among all segments of the population. The apogee of this discontent is usually considered the Kronstadt mutiny (February - March 1921), in which even the sailors of the Baltic Fleet, who were previously the most reliable stronghold of Soviet power, came out against the Bolsheviks. The rebellion was put down with great difficulty and considerable bloodshed. He demonstrated the danger of maintaining the policy of war communism.
The erosion of moral criteria in society, which is natural for situations in which the system of moral values collapses, also represented a threat to the Soviet government. Religion was declared a relic of the old world. The death of a huge number of people devalued human life, the state was unable to guarantee the safety of the individual. Increasingly, the ideas of equalization and class priorities were reduced to a simple slogan "steal the loot." A wave of crime has swept over Russia. All this, as well as the disintegration of the family (the new authorities declared the family a relic of bourgeois society, introduced the institution of civil marriage and greatly simplified divorce proceedings), family ties caused an unprecedented increase in child homelessness. By 1922, the number of homeless children reached 7 million people, so even a special commission was created under the Cheka, headed by F. E. Dzerzhinsky, to combat homelessness.
By the end of the civil war, the Bolsheviks had to endure the collapse of another illusion: hopes for world revolution. This was evidenced by the defeat of the socialist uprising in Hungary, the fall of the Bavarian Republic, and the unsuccessful attempt in Poland, with the help of the Red Army, to "drive mankind to happiness." It was not possible to take the "fortress of world capitalism" by storm. It was necessary to proceed to its long siege. This required the abandonment of the policy of war communism and the transition to the search for compromises with the world bourgeoisie both within the country and in the international arena.
In 1920, a serious crisis hit the RCP(b) as well. Having become the ruling party, it grows very rapidly in numbers, which could not but affect its qualitative composition. If in February 1917 there were about 24 thousand people in its ranks, then in March 1920 - 640 thousand people, and a year later, in March 1921 - 730 thousand people. Not only conscious fighters for social justice rushed into it, but also careerists, rogues, whose interests were far from the needs of the working people. Gradually, the living conditions of the party apparatus begin to differ significantly from those of ordinary communists.
At the IX Conference of the RCP(b), in September 1920, there was talk of a crisis within the party itself. It manifested itself, firstly, in the separation between the "tops" and "bottoms", which caused great discontent of the latter. A special commission was even created to study the privileges of the highest party apparatus. Secondly, in the emergence of an intra-party discussion about the ways and methods of building socialism, which came to be called the discussion about trade unions. It dealt with the role of the masses in the building of socialism, the forms of state administration and methods of interaction between communists and non-party people, as well as the principles of the activity of the party itself. The participants split into five platforms and fiercely argued among themselves.
The results of the discussion were summed up by the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) in March 1921. Most of the participants agreed that in a crisis in the country it is an unaffordable luxury and leads to a weakening of the party's authority. At the suggestion of V. I. Lenin, the congress adopted a resolution "On the Unity of the Party", which, under pain of expulsion, contained a ban on participation in factions and groupings.
Thus, the crisis of the end of 1920 had a systemic character and became the main reason that prompted the Bolsheviks to abandon the policy of war communism.
NEP- the new economic policy pursued in Soviet Russia and the USSR in the 1920s. It was adopted on March 14, 1921 by the X Congress of the RCP (b), replacing the policy of "war communism" that was carried out during the Civil War. The New Economic Policy was aimed at restoring the national economy and the subsequent transition to socialism. The main content of the NEP is the replacement of the surplus appropriation tax in the countryside (up to 70% of grain was confiscated during the surplus appropriation tax, about 30% with the food tax), the use of the market and various forms of ownership, the attraction of foreign capital in the form of concessions, the implementation of the monetary reform (1922-1924), in as a result of which the ruble became a convertible currency.
Reasons for the New Economic Policy.
The extremely difficult situation in the country pushed the Bolsheviks to a more flexible economic policy. In different parts of the country (in the Tambov province, in the Middle Volga region, on the Don, Kuban, in Western Siberia), anti-government uprisings of peasants flare up. By the spring of 1921, there were already about 200 thousand people in the ranks of their participants. Discontent spread to the Armed Forces. In March, the sailors and Red Army soldiers of Kronstadt, the largest naval base of the Baltic Fleet, took up arms against the Communists. A wave of mass strikes and demonstrations of workers grew in the cities.
At their core, these were spontaneous outbursts of popular indignation at the policies of the Soviet government. But in each of them, to a greater or lesser extent, there was also an element of organization. It was introduced by a wide range of political forces: from monarchists to socialists. What united these versatile forces was the desire to take control of the popular movement that had begun and, relying on it, to eliminate the power of the Bolsheviks.
It had to be admitted that not only the war, but also the policy of "war communism" led to the economic and political crisis. "Ruin, need, impoverishment" - this is how Lenin characterized the situation that developed after the end of the civil war. By 1921, the population of Russia, compared with the autumn of 1917, decreased by more than 10 million people; industrial production decreased by 7 times; transport was in complete decline; coal and oil production was at the level late XIX in.; crop areas were sharply reduced; gross agricultural output was 67% of the pre-war level. The people were exhausted. For a number of years people lived from hand to mouth. There were not enough clothes, shoes, medicines.
In the spring and summer of 1921, a terrible famine broke out in the Volga region. It was provoked not so much by a severe drought, but by the fact that after the confiscation of surplus products in the autumn, the peasants had neither grain for sowing, nor the desire to sow and cultivate the land. More than 5 million people died from starvation. The consequences of the civil war also affected the city. Due to the lack of raw materials and fuel, many enterprises were closed. In February 1921, 64 of the largest factories in Petrograd stopped, including the Putilovsky one. The workers were on the street. Many of them went to the countryside in search of food. In 1921 Moscow lost half of its workers, Petrograd two-thirds. Labor productivity dropped sharply. In some branches it reached only 20% of the pre-war level.
