The goal of the October Revolution was nothing less than the building 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. The First World War, the coup of the 17th year, the Civil War - these are 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 some time, the government managed to fight inflation by keeping the value of the national currency at a fairly high 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.

Introduction

Studying the history of the Soviet state, it is impossible not to pay attention to the period from 1920 to 1929.

To find a way out of the current economic crisis, not only the experience of other countries, but also the historical Russian experience can be useful. It should also be noted that the knowledge acquired by experience as a result of the NEP has not lost its significance today.

I made an attempt to analyze the reasons for the introduction of the NEP and solve the following tasks: firstly, to characterize the purpose of this policy; secondly, to trace the implementation of the principles of the New Economic Policy in agriculture, industry, the financial sector and planning. Thirdly, while examining the material at the final stage of the NEP, I will try to find an answer to the question why the policy that had not exhausted itself was replaced.

NEP- this is an anti-crisis program, the essence of which was to recreate a multi-structural economy while maintaining the "commanding heights" in politics, economics, and ideology in the hands of the Bolshevik government.

Reasons and prerequisites for the transition to the NEP

• - A deep economic and financial crisis that has engulfed industry and agriculture.
• - Mass uprisings in the countryside, speeches in the cities, and the army and at the front.
• - The collapse of the idea of ​​"introducing socialism by eliminating market relations"
• - The desire of the Bolsheviks to retain power.
• - The decline of the revolutionary wave in the West.

Goals:

Political: remove social tension, strengthen social. the base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants;

Economic: get out of the crisis, restore agriculture, develop industry on the basis of electrification;

Social: without waiting for the world revolution, to ensure favorable conditions for building a socialist society;

Foreign policy: overcome international isolation and restore political and economic relations with other states.

The leading ideologists of the NEP, apart from Lenin, were N.I. Bukharin, G.Ya. Sokolnikov, Yu. Larin.

By the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of March 21, 1921, adopted on the basis of the decisions of the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), the surplus appropriation was canceled and replaced by a tax in kind, which was about half as much. Such a significant indulgence gave a certain incentive to the development of production, the peasantry, tired of the war.

The introduction of the tax in kind did not become a single measure. The 10th Congress proclaimed the New Economic Policy. Its essence is the assumption of market relations. The NEP was seen as a temporary policy aimed at creating the conditions for socialism.

There was no organized tax and financial system in the country. There was a sharp drop in labor productivity and the real wages of workers (even when taking into account not only the monetary part of it, but also supplies at fixed prices and free distributions).

The peasants were forced to hand over all the surpluses, and most often even part of the most necessary things, to the state without any equivalent, because. there were almost no industrial goods. Products were confiscated by force. Because of this, mass demonstrations of peasants began in the country.

Since August 1920, in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces, the “kulak” rebellion continued, led by the Socialist-Revolutionary A.S. Antonov; a large number of peasant formations operated in Ukraine (Petliurists, Makhnovists, etc.); insurgent centers arose in the Middle Volga region, on the Don and Kuban. The West Siberian "rebels", led by the Social Revolutionaries and former officers, in February-March 1921 created armed formations of several thousand people, captured almost the entire territory

Tyumen province, the cities of Petropavlovsk, Kokchetav and others, interrupting the railway communication between Siberia and the center of the country for three weeks.

The Decree on the Tax in Kind was the beginning of the liquidation of the economic methods of "war communism" and the turning point for the New Economic Policy. The development of the ideas underlying this decree was the basis of the NEP. However, the transition to the NEP was not seen as a restoration of capitalism. It was believed that, having strengthened in the main positions, the Soviet state would be able to expand the socialist sector in the future, ousting the capitalist elements.

An important moment in the transition from direct product exchange to a monetary economy was the decree of August 5, 1921 on the restoration of the mandatory collection of payments for goods sold by state bodies to individuals and organizations, incl. cooperative. For the first time, wholesale prices began to form, which had previously been absent due to the planned supply of enterprises. The Price Committee was in charge of setting wholesale, retail, procurement prices and charges on the prices of monopoly goods.

