Problems facing the Bolsheviks in 1921

Economic problems and famine

• By 1921, the Russian economy was in ruins, the transport system was on the point of total collapse, factories could not get the materials they needed and industrial output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels
• Grain production had fallen to disastrously low levels as peasants produced only what they needed and the grain harvest in 1921 was only 48% of that produced in 1913
• Famine was rampant in the south and of the 10 million people that died in the Civil War, over half starved to death
• 450,000 people died of disease

Threat from the peasants

• The hostility of the peasants towards grain requisitioning erupted in a series…