After seven years of the First World War and the Civil War, the country's situation was catastrophic. She lost more than a quarter of her national wealth. The basic food supplies were lacking.

According to some reports, since the beginning of the First World War, human losses from hostilities, hunger and disease, the "red" and "white" terror amounted to 19 million people. About 2 million people emigrated from the country, and among them - almost all representatives of the political and financial-industrial elite of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Until the autumn of 1918, huge deliveries of raw materials and foodstuffs were carried out, in accordance with the conditions of peace, to Germany and Austria-Hungary. Retreating from Russia, the interventionists took with them furs, wool, timber, oil, manganese, grain, and industrial equipment worth many millions of gold rubles.

Dissatisfaction with the policy of "war communism" was increasingly evident in the countryside. In 1920, one of the most massive peasant rebel movements unfolded under the leadership of Antonov - "Antonovshchina".

Dissatisfaction with the policy of the Bolsheviks also spread in the army. Kronstadt, the largest naval base of the Baltic Fleet, "the key to Petrograd" rose up with arms in hand. The Bolsheviks took urgent and brutal measures to put an end to the Kronstadt rebellion. A state of siege was introduced in Petrograd. An ultimatum was sent to the Kronstadters, in which those who were ready to surrender were promised to save their lives. Army units were sent to the walls of the fortress. However, the attack on Kronstadt undertaken on March 8 ended in failure. On the night of March 16-17 on already thin ice Gulf of Finland The 7th Army (45 thousand people) under the command of M.N. moved to storm the fortress. Tukhachevsky. Delegates from the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) sent from Moscow also took part in the offensive. By the morning of March 18, the performance in Kronstadt was suppressed.

The Soviet government responded to all these challenges with the NEP. It was an unexpected and powerful move.

History.RF: NEP, infographic video

HOW MANY YEARS LENIN GIVED NEP

The expression "Seriously and for a long time." From the speech of the Soviet People's Commissar of Agriculture Valerian Valerianovich Osinsky (pseudonym V. V. Obolensky, 1887-1938) at the X Conference of the RCP (b) on May 26, 1921. This is how he defined the prospects for the new economic policy - NEP.

The words and position of V. V. Osinsky are known only from the reviews of V. I. Lenin, who in his final speech (May 27, 1921) said: “Osinsky gave three conclusions. The first conclusion is "seriously and for a long time." And; "seriously and for a long time - 25 years." I'm not that pessimistic."

Later, speaking with a report “On the internal and foreign policy republics” at the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets, V. I. Lenin said about NEP (December 23, 1921): “We are pursuing this policy in earnest and for a long time, but, of course, as it has already been correctly noted, not forever.”

It is usually used in the literal sense - thoroughly, fundamentally, firmly.

ABOUT THE REPLACEMENT OF PRODUCTION

The Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee “On the replacement of food and raw materials distribution by tax in kind”, adopted on the basis of the decision of the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) “On the replacement of distribution by tax in kind” (March 1921), marked the beginning of the transition to a new economic policy.

1. In order to ensure the correct and calm management of the economy on the basis of a freer disposal of the agriculturist with the products of his labor and his economic means, to strengthen peasant economy and raising its productivity, as well as in order to accurately determine the state obligations falling on the farmers, apportionment, as a way of state procurement of food, raw materials and fodder, is replaced by a tax in kind.

2. This tax must be less than that which has hitherto been levied by means of a tax assessment. The amount of the tax must be calculated in such a way as to cover the most necessary needs of the army, urban workers and the non-agricultural population. total amount the tax should be constantly reduced as the restoration of transport and industry will allow the Soviet government to receive agricultural products in exchange for factory and handicraft products.

3. The tax is levied in the form of a percentage or share deduction from the products produced on the farm, based on the account of the crop, the number of eaters on the farm and the presence of livestock in it.

4. The tax must be progressive; the percentage of deductions for the farms of the middle peasants, the small-scale proprietors, and the farms of urban workers must be reduced. The farms of the poorest peasants may be exempted from some, and in exceptional cases, from all types of taxes in kind.

Diligent peasant owners who increase the sowing areas on their farms, as well as increase the productivity of farms as a whole, receive benefits for the implementation of tax in kind. (...)

7. Responsibility for the implementation of the tax rests with each individual owner, and the organs of the Soviet government are instructed to impose penalties on everyone who did not comply with the tax. Responsibility is cancelled.

To control the application and implementation of the tax, organizations of local peasants are formed according to groups of payers. different sizes tax.

8. All stocks of food, raw materials and fodder remaining with the farmers after they have paid the tax are at their complete disposal and can be used by them to improve and strengthen their economy, to increase personal consumption and for exchange for products of factory and handicraft industry. and agricultural production. Exchange is allowed within the limits of local economic turnover both through cooperative organizations and in markets and bazaars.

9. Those farmers who wish to hand over their remaining surpluses after the tax has been paid to the state, in exchange for these voluntarily handed over surpluses, consumer goods and agricultural implements must be provided. To do this, a state permanent stock of agricultural implements and consumer goods is being created, both from products of domestic production and from products purchased abroad. For the latter purpose, a part of the state gold fund and a part of the harvested raw materials are allocated.

10. Supplying the poorest rural population produced in public order according to special rules. (...)

Directives of the CPSU and the Soviet government on economic issues. Sat. documents. M.. 1957. Vol. 1

LIMITED FREEDOM

The transition from "war communism" to the NEP was proclaimed by the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party on March 8-16, 1921.