One of the most tragic consequences of the war years was child homelessness. It increased sharply during the famine of 1921. According to official data, in 1922 in Soviet republic there were 7 million street children. This phenomenon has become so alarming that F. E. Dzerzhinsky, chairman of the Cheka, was placed at the head of the Commission for the Improvement of the Life of Children, designed to combat homelessness.
As a result, Soviet Russia entered a period of peaceful construction with two diverging lines domestic policy. On the one hand, a rethinking of the foundations of economic policy began, accompanied by the emancipation of the economic life of the country from total state regulation. On the other hand, the ossification of the Soviet system, the Bolshevik dictatorship, was preserved, any attempts to democratize society and expand the civil rights of the population were resolutely suppressed.
The essence of the new economic policy:
1) The main political task is to relieve social tension in society, to strengthen the social base of Soviet power, in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants.
2) The economic task is to prevent further deepening of the ruin in the national economy, to get out of the crisis and restore the country's economy.
3) The social task is to provide favorable conditions for building socialism in the USSR, in the final analysis. The minimum program could be called such goals as eliminating hunger, unemployment, raising the material standard, saturating the market with necessary goods and services.
4) And, finally, the NEP pursued another, no less important task - the restoration of normal foreign economic and foreign policy relations, to overcome international isolation.
Consider the main changes that have taken place in the life of Russia with the country's transition to the NEP.
Agriculture
Starting from the 1923-1924 business year, a single agricultural tax was introduced, replacing various taxes in kind. This tax was levied partly in products, partly in money. Later, after the monetary reform, the single tax took on an exclusively monetary form. On average, the size of the food tax was half the size of the surplus appropriation, and its main part was assigned to the prosperous peasantry. Great help in the restoration of agricultural production had state measures to improve agriculture, the mass dissemination of agricultural knowledge and improved methods of farming among the peasants. Among the measures aimed at the restoration and development of agriculture in 1921-1925, an important place was occupied by financial assistance to the countryside. A network of district and provincial agricultural credit societies was created in the country. Loans were provided to low-power horseless, one-horse peasant farms and middle peasants for the purchase of working livestock, machines, implements, fertilizers, for increasing the breed of livestock, improving soil cultivation, etc.
In the provinces that fulfilled the procurement plan, the state grain monopoly was abolished and free trade in grain and all other agricultural products was allowed. Products left over the tax could be sold to the state or on the market at free prices, and this, in turn, significantly stimulated the expansion of production in peasant farms. It was allowed to lease land and hire workers, but there were severe restrictions.
The state encouraged the development of various forms of simple cooperation: consumer, supply, credit, and trade. Thus, in agriculture, by the end of the 1920s, more than half of the peasant households were covered by these forms of cooperation.
Industry
With the transition to the NEP, an impetus was given to the development of private capitalist entrepreneurship. The main position of the state in this matter was that the freedom of trade and the development of capitalism were allowed only to a certain extent and only under the condition of state regulation. In industry, the sphere of activity of a private trader was mainly limited to the production of consumer goods, the extraction and processing of certain types of raw materials, and the manufacture of the simplest tools.
Developing the idea of state capitalism, the government allowed private enterprise to lease small and medium-sized industrial and commercial enterprises. In fact, these enterprises belonged to the state, the program of their work was approved by local government institutions, but production activities were carried out by private entrepreneurs.
A small number of state-owned enterprises were denationalised. It was allowed to open their own enterprises with the number of employees no more than 20 people. By the mid-1920s, the private sector accounted for 20-25% of industrial production.
One of the signs of the NEP was the development of concessions, a special form of lease, i.e. granting foreign entrepreneurs the right to operate and build enterprises on the territory of the Soviet state, as well as to develop the earth's interior, extract minerals, etc. The concession policy pursued the goal of attracting foreign capital to the country's economy.
Of all the branches of industry during the years of the recovery period, mechanical engineering achieved the greatest success. The country began to implement the Leninist plan for electrification. Electricity generation in 1925 was 6 times higher than in 1921 and significantly higher than in 1913. The metallurgical industry lagged far behind the pre-war level, and a lot of work had to be done in this area. great job. The railway transport, which had been badly damaged during the civil war, was gradually restored. The light and food industries were quickly restored.
Thus, in 1921-1925. the Soviet people successfully completed the tasks of restoring industry, and output increased.
Manufacturing control
Big changes took place in the system of economic management. This concerned primarily the weakening of centralization, characteristic of the period of "war communism". Head offices in the Supreme Economic Council were abolished, their local functions were transferred to large district administrations and provincial economic councils.
Trusts, that is, associations of homogeneous or interconnected enterprises, have become the main form of production management in the public sector.
Trusts were endowed with broad powers, they independently decided what to produce, where to sell products, they were financially responsible for the organization of production, the quality of products, and the safety of state property. The enterprises included in the trust were removed from the state supply and switched to the purchase of resources on the market. All this was called "economic accounting" (self-financing), in accordance with which enterprises received complete financial independence, up to the issuance of long-term bonded loans.
Simultaneously with the formation of the trust system, syndicates began to appear, that is, voluntary associations of several trusts for the wholesale sale of their products, the purchase of raw materials, lending, and the regulation of trade operations in the domestic and foreign markets.
Trade
The development of trade was one of the elements of state capitalism. With the help of trade, it was necessary to ensure economic exchange between industry and agriculture, between town and country, without which the normal economic life of society is impossible.
It was supposed to carry out a wide exchange of goods within the limits of local economic turnover. To do this, it was envisaged to oblige state enterprises to hand over their products to a special commodity exchange fund of the republic. But unexpectedly for the leaders of the country, the local trade turned out to be close to the development of the economy, and already in October 1921 it turned into free trade.
Private capital was allowed into the trade area in accordance with the permission received from public institutions for the production of commercial transactions. The presence of private capital in retail trade was especially noticeable, but it was completely excluded from foreign trade, which was carried out exclusively on the basis of a state monopoly. International trade relations were concluded only with the bodies of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade.
