Unified State Exam. History. Briefly. War communism. The policy of "war communism", its essence

All cheerful time of day! In this post, we will focus on such an important topic as the policy of war communism - we will briefly analyze its key provisions. This topic is very difficult, but it is constantly checked on exams. Ignorance of concepts, terms related to this topic will inevitably lead to a low rating with all the ensuing consequences.

The essence of the policy of war communism

The policy of war communism is a system of socio-economic measures that the Soviet leadership implemented in and which was based on the key postulates of Marxist-Leninist ideology.

This policy consisted of three components: the Red Guard attack on capital, nationalization and the confiscation of grain from the peasants.

One of these postulates states that it is an inevitable evil for the development of society and the state. It gives rise, first, to social inequality, and, second, to the exploitation of some classes by others. For example, if you own a lot of land - you will hire hired workers to cultivate it - and this is exploitation.

Another postulate of the Marxist-Leninist theory is that money is evil. Money makes people greedy and self-serving. Therefore, money was simply liquidated, trade was prohibited, even simple barter - the exchange of goods for goods.

Red Guard attack on capital and nationalization

Therefore, the first component of the Red Guard attack on capital was the nationalization of private banks and their subordination to the State Bank. The entire infrastructure was also nationalized: communication lines, railways and so on. Also, workers' control was approved at the factories. In addition, the decree on land destroyed private ownership of land in the countryside and transferred it to the peasantry.

All foreign trade was monopolized so that citizens could not get rich. Also, the entire river fleet passed into state ownership.

The second component of the policy under consideration was nationalization. On June 28, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars issued a Decree on the transfer of all industries into the hands of the state. What did all these measures mean for the owners of banks and factories?

Well, imagine - you are a foreign businessman. You have assets in Russia: a couple of steel plants. October 1917 comes, and after a while the local Soviet government announces that your factories are state-owned. And you won't get a penny. She cannot buy these enterprises from you, because there is no money. But appropriation is easy. So how? Do you like this? No! And your government won't like it. Therefore, the response to such measures was the intervention of England, France, Japan in Russia during the Civil War.

Of course, some countries, for example Germany, began to buy from their businessmen the shares of companies that the Soviet government decided to appropriate. This could have led to the intervention of this country in the course of nationalization. Therefore, the above-mentioned Decree of the Council of People's Commissars was adopted so hastily.

Food dictatorship

To supply the cities and the army with food, the Soviet government introduced another measure of war communism - the food dictatorship. Its essence was that now the state voluntarily and forcibly confiscated grain from the peasants.

It is clear that the latter will not hurt to hand over bread for free in the amount necessary for the state. Therefore, the country's leadership continued the tsarist measure - food appropriation. Provisional appropriation is when the required amount of grain is distributed across the regions. And it doesn't matter whether you have this bread or not - it will be confiscated anyway.

It is clear that the wealthy peasants - the kulaks - had the lion's share of the grain. They will definitely not surrender anything voluntarily. Therefore, the Bolsheviks acted very cunningly: they created committees of the poor (kombeda), which were entrusted with the duty of confiscating grain.

Well, look. Who is more on the tree: poor or rich? It is clear - the poor. Are they jealous of their wealthy neighbors? Naturally! So let them confiscate their bread! Food detachments (food detachments) helped to confiscate bread to the kombeda. So, in fact, the policy of War Communism took place.

To organize the material, use the table:

	War communism policy
"Military" - this policy was caused by the extraordinary conditions of the Civil War					"Communism" - a serious influence on economic policy was exerted by the ideological convictions of the Bolsheviks, who aspired to communism
		Why?
	Main activities
↓			↓				↓
In industry			In agriculture				In the field of commodity-money relations
↓			↓				↓
All enterprises were nationalized			The kombeds were disbanded. A decree was issued on the allocation of grain and fodder.				Free trade ban. Food was given as a salary.

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War communism policy - was carried out by the Soviet government in the period from 1918 to 1920. Introduced and developed by the commander of the Council of People's and Peasants' Defense V.I. Lenin and his associates. It was aimed at uniting the country and preparing the people for life in the new communist state, where there is no division into rich and poor. Such a modernization of society (the transition from a traditional system to a modern one) caused discontent among the most numerous strata - peasants and workers. Lenin himself called it a forced measure to achieve the goals set by the Bolsheviks. As a result, from a saving tactics, this system grew into a terrorist dictatorship of the proletariat.

What is called the politics of war communism

This process took place in three directions: economic, ideological and social. The characteristics of each of them are presented in the table.

Directions of the political program	Characteristics
economic	The Bolsheviks developed a program for Russia to get out of the crisis, which it had been in since the war with Germany that began in 1914. The situation was further aggravated by the 1917 revolution, and later by the Civil War. The main emphasis was placed on increasing the productivity of enterprises and the general recovery of industry.
ideological	Some scholars, representatives of nonconformism, believe that this policy is an attempt to put Marcian ideas into practice. The Bolsheviks strove to create a society consisting of hardworking workers who devote all their strength to the development of military affairs and other state needs.
social	The creation of a just communist society is one of the goals of Lenin's policy. Such ideas were actively promoted among the people. This explains the involvement of so many peasants and workers. They were promised, in addition to improving living conditions, an increase in social status through the establishment of universal equality.

This policy presupposed a large-scale restructuring not only in the public administration system, but also in the minds of citizens. The authorities saw a way out of this situation only in the forced unification of the people in an aggravated military situation, which was called "war communism".

What the policy of War Communism assumed

The main features of historians include:

• centralization of the economy and nationalization of industry (complete control by the state);
• prohibition of private trade and other types of individual entrepreneurship;
• introduction of food appropriation (compulsory confiscation of a part of bread and other products by the state);
• compulsion to work of all citizens from 16 to 60 years old;
• monopolization in the field of agriculture;
• equalization of all citizens in their rights and the construction of a just state.

Traits and features

The new political program was of a pronounced totalitarian character. Designed to improve the economy and raise the spirit of the war-worn people, it, on the contrary, destroyed both the first and the second.

A post-revolutionary situation existed in the country at that time, which grew into a military one. All the resources provided by industry and agriculture were taken away by the front. The essence of the communists' policy was to defend the workers' and peasants' power by any means, plunging the country into a "half-starved and worse than half-starved" state in his own words.

A distinctive feature of war communism was the fierce struggle between capitalism and socialism that flared up against the background of the civil war. The bourgeoisie, which actively advocated the preservation of private property and the free trade sector, became a supporter of the first system. Socialism was supported by adherents of communist views, who made exactly opposite statements. Lenin believed that the revival of the capitalist policy that existed in tsarist Russia for half a century would lead the country to destruction and ruin. In the opinion of the leader of the proletariat, such an economic system ruins the working people, enriches the capitalists and engenders speculation.

The new political program was introduced by the Soviet government in September 1918. It involved holding such events as:

• introduction of food appropriation (confiscation of food products from working people for the needs of the front)
• universal labor service of citizens from 16 to 60 years old
• cancellation of payment for transport and utilities
• provision of free housing by the state
• centralization of the economy
• private trade ban
• establishing a direct exchange of goods between the countryside and the city

Causes of War Communism

The reasons for the introduction of such extraordinary measures were provoked:

• the weakening of the state's economy after the First World War and the 1917 revolution;
• the desire of the Bolsheviks to centralize power and take the country under their total control;
• the need to supply the front with food and weapons against the backdrop of the unfolding Civil War;
• the desire of the new authorities to provide peasants and workers with the right to legal labor activities, fully controlled by the state

War communism politics and agriculture

A tangible blow was dealt to agriculture. The inhabitants of the villages where the "food terror" was carried out especially suffered from the new policy. In support of military-communist ideas, on March 26, 1918, the decree "On the organization of trade" was issued. It meant bilateral cooperation: supplying everything necessary for both the city and the village. In fact, it turned out that the entire agrarian industry and agriculture worked only with the aim of restoring heavy industry. For the sake of this, a redistribution of land was carried out, as a result of which the peasants increased their land holdings by more than 2 times.