In the agricultural sector, the surplus was replaced by a lower tax in kind. In 1923-1924 It was allowed to pay a tax in kind in products and money. Private trading of surpluses was allowed. The legalization of market relations entailed the restructuring of the entire economic mechanism. Employment has been facilitated work force in the village, allowed to rent land. However tax policy(how more farming, the higher the tax) led to the fragmentation of farms. The kulaks and the middle peasants, by dividing the farms, tried to get rid of high taxes.

The denationalization of small and medium-sized industry was carried out (the transfer of enterprises from state ownership to private lease). Limited freedom of private capital in industry and trade was allowed. It was allowed to use hired labor, it became possible to create private enterprises. The largest and most technically advanced factories and plants united into state trusts that worked on self-financing and self-sufficiency (Khimugol, State Trust of Machine-Building Plants, etc.). Initially, metallurgy, the fuel and energy complex, and partially transport remained on the state supply. Cooperation developed: consumer agricultural, cultural and commercial.

Equal wages, characteristic of the times of the Civil War, were replaced by a new incentive tariff policy, taking into account the qualifications of workers, the quality and quantity of products produced. The card system for the distribution of food and goods was abolished. The "ration" system was replaced by the monetary form of wages. General labor service and labor mobilization have been abolished. Large fairs were restored: Nizhny Novgorod, Baku, Irbit, Kiev, etc. Trade exchanges were opened.

In 1921-1924 financial reform was carried out. The banking system has been created: National Bank, network of cooperative banks, Commercial and Industrial Bank, Bank for foreign trade, a network of local communal banks, etc. Direct and indirect taxes(commercial, income, agricultural, excises on consumer goods, local taxes), as well as fees for services (transport, communications, public utilities and etc.).

In 1921, the monetary reform began. At the end of 1922, stable currency- Soviet chervonets, used for short-term lending in industry and trade. Chervonets was backed by gold and other easily marketable valuables and goods. One chervonets was equal to 10 pre-revolutionary gold rubles, and on the world market it cost about 6 dollars. To cover the budget deficit, the issuance of the old currency continued - the depreciating Soviet signs, which were soon replaced by the chervonets. In 1924, copper and silver coins and treasury notes were issued instead of Soviet signs. In the course of the reform, it was possible to eliminate the budget deficit.

The NEP led to a rapid economic recovery. The economic interest that appeared among the peasants in the production of agricultural products made it possible to quickly saturate the market with food and overcome the consequences of the hungry years of “war communism”.

However, already at the early stage of the NEP, the recognition of the role of the market was combined with measures to abolish it. Most Communist Party leaders regarded the NEP as a "necessary evil", fearing that it would lead to the restoration of capitalism.

Overwhelmed by the fear of the NEP, the party and state leaders took measures to discredit it. Official propaganda treated the private trader in every possible way, and the image of the “Nepman” was formed in the public mind as an exploiter, a class enemy. From the mid 1920s. measures to curb the development of the NEP were replaced by a course towards its curtailment.

NEPMANS

So what was he like, the Nepman of the 20s? This social group formed at the expense of former employees of commercial and industrial private enterprises, millers, clerks - people who had certain skills in commercial activities, as well as employees of state offices of various levels, who initially combined their official service with illegal commercial activities. The ranks of Nepmen were also replenished by housewives, demobilized Red Army soldiers, workers who found themselves on the street after the closure of industrial enterprises, and "reduced" employees.

In terms of political, social and economic situation the representatives of this stratum differed sharply from the rest of the population. According to the legislation in force in the 1920s, they were deprived of voting rights, the opportunity to teach their children in the same schools as children of other social groups of the population, could not legally publish their newspapers or propagate their views in any other way, were not called up for service in army, were not members of trade unions and did not hold positions in the state apparatus ...

The group of entrepreneurs who used hired labor both in Siberia and in the USSR as a whole was extremely small - 0.7 percent of total strength urban population(1). Their incomes were ten times higher than those of ordinary citizens ...

The entrepreneurs of the 1920s were remarkably mobile. M. Shahinyan wrote: “Nepmen are driving around. They magnetize the vast Russian expanses, driving them with courier speed, now to the extreme south (Transcaucasia), then to the extreme north (Murmansk, Yeniseisk), often back and forth without a break ”(2).

In terms of the level of culture and education, the social group of "new" entrepreneurs differed little from the rest of the population and included a wide variety of types and characters. The majority were "Nepmen-Democrats", according to the description of one of the authors of the 20s, "nimble, greedy, strong-browed and strong-headed guys", for whom "the air of the bazaar was more useful and more profitable than the atmosphere of a cafe." In the event of a successful deal, the “bazaar Nepman” “grunts happily”, and when the deal breaks down, “a juicy, strong, like himself, Russian “word” rushes from his lips. Here "mother" sounds often and naturally in the air. “Well-bred Nepmen,” according to the description of the same author, “in American bowlers and boots with mother-of-pearl buttons, made the same billion-dollar transactions in the twilight of a cafe, where subtle conversation was conducted on subtle delicacy.”

E. Demchik. "New Russians", years of the 20s. Motherland. 2000, №5

At the X Congress of the RCP (b), which opened on March 1, 1921, the surplus appraisal was canceled and replaced by a tax in kind, which is about half of the first. Such a significant indulgence gave a certain incentive to the war-weary peasantry. Lenin himself pointed out that the concessions to the peasantry were subordinated to only one goal - the struggle for power: “We openly, honestly, without any deceit, declare to the peasants: in order to hold the path to socialism, we, comrade peasants, will make a whole series of concessions, but only within such and such limits and to such and such a measure, and, of course, we ourselves will judge what measure and what limits it is.