Thus, until 1921, the economic and political life of the country proceeded in accordance with the policy of "war communism", a policy of complete rejection of private property, market relations, absolute control and management by the state. Management was centralized, local enterprises and institutions did not have any independence. But all these cardinal changes in the country's economy were introduced spontaneously, were not planned and viable. Such a tough policy only exacerbated the devastation in the country. It was a time of fuel, transport and other crises, the fall of industry and agriculture, the lack of bread and the rationing of products. There was chaos in the country, there were constant strikes and demonstrations. In 1918 martial law was introduced in the country. In order to get out of the plight created in the country after the wars and revolutions, it was necessary to make cardinal socio-economic changes.

In 1921-1941. the economy of the RSFSR and the USSR went through two stages in the development:

• 1921-1929 gg. - NEP period, during which the state temporarily moved away from total administrative-command methods, went to the partial denationalization of the economy and the admission of small and medium-sized private capitalist activities;
• 1929-1941 gg. - the period of return to the full nationalization of the economy, collectivization and industrialization, transition to a planned economy.

A significant change in the economic policy of the country in 1921 was caused by:

ü The policy of “war communism”, which justified itself in the midst of the civil war (1918 - 1920) , became ineffective during the transition of the country to civilian life;

ü The "military" economy did not provide the state with everything necessary, forced unpaid labor was inefficient;

ü Agriculture was in an extremely neglected state; there was an economic and spiritual break between the city and the countryside, between the peasants and the Bolsheviks;

ü Anti-Bolshevik uprisings of workers and peasants began across the country (the largest: “Antonovshchina” - a peasant war against the Bolsheviks in the Tambuv province led by Antonov: the Kronstadt rebellion);

ü The slogans “For Soviets without Communists!”, “All power to the Soviets, not to the parties!”, “Down with the dictatorship of the proletariat!” became popular in society!

With the further preservation of "war communism", labor service, non-monetary exchange and distribution of benefits by the state the Bolsheviks risked finally losing the confidence of the majority of the masses - workers, peasants and soldiers who supported them during the civil war.

At the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921. there is a significant change in the economic policy of the Bolsheviks:

b At the end December 1920 the GOELRO plan is adopted at the VIII Congress of Soviets;

b B March 1921 at the Tenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a decision is made to end the policy of "war communism" and start a new economic policy (NEP);

b Both decisions, especially about NEP, are made by the Bolsheviks after fierce discussions, with the active influence of V.I. Lenin.

GOELRO plan- The state plan for the electrification of Russia assumed within 10 years to carry out work on the electrification of the country. This plan provided for the construction of power plants, power lines throughout the country; distribution of electrical engineering, both in production and in everyday life.

According to V.I. Lenin, electrification was to be the first step in overcoming the economic backwardness of Russia. The importance of this task was emphasized by V.I. Lenin with the phrase: Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.. After the adoption of the GOELRO party, electrification became one of the main directions of the economic policy of the Soviet government. Back to top 1930s in the USSR as a whole, a system of electrical networks was created, the use of electricity was widespread in industry and in everyday life, in 1932s on the Dnieper was launched the first large power plant - Dneproges. Subsequently, the construction of hydroelectric power plants began throughout the country.

Nep's first steps

1. Replacing the surplus in the countryside with a tax in kind;

Prodrazverstka It is a system of procurement of agricultural products. It consisted in the obligatory delivery by the peasants to the state at fixed prices of all surpluses (in excess of the established norms for personal and household needs) of bread and other products. It was carried out by food detachments, commanders, local Soviets. Plan assignments were deployed by counties, volosts, villages, and peasant households. This angered the peasants.

2. Cancellation of labor service - labor ceased to be mandatory (like military service) and became free;

labor service - voluntary opportunity or legal obligation to perform socially useful work (usually low paid or not paid at all)

• 3. Gradual rejection of the distribution and introduction of monetary circulation;
• 4. Partial denationalization of the economy.

When the NEP was carried out by the Bolsheviks exclusively command-administrative methods began to be replaced by:

b State-capitalist methods in big industry

b Partially capitalist methods in small and medium production, service sector.

At the beginning 1920s created throughout the country trusts, which united many enterprises, sometimes industries and managed them. The trusts tried to work as capitalist enterprises (they independently organized production and marketing of products based on economic interests; they were self-financing), but at the same time they were owned by the Soviet state, and not by individual capitalists. Because of this, this stage NEP was named state capitalism(as opposed to "war communism", its control-distribution and private capitalism in the USA and other countries)

Trusts - this is one of the forms of monopolistic associations, in which the participants lose their industrial, commercial, and sometimes even legal independence.