D monetary reform
Of no small importance for the implementation of the NEP was the creation of a stable system and the stabilization of the ruble.
As a result of heated discussions, by the end of 1922, it was decided to carry out a monetary reform based on the gold standard. To stabilize the ruble, a denomination of banknotes was carried out, that is, a change in their face value according to a certain ratio of old and new banknotes. First, in 1922, Soviet signs were issued.
Simultaneously with the release of Soviet signs, at the end of November 1922, a new Soviet currency was put into circulation - the "chervonets", equated to 7.74 g of pure gold, or to the pre-revolutionary ten-ruble coin. Chervonets were primarily intended for lending to industry and commercial operations in wholesale trade, it was strictly forbidden to use them to cover the budget deficit.
In the autumn of 1922, stock exchanges were created, where the sale and purchase of currency, gold, government loans at a free rate was allowed. Already in 1925, the chervonets became a convertible currency; it was officially quoted on various currency exchanges around the world. The final stage of the reform was the procedure for the redemption of Soviet signs.
tax reform
Simultaneously with the monetary reform, a tax reform was carried out. Already at the end of 1923, deductions from the profits of enterprises, and not taxes from the population, became the main source of state budget revenues. The logical consequence of the return to a market economy was the transition from taxation in kind to monetary taxation of peasant farms. During this period, new sources of cash tax are being actively developed. In 1921-1922. taxes were imposed on tobacco, liquor, beer, matches, honey, mineral water and other goods.
Banking system
The credit system gradually revived. In 1921, the State Bank, which was abolished in 1918, restored its work. Lending to industry and trade began on a commercial basis. Specialized banks arose in the country: the Commercial and Industrial Bank (Prombank) for financing industry, the Electric Bank for lending to electrification, the Russian Commercial Bank (from 1924 - Vneshtorgbank) for financing foreign trade, etc. These banks carried out short-term and long-term lending, distributed loans, appointed loan, accounting interest and interest on deposits.
The market nature of the economy can be confirmed by the competition that arose between banks in the struggle for customers by providing them with especially favorable credit conditions. Commercial credit, that is, lending to each other by various enterprises and organizations, has become widespread. All this suggests that a single money market with all its attributes has already functioned in the country.
International trade
The monopoly of foreign trade did not make it possible to make fuller use of the country's export potential, since peasants and handicraftsmen received only depreciated Soviet banknotes for their products, and not currency. IN AND. Lenin opposed the weakening of the monopoly of foreign trade, fearing an alleged increase in smuggling. In fact, the government was afraid that producers, having received the right to enter the world market, would feel their independence from the state and would again begin to fight against the authorities. Based on this, the country's leadership tried to prevent the demonopolization of foreign trade
These are the most important measures of the new economic policy carried out by the Soviet state. With all the variety of assessments, the NEP can be called a successful and successful policy, which had a great and invaluable significance. And, of course, like any economic policy, the NEP has vast experience and important lessons.
aim October revolution was, neither more nor less, the construction of an ideal state. A country in which everyone is equal, where there are no rich and poor, where there is no money, and everyone does only what they love, at the call of the soul, and not for a salary. That's just the reality did not want to turn into a happy fairy tale, the economy was rolling down, food riots began in the country. Then it was decided to move to the NEP.
A country that survived two wars and a revolution
By the 20s of the last century, Russia from a huge rich power turned into ruins. First World War, the coup of the 17th year, Civil War- it's not just words.
Millions of dead, destroyed factories and cities, deserted villages. The country's economy was practically destroyed. These were the reasons for the transition to the NEP. Briefly, they can be described as an attempt to return the country to a peaceful track.
The First World War not only depleted the economic and social resources of the country. It also created the ground for deepening the crisis. After the end of the war, millions of soldiers returned home. But there were no jobs for them. The revolutionary years were marked by a monstrous increase in crime, and the reason was not only temporary anarchy and confusion in the country. The young republic was suddenly flooded with people with weapons, people who had lost the habit of peaceful life, and they survived as their experience suggested. The transition to the NEP made it possible to increase the number of jobs in a short time.
Economic disaster
The Russian economy at the beginning of the twentieth century practically collapsed. Production has decreased several times. Large factories were left without management, the thesis "Factories for workers" turned out to be good on paper, but not in life. Small and medium businesses were practically destroyed. Craftsmen and merchants, owners of small manufactories were the first victims of the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. A huge number of specialists and entrepreneurs fled to Europe. And if at first it seemed absolutely normal - an element alien to communist ideals was leaving the country, then it turned out that there were not enough workers for the effective functioning of industry. The transition to the NEP made it possible to revive small and medium-sized businesses, thereby ensuring the growth of gross output and the creation of new jobs.
Crisis of agriculture
The situation with agriculture was just as bad. The cities were starving, a system of wages in kind was introduced. The workers were paid in rations, but they were too small.
To solve the problem of food, a surplus appraisal was introduced. At the same time, up to 70% of the harvested grain was confiscated from the peasants. A paradoxical situation has arisen. Workers fled from the cities to the countryside to feed themselves on the land, but here, too, hunger awaited them, even more severe than before.
The labor of the peasants became meaningless. Work for a whole year, then give everything to the state and starve? Of course, this could not but affect the productivity of agriculture. Under such conditions, the only way to change the situation was to move to the NEP. The date of the adoption of the new economic course was a turning point in the revival of dying agriculture. Only this could stop the wave of riots that swept across the country.
The collapse of the financial system
The prerequisites for the transition to the NEP were not only social. Monstrous inflation devalued the ruble, and products were not so much sold as exchanged.
However, if we recall that the state ideology assumed a complete rejection of money in favor of payment in kind, everything seemed to be normal. But it turned out that it was impossible to provide everyone and everyone with food, clothes, shoes, just like that, according to the list. The state machine is not adapted to perform such small and precise tasks.