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. Temporary, but not temporary. Lenin himself emphasized that "NEP is serious and for a long time!". Thus, he agreed with the Mensheviks that Russia at that time was not ready for socialism, but in order to create the prerequisites for socialism, he did not at all consider it necessary to give power to the bourgeoisie.

The main political goal of the NEP is to relieve social tension, strengthen the social base Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants. Economic goal-- to prevent a further aggravation of the devastation, to overcome 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, the NEP was aimed at restoring normal foreign policy ties, at overcoming international isolation. The achievement of these goals led to the gradual curtailment of the NEP in the second half of the 20s.

NEP in the countryside

By a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, the apportionment is canceled, and a tax on agricultural products is introduced instead. 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 hardworking owner does not have to pay for a sloppy fellow villager. Upon the completion of the tax, the remaining surpluses of the peasants are 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 plants; he can use them to exchange for the products he needs through cooperatives and in local markets and bazaars ...

The first and main measure of the NEP was the replacement of the surplus appropriation with a food tax, which was initially set at about 20% of the net product of peasant labor (that is, it required the delivery of almost half the amount of grain than the surplus appraisal), and then a decrease to 10% of the harvest and less and accepted monetary shape.

On October 30, 1922, the Land Code of the RSFSR was issued, which repealed the law on the socialization of land and announced its nationalization. But he confirmed the distribution according to the labor norm. At the same time, the peasants were free to choose the form of land use - communal, individual or collective.

The ban on hiring workers was also lifted, but this did not change much. At that time, hiring was of a short-term nature, and the fact itself put the employer in the category of “kulaks”, whom the authorities were suspicious of.

In the peasant policy of the 1920s, it is necessary to note such a phenomenon as higher rates taxation for wealthy peasants. Thus, on the one hand, there was an opportunity to improve well-being, on the other hand, there was no reason to expand the economy too much. All this taken together led to the middle farming of the countryside. The well-being of the peasants as a whole has increased in comparison with the pre-war level, the number of poor and rich has decreased, and the proportion of middle peasants has increased.

However, even such a “pseudo-Stolypin reform” gave certain results, and by 1926 the food supply had improved significantly.

In general, the NEP had a beneficial effect on the state of the countryside. First, the peasants had an incentive to work. Secondly (compared to pre-revolutionary times), many have increased land allotment is the main means of production.

The country needed money: to maintain the army, to restore industry, to " world revolution", finally. Therefore, in a country where 80% of the population is the peasantry, the main burden of the tax burden fell precisely on this layer. But the peasantry was not so prosperous as to provide all the needs of the state, the necessary amount of tax revenues. As already mentioned above, taxation was increased for especially wealthy peasants, however, this did not give enough money, therefore, from the mid-20s, other, non-tax methods of receiving funds into the state treasury, such as forced loans, understated grain prices, have been intensified.

Also, money was pumped out of the peasantry by overpricing manufactured goods. As a result, manufactured goods, if we count their value in poods of wheat, turned out to be several times more expensive than before the war. In addition, low quality. The result was a phenomenon that, with the light hand of Trotsky, is called "price scissors." The peasants reacted simply: they stopped selling grain. The tax will be handed over, and the rest is not sold. After all, there is always something to do - to feed the cattle better, to eat better yourself, to prepare moonshine, to make a supply for a lean year ... The first crisis in the sale of industrial goods arose in the fall of 1923. The peasants needed plows and other industrial products, but they did not buy at such prices. The next crisis is in the financial year 1924/25 (that is, in the autumn of 1924 - in the spring of 1925). The crisis was called the procurement crisis, since the procurement amounted to only 2/3 of what was expected. Finally, in the financial year 1927/28, there was a new crisis: it was not possible to collect even the most necessary things.

So, by 1925, it became clear that the national economy had come to a contradiction: political and ideological factors, the fear of a “Thermidorian 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. All this led to disagreement in political assessments.

Bukharin, Nikolai I.

So, in 1925, Bukharin says to the peasants: “Get rich, accumulate, develop your economy!”, although a few weeks later he actually renounces his words.

Others, led by Preobrazhensky, demand an intensification of the fight against the "kulak" or "Nepman", and among the grassroots and middle part of the party leadership, such sentiments were becoming more and more intensified.

rebirth state industry given the general economic structure of our country, will necessarily be in the closest dependence on the development of agriculture, the necessary working capital must be formed in agriculture as a surplus of agricultural products over the consumption of the countryside before industry can take a decisive step forward. But it is equally important for state industry not to lag behind agriculture, otherwise a private industry would be created on the basis of the latter, which, in the end, would absorb or dissolve the state industry. Only an industry that gives more than it absorbs can be victorious. An industry living off the budget, that is, on agriculture, could not create a stable and lasting support for the proletarian dictatorship. The question of creating surplus value in state industry is the question of the fate of Soviet power, that is, the fate of the proletariat.

Radical transformations also took place in industry. Glavki were abolished, and trusts were created instead - associations of homogeneous or interconnected enterprises that received full economic and financial independence, up to the right to issue long-term bonded loans. By the end of 1922, about 90% of industrial enterprises were united in 421 trusts, 40% of them were centralized, and 60% were local subordination. The trusts themselves decided what to produce and where to sell their products. The enterprises that were part of the trust were removed from the state supply and switched to purchasing resources on the market. The law provided that "the state treasury is not responsible for the debts of trusts."

Supreme Economic Council, which lost the right to interfere in current activities enterprises and trusts, has become a focal point. His apparatus was drastically reduced. Then the economic calculation appears, which means that the enterprise (after the mandatory fixed contributions V the state budget) manages the income from the sale of products, is itself responsible for the results of its economic activity, independently uses profits and covers losses. Under the NEP, Lenin wrote, "state enterprises are transferred to the so-called economic accounting, that is, in fact, to a large extent on commercial and capitalist principles.