Comparative table on the results of the policy of war communism and the NEP:

	War communism policy
Reasons for the introduction	The need to unite the country and increase all-Russian productivity, after the First World War and the 1917 revolution	People's dissatisfaction with the dictatorship of the proletariat, economic recovery
Economy	Destruction of the economy, plunging the country into an even greater crisis	Notable economic growth, implementation of a new monetary reform, the country's exit from the crisis
Market relations	Ban on private property and personal capital	Restoring private capital, legalizing market relations
Industry and agriculture	Nationalization of industry, total control of the activities of all enterprises, the introduction of food appropriation, general decline

Causes of occurrence... The internal policy of the Soviet state during the civil war was called "the policy of war communism." The term "war communism" was proposed by the famous Bolshevik A.A. Bogdanov back in 1916. In his book "Questions of Socialism" he wrote that during the war the internal life of any country is subject to a special logic of development: most of the able-bodied population leaves the sphere of production, producing nothing, and consumes a lot. The so-called "consumer communism" emerges. At the same time, a significant part of the national budget is spent on military needs. This inevitably requires restrictions on consumption and state control over distribution. War also leads to the collapse of democratic institutions in the country, so we can say that War communism was driven by the needs of wartime.

Another reason for the folding of this policy can be considered Bolshevik Marxist views who came to power in Russia in 1917, Marx and Engels did not elaborate in detail the features of the communist formation. They believed that there would be no place for private property and commodity-money relations in it, but there would be an equalizing principle of distribution. However, it was about the industrially developed countries and about the world socialist revolution as a one-time act. Ignoring the immaturity of the objective prerequisites for the socialist revolution in Russia, a significant part of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution insisted on the immediate implementation of socialist transformations in all spheres of society, including the economy. A trend of "left communists" emerged, the most prominent representative of which was N.I. Bukharin.

Left-wing communists insisted on rejection of any compromises with the world and Russian bourgeoisie, the speedy expropriation of all forms of private property, curtailment of commodity-money relations, the abolition of money, the introduction of the principles of equalizing distribution and socialist orders literally "from today". These views were shared by most of the members of the RSDLP (b), which was clearly manifested in the debate at the VII (Extraordinary) Party Congress (March 1918) on the ratification of the Brest Peace. Until the summer of 1918 V.I. Lenin criticized the views of the left-wing communists, which is especially clearly seen in his work "The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power." He insisted on the need to halt the "Red Guard attack on capital", to organize accounting and control at already nationalized enterprises, to strengthen labor discipline, to fight parasites and idlers, to widely use the principle of material incentives, to use bourgeois specialists, and to allow foreign concessions on certain conditions. When, after the transition to NEP in 1921, V.I. Lenin was asked if he had any earlier thoughts about NEP, he answered in the affirmative and referred to "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Power." True, here Lenin defended the erroneous idea of ​​direct product exchange between town and country through the general cooperation of the rural population, which brought his position closer to that of the "left communists". It can be said that in the spring of 1918 the Bolsheviks chose between the policy of attacking the bourgeois elements, of which the "Left Communists" were supporters, and the policy of gradual entry into socialism, which Lenin proposed. The fate of this choice was ultimately decided by the spontaneous development of the revolutionary process in the countryside, the beginning of the intervention and the mistakes of the Bolsheviks in agrarian policy in the spring of 1918.

The policy of "war communism" was largely due to the hopes for the earliest possible implementation of the world revolution. The leaders of Bolshevism viewed the October Revolution as the beginning of a world revolution and expected the arrival of the latter from day to day. In the first months after October in Soviet Russia, if they were punished for an insignificant offense (petty theft, hooliganism), they wrote “imprisoned until the victory of the world revolution,” therefore there was a conviction that compromises with the bourgeois counter-revolution were inadmissible, and that the country would turn into a single military camp, about the militarization of all inner life.

The essence of politics... The policy of "war communism" included a set of measures that affected the economic and socio-political sphere. The basis of "war communism" was extraordinary measures in supplying cities and the army with food, the curtailment of commodity-money relations, the nationalization of the entire industry, including small, food appropriation, the supply of food and industrial goods to the population on ration cards, universal labor service and the maximum centralization of management of the national economy and the country. generally.

Chronologically, "war communism" falls on the period of the civil war, but certain elements of politics began to emerge at the end
1917 - early 1918 This applies primarily nationalization of industry, banks and transport."Red Guard attack on capital",
which began after the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the introduction of workers' control (November 14, 1917), was temporarily suspended in the spring of 1918. In June 1918, its rates accelerated and all large and medium-sized enterprises were transferred to state ownership. In November 1920, the confiscation of small businesses took place. So it happened destruction of private property... A characteristic feature of "War Communism" is extreme centralization of national economy management... At first, the management system was built on the principles of collegiality and self-government, but over time, the inconsistency of these principles becomes obvious. The factory committees lacked the competence and experience to manage. The leaders of Bolshevism realized that they had previously exaggerated the degree of revolutionary consciousness of the working class, which was not ready to rule. The stake is placed on state management of economic life. On December 2, 1917, the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) was created. Its first chairman was N. Osinsky (V.A.Obolensky). The tasks of the Supreme Council of the National Economy included the nationalization of large-scale industry, the management of transport, finance, the establishment of commodity exchange, etc. By the summer of 1918, local (provincial, district) economic councils, subordinate to the Supreme Council of the National Economy, emerged. The Council of People's Commissars, and then the Council of Defense, determined the main directions of work of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, its central administrations and centers, with each representing a kind of state monopoly in the corresponding branch of production. By the summer of 1920, almost 50 central administrations had been created to manage large nationalized enterprises. The name of the glavkov speaks for itself: Glavmetall, Glavtextil, Glavsakhar, Glavtorf, Glavkrakhmal, Glavryba, Tsentrokhladobinya, etc.

The centralized management system dictated the need for a commanding style of leadership. One of the features of the policy of "War Communism" was system of emergency authorities, whose task was to subordinate the entire economy to the needs of the front. The Defense Council appointed its own commissioners with extraordinary powers. So, A.I. Rykov was appointed an extraordinary representative of the Defense Council for the supply of the Red Army (Chusosnabarm). He was endowed with the rights to use any apparatus, dismiss and arrest officials, reorganize and reassign institutions, confiscate and requisition goods from warehouses and from the population under the pretext of "military haste". All defense factories were transferred to Chusosnabarm. To manage them, the Industrial Military Council was formed, the decisions of which were also mandatory for all enterprises.

One of the main features of the policy of "War Communism" is curtailment of commodity-money relations... This was manifested primarily in the introduction of unequal exchange in kind between town and country... Under conditions of galloping inflation, the peasants did not want to sell grain for depreciated money. In February - March 1918, the consuming regions of the country received only 12.3% of the planned amount of bread. The ration of bread rationed in industrial centers has been reduced to 50-100 grams. in a day. Under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace, Russia lost its bread-rich regions, which aggravated
food crisis. Hunger was approaching. It should also be remembered that the attitude of the Bolsheviks towards the peasantry was twofold. On the one hand, he was viewed as an ally of the proletariat, and on the other (especially the middle peasants and kulaks) - as a support for the counter-revolution. They looked at the peasant, even if it was a low-powered middle peasant, with suspicion.