The only way that war communism could offer to solve this problem was surplus appropriation. But then it turned out that if the inhabitants of the cities work for food, then the peasants work generally for free. Their grain is taken away without giving anything in return. It turned out that it is almost impossible to establish a commodity exchange without the participation of a monetary equivalent. The only way out in this situation was the transition to the NEP. Briefly describing this situation, we can say that the state was forced to return to the previously rejected market relations, postponing for a while the construction of an ideal state.
Brief essence of the NEP
The reasons for the transition to the NEP were not clear to everyone. Many considered such a policy a huge step back, a return to the petty-bourgeois past, to the cult of enrichment. The ruling party was forced to explain to the population that this was a forced measure of a temporary nature.
Free trade and private enterprise were again revived in the country.
And if earlier there were only two classes: workers and peasants, and the intelligentsia was just a stratum, now the so-called NEPmen have appeared in the country - merchants, manufacturers, small producers. It was they who ensured the effective satisfaction of consumer demand in cities and villages. This is what the transition to the NEP looked like in Russia. The date 03/15/1921 went down in history as the day when the RCP(b) abandoned the tough policy of war communism, once again legitimizing private property and monetary and market relations.
The dual nature of the NEP
Of course, such reforms did not at all mean a full-fledged return to the free market. Large factories and plants, banks still belonged to the state. Only it had the right to dispose of the country's natural resources and conclude foreign economic transactions. The logic of administrative and economic management of market processes was of a fundamental nature. The elements of free trade rather resembled thin shoots of ivy, braiding the granite rock of a rigid state economy.
At the same time, there were a huge number of changes that the transition to the NEP caused. Briefly, they can be described as providing a certain freedom to small producers and traders - but only for a while, to relieve social tensions. And although in the future the state was supposed to return to the old ideological doctrines, such a neighborhood of the command and market economy was planned for quite a long time, sufficient to create a reliable economic base that would make the transition to socialism painless for the country.
NEP in agriculture
One of the first steps towards the modernization of the former economic policy was the abolition of the surplus appraisal. The transition to the NEP provided for a food tax of 30%, handed over to the state not free of charge, but at fixed prices. Even though the cost of grain was small, it was still an obvious progress.
The remaining 70% of the production, the peasants could dispose of independently, albeit within the boundaries of local farms.
Such measures not only stopped the famine, but also gave impetus to the development of the agricultural sector. The hunger has receded. Already by 1925, the gross agricultural product approached pre-war volumes. It was precisely the transition to the NEP that ensured this effect. The year when the surplus appraisal was canceled was the beginning of the rise of agriculture in the country. An agrarian revolution began, collective farms and agricultural cooperatives were massively created in the country, and a technical base was organized.
NEP in industry
The decision to move to the NEP led to significant changes in the management of the country's industry. Although large enterprises were subordinate only to the state, small ones were relieved of the need to obey the central administrations. They could create trusts, independently determining what and how much to produce. Such enterprises independently purchased the necessary materials and independently sold the products, managing their income minus the amount of taxes. The state did not control this process and was not responsible for the financial obligations of the trusts. The transition to the NEP brought back the already forgotten term "bankruptcy" to the country.
At the same time, the state did not forget that the reforms were temporary, and gradually planted the principle of planning in industry. The trusts gradually merged into concerns, uniting enterprises supplying raw materials and manufacturing products into one logical chain. In the future, it was precisely such production segments that were to become the basis of a planned economy.
Financial reforms
Since the reasons for the transition to the NEP were largely economic in nature, an urgent monetary reform was required. There were no specialists of the proper level in the new republic, so the state attracted financiers who had significant experience in the days of tsarist Russia.
As a result of economic reforms, the banking system was restored, direct and indirect taxation was introduced, and payment for some services that were previously provided free of charge. All expenses that did not correspond to the income of the republic were ruthlessly abolished.
A monetary reform was carried out, the first government securities were issued, the country's currency became convertible.
For a while, the government managed to fight inflation by keeping the cost of national currency at a high enough level. But then a combination of incongruous - planned and market economies - destroyed this fragile balance. As a result of significant inflation, the chervonets, which were in use at that time, lost the status of a convertible currency. After 1926, it was impossible to travel abroad with this money.
Completion and results of the NEP
In the second half of the 1920s, the country's leadership decided to move to a planned economy. The country reached the pre-revolutionary level of production, and in fact, in achieving this goal, there were reasons for the transition to the NEP. Briefly, the consequences of applying the new economic approach can be described as very successful.
It should be noted that the country did not have much sense to continue the course towards a market economy. After all, in fact, such a high result was achieved only due to the fact that the production facilities that were inherited from the previous regime were launched. Private entrepreneurs were completely deprived of the opportunity to influence economic decisions; representatives of the revived business did not take part in the government of the country.
Attraction of foreign investments in the country was not welcomed. However, there were not so many who wanted to risk their finances by investing in Bolshevik enterprises. At the same time, there were simply no own funds for long-term investment in capital-intensive industries.
It can be said that by the beginning of the 1930s the NEP had exhausted itself, and this economic doctrine was to be replaced by another one, one that would allow the country to start moving forward.
NEP - " new economic policy» Soviet Russia was an economic liberalization under strict political control of the authorities. NEP has replaced war communism» (« old economic policy”- SEP) and had the main task: to overcome the political and economic crises of the spring of 1921. The main idea of the NEP was the restoration of the national economy for the subsequent transition to socialist construction.
By 1921, the Civil War on the territory of the former Russian Empire generally ended. There were still battles with the unfinished White Guards and Japanese invaders in the Far East (in the Far East), and in the RSFSR they were already assessing the losses caused by military revolutionary upheavals:
Loss of territory- outside Soviet Russia and its allied socialist state formations were Poland, Finland, the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia), Western Belarus and Ukraine, Bessarabia and the Kars region of Armenia.