At least 20% of the profits of the trusts were to be directed to the formation of reserve capital until it reached a value equal to half authorized capital(soon this standard was reduced to 10% of the profit until it reached 1/3 initial capital). And the reserve capital was used to finance the expansion of production and compensate for losses in economic activity. The bonuses received by members of the board and workers of the trust depended on the amount of profit.

In the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of 1923, the following was written:

trusts are state-owned industrial enterprises to which the state grants independence in carrying out their operations, in accordance with the charter approved for each of them, and which operate on the basis of commercial calculation with the aim of making a profit.

Syndicates began to emerge - voluntary associations of trusts on the basis of cooperation, engaged in marketing, supply, lending, and foreign trade operations. By the end of 1922, 80% of the trusted industry was syndicated, and by the beginning of 1928 there were 23 syndicates in total, which operated in almost all branches of industry, concentrating in their hands the bulk of wholesale trade. The board of syndicates was elected at a meeting of representatives of the trusts, and each trust could, at its own discretion, transfer a greater or lesser part of its supply and sales to the syndicate. Implementation finished products, the purchase of raw materials, materials, equipment was carried out on a full-fledged market, through wholesale trade channels. A wide network has emerged commodity exchanges, fairs, trade enterprises.

In industry and other sectors, wages in cash were restored, tariffs and wages were introduced that excluded equalization, and restrictions were lifted to increase wages with an increase in output. Labor armies were abolished, compulsory labor service and basic restrictions on changing jobs were abolished. The organization of labor was based on the principles of material incentives, which replaced the non-economic coercion of "war communism". The absolute number of unemployed registered by labor exchanges increased during the NEP period (from 1.2 million people at the beginning of 1924 to 1.7 million people at the beginning of 1929), but the expansion of the labor market was even more significant (the number of workers and employees in all n / x increased from 5.8 million people in 1924 to 12.4 million in 1929), so that in fact the unemployment rate fell.

In industry and commerce arose private sector: some state-owned enterprises were denationalized, others were leased out; private individuals with no more than 20 employees were allowed to create their own industrial enterprises (later this “ceiling” was raised). Among the factories rented by private traders there were those that numbered 200-300 people, and in general, the share of the private sector during the NEP period accounted for about 1/5 of industrial production, 40-80% of retail trade and a small part of wholesale trade.

A number of enterprises have been leased to foreign firms in the form of concessions. In 1926-27. there were 117 existing agreements of this kind. They covered enterprises that employed 18,000 people and produced just over 1% of industrial output. In some industries, however, the proportion of concession enterprises and mixed joint-stock companies in which foreigners owned part of the share was significant: in the extraction of lead and silver, 60%; manganese ore - 85%; gold - 30%; in the production of clothing and toilet articles - 22%.

In addition to capital, a stream of emigrant workers from all over the world was sent to the USSR. In 1922, the American trade union of garment workers and the Soviet government created the Russian-American Industrial Corporation (RAIK), which received six textile and clothing factories in Petrograd and four in Moscow.

Cooperation of all forms and types developed rapidly. The role of production cooperatives in agriculture was insignificant (in 1927 they provided only 2% of all agricultural products and 7% of marketable products), but the simplest primary forms- marketing, supply and credit cooperation - by the end of the 20s, more than half of all peasant farms were covered. By the end of 1928, non-production cooperation various kinds, primarily peasant, 28 million people were covered (13 times more than in 1913). In the socialized retail 60-80% accounted for the cooperative and only 20-40% for the state proper, in industry in 1928, 13% of all products were produced by cooperatives. There was cooperative legislation, cooperative credit, cooperative insurance.

Instead of depreciated and actually already rejected by the turnover of the Soviet signs, in 1922 the production of a new monetary unit- chervonets, which had a gold content and exchange rate in gold (1 chervonets = 10 pre-revolutionary gold rubles = 7.74 g of pure gold). In 1924, the Soviet signs, which were quickly supplanted by the chervonets, ceased to be printed altogether and were withdrawn from circulation; in the same year the budget was balanced and the use of money issue to cover state expenses; new treasury notes were issued - rubles (10 rubles = 1 gold piece). On foreign exchange market both within the country and abroad, chervonets were freely exchanged for gold and major foreign currencies at the pre-war rate of the tsarist ruble (1 U.S. $= 1.94 rubles).

revived credit system. In 1921, the State Bank of the USSR was recreated, which began lending to industry and trade on a commercial basis. In 1922-1925. a number of specialized banks were created: joint-stock banks, in which the State Bank, syndicates, cooperatives, individuals, and even at one time foreigners were shareholders, for lending to certain sectors of the economy and regions of the country; cooperative - for lending to consumer cooperation; organized on the shares of the agricultural credit society, closed on the republican and central agricultural banks; mutual credit societies - for lending to private industry and trade; savings banks -- to mobilize the savings of the population. As of October 1, 1923, there were 17 independent banks operating in the country, and the share of the State Bank in the total credit investments of the entire banking system was 2/3. By October 1, 1926, the number of banks increased to 61, and the share of the State Bank in lending to the national economy decreased to 48%.

The economic mechanism during the NEP period was based on market principles. Commodity-money relations, which were previously tried to be expelled from production and exchange, in the 1920s penetrated into all the pores of the economic organism, became the main link between its individual parts.