The largest trusts Soviet state capitalism were:

b "Donugol"

b "Chemical Coal"

b Yugostal

b "State trust of machine-building plants"

b Severles

b "Sakharotrest"

In small and medium-sized production, in the sphere of service, the state decided to allow private capitalist methods.

The most common areas of application of private capital:

• - Agriculture
• - petty trade
• - Handicraft
• - Service sector

Private shops, shops, restaurants, workshops, and private households in the countryside are being set up across the country.

“... By the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, the apportionment is canceled, and instead a tax on agricultural products is introduced. This tax should be less than the grain allocation. It should be appointed even before the spring sowing, so that each peasant can take into account in advance what share of the crop he must give to the state and how much will remain at his full disposal. The tax should be levied without mutual responsibility, that is, it should fall on an individual householder, so that a diligent and industrious owner does not have to pay for a sloppy fellow villager. When the tax is paid, the remaining surplus of the peasant is placed at his full disposal. He has the right to exchange them for food and implements, which the state will deliver to the countryside from abroad and from its own factories and factories; he can use them to exchange for the products he needs through cooperatives and in local markets and bazaars ... "

The tax in kind was initially set at about 20% of the net product of peasant labor (that is, to pay it, it was necessary to turn in almost half as much bread as with food appropriation), and subsequently it was planned to be reduced to 10% of the crop and converted into cash.

By 1925, it became clear that the national economy had come to a contradiction: political and ideological factors, the fear of the “degeneration” of power, prevented further progress towards the market; the return to the military-communist type of economy was hampered by memories of the peasant war of 1920 and mass famine, the fear of anti-Soviet speeches.

The most common form of small private farming was cooperation - association of several persons for the purpose of carrying out economic or other activities. In Russia, production, consumer, trade, and other types of cooperatives are being created.

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 the degradation of 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, surviving 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, 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: the hopes for a world revolution had finally collapsed. 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 construction 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.

The situation in Russia was critical. The country lay in ruins. The level of production, including agricultural products, fell sharply. However, there was no longer a serious threat to the power of the Bolsheviks. In this situation, in order to normalize relations and social life in the country, it was, at the 10th Congress of the RCP (b), a decision was made to introduce a new economic policy, abbreviated NEP.

The reasons for the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP) from the policy of war communism were:

• the urgent need to normalize relations between town and country;
• the need for economic recovery;
• the problem of stabilizing money;
• dissatisfaction of the peasantry with the surplus appropriation, which led to the intensification of the insurrectionary movement (kulak revolt);
• desire to restore foreign policy ties.

The NEP policy was proclaimed on March 21, 1921. From that moment on, the surplus appraisal was cancelled. It was replaced by half the tax in kind. He, at the request of the peasant, could be brought in both money and products. However, the tax policy of the Soviet government became a serious deterrent to the development of large peasant farms. If the poor were exempted from payments, then the prosperous peasantry bore a heavy tax burden. In an effort to elude their payment, prosperous peasants, kulaks, split up their farms. At the same time, the rate of fragmentation of farms was twice as high as in the pre-revolutionary period.

Market relations were again legalized. The development of new commodity-money relations led to the restoration of the all-Russian market, as well as, to some extent, private capital. During the NEP, the country's banking system was formed. Direct and indirect taxes are introduced, which become the main source of state revenues (excises, income and agricultural taxes, service fees, etc.).

Due to the fact that the policy of the NEP in Russia was seriously hampered by inflation and the instability of monetary circulation, a monetary reform was undertaken. By the end of 1922, a stable monetary unit appeared - the gold piece, which was backed by gold or other valuables.

An acute shortage of capital led to the beginning of active administrative intervention in the economy. First, the administrative influence on the industrial sector increased (Regulations on State Industrial Trusts), and soon it spread to the agricultural sector.

As a result, the NEP by 1928, despite frequent crises provoked by the incompetence of new leaders, led to a noticeable economic growth and a certain improvement in the situation in the country. The national income increased, the financial situation of citizens (workers, peasants, as well as employees) became more stable.