Population loss as a result of wars, emigration, epidemics and a drop in the birth rate, it amounted to approximately 25 million people. Experts calculated that no more than 135 million people lived in the Soviet territories at that time.
Were thoroughly destroyed and fell into disrepair industrial areas: Donbass, Ural and Baku oil complex. There was a catastrophic shortage of raw materials and fuel for somehow working plants and factories.
The volume of industrial production decreased by about 5 times (metal smelting fell to the level of the beginning of the 18th century).
The volume of agricultural production has decreased by about 40%.
Inflation crossed all reasonable limits.
There was a growing shortage of consumer goods.
The intellectual potential of society has degraded. Many scientists, technicians and cultural figures emigrated, some were subjected to repression, up to physical destruction.
The peasants, outraged by the surplus appropriation and the atrocities of the food detachments, not only sabotaged the delivery of bread, but also everywhere raised armed rebellions. The farmers of the Tambov region, Don, Kuban, Ukraine, the Volga region and Siberia revolted. The rebels, often led by ideological SRs, put forward economic (the abolition of the surplus) and political demands:
- Changes in the agrarian policy of the Soviet authorities.
- Cancel the one-party dictate of the RCP(b).
- Elect and convene a Constituent Assembly.
Units and even formations of the Red Army were thrown to suppress the uprisings, but the wave of protests did not subside. In the Red Army, anti-Bolshevik sentiments also matured, which resulted on March 1, 1921 in the large-scale Kronstadt uprising. In the RCP(b) itself and the Supreme Council of National Economy, already since 1920, the voices of individual leaders (Trotsky, Rykov) were heard, calling for the abandonment of the surplus appraisal. The issue of changing the socio-economic course of the Soviet government is ripe.
Factors that influenced the adoption of the new economic policy
The introduction of the NEP in the Soviet state was not someone's whim, on the contrary, the NEP was due to a number of factors:
Political, economic, social and even ideological. The concept of the New Economic Policy was formulated in general terms by VI Lenin at the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b). The leader urged at this stage to change approaches to governing the country.
The concept that the driving force of the socialist revolution is the proletariat is unshakable. But the working peasantry is its ally, and the Soviet government must learn to "get along" with it.
The country should have a built-in system with a unified ideology suppressing any opposition to the existing government.
Only in such a situation could the NEP provide a solution to the economic problems that wars and revolutions confronted the young Soviet state.
General characteristics of the NEP
The NEP in the Soviet country is an ambiguous phenomenon, since it directly contradicted Marxist theory. When the policy of "war communism" failed, the "new economic policy" played the role of an unplanned detour on the road to building socialism. V. I. Lenin constantly emphasized the thesis: "NEP is a temporary phenomenon." Based on this, the NEP can be broadly characterized by the main parameters:
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The Soviet state allowed private capitalist relations in trade, small-scale and even in some enterprises of medium industry. At the same time, large-scale industry, transport and the financial system were regulated by the state. In relation to private capital, the NEP allowed the application of a formula of three elements: admission, containment and crowding out. What and at what moment to use the Soviet and party organs based on the emerging political expediency.
Chronological framework of the NEP
The New Economic Policy fell within the time frame from 1921 to 1931.
Action | Course of events |
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Starting a process | The gradual curtailment of the system of war communism and the introduction of elements of the NEP. |
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1923, 1925, 1927 | Crises of the New Economic Policy | Emergence and intensification of the causes and signs of the tendency to curtail the NEP. |
Activation of the program termination process. | The actual departure from the NEP, a sharp increase in the critical attitude towards the "kulaks" and "Nepmen". |
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Complete collapse of the NEP. | The legal prohibition of private property has been formalized. |
In general, the NEP quickly restored and made the economic system of the Soviet Union relatively viable.
Pros and cons of the NEP
One of the most important negative aspects of the new economic policy, according to many analysts, was that during this period the industry (heavy industry) did not develop. This circumstance could have catastrophic consequences in this period of history for a country like the USSR. But besides this, in the NEP, not everything was assessed with the sign “plus”, there were also significant disadvantages.
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Restoration and development of commodity-money relations. | Mass unemployment (more than 2 million people). |
Development of small business in the fields of industry and services. | High prices for manufactured goods. Inflation. |
Some rise in the living standards of the industrial proletariat. | Low qualification of the majority of workers. |
The prevalence of "middle peasants" in social structure villages. | Exacerbation of the housing problem. |
Conditions have been created for the industrialization of the country. | Growth in the number of soviet employees (officials). Bureaucracy of the system. |
The reasons for many economic troubles that led to crises were the low competence of personnel and the inconsistency of the policy of the party and state structures.
Inevitable Crises
From the very beginning, the NEP showed the unstable character of capitalist relations. the economic growth, resulting in three crises:
The marketing crisis of 1923, as a result of the discrepancy between low prices for agricultural products and high prices for industrial consumer goods ("scissors" of prices).
The crisis of grain procurements in 1925, expressed in the preservation of mandatory state purchases at fixed prices, with a decrease in the volume of grain exports.
The acute crisis of grain procurements in 1927-1928, overcome with the help of administrative and legal measures. Closing of the New Economic Policy project.
Reasons for abandoning the NEP
The collapse of the NEP in the Soviet Union had a number of justifications:
- The New Economic Policy did not clear vision prospects for the development of the USSR.
- The instability of economic growth.
- Socio-economic flaws (property stratification, unemployment, specific crime, theft and drug addiction).
- The isolation of the Soviet economy from the world economy.
- Dissatisfaction with the NEP by a significant part of the proletariat.
- Disbelief in the success of the NEP by a significant part of the communists.
- The CPSU(b) risked losing its monopoly on power.
- The predominance of administrative methods of managing the national economy and non-economic coercion.
- Aggravation of the danger of military aggression against the USSR.