Under these conditions, the Bolsheviks set a course for establishment of a grain monopoly... In May 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted decrees "On granting the People's Commissariat of Food with extraordinary powers to fight the village bourgeoisie, hiding and speculating grain reserves" and "On the reorganization of the People's Commissariat for Food and local food bodies." In the conditions of the impending famine, the People's Commissariat of Education was granted emergency powers, a food dictatorship was established in the country: a monopoly on the grain trade and fixed prices were introduced. After the adoption of the decree on the grain monopoly (May 13, 1918), trade was actually banned. To withdraw food from the peasantry, they began to form food squads... The food detachments acted according to the principle formulated by the People's Commissar of Food Tsuryupa “if it is impossible
if you take bread from the rural bourgeoisie by ordinary means, you have to take it by force. " To help them, on the basis of the Central Committee decrees of June 11, 1918, committees of the poor(kombeds ) ... These measures of the Soviet government forced the peasantry to take up arms. According to the prominent agrarian N. Kondratyev, "the village, flooded with soldiers who returned after the spontaneous demobilization of the army, responded to armed violence with armed resistance and a whole series of uprisings." However, neither the food dictatorship nor the kombedy could solve the food problem. Attempts to prohibit market relations between the city and the countryside and the forcible confiscation of grain from the peasants only led to a wide illegal trade in grain at high prices. The urban population received no more than 40% of the bread consumed by cards, and 60% through illegal trade. Having failed in the struggle against the peasantry, in the fall of 1918 the Bolsheviks were forced to somewhat weaken the food dictatorship. By a series of decrees adopted in the fall of 1918, the government tried to ease the taxation of the peasantry, in particular, the "extraordinary revolutionary tax" was abolished. According to the decisions of the VI All-Russian Congress of Soviets in November 1918, the kombeds were merged with the Soviets, however, this did not change much, since by this time the Soviets in the countryside consisted mainly of the poor. Thus, one of the main demands of the peasants was realized - to put an end to the policy of splitting the countryside.

On January 11, 1919, in order to streamline the exchange between town and country, a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee introduced surplus appropriation. It was prescribed to withdraw the surplus from the peasants, which were initially determined by "the needs of the peasant family, limited by the established norm." However, the surplus soon began to be determined by the needs of the state and the army. The state announced in advance the figures of its needs for bread, and then they were divided by provinces, counties and volosts. In 1920, in the instructions sent down to the places from above, it was explained that "the allotment given to the volost is already in itself a definition of surplus." And although the peasants were left with only a minimum of grain for the surplus appropriation, nevertheless, the initial assignment of supplies brought certainty, and the peasants considered the surplus appropriation as a blessing in comparison with the food detachments.

The collapse of commodity-money relations was also facilitated by prohibition in the fall of 1918 in most of the provinces of Russia wholesale and private trade... However, the Bolsheviks still did not succeed in destroying the market to the end. And although they were supposed to destroy money, the latter were still in use. The single monetary system has disintegrated. Only in Central Russia, 21 banknotes were in circulation, money was printed in many regions. In 1919, the ruble fell 3136 times. Under these conditions, the state was forced to switch to natural wages.

The existing economic system did not stimulate productive work, the productivity of which was steadily declining. The output per worker in 1920 was less than one third of the pre-war level. In the fall of 1919, the earnings of a highly skilled worker exceeded the earnings of a general laborer by only 9%. Material incentives to work disappeared, and with them the very desire to work disappeared. In many enterprises, absenteeism accounted for up to 50% of working days. Mainly administrative measures were taken to strengthen discipline. Forced labor grew out of egalitarianism, lack of economic incentives, poor living conditions for workers, and a catastrophic shortage of workers. The hopes for the class consciousness of the proletariat were not justified either. In the spring of 1918 V.I. Lenin writes that “the revolution ... requires unquestioning obedience the masses united will leaders of the labor process ". The method of the policy of "war communism" is becoming militarization of labor... Initially, it covered the workers and employees of the defense industries, but by the end of 1919, all branches of industry and railway transport were transferred to martial law. On November 14, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the "Regulations on Workers 'Disciplinary Comrades' Courts." It envisaged such punishments as sending the persistent violators of discipline to hard public works, and in the case of "stubborn unwillingness to submit to comradely discipline" subject them "as a non-labor element to dismissal from enterprises with transfer to a concentration camp."

In the spring of 1920, it was believed that the civil war had already ended (in fact, it was only a peaceful respite). At this time, the IX Congress of the RCP (b) wrote in its resolution on the transition to a militarized system of economy, the essence of which “should be in the best possible approach of the army to the production process, so that the living human power of certain economic regions is at the same time the living human power of certain military units ". In December 1920, the VIII Congress of Soviets declared the maintenance of a peasant economy a state obligation.

Under the conditions of "war communism" there was general labor service for persons from 16 to 50 years old. On January 15, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the first revolutionary army of labor, which legalized the use of army units in household work. On January 20, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree on the procedure for carrying out labor service, according to which the population, regardless of permanent work, was involved in performing labor service (fuel, road, horse-drawn, etc.). The redistribution of the labor force and the conduct of labor mobilizations were widely practiced. Labor books were introduced. A special committee headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky. Those who evaded socially useful work were severely punished and deprived of food ration cards. On November 14, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the aforementioned "Regulations on Workers 'Disciplinary Comrades' Courts".

The system of military-communist measures included the abolition of payments for city and rail transport, for fuel, fodder, food, consumer goods, medical services, housing, etc. (December 1920). Approved class-equalizing principle of distribution... From June 1918, card supply was introduced in 4 categories. In the first category, workers of defense enterprises engaged in heavy physical labor and transport workers were supplied. In the second category - the rest of the workers, office workers, domestic workers, paramedics, teachers, handicraftsmen, hairdressers, cabbies, tailors and the disabled. In the third category, directors, managers and engineers of industrial enterprises, most of the intelligentsia and clergymen, and in the fourth category, were supplied to those who use hired labor and live on income from capital, as well as shopkeepers and traders in the dressing room. Pregnant and lactating women belonged to the first category. Children under three years old received an additional milk card, and up to 12 years old - products in the second category. In 1918 in Petrograd the monthly ration in the first category was 25 pounds of bread (1 pound = 409 grams), 0.5 lbs. sugar, 0.5 lb. salt, 4 lb. meat or fish, 0.5 lb. vegetable oil, 0.25 lb. coffee surrogates. The norms for the fourth category were three times lower for almost all products than for the first. But even these products were distributed very irregularly. In Moscow in 1919, a worker received a ration with a caloric value of 336 kcal on ration cards, while the daily physiological norm was 3600 kcal. The workers of the provincial towns received food below the physiological minimum (in the spring of 1919 - 52%, in July - 67%, in December - 27%). According to A. Kollontai, a hungry ration aroused in workers, especially women, feelings of despair and hopelessness. In January 1919, there were 33 types of cards in Petrograd (bread, dairy, shoe, tobacco, etc.).

“War communism” was viewed by the Bolsheviks not only as a policy aimed at the survival of Soviet power, but also as the beginning of the construction of socialism. Proceeding from the fact that every revolution is violence, they widely used revolutionary coercion... A popular 1918 poster read: "We will drive humanity to happiness with an iron hand!" Revolutionary coercion was used especially widely against the peasants. After the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the Decree of February 14, 1919 "On socialist land management and measures for the transition to socialist agriculture" creation of communes and artels... In a number of places, the authorities adopted resolutions on the obligatory transition in the spring of 1919 to collective cultivation of the land. But it soon became clear that the peasantry would not go to socialist experiments, and attempts to impose collective forms of farming would finally alienate the peasants from Soviet power, therefore, at the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1919, the delegates voted for an alliance of the state with the middle peasant.

The contradictory nature of the peasant policy of the Bolsheviks can also be observed in their attitude to cooperation. In an effort to impose socialist production and distribution, they eliminated such a collective form of self-activity of the population in the economic field as cooperation. The decree of the Council of People's Commissars of March 16, 1919 "On consumer communes" put the cooperatives in the position of an appendage of state power. All local consumer societies were forcibly merged into cooperatives - “consumer communes”, which were united into provincial unions, and they, in turn, into Tsentrosoyuz. The state entrusted the consumer communes with the distribution of food and consumer goods in the country. Cooperation as an independent organization of the population ceased to exist. The name "consumer communes" aroused hostility among the peasants, since they identified them with the total socialization of property, including personal property.