The process of restoration of industry and agriculture was going on rapidly. But, at the same time, the backlog of the USSR from the capitalist countries (France, the USA and even Germany, which lost the First World War) inevitably increased. The development of heavy industry and agriculture required large long-term investments. For the further industrial development of the country, it was also necessary to increase the marketability of agriculture.

It is worth noting that the NEP had a considerable impact on the culture of the country. Management of art, science, education, culture was centralized and transferred to the State Commission for Education, headed by Lunacharsky A.V.

Despite the fact that the new economic policy was, for the most part, successful, already after 1925, attempts to curtail it began. The reason for the curtailment of the NEP was the gradual intensification of contradictions between the economy and politics. The private sector and the resurgent agriculture sought to provide political guarantees for their own economic interests. This provoked an internal party struggle. And the new economic policy did not suit the new members of the Bolshevik Party - the peasants and workers who went bankrupt during the NEP.

Officially, the NEP was curtailed on October 11, 1931, but in fact, already in October 1928, the implementation of the first five-year plan began, as well as collectivization in the countryside and the forced industrialization of production.

Under the conditions of the Civil War and the military-communist policy, the population lost any material incentives for production. However, it seemed to the leaders of the Bolsheviks that their policy was not emergency and forced, but quite natural. They were building a classless society of the future, free from commodity-money relations, communism. In response, powerful peasant uprisings broke out one after another in different parts of the country (in the Tambov province, the Middle Volga region, on the Don, the Kuban, in Western Siberia). By the spring of 1921, there were already over 200,000 people in the ranks of those who rebelled against the Bolshevik dictatorship. The surplus in 1920 was not carried out, huge efforts were spent on suppressing rebellions and peasant uprisings.

In March 1921, the sailors and Red Army men of Kronstadt, the largest naval base of the Baltic fleet, took up arms against the Bolsheviks. The workers' movement rises up against the power of the Bolsheviks, who spoke of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the cities, a wave of strikes and demonstrations of workers is growing. IN AND. Lenin was forced to characterize the situation of the winter of 1920-spring of 1921 as an economic and political crisis of Soviet power.

The power of the Bolsheviks was under threat. L.D. Trotsky, in order to overcome the crisis, demanded that the measures of "war communism" be tightened: to separate the peasants from the land, to create gigantic labor armies and use them on the construction sites of communism. Trotsky also proposed strengthening punitive and repressive organs for organized violence against those who would not voluntarily join the labor armies. His opponents from the so-called "workers' opposition" (A.G. Shlyapnikov, A.M. Kollontai and others) proposed, on the contrary, to abandon the leading role of the Bolsheviks and transfer control to the trade unions.

The most soberly dangerous situation for the Bolsheviks was assessed by Lenin. He refuses to attempt an immediate transition to communism through violence. Domestic policy is built in two directions:

1. In the economic sphere, the Bolsheviks abandoned their previous course. In order to save their power, they are ready to make concessions to the peasants, go to the liberation of economic life from total state control.

2. In the political sphere, the previous course was toughened. Centralization and the struggle against opposition forces intensified, and the dictatorial character of Bolshevik rule was preserved.

The first "anti-crisis" measure of the Bolsheviks was the replacement of the surplus with a natural tax in kind. It was approved by the X Congress of the RCP (b), held on March 8-16, 1921. The replacement of the surplus tax with food tax and the permission of free trade marked the beginning of the New Economic Policy (NEP).

With the introduction of the tax in kind (it was less than the surplus and was announced in advance, on the eve of sowing), the peasant had surpluses that he could freely dispose of, i.e. trade. Free trade led to the destruction of the state monopoly not only in the distribution of agricultural products, but also in the management of industry in the city. Enterprises are transferred to self-financing, which made it possible to gradually transition to self-sufficiency, self-financing and self-government. Introduced material incentives for workers. Many enterprises were leased to cooperatives, partnerships or individuals. Thus, the decree on the nationalization of all small and handicraft industries was canceled.

Under the new regulation of July 7, 1921, handicraft or industrial production could be opened, but no more than one per owner. It was allowed to hire up to 10 workers in mechanized production (“with a motor”) and up to 20 without mechanization (“without a motor”). More specialists began to be attracted to state-owned factories. The abolition of the law on universal labor service in 1921 made it possible to engage in entrepreneurship. The process of formation of the "Soviet bourgeoisie" (NEPmen) began.