Results of the New Economic Policy
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The New Economic Policy and was not up to the end understood and accepted as a given by the authorities and the people of the country. To some extent, the NEP measures justified themselves, but there were still more negative aspects of the process. The main result was rapid recovery of the economic system to the level of readiness for the next stage in the construction of socialism - a large-scale industrialization.
NEP (New Economic Policy) was carried out by the Soviet government in the period from 1921 to 1928. It was an attempt to bring the country out of the crisis and give impetus to the development of the economy and agriculture. But the results of the NEP turned out to be terrible, and in the end, Stalin had to hastily interrupt this process in order to create industrialization, since the NEP policy almost completely killed heavy industry.
Reasons for the introduction of the NEP
With the beginning of the winter of 1920, the RSFSR plunged into a terrible crisis. In many ways, it was due to the fact that in 1921-1922 there was a famine in the country. The Volga region was mainly affected (we all remember sadly famous phrase "Starving Volga region"). To this was added the economic crisis, as well as popular uprisings against the Soviet regime. No matter how many textbooks told us that people met the power of the Soviets with applause, this was not so. For example, uprisings took place in Siberia, on the Don, in the Kuban, and the largest - in Tambov. It went down in history under the name of the Antonov uprising or "Antonovshchina". In the spring of 21, about 200 thousand people were involved in the uprisings. Considering that the Red Army was extremely weak by that time, it was a very serious threat for the regime. Then the Kronstadt rebellion was born. At the cost of efforts, but all these revolutionary elements were suppressed, but it became obvious that it was necessary to change the approach to governing the country. And the conclusions were correct. Lenin formulated them as follows:
- the driving force of socialism is the prolitariat, which means the peasants. Therefore, the Soviet government must learn to get along with them.
- it is necessary to create a single party system in the country and destroy any dissent.
This is the whole essence of the NEP - "Economic liberalization under tight political control."
In general, all the reasons for the introduction of the NEP can be divided into ECONOMIC (the country needed an impetus for the development of the economy), SOCIAL (social division was still extremely acute) and POLITICAL (the new economic policy became a means of managing power).
Beginning of the NEP
The main stages of the introduction of the NEP in the USSR:
- Decision of the 10th Congress of the Bolshevik Party of 1921.
- Replacing the apportionment with a tax (in fact, this was the introduction of the NEP). Decree of March 21, 1921.
- Permission for free exchange of agricultural products. Decree of March 28, 1921.
- Creation of cooperatives, which were destroyed in 1917. Decree April 7, 1921.
- The transfer of some industry from the hands of the state to private hands. Decree of May 17, 1921.
- Creation of conditions for the development of private trade. Decree May 24, 1921.
- Permission to TEMPORARILY allow private owners to lease state-owned enterprises. Decree 5 July 1921.
- Permission for private capital to create any enterprises (including industrial ones) with a staff of up to 20 people. If the enterprise is mechanized - no more than 10. Decree July 7, 1921.
- Adoption of a "liberal" Land Code. He allowed not only the lease of land, but also hired labor on it. Decree of October 1922.
The ideological foundation of the NEP was laid at the 10th Congress of the RCP (b), which met in 1921 (if you remember its participants, right from this congress of delegates, went to suppress the Kronstadt rebellion), adopted the NEP and introduced a ban on "dissent" in the RCP (b). The fact is that until 1921 there were different factions in the RCP (b). It was allowed. Logically, and this logic is absolutely correct, if economic concessions are introduced, then inside the party should be a monolith. Therefore, no factions and divisions.
The ideological concept of the NEP was first given by V.I. Lenin. This happened at a speech at the tenth and eleventh congresses of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, which took place in 1921 and 1922, respectively. Also, the rationale for the New Economic Policy was voiced at the third and fourth congresses of the Comintern, which were also held in 1921 and 1922. In addition, Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin played an important role in formulating the tasks of the NEP. It is important to remember that for a long time Bukharin and Lenin acted as opposition to each other on the issues of the NEP. Lenin proceeded from the fact that the moment had come to ease the pressure on the peasants and "make peace" with them. But Lenin was not going to get along with the peasants forever, but for 5-10 years. Therefore, most members of the Bolshevik Party were sure that the NEP, as a forced measure, was introduced only for one grain procurement company, as a trick for the peasantry. But Lenin especially stressed that the course of the NEP was taken for a longer period. And then Lenin said a phrase that showed that the Bolsheviks keep their word - "but we will return to terror, including economic terror." If we recall the events of 1929, then this is exactly what the Bolsheviks did. The name of this terror is Collectivization.
The New Economic Policy was designed for 5, maximum 10 years. And she certainly fulfilled her task, although at some point she threatened the existence of the Soviet Union.
Briefly, according to Lenin, the NEP is a bond between the peasantry and the proletariat. This is what formed the basis of the events of those days - if you are against the bond between the peasantry and the proletariat, then you are against the workers' power, the Soviets and the USSR. The problems of this bond became a problem for the survival of the Bolshevik regime, because the regime simply had neither the army nor the equipment to crush the peasant riots if they started massively and in an organized manner. That is, some historians say - the NEP is the Brest peace of the Bolsheviks with their own people. That is, what kind of Bolsheviks - International Socialists who wanted a world revolution. Let me remind you that this idea was promoted by Trotsky. First, Lenin, who was not a very great theoretician (he was a good practitioner), he defined the NEP as state capitalism. And immediately for this he received a full portion of criticism from Bukharin and Trotsky. And after that, Lenin began to interpret the NEP as a mixture of socialist and capitalist forms. I repeat - Lenin was not a theorist, but a practitioner. He lived according to the principle - it is important for us to take power, but it does not matter what it will be called.
Lenin, in fact, accepted the Bukharin version of the NEP with the wording and other attributes ..
The NEP is a socialist dictatorship based on socialist production relations and regulating the broad petty-bourgeois organization of the economy.