In just 5 years, from 1921 to 1926, the index of industrial production more than tripled; agricultural production doubled and exceeded the level of 1913 by 18%. But even after the end of the recovery period, economic growth continued at a rapid pace: in 1927, the increase in industrial production amounted to 13 and 19%, respectively. In general, for the period 1921-1928. the average annual growth rate of national income was 18%.

The most important result of the NEP was that impressive economic successes were achieved on the basis of fundamentally new, hitherto unknown to the history of social relations. In industry, key positions were occupied by state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - by state and cooperative banks, in agriculture - by small peasant farms covered by the simplest types of cooperation. They turned out to be completely new in the conditions of NEP and economic functions states; the goals, principles and methods of government economic policy have changed radically. If earlier the center directly established natural, technological proportions of reproduction by order, now it has switched to price regulation, trying to ensure balanced growth by indirect, economic methods.

The state put pressure on producers, forced them to find internal reserves to increase profits, to mobilize efforts to increase the efficiency of production, which alone could now ensure profit growth.

A broad campaign to reduce prices was launched by the government as early as the end of 1923, but a truly comprehensive regulation of price proportions began in 1924, when circulation completely switched to a stable red currency, and the functions of the Internal Trade Commission were transferred to the People's Commissariat of Internal Trade with broad rights in the area of price regulation. The measures taken then were successful: wholesale prices for manufactured goods fell by 26% from October 1923 to May 1, 1924 and continued to decline further. Throughout the subsequent period until the end of the NEP, the question of prices continued to be the core of state economic policy: raising them by trusts and syndicates threatened with a repeat of the sales crisis, while lowering them beyond measure when existing along with the state-owned private sector inevitably led to the enrichment of the private owner at the expense of state industry, to transfer of resources state enterprises into private industry and commerce. The private market, where prices were not standardized but were set as a result of the free play of supply and demand, served as a sensitive barometer, the needle of which, as soon as the state made miscalculations in pricing policy, immediately indicated bad weather. But the regulation of prices was carried out by the bureaucracy, which was not sufficiently controlled by the lower classes, the direct producers. The lack of democracy in the decision-making process regarding pricing became the "Achilles' heel" of the market socialist economy and played a fatal role in the fate of the NEP.

Brilliant as the economic successes were, their recovery was limited by hard limits. It was not easy to reach the pre-war level, but even this meant a new clash with the backwardness of yesterday's Russia, now already isolated and surrounded by a hostile world. Moreover, the most powerful and wealthy capitalist powers began to strengthen again. American economists calculated that the per capita national income in the late 1920s in the USSR was less than 19% of the American one.

NEP

The NEP is an economic policy that replaced the policy of "war communism" in Soviet Russia.

This abbreviation stands for "new economic policy". Surprisingly, the NEP became a whole era, although all stages of its existence fit into one decade: the new economic policy was adopted by the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) in 1921.

The main purpose of the proclamation of the NEP was the restoration of the national economy, destroyed by two fierce wars (World War I and Civil War).

Prerequisites for the emergence of the NEP

The state of Soviet Russia in 1921 was very unstable. The young country lay in ruins.

Immediately after the Great October Revolution, at the end of 1917, the US government terminated relations with Russia, and in 1918 the governments of England and France followed its example. Soon (in October 1919), the Supreme Council of the military alliance of the leading capitalist states - the Entente - announced the complete cessation of all economic ties with Soviet Russia. An attempt at an economic blockade was accompanied by military intervention. The blockade was lifted only in January 1920. Then, on the part of the Western states, an attempt was made to organize the so-called gold blockade: they refused to accept Soviet gold as means of payment in international payments.

The ideology of the Bolsheviks demanded a course towards socialism, but in order to implement this project, it was first necessary to create a material, technical and socio-cultural basis for it.

The policy of war communism, which was carried out until 1921, turned the peasants against the new government, which was embodied for them mainly in the form of food detachments taking bread. The most dissatisfied was the surplus appraisal. It was time to restore the economy and change a lot. All this was the prerequisite for the emergence of the NEP.

The transition from the policy of war communism to the NEP

To relieve social tension, the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) took a number of measures, the most important of which were:

Cancellation of the surplus appropriation and its replacement with a tax in kind;

Permission of market relations and denationalization of small enterprises;

The abolition of a number of state monopolies and the introduction of legal guarantees for private property.

Allowing concession agreements with foreign companies (to improve the international environment).

The essence of the NEP

In general, the new economic policy consisted in establishing a balance between planned and market instruments for regulating the country's economy.

The set of principles underlying the New Economic Policy made it possible to:

Ensure significant growth rates of the national economy in Soviet Russia,

Reduce the budget deficit;

Increase gold reserves and foreign exchange thanks to active communication with foreign countries;

As a result, by 1924, the gold chervonets began to cost more than the pound sterling and the dollar.

Activities and contradictions of the NEP

Thanks to the NEP, in the 1920s. commercial credit became widely used. Banks controlled mutual lending to economic organizations, and also regulated the amount of commercial credit, which at the heyday of the NEP served at least 80% of the volume of all transactions for the sale of goods.

Long-term lending also developed. The recovering industry required investments, and for this the first Soviet banks were created - the Commercial and Industrial Bank of the USSR and Electrobank.

For investment in agriculture, long-term loans were provided by state credit institutions and credit cooperatives.

However, rather quickly, the use of commercial credit created opportunities for an unscheduled redistribution of funds in the areas of the national economy. This was a negative consequence of the measures taken.

The Land Code abolished the right of private ownership of land and subsoil in Soviet Russia, but regulated the leasing of land. It was also allowed to use hired labor in agriculture, however, with reservations: all able-bodied members of the farm had to work on an equal basis with hired workers, and if the farm itself was able to perform this work, then hired labor was not allowed.