During the years of the civil war, the political system of the Soviet state underwent serious changes. The RCP (b) becomes its central link. By the end of 1920, the RCP (b) numbered about 700 thousand people, half of them were at the front.

The role of the apparatus practicing military methods of work has grown in party life. Instead of elective collectives in the localities, operative bodies, narrow in composition, most often acted. Democratic centralism - the basis of party building - was replaced by an appointment system. The norms of collective leadership in party life were replaced by authoritarianism.

The War Communism years were the time of establishment the political dictatorship of the Bolsheviks... Although representatives of other socialist parties took part in the activities of the Soviets after the temporary ban, nevertheless, the communists constituted the overwhelming majority in all government institutions, at congresses of Soviets and in executive bodies. The process of merging party and state bodies was going on intensively. Provincial and district party committees often determined the composition of the executive committees and issued orders for them.

The order that developed within the party, the communists, welded together by strict discipline, willingly or unwillingly transferred to the organizations where they worked. Under the influence of the civil war, a military-command dictatorship took shape in the country, which entailed the concentration of management not in elected bodies, but in executive institutions, strengthening one-man command, the formation of a bureaucratic hierarchy with a huge number of employees, a decrease in the role of the masses in state building and their removal from power.

Bureaucracy for a long time becomes a chronic disease of the Soviet state. Its reasons were the low cultural level of the bulk of the population. The new state inherited a lot from the previous state apparatus. The old bureaucracy soon got positions in the Soviet state apparatus, because it was impossible to do without people who knew managerial work. Lenin believed that bureaucracy could be dealt with only when the entire population (“every cook”) took part in governing the state. But later it became obvious that these views were utopian.

State building was greatly influenced by the war. The concentration of forces, so necessary for military success, demanded a rigid centralization of command. The ruling party placed its main stake not on the initiative and self-government of the masses, but on the state and party apparatus capable of realizing by force the policy necessary to defeat the enemies of the revolution. Gradually, the executive bodies (apparatus) completely subordinated the representative bodies (Soviets). The reason for the swelling of the Soviet state apparatus was the total nationalization of industry. The state, having become the owner of the main means of production, was forced to ensure the management of hundreds of factories and plants, to create huge administrative structures that were engaged in economic and distribution activities in the center and in the regions, and the role of central bodies increased. Management was built "from top to bottom" on rigid directive-order principles, which limited the initiative on the ground.

The state sought to establish total control not only over the behavior, but also over the thoughts of its subjects, into whose heads the elementary and primitive basics of communism were implanted. Marxism is becoming a state ideology. The task was set to create a special proletarian culture. Cultural values ​​and past achievements were denied. There was a search for new images and ideals. A revolutionary avant-garde was formed in literature and art. Special attention was paid to mass propaganda and agitation media. Art has become completely politicized. Revolutionary perseverance and fanaticism, selfless courage, sacrifice for the sake of a brighter future, class hatred and ruthlessness towards enemies were preached. This work was supervised by the People's Commissariat of Education (People's Commissariat for Education), headed by A.V. Lunacharsky. Actively launched Proletcult- the union of proletarian cultural and educational societies. The proletkultists especially actively called for the revolutionary overthrow of old forms in art, a stormy onslaught of new ideas, and the primitivization of culture. Such prominent Bolsheviks as A.A. Bogdanov, V.F. Pletnev and others. In 1919, more than 400 thousand people took part in the proletkult movement. The dissemination of their ideas inevitably led to the loss of traditions and the lack of spirituality of society, which was unsafe for the authorities in a war. The leftist actions of the proletkultists forced the People's Commissariat of Education to curb them from time to time, and in the early 1920s to completely dissolve these organizations.

The consequences of "War Communism" cannot be separated from the consequences of the civil war. At the cost of tremendous efforts, the Bolsheviks managed to turn the republic into a "military camp" and win by means of agitation, rigid centralization, coercion and terror. But the policy of "war communism" did not and could not lead to socialism. By the end of the war, the inadmissibility of running ahead became obvious, the danger of forcing socio-economic transformations and the escalation of violence. Instead of creating a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a dictatorship of one party arose in the country, for the maintenance of which revolutionary terror and violence were widely used.

The national economy was paralyzed by the crisis. In 1919, due to the lack of cotton, the textile industry almost completely stopped. She gave only 4.7% of the pre-war production. The linen industry provided only 29% of the pre-war level.

Heavy industry was falling apart. In 1919, all the blast furnaces of the country went out. Soviet Russia did not produce metal, but lived on reserves inherited from the tsarist regime. At the beginning of 1920, 15 blast furnaces were launched, and they produced about 3% of the metal smelted in tsarist Russia on the eve of the war. The catastrophe in metallurgy affected the metalworking industry: hundreds of enterprises were closed, and those that worked periodically stood idle due to difficulties with raw materials and fuel. Cut off from the Donbass mines and Baku oil, Soviet Russia was starving for fuel. Firewood and peat became the main types of fuel.

Industry and transport lacked not only raw materials and fuel, but also workers. By the end of the Civil War, less than 50% of the proletariat in 1913 was employed in industry. The composition of the working class changed significantly. Now its backbone was not cadre workers, but immigrants from the non-proletarian strata of the urban population, as well as peasants mobilized from the villages.

Life forced the Bolsheviks to reconsider the foundations of "war communism", therefore, at the X Congress of the Party, the military-communist methods of management, based on coercion, were declared obsolete.

The internal policy of the Soviet government in the summer of 1918 at the beginning of 1921 was called "war communism". The prerequisites for its implementation were laid by the widespread nationalization of industry and the creation of a powerful centralized state apparatus (VSNKh), the introduction of a food dictatorship and the experience of military-political pressure on the countryside (food detachments, military commissars). Thus, the features of the policy of "war communism" were traced back in the first economic and social measures of the Soviet government.

On the one hand, the policy of "war communism" was prompted by the idea of ​​part of the leadership of the RCP (b) about the possibility of quickly building a market-free socialism. On the other hand, this was a forced policy due to the extreme devastation in the country, the disruption of traditional economic ties between town and country, as well as the need to mobilize all resources to win the civil war. Subsequently, many Bolsheviks recognized the fallacy of the policy of "war communism" and tried to justify it by the difficult internal and external position of the young Soviet state in a wartime situation.

The policy of "war communism" included a set of measures that affected the economic and socio-political sphere. The main thing in this was: the nationalization of all means of production, the introduction of centralized management, equalizing distribution of products, forced labor and the political dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party.

The decree of June 28, 1918 prescribed the accelerated nationalization of large and medium-sized enterprises. In subsequent years, it was extended to small ones, which led to the elimination of private property in industry. At the same time, a rigid sectoral management system was formed. In the spring of 1918, a state monopoly of foreign trade was established.

The food appropriation system became a logical continuation of the food dictatorship. The state determined its needs for agricultural products and forced the peasantry to supply them without taking into account the possibilities of the countryside. On January 11, 1919, the surplus appropriation system was introduced for bread. By 1920, it spread to potatoes, vegetables, etc. For the withdrawn products, peasants were left with receipts and money that lost their value due to inflation. Fixed food prices were 40 times lower than market prices. The village desperately resisted and therefore the surplus appropriation was carried out by violent methods with the help of food detachments.

The policy of "war communism" led to the destruction of commodity-money relations. The sale of food and industrial goods was limited, they were distributed by the state in the form of wages in kind. An equalizing system of wages among workers was introduced. This gave them the illusion of social equality. The failure of this policy was manifested in the formation of a "black market" and the flourishing of speculation.

In the social sphere, the policy of "War Communism" was based on the principle "He who does not work, he does not eat." In 1918, labor conscription was introduced for representatives of the former exploiting classes, and in 1920, universal labor conscription. Forced mobilization of labor resources was carried out with the help of labor armies sent to restore transport, construction work, etc. The naturalization of wages led to the free provision of housing, utilities, transport, postal and telegraph services.