Lenin
According to the logic of this definition, the main task facing the leadership of the USSR was the destruction of the petty-bourgeois economy. Let me remind you that the Bolsheviks called the peasant economy petty-bourgeois. It must be understood that by 1922 the building of socialism had reached a dead end, and Lenin realized that this movement could be continued only through the NEP. It is clear that this is not the main way, and it was contrary to Marxism, but as a workaround, it fit perfectly. And Lenin constantly emphasized that new policy is a temporary phenomenon.
General characteristics of the NEP
The totality of the NEP:
- rejection of labor mobilization and equal pay system for all.
- transfer (partial, of course) of industry into private hands from the state (denationalization).
- creation of new economic associations - trusts and syndicates. The widespread introduction of cost accounting
- the formation of enterprises in the country at the expense of capitalism and the bourgeoisie, including the Western one.
Looking ahead, I will say that the NEP led to the fact that many idealistic Bolsheviks put a bullet in their foreheads. They believed that capitalism was being restored, and they shed their blood in vain during the Civil War. But the non-idealistic Bolsheviks used the NEP very well, because during the NEP it was easy to launder what was stolen during the Civil War. Because, as we will see, the NEP is a triangle: it is the head of a separate link in the Central Committee of the party, the head of a syndicator or trust, and also the NEPman as a "huckster", to put it modern language through which the whole process goes. It was generally a corruption scheme from the very beginning, but the NEP was a forced measure - the Bolsheviks would not have retained power without it.
NEP in trade and finance
- Development of the credit system. In 1921, a state bank was created.
- Reforming the financial and monetary system of the USSR. It was achieved through the reform of 1922 (monetary) and the replacement of money in 1922-1924.
- The emphasis is on private (retail) trade and the development of various markets, including the All-Russian one.
If we try to briefly characterize the NEP, then this design was extremely unreliable. It took ugly forms of merging the personal interests of the country's leadership and everyone who was involved in the "Triangle". Each of them played a role. The black work was done by the Nepman speculator. And this was especially emphasized in Soviet textbooks, they say, it was all the private traders who spoiled the NEP, and we fought them as best we could. But in fact - the NEP led to a colossal corruption of the party. This was one of the reasons for the abolition of the NEP, because if it had been preserved further, the party would simply have completely disintegrated.
Beginning in 1921, the Soviet leadership took a course towards weakening centralization. In addition, much attention was paid to the element of reforming the economic systems in the country. Labor mobilizations were replaced by the labor exchange (unemployment was high). Equalization was abolished, the rationing system was abolished (but for some, the rationing system was a salvation). It is logical that the results of the NEP almost immediately had a positive effect on trade. Naturally in the retail trade. Already at the end of 1921, the NEPmen controlled 75% of the retail trade turnover and 18% in the wholesale trade. NEPmanship became a profitable form of money laundering, especially for those who looted heavily during the civil war. The loot from them lay idle, and now it could be sold through the NEPmen. And a lot of people have laundered their money this way.
NEP in agriculture
- Adoption of the Land Code. (22nd year). The transformation of the tax in kind into a single agricultural tax since 1923 (since 1926, completely in cash).
- Agricultural cooperation cooperation.
- Equal (fair) exchange between agriculture and industry. But this was not achieved, as a result of which the so-called "price scissors" appeared.
At the bottom of society, the turn of the party leadership towards the NEP did not find much support. Many members of the Bolshevik Party were sure that this was a mistake and a transition from socialism to capitalism. Someone simply sabotaged the decision of the NEP, and especially ideological ones, and completely committed suicide. In October 1922, the New Economic Policy affected agriculture - the Bolsheviks began to implement the Land Code with new amendments. Its difference was that it legalized hired labor in the countryside (it would seem that the Soviet government fought precisely against this, but it did the same thing itself). The next step took place in 1923. This year, something happened that many have been waiting for and demanding for so long - the tax in kind has been replaced by the agricultural tax. In 1926, this tax began to be collected entirely in cash.
In general, the NEP was not an absolute triumph of economic methods, as was sometimes written in Soviet textbooks. It was only outwardly a triumph of economic methods. In fact, there were a lot of other things. And I mean not only the so-called excesses of local authorities. The fact is that a significant part of the peasant product was alienated in the form of taxes, and taxation was excessive. Another thing is that the peasant got the opportunity to breathe freely, and this solved some problems. And here, an absolutely unfair exchange between agriculture and industry, the formation of so-called "price scissors" came to the fore. The regime inflated the prices of industrial products and lowered the prices of agricultural products. As a result, in 1923-1924 the peasants worked practically for nothing! The laws were such that about 70% of everything that the village produced, the peasants were forced to sell for next to nothing. 30% of the product they produced was taken by the state at market value, and 70% at a lower price. Then this figure decreased, and it became about 50 to 50. But in any case, this is a lot. 50% of products at a price below the market.
As a result, the worst happened - the market ceased to carry out its direct functions as a means of buying and selling goods. Now it has become an effective means of exploiting the peasants. Only half of the peasant goods were purchased for money, and the other half was collected in the form of tribute (this is the most accurate definition of what happened in those years). The NEP can be characterized as follows: corruption, the apparatus swelled, mass theft of state property. The result was a situation where the products of the production of the peasant economy were used irrationally, and often the peasants themselves were not interested in high yields. This was a logical consequence of what was happening, because the NEP was originally an ugly construct.
NEP in industry
The main features that characterize the New Economic Policy in terms of industry are the almost complete lack of development of this industry and the huge level of unemployment among ordinary people.
The NEP was originally supposed to establish interaction between the city and the countryside, between workers and peasants. But this was not possible. The reason is that the industry was almost completely destroyed as a result of the Civil War, and it was not able to offer something significant to the peasantry. The peasantry did not sell their grain, because why sell it if you can't buy anything with money anyway. They just piled grain and didn't buy anything. Therefore, there was no incentive for the development of industry. It turned out such a "vicious circle". And in 1927-1928, everyone already understood that the NEP had outlived itself, that it did not give an incentive for the development of industry, but, on the contrary, destroyed it even more.