These measures in agriculture led to an increase in the proportion of "middle peasants" in comparison with the pre-war level, while the number of poor and rich decreased.

There were also contradictions in the implementation of these measures: on the one hand, the peasants got the opportunity to improve their well-being, and on the other hand, there was no point in developing the economy beyond a certain limit.

Trusts were created in the sphere of industry. A trust is an association of enterprises that has complete economic and financial independence. The enterprises that were part of the trust ceased to receive state supplies and purchased resources on the market. The trusts were given the opportunity to decide for themselves what products to produce and where to sell them.

On the basis of the voluntary association of trusts, syndicates began to arise - organizations engaged in marketing, supply and lending on the basis of cooperation.

The following peculiarities in the life of the country that remained from the time were completely eliminated:

Leveling (under the New Economic Policy, restrictions were lifted on increasing wages with an increase in productivity);

Labor armies (compulsory labor service during the New Economic Policy was canceled);

Job change restrictions.

The complex of these measures led to a dual effect: on the one hand, the number of unemployed increased, and on the other hand, the labor market expanded significantly.

Curtailment of the NEP

Already in the second half of the 1920s. the first symptoms of NEP clotting appeared. In industry, syndicates began to be liquidated; private capital. The creation of economic people's commissariats was the beginning of the establishment of a rigid centralized system of economic management.

In principle, even at the stages of the development and heyday of the NEP (until the mid-1920s), the implementation of the New Economic Policy was quite contradictory, not without regard to the legacy of the era of war communism.

Traditional Soviet historiography determines the reasons for the collapse of the NEP by the complex economic factors. But a more careful analysis of the contradictions of the New Economic Policy suggests that, first of all, the reasons for the curtailment of the NEP were the contradictions between the requirements of the natural functioning of the economy and the political course of the top of the party leadership.

So, since the mid-1920s. measures are being actively taken to limit, and soon to completely oust the private producer.

Finally, since 1928, the economy finally became planned: the development of the national economy began to operate.

The new course, which put economy at the forefront, meant that the era of the NEP was fading into the past.

Legally, the new economic policy was completed on October 11, 1931, with the adoption of a decree prohibiting private trade.

Results of the NEP

The implementation of the new economic policy achieved its intended goal: the ruined economy was restored. Taking into account the fact that highly qualified personnel were either oppressed or forced to leave the country because of their social origin, the emergence of a new generation of economists, managers and production workers can also be considered a significant success of the new government.

Impressive successes in the restoration and development of the national economy in the era of the NEP were achieved in the context of fundamentally new social relations. This makes the country's economic recovery environment truly unique.

In the era of the NEP, key positions in industry belonged to state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - primarily to state banks, in agriculture, small peasant farms were the basis.

Significance of the NEP

Paradoxically, from the height of history, the NEP seems more like a short step, retreating from the socio-economic development programmed by the revolution, and therefore, without denying its achievements, one cannot but say that other measures could lead to the same results.

And the uniqueness of the era of the new economic policy lies primarily in its impact on culture.

As mentioned above, after the Great October Revolution, Russia lost most of the intellectual elite of society. The general cultural and spiritual level of the population fell sharply.

The new era puts forward new heroes - among the Nepmen who rose to the highest social levels, the lion's share is made up of wealthy private merchants, former shopkeepers and handicraftsmen, who were absolutely not touched by the romance of revolutionary trends.

To understand classical art, these "heroes of the new time" did not have enough education, and yet they became trendsetters. In accordance with this, cabarets and restaurants became the main entertainment of the NEP. However, it can be said that this was a pan-European trend of those years, but it is in Soviet Russia, sandwiched between the reluctantly fading war communism and the impending dark era of repression, that this makes a special impression.

The artistic value of cabaret performances by coupletists with uncomplicated song plots and primitive rhymes, of course, is more than debatable. However, it was these unpretentious texts and motifs that entered the history of the culture of the young country, and then began to be passed on from generation to generation, merging with folk art in their best examples.

The general lightness of the era affected even the genres of dramatic theaters. The Moscow Vakhtangov Studio (now the Vakhtangov Theatre) in 1922 staged the fairy tale "Princess Turandot" by the Italian Carlo Gozzi. And in the dual atmosphere of reigning lightness and premonitions of the future, a performance was born that became a symbol of the theater.

The 1920s also saw a real magazine boom in the new capital. new country- in Moscow. Since 1922, several satirical and humorous magazines (Splinter, Satyricon, Smekhach) that immediately gained popularity began to appear. All these magazines were aimed at publishing far from only news from the life of workers and peasants, but published primarily humoresques, parodies, caricatures.

However, their publication ends with the end of the NEP. In 1930, Crocodile remained the only satirical magazine. The era of the NEP is over, but the trace of that time is forever preserved in the history of a great country.

At the very end of the Civil War, the leadership of the RCP(b) decided to move from the policy of war communism to the NEP. On the one hand, this decision was dictated by the need to revive the economy destroyed by the war, and on the other hand, by the desire of the Soviet government to achieve recognition on the world stage. For the inhabitants of Soviet Russia, the NEP was an era of temporary revival of small private business and the resumption of commodity-money relations. In foreign policy, the NEP and the issue of the first stable Soviet currency, the gold chervonets, associated with it, became the first steps towards international recognition for Soviet Russia.

Many distinctive features The NEP contradicted fundamental communist teachings. By the end of the 1920s, the NEP performed the function of improving the economy, and the state switched to a policy of coercive cooperation of privately owned farms, followed by the establishment of a full state control over educated enterprises and the elimination of the free market.