During the period of "war communism" the undivided dictatorship of the RCP (b) was established in the political sphere. The Bolshevik Party ceased to be a purely political organization, its apparatus gradually merged with state structures. She determined the political, ideological, economic and cultural situation in the country, even the personal life of citizens.

The activities of other political parties that fought against the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks, their economic and social policies: the Cadets, Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries (first the right, and then the left), was prohibited. Some prominent public figures emigrated, others were repressed. All attempts to revive the political opposition were violently suppressed. In the Soviets of all levels, the Bolsheviks achieved complete autocracy by re-election or dispersal. The activity of the Soviets acquired a formal character, since they only carried out the instructions of the Bolshevik Party organs. The trade unions, which were placed under party and state control, lost their independence. They ceased to be protectors of workers' interests. The strike movement was forbidden under the pretext that the proletariat should not oppose its state. The proclaimed freedom of speech and press was not respected. Almost all non-Bolshevik publications were closed. In general, publishing activities were strictly regulated and extremely limited.

The country lived in an atmosphere of class hatred. In February 1918, the death penalty was reinstated. Opponents of the Bolshevik regime, who organized armed uprisings, were imprisoned and concentration camps. Attempts on V.I. Lenin and the murder of M.S. Uritsky, chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, was summoned by the decree on the "red terror" (September 1918). The arbitrariness of the Cheka and local authorities unfolded, which, in turn, provoked anti-Soviet protests. The rampant terror was generated by many factors: the aggravation of the confrontation between various social groups; low intellectual level of the bulk of the population, poorly prepared for political life;

the uncompromising position of the Bolshevik leadership, who considered it necessary and possible to retain power at any cost.

The policy of "war communism" not only failed to bring Russia out of economic ruin, but also aggravated it. The disruption of market relations caused the collapse of finance, a reduction in production in industry and agriculture. The population of the cities was starving. However, the centralization of governing the country allowed the Bolsheviks to mobilize all resources and retain power during the civil war.
44. New Economic Policy (NEP)

The essence and goals of NEP. At the X Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1921 V.I. Lenin proposed a new economic policy. It was an anti-crisis program.

The main political goal of NEP is to relieve social tension, to strengthen the social base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants. The economic goal is to prevent further aggravation of the devastation, to get out of the crisis and restore the economy. The social goal is to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society, without waiting for the world revolution. In addition, NEP was aimed at restoring normal foreign policy and foreign economic ties, at overcoming international isolation. The achievement of these goals led to the gradual curtailment of NEP in the second half of the 1920s.

Implementation of NEP... The transition to NEP was legally formalized by decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, decisions of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1921. NEP included a set of economic and socio-political measures. They meant a "retreat" from the principles of "war communism" - the revival of private enterprise, the introduction of freedom of internal trade and the satisfaction of some of the demands of the peasantry.

The introduction of NEP began with agriculture by replacing the food appropriation tax with a food tax.

In production and trade, individuals were allowed to open small and lease medium-sized enterprises. The decree on general nationalization was canceled.

Instead of a sectoral system of industrial management, a territorial-sectoral one was introduced. After the reorganization of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, leadership was carried out by its central administrations through the local councils of the national economy (economic councils) and sectoral economic trusts.

In the financial sphere, in addition to the single State Bank, there were private and cooperative banks, insurance companies. In 1922, a monetary reform was carried out: the emission of paper money was reduced and the Soviet chervonets (10 rubles), which was highly valued in the world currency market, was introduced into circulation. This made it possible to strengthen the national currency and put an end to inflation. The stabilization of the financial situation was evidenced by the replacement of the tax in kind for its cash equivalent.

As a result of the new economic policy in 1926, the pre-war level was reached for the main types of industrial products. Light industry developed faster than heavy industry, which required significant capital investments. The living conditions of the urban and rural population have improved. The cancellation of the rationing system for the distribution of food products began. Thus, one of the tasks of NEP, overcoming the devastation, was accomplished.

The NEP brought about some changes in social policy. In 1922, a new Labor Code was adopted, abolishing universal labor service and introducing free recruitment of labor.

Imposing Bolshevik ideology in society. The Soviet government struck a blow at the Russian Orthodox Church and brought it under its control.

Strengthening the unity of the party, the defeat of political and ideological opponents made it possible to strengthen the one-party political system. This political system, with minor changes, continued to exist throughout the years of Soviet power.

The results of domestic politics in the early 20s. NEP ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy. However, soon after its introduction, the first successes were replaced by new difficulties. Their occurrence was explained by three reasons: imbalance of industry and agriculture; purposefully class orientation of the internal policy of the government; increasing contradictions between the diversity of social interests of different strata of society and the authoritarianism of the Bolshevik leadership.

The need to ensure the independence and defense capability of the country required further development of the economy, primarily heavy industry. The priority of industry over agriculture: the economy resulted in the transfer of funds from village to city through price and tax policies. Sales prices for manufactured goods were artificially raised, purchasing prices for raw materials and products were underestimated (“scissors” of prices). The difficulty of establishing a normal exchange of goods between town and country also gave rise to the unsatisfactory quality of industrial products. In the mid-1920s, the volume of state procurements of grain and raw materials fell. This reduced the ability to export agricultural products and therefore reduced the foreign exchange earnings needed to buy industrial equipment abroad.

To overcome the crisis, the government took a number of administrative measures. The centralized management of the economy was strengthened, the independence of enterprises was limited, the prices of manufactured goods were increased, and taxes for private entrepreneurs, traders and kulaks were raised. This meant the beginning of the curtailment of NEP.

Internal party power struggle... The economic and socio-political difficulties that manifested themselves in the first years of the NEP, the desire to build socialism in the absence of experience in realizing this goal gave rise to an ideological crisis. All fundamental issues of the country's development caused heated internal party discussions.

IN AND. Lenin, the author of NEP, who assumed in 1921 that this would be a policy "seriously and for a long time", a year later at the 11th Party Congress announced that it was time to stop the "retreat" towards capitalism and it was necessary to move on to building socialism.
45. Formation and essence of the power of the Soviets. Formation of the USSR.

In 1922 a new state was formed - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The unification of individual states was dictated by the need - to strengthen the economic potential and to act as a united front in the fight against the interventionists. Common historical roots, the long-term presence of peoples in one state, the friendliness of peoples towards each other, the commonality and interdependence of the economy, politics and culture made such a union possible. There was no consensus on the ways of uniting the republics. So, Lenin advocated federal unification, Stalin - for autonomy, Skripnik (Ukraine) - for federation.

In 1922, at the first All-Union Congress of Soviets, which was attended by delegates from the RSFSR, Belarus, Ukraine and some Transcaucasian republics, the Declaration and Treaty on the formation of the Union were adopted. Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on a federal basis. In 1924 the Constitution of the new state was adopted. The supreme body of power was declared the All-Union Congress of Lights. In the intervals between the congresses, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee worked, the SNK (Council of People's Commissars) became the executive authority. Nepmans, clergy and kulaks were deprived of voting rights. After the emergence of the USSR, further expansion proceeded mainly by violent measures or by splitting up the republics. During the Great Patriotic War, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became socialist. Later, the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs were separated from the ZSFSR.

According to the 1936 Constitution, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was established as the highest all-Union legislative body, which consisted of two equal chambers of the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities. In the period between sessions of the Supreme Council, the Presidium became the highest legislative and executive body.

Thus, the creation of the Soviet Union had contradictory consequences for the peoples. The development of the center and individual republics proceeded unevenly. Most often, the republics could not achieve full-fledged development due to their strict specialization (Central Asia is a supplier of raw materials for light industry, Ukraine is a supplier of food, etc.). Between the republics, not market relations were built, but economic relations prescribed by the government. Russification and cultivation of Russian culture partly continued the imperial policy on the national question. However, in many republics, thanks to joining the Federation, steps were taken to get rid of the feudal; survivals, to raise the level of literacy and culture, to establish the development of industry and agriculture, to modernize transport, etc. Thus, the pooling of economic resources and the dialogue of cultures, undoubtedly, had positive results for all republics
46. ​​Economic development of the USSR during the first five-year plans.