At the same time, it became clear that sooner or later a new war was coming in Europe. Here is what Stalin said about this in 1931:
If in the next 10 years we do not run the path that the West has traveled in 100 years, we will be destroyed and crushed.
Stalin
If you say in simple terms- in 10 years it was necessary to raise the industry from the ruins and put it on a par with the most developed countries. The NEP did not allow this, because it was focused on light industry, and for Russia to be a raw material appendage of the West. That is, in this regard, the implementation of the NEP was a ballast that slowly but surely dragged Russia to the bottom, and if it held this course for another 5 years, it is not known how World War II would end.
The slow rate of industrial growth in the 1920s caused a sharp rise in unemployment. If in 1923-1924 there were 1 million unemployed in the city, then in 1927-1928 there were already 2 million unemployed. The logical consequence of this phenomenon is a huge increase in crime and discontent in cities. For those who worked, of course, the situation was normal. But in general the position of the working class was very difficult.
The development of the USSR economy during the NEP
- Economic booms alternated with crises. Everyone knows the crises of 1923, 1925 and 1928, which led, among other things, to famine in the country.
- Absence unified system development of the country's economy. The NEP crippled the economy. It did not allow the development of industry, but agriculture could not develop under such conditions. These 2 spheres slowed down each other, although the opposite was planned.
- The crisis of grain procurements in 1927-28 28 and as a result - the course towards the curtailment of the NEP.
The most important part of the NEP, by the way, one of the few positive features of this policy, is the "raising from its knees" of the financial system. Do not forget that the Civil War has just died down, which almost completely destroyed the financial system of Russia. Prices in 1921 compared with 1913 increased 200 thousand times. Just think about this number. For 8 years, 200 thousand times ... Naturally, it was necessary to introduce other money. Reform was needed. The reform was carried out by People's Commissar for Finance Sokolnikov, who was assisted by a group of old specialists. In October 1921, the State Bank began its work. As a result of his work, in the period from 1922 to 1924, depreciated Soviet money was replaced by Chervonets
Chervonets was backed by gold, the content of which corresponded to the pre-revolutionary ten-ruble coin, and cost 6 US dollars. Chervonets was backed by our gold and foreign currency.
History reference
Soviet signs were withdrawn and exchanged at the rate of 1 new ruble for 50,000 old signs. This money was called "Sovznaki". During the NEP, cooperation actively developed and economic liberalization was accompanied by the strengthening of communist power. The repressive apparatus was also strengthened. And how did it happen? For example, on June 6, 22, GlavLit was created. This is censorship and establishing control over censorship. A year later, GlavRepedKom appeared, which was in charge of the theater's repertoire. In 1922, more than 100 people, active cultural figures, were deported from the USSR by decision of this body. Others were less fortunate, they were sent to Siberia. The teaching of bourgeois disciplines was banned in schools: philosophy, logic, history. Everything was restored in 1936. Also, the Bolsheviks and the church did not bypass their "attention". In October 1922, the Bolsheviks confiscated jewelry from the church, allegedly to fight hunger. In June 1923, Patriarch Tikhon recognized the legitimacy of Soviet power, and in 1925 he was arrested and died. A new patriarch was no longer elected. The patriarchate was then restored by Stalin in 1943.
On February 6, 1922, the Cheka was transformed into the state political department of the GPU. From emergency, these bodies have turned into state, regular ones.
The culmination of the NEP was 1925. Bukharin appealed to the peasantry (primarily to the prosperous peasant).
Get rich, accumulate, develop your economy.
Bukharin
Bukharin's plan was adopted at the 14th party conference. Stalin actively supported him, and Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev acted as critics. Economic development during the NEP period it was uneven: now a crisis, now an upsurge. And this was due to the fact that the necessary balance between the development of agriculture and the development of industry was not found. The grain procurement crisis of 1925 was the first bell toll on the NEP. It became clear that the NEP would soon end, but due to inertia, he drove for a few more years.
Cancellation of the NEP - reasons for the cancellation
- July and November Plenum of the Central Committee of 1928. Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party and the Central Control Commission (to which one could complain about the Central Committee) April 1929.
- reasons for the abolition of the NEP (economic, social, political).
- was the NEP an alternative to real communism.
In 1926, the 15th party conference of the CPSU (b) met. It condemned the Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition. Let me remind you that this opposition actually called for a war with the peasantry - to take away from them what the authorities need, and what the peasants hide. Stalin sharply criticized this idea, and also directly voiced the position that the current policy has become obsolete, and the country needs a new approach to development, an approach that will allow the restoration of industry, without which the USSR cannot exist.
Since 1926, a trend towards the abolition of the NEP began to gradually emerge. In 1926-27, grain stocks for the first time exceeded pre-war levels and amounted to 160 million tons. But the peasants still did not sell bread, and the industry was suffocating from overexertion. The left opposition (its ideological leader was Trotsky) proposed to withdraw 150 million poods of grain from the wealthy peasants, who made up 10% of the population, but the leadership of the CPSU (b) did not agree to this, because this would mean a concession to the left opposition.
Throughout 1927, the Stalinist leadership conducted maneuvers for the final elimination of the Left Opposition, because without this it was impossible to solve the peasant question. Any attempt to put pressure on the peasants would mean that the party has taken the path of which the "Left Wing" speaks. At the 15th Congress, Zinoviev, Trotsky and other left oppositionists were expelled from the Central Committee. However, after they repented (this was called in the party language "disarm before the party") they were returned, because the Stalinist center needed them for the future struggle with the Bucharest team.
The struggle to abolish the NEP unfolded as a struggle for industrialization. This was logical, because industrialization was the number 1 task for the self-preservation of the Soviet state. Therefore, the results of the NEP can be briefly summarized as follows - the ugly system of the economy created many problems that could only be solved thanks to industrialization.