The NEP policy assumed:

high food tax on peasants
limiting the number of large private banks to a list
replacement of food surplus with tax in kind
accurate fixation of limited norms for the delivery of grain by peasants to the state
some freedom of enterprise of citizens
free trade in consumer goods
allowing industrial enterprises to freely enter the foreign market
permission to lease small businesses by private individuals
creation of concessions with the attraction of foreign capital
opening labor exchanges to eliminate unemployment
introduction of a hard national currency
creation of a national banking system
development of state capitalism in its various forms
cash wages
introduction of a tariff wage system
development of industrial and consumer cooperation
close economic interaction between the city and the countryside
the right granted by the state to engage in individual labor activity for profit
government-granted right to employ wage labor
the right granted by the state to engage in trade and intermediary activities.
During the years of the New Economic Policy, "solid", fixed prices for industrial and food products were introduced.

From a letter written during the years of the NEP by a “bourgeois specialist” (as he calls himself): “Of course, there are limits to nationalization, and the new economic policy, returning to the former owners a number of small enterprises in vain and unreasonably taken from them, itself clearly outlines these limits” . Name a word that explains what (in terms of size) enterprises we are talking about.

Did not have
stability of the national currency	increased centralization in economic management
equal distribution of food supplies between town and countryside	card distribution system
increase in grain exports	business leasing was banned
increase in grain imports	enterprises were actively nationalized
most small and medium industrial enterprises were in the hands of private owners	introduction of the equalizing principle of wages
physical elimination of all representatives of the former propertied classes	strengthening the features of the command-administrative system
full nationalization of the economy (will happen by the end of industrialization)	nationalization of industry

The food tax, introduced in 1921, implied the gratuitous delivery of part of the production of the peasant economy to the state, with the right to sell the rest on the market.

Socio-economic consequences of the NEP:

revival of trade
raising the standard of living
agricultural recovery

Excess - rising unemployment

The absolute number of unemployed registered by labor exchanges during the NEP increased (from 1.2 million people at the beginning of 1924 to 1.7 million people at the beginning of 1929), but the expansion of the labor market was even more significant (the number of workers and employees in all sectors of the national economy increased from 5.8 million in 1924 to 12.4 million in 1929), so that in fact the unemployment rate fell.

The reason for the transition to the NEP is not	The reason for the transition to the NEP is
the desire of the state to revive private production in the country	deep socio-economic crisis in the country
	open action of peasants and workers against the policy of war communism The slogan of the Kronstadt rebellion was the words: "Power to the Soviets!" The uprising of the sailors of the Kronstadt garrison with the slogan: "For the Soviets - without the Communists!" happened in March 1921
	The participants in the Kronstadt uprising in March 1921 demanded immediate re-elections of the Soviets by secret ballot with free preliminary agitation.
	a sharp drop in production in the country
	hunger for more than 30 million people in the Volga region A severe crop failure that caused a famine in 1921. 30 million people, 5 million of whom died, covered a number of territories of Soviet Russia.

NEP is an introduction economic methods economic management.

The state capitalist structure of the economy of the NEP period included	The socialist structure of the economy of the NEP period included	The private capitalist structure of the economy of the NEP period included ...
mixed joint-stock companies, whose shares were partly owned by the state, partly by private entrepreneurs	state-owned enterprises operating on the principle of cost accounting	kulak farms in which hired labor was used
	agricultural cooperatives	workshops of non-cooperative handicraftsmen
Glavki were abolished, and trusts were created instead - associations of homogeneous or interconnected enterprises that received complete economic and financial independence, up to the right to issue long-term bonded loans.	state enterprises of heavy industry
During the period of the NEP, all state enterprises operating on the basis of economic accounting were called state trusts.	state enterprises of light industry
The Supreme Council of National Economy, having lost the right to interfere in the current activities of enterprises and trusts, turned into a coordinating center. His apparatus was drastically reduced. It was at that time that economic accounting appeared, in which the enterprise (after mandatory fixed contributions to the state budget) has the right to manage the income from the sale of products, is itself responsible for the results of its economic activity, independently uses profits and covers losses. Under the conditions of the NEP, Lenin wrote: "State enterprises are transferred to the so-called cost accounting, that is, in fact, to a large extent on commercial and capitalist principles." At least 20% of the profits of the trusts had to be directed to the formation of reserve capital until it reached a value equal to half of the authorized capital (soon this standard was reduced to 10% of the profit until it reached a third of the initial capital). And the reserve capital was used to finance the expansion of production and compensate for losses in economic activity. The bonuses received by members of the board and workers of the trust depended on the amount of profit.

During the years of the NEP, the size of the working class:

By the beginning of 1926, the number of the working class had reached more than 90% of the 1913 level.

Under NEP, as industry was restored, a new working class grew up, almost as numerous as the old one. The rapid growth of the working class in the late 1920s and early 1930s occurred mainly due to the influx to new industrial facilities ...

As for the working class, by the beginning of the first five-year plan its total number had increased 5 times in comparison with 1920.

During the NEP, the size of the working class increased significantly, however, from the beginning current year a sharp break occurs.

Under NEP, as industry was restored, a new working class grew up, almost as numerous as the old one. A few years later, by 1932, industrial employment had risen from 10 million to 22 million. During the 1930s, so many workers came to industry and the mines that by 1940 the working class was almost three times its maximum number in the past.

In 1921 Russia literally lay in ruins. From the former Russian Empire the territories of Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Western Belarus, the Kars region of Armenia and Bessarabia departed. According to experts, the population in the remaining territories barely reached 135 million. Losses in these territories as a result of wars, epidemics, emigration, and a decrease in the birth rate amounted to at least 25 million people since 1914. During the hostilities, the Donbass, the Baku oil region, the Urals and Siberia were especially affected, many mines and mines were destroyed. Factories stopped due to lack of fuel and raw materials. The workers were forced to leave the cities and go to the countryside. Overall volume industrial production decreased by 5 times.