At the XV Congress of the CPSU (b) in 1927, it was decided to develop the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1928 / 29-1932 / ЗЗгг.). The growth of industrial production was supposed to increase to 150%, labor productivity - to 110%, to reduce the cost of products by 35%. More than 70% of the budget was to go to the development of industry. The industrialization plan also provided for a change in production in the direction of the development of advanced industries (energy, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, chemical industry) capable of raising the entire industry and agriculture. It was about progress unparalleled in world history.

In the summer of 1929, an appeal was made: "Five-year plan - in 4 years!" Stalin declared that in a number of industries the plan for the first five-year plan would be fulfilled in three years. At the same time, the planned targets were revised towards their increase. The need was put forward to organize and inspire the masses with lofty ideas for practically free piles and the realization of lofty ideals.

1930-1931 became the time of storming the economy using military-communist methods. The sources of industrialization were the unprecedented enthusiasm of the working people, the regime of the most severe austerity, compulsory loans from the population, the emission (release) of money, and the rise in prices. However, the overstrain led to a breakdown of the entire management system, disruptions in production, and mass arrests of specialists and an influx of untrained workers led to an increase in accidents. They tried to stop the slowdown in development with new repressions, searches for spies and saboteurs, and the involvement of prisoners and forced migrants. However, all the successes achieved did not correspond to the set plans, the tasks of the first five-year plan were actually thwarted. In the early 30s. the pace of development fell from 23 to 5%, the metallurgy development program was failed. The percentage of rejects has increased. The intensification of inflation caused a rise in prices and a fall in the value of the chervonets. Social tension in the countryside grew. The failure of the first five-year plan forced the country's leadership to announce its early implementation and make adjustments to planning.

In January-February 1939, the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b) approved the second five-year plan (1933-1937). The main focus was still on the development of heavy industry. The expected indicators have been reduced in comparison with the first plan. The development of light industry was envisaged - its transfer to sources of raw materials. Most of the textile enterprises were located in Central Asia, Siberia, Transcaucasia. The policy of equalizing distribution was partially revised - piece-rate wages were temporarily introduced, wage rates were changed, and bonuses were introduced. An important role in improving the situation in the national economy was played by the movements of labor enthusiasts and shock workers.

In 1939, the plan for the third five-year plan (1938-1942) was approved. The development of the country's economy in the third five-year plan was characterized by special attention to increasing industrial production, creating large state reserves, and increasing the capacity of the defense industry. Repression, restoration of command-directive methods of management and militarization of labor, the outbreak of the Patriotic War affected the pace of industrialization. However, despite the difficulties and miscalculations in politics, industrialization has become a reality.

During the years of the first five-year plans, advanced industrial technologies were introduced. A number of new industries have emerged in heavy machine building, the production of new machine tools and tools has been established, the automotive industry, factories, tank building, aircraft building, electric power engineering, etc. The chemical and petrochemical industries, metallurgy, energy, and transport have undergone complete technical reconstruction. National income increased 5 times, industrial production - 6 times. The number of the working class, including highly professional cadres, has increased significantly. The level of education has grown. Thanks to industrialization, it was possible to strengthen the country on the eve of the Great Patriotic War.

Prodrazvorstka
Diplomatic isolation of the Soviet government
Russian Civil War
The collapse of the Russian Empire and the formation of the USSR
War communism Institutions and organizations Armed formations Developments February - October 1917:

After October 1917:

Personalities Related Articles

War communism- the name of the internal policy of the Soviet state, carried out in 1918 - 1921. during the Civil War. Its characteristic features were the extreme centralization of economic management, the nationalization of large, medium and even small industries (in part), the state monopoly on many agricultural products, surplus appropriation, the prohibition of private trade, the curtailment of commodity-money relations, equalization in the distribution of material wealth, and the militarization of labor. This policy was consistent with the principles on the basis of which, in the opinion of the Marxists, a communist society was to emerge. In historiography, there are different opinions on the reasons for the transition to such a policy - one of the historians believed that it was an attempt to "introduce communism" by the command method, others explained it by the reaction of the Bolshevik leadership to the realities of the Civil War. The same contradictory assessments were given to this policy by the leaders of the Bolshevik Party themselves, who led the country during the Civil War. The decision to end war communism and the transition to NEP was made on March 15, 1921 at the X Congress of the RCP (b).

The main elements of "War Communism"

Liquidation of private banks and confiscation of deposits

One of the first actions of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution was the armed seizure of the State Bank. The buildings of private banks were also seized. On December 8, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars Decree "On the abolition of the Noble Land Bank and the Peasant Land Bank" was adopted. Banking was declared a state monopoly by the decree “on the nationalization of banks” dated December 14 (27), 1917. The nationalization of banks in December 1917 was reinforced by the confiscation of funds from the population. All gold and silver in coins and ingots, paper money were confiscated, if they exceeded the amount of 5000 rubles and were acquired "unearned". For small deposits that remained unsecured, the rate of receipt of money from accounts was not more than 500 rubles per month, so that the unsecured balance was quickly eaten up by inflation.

Industry nationalization

Already in June-July 1917, "capital flight" began from Russia. The first to flee were foreign entrepreneurs who were looking for cheap labor in Russia: after the February Revolution, the establishment of an 8-hour working day by default, the struggle for higher wages, legalized strikes deprived entrepreneurs of their superprofits. The constantly unstable situation prompted many domestic industrialists to flee. But thoughts about the nationalization of a number of enterprises were visited by the not leftist Minister of Trade and Industry A.I. Konovalov even earlier, in May, and for other reasons: the constant conflicts of industrialists with workers, which caused strikes on the one hand and lockouts on the other, disorganized the already the economy undermined by the war.

The Bolsheviks faced the same problems after the October Revolution. The first decrees of the Soviet government did not imply any transfer of "factories to workers", which is eloquently evidenced by the Regulation on workers' control, which specifically stipulated the rights of entrepreneurs, which was approved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on November 14 (27), 1917. However, the new government also faced questions: what to do with abandoned businesses and how to prevent lockouts and other forms of sabotage?

Started as the adoption of ownerless enterprises, nationalization later turned into a measure to combat counterrevolution. Later, at the XI Congress of the RCP (b), L. D. Trotsky recalled:

... In Petrograd, and then in Moscow, where this wave of nationalization rushed, delegations from the Ural factories came to us. My heart ached: “What are we going to do? “We’ll take it, but what are we going to do?” But from conversations with these delegations it became clear that military measures are absolutely necessary. After all, the director of the factory with all his staff, connections, office and correspondence is a real cell at this or that Ural, or St. is fighting against us. Therefore, this measure was a politically necessary measure of self-preservation. We could switch to a more correct account of what we can organize, we could start an economic struggle only after we secured for ourselves not an absolute, but at least a relative possibility of this economic work. From an abstract economic point of view, we can say that our policy was wrong. But if we put it in a world situation and in the situation of our situation, then it was, from the point of view of political and military in the broad sense of the word, absolutely necessary.

The first to be nationalized on November 17 (30), 1917 was the factory of the Likinskaya manufactory partnership of A. V. Smirnov (Vladimir province). In total, from November 1917 to March 1918, according to the industrial and professional census of 1918, 836 industrial enterprises were nationalized. On May 2, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree on the Nationalization of the sugar industry, on June 20 - the oil industry. By the fall of 1918, 9542 enterprises were concentrated in the hands of the Soviet state. All large capitalist ownership of the means of production was nationalized by the method of gratuitous confiscation. By April 1919, almost all large enterprises (with more than 30 hired workers) were nationalized. By the beginning of 1920, medium-sized industry was also largely nationalized. A rigid centralized production management was introduced. To manage the nationalized industry was created.

