NEP - greater importance in introduction
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- Created by: RachelMarie22
- Created on: 14-05-21 21:03
The Kronstadt Rising - March 1921 - What was it?
- 10,000 sailors mutinied at Kronstadt naval base - centered on two battleships with revolutionary pedigrees, the 'Petropavlosk' and 'Sevastopol' - frozen in the ice of Kronstadt harbour
- Published a 15-point manifesto of political demands (Petropavlovsk Revolution) condemning Bolsheviks of abuses of power e.g. new elections to the soviet, civil rights ( freedom of speech), called for an end to Communist dictatorship/ special privileges enjoyed by Bolsheviks, trade union rights, legislation of other socialist parties.
- The sailors sympathised with Petrograd workers
- The short-lived uprising had a deep if ambivalent impact on the soviet rule
- Happened during X Party Congress: Crucial factor in persuading the party to accept NEP
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Kronstadt Uprising - Factors to consider
- Bolshevik response: Trotsky ordered General Tukachevsky to crush the uprising with Red Army, 60,000 red troops needed (Armed & difficult) -> 10,000 killed; captured rebels, who were shot or sent to first Soviet concentration camp.
- Worrying aspect for Lenin: Showed the government could not continue with the policy of war communism any longer; previously they had been ardent supporters of the Bolsheviks
- Kronstadt sailors played a key role in Bolshevik takeover (Oct 1917) so 1. This was highly embarrassing and 2. it proves disillusionment
Lenin -> " The flash that lit up reality more than anything else"
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Peasant Unrest - 1920/21 - What was it ?
- Major revolts across the countryside by peasants
- Tambov Region 1920-21 - Army of 20,000 - Led by Alexander Antonov (SR)
- Caused by 1920 drought, poor harvests, no reserves for grain, requisitioning brigades arrived to take what little they had (war communism )
- Poor harvest (starvation ) + high grain requestioning (trigger) + whites beaten ( whites victory no longer likely)
- Famine in countryside -> 5 million died ( financial aid from US supplies )
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Peasant Unrest - Factors to Consider
- Bolshevik response: Red Army sent in, used vicious tactics of mass arrests, deportations and executions; whole families were taken hostage and their houses burnt to the grounds
Worrying aspect for Lenin:
- Large parts of the country effectively out of the authorities' control
- made food supplies problems worse - caused food crisis in towns
- railways disrupted
- hard to crush them ( difficulty restoring order) - Bolshevik officials murdered and Red Army overstretched -> serious danger to the regime
Villages that supported the Reds were rewarded with salt - a vital commodity because it was needed for food preservation - and manufactured goods, and fed propaganda about the benefits that the NEP would bring them.
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Urban Strikes - What was it?
- Severe winter of 1920-21 in the cities/workers strikes 1921
- Demands for ‘Soviets without Communists’
- Renewed support for other parties
Caused by:
- war communism
- Bread ration cut by 1/3 (22nd Jan 1921- trigger)
- angry about the loss of trade union rights
- militarised factories worse than tsarist prison camps (heavy discipline, punishment)
- anger about bribery/corruption in the Bolshevik party
In the towns, the Civil War brought industry almost to a standstill. The towns emptied, Petrograd losing nearly three-quarters of its population between 1918 and 1920.
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Urban Strikes - Factors to Consider
- Bolshevik response: Jan 1921 Martial Law (military carry out justice) declared in Moscow & Petrograd– demonstrations broken up by Cheka and special troops
Most worrying aspect for Lenin:
- Loss of main support for Bolsheviks
- workers had control
- Urban protests might develop into revolutionary unrest
- Workers had to be killed to restore order
- Strikers had the sympathy of Kronstadt sailors and the soldiers - refused to put fire on crowds -> fear of possible mutiny
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Internal Divisions - What was it?
Factions opposing the party leadership (1920-21)
- Democratic Centralists (DC): Dislike the growing power of bureaucracy
- Workers Opposition (WO): Formed by two prominent Bolsheviks Alexander Shlyapikov and Alandra Kollontai within the party itself - disliked the use of single mangers; state control of trade union; militarised factories ; lack of worker control
- - BOTH wanted more influence for ordinary party members
Caused by:
- accused party leaders of losing touch with the proletariat
- Criticized Trotsky's plan to intensify war communism
- Wanted workers to be given more control
- End to single managers + end to militarlised labour
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Internal Divisions - Factors to consider
Bolshevik response:
- Banned all factions (1921) and the workers' opposition was dissolved
- Lenin argued at the X party congress that factions weakened the party internally
Worrying aspect for Lenin:
- Saw factions within the party as dangerous, internal opposition -> division, prospects of splits
- Encouraging urban strikes and Kronstadt revolt
- Shlyapnikov and Kollontai were commissars within the government (a great deal of influence which extended to workers on streets and sailors at Kronstadt - their opposition encouraged strikes on the streets)
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Lenins Aims / Motives for NEP
- End unrest in the countryside and secure the food supply
- Stimulate the economy and raise living standards
- Thus, decrease political opposition to Bolshevik rule
Motives for the NEP:
- By 1921, peasants were clamouring for something ‘new’ to resolve hardships by both the First World War and the Civil War
- Debatable as to how fair Lenin viewed War Communism as a short-term emergency measure, he was quick to change tack and replaced it with his NEP
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Economic problems / Party Support
Economic Problems faced by the Bolsheviks in 1921:
- Famine in countryside -> 5 million died (financial aid from US supplies), unreasonably high grain requisitioning)
- Decrease in urban population -> food shortages, disease
- The collapse of the transport network
- Whole industry shutting down and collapsing -> Inflation, money became worthless
- Grain production and food supply plummeting -> climate, subsistence farming (only growing for themselves), unreasonably high grain requisitioning
Why did the Party Support the introduction of the NEP?
- The economic crisis and political unrest -> esp. in the countryside
- The shock of the Kronstadt rebellion
- Lenin promised to keep control of the ‘commanding heights of the economy
- Lenin promised it was only a temporary retreat from socialism
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