The equipment has not been updated for a long time. Metallurgy produced as much metal as it was smelted under Peter I. The volume of agricultural production decreased by 40% due to the depreciation of money and the shortage of manufactured goods. Society has degraded, its intellectual potential has significantly weakened. Most of the Russian intelligentsia was destroyed or left the country.

Kronstadt uprising (mutiny)

The peasants, outraged by the actions of the food detachments, not only refused to hand over their bread, but also rose up in armed struggle. The uprisings swept the Tambov region, Ukraine, Don, Kuban, the Volga region and Siberia. The peasants demanded a change in agrarian policy, the elimination of the dictates of the RCP (b), the convening of the Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal equal suffrage. Units of the Red Army were thrown into the suppression of these speeches.

Discontent spread to the army. On March 1, 1921, the sailors and Red Army soldiers of the Kronstadt garrison under the slogan "For Soviets without Communists!" demanded the release from prison of all representatives of the socialist parties, the holding of re-elections of the Soviets and, as follows from the slogan, the exclusion of all communists from them, the granting of freedom of speech, meetings and unions to all parties, ensuring freedom of trade, allowing peasants to freely use their land and dispose of the products of their economy , that is, the elimination of surplus appropriation. Convinced of the impossibility of reaching an agreement with the rebels, the authorities stormed Kronstadt. By alternating artillery shelling and infantry actions, Kronstadt was taken by March 18; some of the rebels died, the rest went to Finland or surrendered.

Thus, the main task domestic policy The RCP(b) and the Soviet state consisted in restoring the destroyed economy, creating a material, technical and socio-cultural basis for building socialism, which the Bolsheviks promised to the people.

The New Economic Policy was aimed at restoring the national economy and the subsequent transition to socialism. The main content of the NEP is the replacement of surplus appropriation with a tax in kind in the countryside, the use of the market and various forms ownership, attraction of foreign capital in the form of concessions, monetary reform(1922-1924), as a result of which the ruble became a convertible currency.

The main political goal of the 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, the NEP was aimed at restoring normal foreign policy ties, at overcoming international isolation.

What are the main reasons for the rejection of the NEP in the USSR?

The NEP made it possible to quickly restore the national economy, destroyed by the First World War and the Civil War.

But 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.

All this led to disagreement in political assessments of the situation. In the second half of the 1920s, the first attempts to curtail the NEP began. Syndicates in industry were liquidated, from which private capital was administratively ousted, and a rigid centralized system of economic management (economic people's commissariats) was created. Stalin and his entourage headed for the forced seizure of grain and the forcible collectivization of the countryside. Repressions were carried out against managerial personnel (the Shakhty case, the process of the Industrial Party, etc.). By the beginning of the 1930s, the NEP was effectively curtailed.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) is an economic policy that was carried out from 1921 to 1924 in the USSR. It was adopted on March 15, 1921 at the X Congress of the RCP (b). The NEP replaced the policy of "war communism".

Prerequisites

After the civil war in the country came the political and economic crises. The volume of industry decreased by 7 times. Stocks of raw materials were exhausted. The volume of rail traffic has decreased. Also affected Agriculture. Many businesses have closed. As a result, the unemployment rate began to increase.

All these factors led to increased public discontent.

The policy of "war communism" led to the development of speculation and the formation of a "black market". In the sphere of politics, the dictatorship of the RCP (b) was established. The Bolshevik Party began to determine the political, economic, ideological situation in the USSR.

Goals. The political goal is to relieve social tension. The economic goal is to stop the devastation in the country, to restore the economy. The social goal is to create favorable conditions for the formation of a social society.

NEP in agriculture

The tax in kind has decreased by almost 2 times. Its main burden fell on the wealthy peasants.

On October 30, 1922, the Land Code of the RSFSR was introduced, which abolished the right of private ownership of land.

The famine ended, the area of populated land increased, the agrarian sector was being restructured.

NEP in industry

Trusts came to replace the chiefs. They could decide for themselves what, how to produce and where to sell. At the same time, syndicates began to appear. arose a large number of fairs, trade enterprises, stock exchanges.

The system of monetary wages was restored, labor armies and compulsory labor duties were abolished.

The private sector emerged. Part of the state enterprises was denationalized.

NEP in finance

Main directions:

elimination of the budget deficit;
stop the issue of money;
restoration of the banking system;
ensuring the stability of the currency;
creation of a suitable tax system;
creation of a unified monetary system.

In 1921, the State Bank was created, payment for transport was established, the system of direct and indirect taxes. Government spending was also cut.

In November 1922 was released new currency- "chervonets". It was used to service industry, wholesale trade, banking operations on credit.

In February 1924, the issue of state treasury notes began (nominal values of 1, 3, 5 rubles).

On March 13, 1924, the State Bank began to issue state marks. For 500 million rubles. old-style money was paid 1 kopeck. sovznakov. As a result, the system of two parallel currencies ended its existence.

In the same years, commercial loans and long-term government lending began to be widely used.

Results of the NEP

From the second half of the 1920s, the liquidation of syndicates began, the share of private capital decreased and the centralization of the economy intensified, and further development industrialization and collectivization.

On October 11, 1931, a decree was passed banning private trade. This event marked the end of the NEP.

Despite a number of mistakes and shortcomings, the New Economic Policy was able to bring the country out of a state of complete devastation.