Foreign trade monopoly

At the end of December 1917, foreign trade was placed under the control of the People's Commissariat of Trade and Industry, and in April 1918 it was declared a state monopoly. The merchant fleet was nationalized. The decree on the nationalization of the fleet declared the national indivisible property of Soviet Russia to shipping enterprises owned by joint-stock companies, mutual partnerships, trading houses and sole large entrepreneurs owning sea and river vessels of all types.

Forced labor service

Compulsory labor service was introduced, first for the “non-labor classes”. The Labor Code (Labor Code), adopted on December 10, 1918, established labor service for all citizens of the RSFSR. The decrees adopted by the Council of People's Commissars on April 12, 1919 and April 27, 1920 prohibited unauthorized transition to new work and absenteeism, and severe labor discipline was established at enterprises. The system of unpaid voluntary-forced labor on weekends and holidays in the form of “subbotniks” and “voskursniki” has also become widespread.

However, Trotsky's proposal to the Central Committee received only 4 votes against 11, the majority led by Lenin was not ready to change the policy, and the IX Congress of the RCP (b) adopted a course of "militarizing the economy."

Food dictatorship

The Bolsheviks continued the grain monopoly proposed by the Provisional Government and the surplus appropriation system introduced by the Tsarist government. On May 9, 1918, a decree was issued confirming the state monopoly of the grain trade (introduced by the provisional government) and prohibiting the private trade in grain. On May 13, 1918, the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars "On granting the people's food commissioner extraordinary powers to fight the village bourgeoisie, hiding grain reserves and speculating with them," established the main provisions of the food dictatorship. The purpose of the food dictatorship was the centralized procurement and distribution of food, suppression of the resistance of the kulaks and the fight against baggage. The People's Commissariat for Food received unlimited powers in the procurement of food. On the basis of a decree of May 13, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established per capita consumption norms for peasants - 12 poods of grain, 1 pood of cereals, etc. - similar to the norms introduced by the Provisional Government in 1917. All grain exceeding these norms was to be transferred to the disposal of the state at prices set by it. In connection with the introduction of the food dictatorship in May-June 1918, the Food-requisitioning army of the RSFSR People's Commissariat for Food (Prodarmia) was created, consisting of armed food detachments. For the leadership of the Food Army on May 20, 1918, the Office of the Chief Commissioner and the military leader of all food detachments was created under the People's Commissariat of Education. To carry out this task, armed food detachments were created, endowed with emergency powers.

V.I. Lenin explained the existence of the surplus appropriation system and the reasons for refusing it in the following way:

The tax in kind is one of the forms of the transition from a kind of "war communism", forced by extreme poverty, ruin and war, to the correct socialist exchange of goods. And this latter, in turn, is one of the forms of transition from socialism with the peculiarities caused by the predominance of the small peasantry in the population to communism.

A kind of "war communism" consisted in the fact that we actually took from the peasants all the surplus, and sometimes even not the surplus, but part of the food needed for the peasant, took to cover the costs of the army and the maintenance of the workers. They took mostly on credit, for paper money. Otherwise, we could not defeat the landlords and capitalists in the ruined small-peasant country ... But it is no less necessary to know the real measure of this merit. War communism was forced by war and ruin. It was not and could not be a policy that meets the economic tasks of the proletariat. It was a temporary measure. The correct policy of the proletariat, exercising its dictatorship in a small-peasant country, is to exchange grain for industrial products necessary for the peasant. Only such a food policy meets the tasks of the proletariat, only it is capable of strengthening the foundations of socialism and leading to its complete victory.

The tax in kind is a transition to it. We are still so ruined, so crushed by the oppression of the war (which happened yesterday and may flare up thanks to the greed and anger of the capitalists tomorrow), that we cannot give the peasant for all the grain we need with industrial products. Knowing this, we introduce a tax in kind, that is, the minimum necessary (for the army and for the workers).

On July 27, 1918, the People's Commissariat for Food adopted a special decree introducing a widespread class food ration, dividing it into four categories, providing for measures for keeping track of stocks and distributing food. At first, the class ration operated only in Petrograd, from September 1, 1918 - in Moscow - and then it was extended to the provinces.

Suppliers were divided into 4 categories (then 3): 1) all workers working in especially difficult conditions; breastfeeding mothers up to the 1st year of the child and nurses; pregnant women from the 5th month 2) all those working in hard work, but in normal (not harmful) conditions; women - housewives with a family of at least 4 people and children from 3 to 14 years old; disabled of the 1st category - dependents 3) all workers engaged in light work; female hostesses with a family of up to 3 people; children under 3 years old and adolescents 14-17 years old; all students over the age of 14; unemployed registered at the labor exchange; pensioners, invalids of war and labor, and other disabled persons of the 1st and 2nd category, dependent 4) all males and females who receive income from hired labor of others; persons of the liberal professions and their families who are not in the public service; persons of undetermined occupation and all other populations not named above.

The volume of the given out was correlated by groups as 4: 3: 2: 1. First of all, products were dispensed simultaneously in the first two categories, in the second - in the third. Issuance for the 4th was carried out as the demand for the first 3 was satisfied. With the introduction of class cards, any others were canceled (the card system had been in effect since mid-1915).

• Prohibition of private entrepreneurship.

• Elimination of commodity-money relations and the transition to direct commodity exchange, regulated by the state. Withering away of money.

• Militarized Railroad Management.

Since all these measures were taken during the civil war, in practice they were much less coordinated and coordinated than was planned on paper. Large areas of Russia were beyond the control of the Bolsheviks, and the lack of communications led to the fact that even the regions formally subordinate to the Soviet government often had to act independently, in the absence of centralized control from Moscow. Until now, the question remains - was War Communism an economic policy in the full sense of the word, or just a set of disparate measures taken to win the civil war at any cost.

Results and assessment of war communism

The Supreme Council of the National Economy, created according to the project of Yuri Larin, as the central administrative planning body of the economy, became the key economic body of War Communism. According to his own recollections, Larin designed the main directorates (chapters) of the Supreme Council of the National Economy on the model of the German Kriegsgesellschaften (centers of industry regulation in wartime).

The Bolsheviks declared "workers' control" to be the alpha and omega of the new economic order: "the proletariat itself takes matters into its own hands." "Workers' control" very soon revealed its true nature. These words always sounded like the beginning of the destruction of the enterprise. All discipline was immediately destroyed. Power at the factory and the plant passed to rapidly changing committees, in fact, to no one for anything not responsible. Knowledgeable, honest workers were driven out and even killed. Labor productivity declined in inverse proportion to the increase in wages. The attitude was often expressed in dizzying numbers: the board increased, and the productivity fell by 500-800 percent. Enterprises continued to exist only due to the fact that either the state, which owned the printing press, took over the workers, or the workers sold and devoured the basic capital of the enterprises. According to Marxist doctrine, the socialist revolution will be caused by the fact that the productive forces will outgrow the forms of production and, under the new socialist forms, will have the possibility of further progressive development, etc., etc. Experience has revealed all the falsity of these stories. Under the "socialist" order, there has been an extreme decline in labor productivity. Our productive forces under "socialism" regressed to the times of Peter's serf factories. Democratic self-government has completely destroyed our railways. With an income of 1½ billion rubles, the railways had to pay about 8 billion for the maintenance of workers and employees alone. Wishing to seize the financial power of "bourgeois society" in their hands, the Bolsheviks with a Red Guard raid "nationalized" all the banks. In reality, they only acquired the few paltry millions that they managed to seize in the safes. But they destroyed credit and deprived industrial enterprises of all funds. So that hundreds of thousands of workers would not be left without earnings, the Bolsheviks had to open for them the cash office of the State Bank, which was strenuously replenished by the unrestrained printing of paper money.

Instead of the unprecedented growth of labor productivity expected by the architects of War Communism, its result was not an increase, but, on the contrary, a sharp drop: in 1920, labor productivity declined, including as a result of mass malnutrition, to 18% of the pre-war level. If before the revolution the average worker consumed 3820 calories per day, already in 1919 this figure dropped to 2680, which was no longer enough for heavy physical labor.