The beginning of the NEP coincided with the famine - a consequence of the former policy of "war communism", which deprived agriculture of any reserves, making it defenseless against any crop failure. The grain-bearing regions of Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Crimea, the Urals and the Volga region in 1921 were engulfed in drought. In 1921-1922 about 40 provinces with 90 million people were starving, of which 40 million were on the verge of death.

The government was looking for a way out. A number of commissions to help the starving were created. A campaign began for the Russian church to voluntarily donate its valuables to the fund for rescuing the starving, and valuables began to come from Russian emigrants. However, persecution soon began on the church. For the purchase of food, church property was confiscated, often cruelly. Works of art were sold abroad. The Soviet government appeals to the world for help. It is proposed and provided by the American Relief Administration (ARA), the international proletariat, and the European states.

One of the most important elements of the NEP was the monetary reform of 1922-1924. (People's Commissar for Finance G.Ya. Sokolnikov). The reform began at the end of 1922 with the release of the Soviet chervonets. From that time until March 1924, a stable gold coin and a falling Soviet sign were in circulation at the same time. In 1924, the State Bank bought the remaining Soviet money from the population. The golden chervonets was valued above the British pound sterling and was equal to 5 dollars 14.5 US cents. The ruble has become an international currency.

Among the most important laws adopted by the Soviet government in the early 1920s is the law on concessions (permission, concession). The Soviet country, under an agreement, transferred natural resources, enterprises or other economic facilities to foreign entrepreneurs for a certain period of time. Through concessions V.I. Lenin saw an opportunity to acquire the necessary machines and locomotives, machine tools and equipment, without which it was impossible to restore the economy.

Concessions were concluded between the government of the RSFSR and the Great Northern Telegraphic Society (1921) for the operation of underwater telegraph lines between Russia, Denmark, Japan, China, Sweden and Finland. In 1922, the first international airline Moscow - Koenigsberg was opened. Special joint-stock enterprises are created - Russian, foreign, mixed. But in the future, concessions and mixed enterprises did not develop due to state intervention, which limited the freedom of entrepreneurs.

The cooperation, which during the years of "war communism" was an appendage of the People's Commissariat for Food, received relative independence. The efficiency of cooperative production was at least twice that of state industry. It was provided with a freer organization of labor. In industry by the mid-1920s. 18% of enterprises were cooperative. 2/3 of the cooperative commodity product fell on the cities. By 1927, 1/3 of all peasant households were covered by agricultural cooperation. It consisted of about 50 different types of associations: credit, sugar beet, potato, butter, etc.

The agrarian policy of the Soviet government supported the economically weak poor and middle peasant farms. At the same time, the growth of large peasant (kulak) farms is restrained with the help of tax policy and regular redistribution of land. The share of large farms did not rise above 5% of the total number in the country. However, they were the producers of marketable products. Farms are closed in production for their own consumption, not sale. Population growth leads to fragmentation of peasant households. There is stagnation and a decline in production. At the same time, prices for agricultural products are artificially lowered by the state, which makes their production unprofitable.

The needs for agricultural products of the urban population and industry are increasing, but they cannot be satisfied. The state that retained control over the "command" heights, i.e. over large industry and banks, constantly sought to dictate its terms in other sectors of the economy. Funds for the maintenance of large-scale industry were constantly withdrawn from other sectors of the economy, hindering their development. The inflated prices of manufactured goods made them unaffordable for the countryside. This is the most important reason for the crises of the NEP of 1923, 1925, 1928, which, in the end, led to the establishment of a rigid command and administrative system, military-communist in its content.

Literature

1. NEP. Side view: Collection / comp. V.V. Kudryavtsev. - M. -1991. - S. 42-56.

2. Russia and the world. Educational book on history. In 2 hours / under total. ed. A.A. Danilova. - M.: VLADOS, 1994. - Part 2. - S. 101-131.

3. Talapin, A.N. National history. Course of lectures: textbook. manual for students of non-humanitarian faculties of higher professional education / A.N. Talapin, A.A. Tsindic. - Omsk: Publishing House of OmGPU, 2012. - S. 98-99.