Industrial output by 1921 had decreased threefold, and the number of industrial workers was cut in half. At the same time, the staff of the Supreme Council of the National Economy has grown by about a hundred times, from 318 people to 30 thousand; A glaring example was the Gasoline Trust, which was part of this body, which grew to 50 people, despite the fact that this trust had only one plant with 150 workers to manage.

Particularly difficult was the situation in Petrograd, whose population during the Civil War decreased from 2 million 347 thousand people. to 799 thousand, the number of workers decreased five times.

The decline in agriculture has become just as sharp. Due to the complete disinterest of the peasants to increase crops under the conditions of "war communism", grain production in 1920 fell in comparison with the pre-war period by half. According to Richard Pipes,

In such a situation, it was enough for the weather to deteriorate to cause famine in the country. Under the communist rule, there was no surplus in agriculture, therefore, if a crop failure occurred, there would be nothing to deal with its consequences.

To organize the surplus appropriation system, the Bolsheviks organized another greatly expanded body - the People's Commissariat for Food, headed by A. D. Tsyuryupa.Despite the efforts of the state to establish food supplies, a mass famine of 1921-1922 began, during which up to 5 million people died. The policy of "war communism" (especially the surplus appropriation system) aroused the discontent of broad strata of the population, especially the peasantry (the uprising in the Tambov region, Western Siberia, Kronstadt, and others). By the end of 1920, an almost continuous belt of peasant uprisings ("green flood") appeared in Russia, aggravated by huge masses of deserters, and the massive demobilization of the Red Army that began.

The difficult situation in industry and agriculture was aggravated by the final collapse of transport. The share of the so-called "sick" steam locomotives went from the pre-war 13% to 61% in 1921, transport was approaching the threshold, after which the capacity was to be enough only to service their own needs. In addition, firewood was used as fuel for steam locomotives, which was extremely reluctant to procured by peasants for labor.

The experiment of organizing labor armies in 1920-1921 also completely failed. The first labor army, demonstrated, in the words of the chairman of its council (Predsovrudarm - 1) Trotsky LD, "monstrous" (monstrously low) labor productivity. Only 10 - 25% of its personnel were engaged in labor activities as such, and 14%, due to torn clothes and lack of shoes, did not leave the barracks at all. Mass desertion from labor armies is widespread, which in the spring of 1921 finally gets out of all control.

In March 1921, at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (B), the tasks of the policy of "war communism" were recognized by the country's leadership as fulfilled and a new economic policy was introduced. V. I. Lenin wrote: “'War communism' was forced by war and ruin. It was not and could not be a policy that meets the economic tasks of the proletariat. He was a temporary measure. " (Complete collection of works, 5th ed., Vol. 43, p. 220). Lenin also argued that "War Communism" should be given to the Bolsheviks not to blame, but to merit, but at the same time it is necessary to know the extent of this merit.

In culture

• Life in Petrograd during War Communism is described in Ayn Rand's novel We Are Alive.

Notes (edit)

1. Terra, 2008 .-- T. 1. - S. 301. - 560 p. - (Great encyclopedia). - 100,000 copies - ISBN 978-5-273-00561-7
2. See, for example: V. Chernov. The great Russian revolution. M., 2007
3. V. Chernov. The great Russian revolution. S. 203-207
4. The position of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on workers' control.
5. Eleventh Congress of the RCP (b). M., 1961.S. 129
6. Labor Code of 1918 // Appendix from the tutorial by I. Ya. Kiselev “Labor Law of Russia. Historical and legal research "(Moscow, 2001)
7. The Order-memo on the 3rd Red Army - the 1st Revolutionary Army of Labor, in particular, said: “1. The 3rd Army completed its combat mission. But the enemy is not yet completely broken on all fronts. The predatory imperialists are also threatening Siberia from the Far East. Even the mercenary forces of the Entente threaten Soviet Russia from the west. There are also White Guard gangs in Arkhangelsk. The Caucasus has not yet been liberated. Therefore, the 3rd Revolutionary Army remains under the bayonet, maintains its organization, its internal cohesion, its fighting spirit - in case the socialist fatherland calls it on to new combat missions. 2. But, imbued with a sense of duty, the 3rd Revolutionary Army does not want to waste time in vain. During those weeks and months of respite, which fell to her lot, she will use her forces and means for the economic advancement of the country. Remaining a fighting force, formidable to the enemies of the working class, it is at the same time becoming a revolutionary army of labor. 3. The Revolutionary Military Council of the 3rd Army is included in the Council of the Army of Labor. There, along with the members of the revolutionary military council, will be representatives of the main economic institutions of the Soviet Republic. They will provide the necessary guidance in various fields of economic activity ”. For the full text of the Order, see: Order-memo on the 3rd Red Army - 1st Revolutionary Army of Labor
8. In January 1920, in a pre-congress discussion, the Theses of the Central Committee of the RCP on the mobilization of the industrial proletariat, labor service, the militarization of the economy and the use of military units for household needs were published, in clause 28 of which it was said: military service and to the widest use of socialized labor should be used for labor purposes military units freed from combat missions, up to large army formations. This is the meaning of the transformation of the Third Army into the First Army of Labor and the transfer of this experience to other armies "(see IX Congress of the RCP (b). Stenographic report. Moscow, 1934, p. 529)
9. L. D. Trotsky The main questions of food and land policy: “In the same February 1920, L. D. Trotsky submitted to the Central Committee of the RCP (b) proposals to replace the surplus appropriation tax in kind, which actually led to the rejection of the policy of“ war communism “. These proposals were the results of a practical acquaintance with the situation and mood of the village in the Urals, where in January-February Trotsky found himself as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic "
10. V. Danilov, S. Esikov, V. Kanishchev, L. Protasov. Introduction // Peasant uprising of the Tambov province in 1919-1921 "Antonovshchina": Documents and materials / Otv. Ed. V. Danilov and T. Shanin. - Tambov, 1994: It was proposed to overcome the process of “economic degradation”: 1) “replacing the withdrawal of surpluses with a certain percentage deduction (a kind of income tax in kind), so that a larger plowing or better processing would still be beneficial”, and 2) "By establishing a greater correspondence between the distribution of industrial products to the peasants and the amount of grain poured by them, not only in volosts and villages, but also in peasant households." As you know, this was the beginning of the new economic policy in the spring of 1921. "
11. See X Congress of the RCP (b). Stenographic report. Moscow, 1963.S. 350; XI Congress of the RCP (b). Stenographic report. Moscow, 1961.S. 270
12. See X Congress of the RCP (b). Stenographic report. Moscow, 1963.S. 350; V. Danilov, S. Esikov, V. Kanishchev, L. Protasov. Introduction // Peasant uprising of the Tambov province in 1919-1921 "Antonovshchina": Documents and materials / Otv. Ed. V. Danilov and T. Shanin. - Tambov, 1994: “After the defeat of the main forces of counterrevolution in the East and South of Russia, after the liberation of almost the entire territory of the country, a change in food policy became possible, and in terms of the nature of relations with the peasantry, it was necessary. Unfortunately, the proposals of L. D. Trotsky in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) were rejected. The delay in canceling the surplus appropriation system for a whole year had tragic consequences, Antonovism as a massive social explosion could not have happened. "
13. See IX Congress of the RCP (b). Stenographic report. Moscow, 1934. On the report of the Central Committee on economic construction (p. 98), the congress adopted a resolution "On the immediate tasks of economic construction" (p. 424), in clause 1.1 of which, in particular, it was said: the proletariat, labor service, the militarization of the economy and the use of military units for economic needs, the congress decides ... "(p. 427)
14. Kondratyev ND The bread market and its regulation during the war and revolution. - M .: Nauka, 1991 .-- 487 p.: 1 p. portr., ill., tab.
15. A.S. Outcast. SOCIALISM, CULTURE AND BOLSHEVISM

Literature

• Revolution and Civil War in Russia: 1917-1923 Encyclopedia in 4 volumes. - Moscow: