ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE SOVIET POWER. "WAR COMMUNISM"
The first measures of the Soviet government in the field of economics. The Bolsheviks who came to power in Russia were professional revolutionaries. The party program was aimed at seizing power, and economic problems were indicated in it only in in general terms. It was assumed that after the victory of the proletarian revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a period of transition from capitalism to socialism would begin. During this time, it was necessary to liquidate private property, to concentrate production in the hands of the "workers' and peasants'" state, to form economic ties based on the administrative distribution of products from a single center.
In November 1917, Lenin determined the priority measures in the economic field: "... workers' control over factories, their subsequent expropriation, the nationalization of banks, the creation of a supreme economic council that regulates the entire economy of the country." On November 14, a decree and the "Regulations on workers' control" were adopted.
Workers' control was introduced in all industrial, commercial, transport, banking and other enterprises where hired labor was used. The incompetent interference of work inspectors in the activities of enterprises caused dissatisfaction among entrepreneurs. In protest, many of them began to close their factories and plants. In response, the Bolsheviks began expropriating private enterprises. However, initially nationalization acted not as a tool for creating a socialist economy, but as a response from the state to hostile steps on the part of entrepreneurs.
By the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of December 1, 1917, for the first time in world economic practice, a special state apparatus for regulating and managing the national economy was created - the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh). A massive attack on private property began. On December 14, private banks were nationalized in Petrograd, and banking was declared a state monopoly. The State Bank was renamed into People's Bank. In 1918-1919. all banks, except for the people's, were liquidated. All safes were opened, securities, royal rubles, gold were confiscated.
In January 1918, the nationalization of railway transport, river and sea fleets began. In April 1918, a decree was issued on the nationalization of foreign trade. The Soviet government announced the non-recognition of the internal and external debts of the tsarist and Provisional governments. On May 1, 1918, inheritance rights were abolished. The Decree of June 28, 1918 "On the nationalization of a number of industries" transferred to the hands of the state all large industrial enterprises of the most important industries: metallurgical, mining, machine-building, chemical, textile, etc.
Land socialization law. While the Soviet government was experimenting in the field of industrial production, in the countryside, according to the decree on land, the peasants divided the landowners, monasteries and appanage lands. On February 19, 1918, the day serfdom was abolished, the Law on the Socialization of the Land was published. It was the result of a fragile compromise between the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs.
By the spring of 1918, the first redistribution of the land fund was almost completely completed. Land relations now looked like this: private ownership of land was abolished; the state was the supreme owner of all land; it endowed the peasants with land according to the equalizing labor norm, while the peasants were only users of the land, but not its owners.
The Bolsheviks, preoccupied with political problems, for the time being turned a blind eye to the events in the countryside, entrusting the solution of many problems to the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who controlled not only the People's Commissariat for Agriculture, but also most of the local land committees. However, the situation soon changed dramatically.
Establishment of a food dictatorship. Economic ties between the city and the countryside in the first half of the Soviet regime were built according to the scheme inherited from the Provisional Government. While maintaining the grain monopoly and fixed prices, bread was obtained through barter. The People's Commissar of Food had at his disposal items of industrial production and, under certain conditions, sent them to the village, thereby stimulating the delivery of grain.
However, in conditions of instability, the lack of the necessary industrial goods, the peasants were in no hurry to give bread to the government, which gave them land. In addition, in the spring of 1918 the military-political situation deteriorated sharply. The grain regions of Ukraine, the Kuban, the Volga region, and Siberia were cut off from the Center. The threat of famine loomed over the territory of Soviet Russia. At the end of April 1918 daily rate the grain ration in Petrograd was reduced to 50 g. In Moscow, workers received an average of 100 g per day. Food riots began in the country.
On the basis of a decree dated May 13, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established norms for per capita consumption for peasants - 12 poods of grain, 1 pood of cereal, etc. All bread exceeding these norms was called "surplus" and was subject to seizure. To accomplish this task, armed food detachments were created, endowed with emergency powers.
The Bolsheviks feared that the "crusade" announced by the city to the countryside might cause the entire peasantry to unite for an organized grain blockade. Therefore, the stake was placed on splitting the village, on opposing the poor to the rest of the peasants. On June 11, 1918, despite the objections of the Left SRs, a decree was issued on the formation of committees of the rural poor (combeds).
Transition to the surplus. The activities of the commanders heated up the situation in the village to the limit. In many areas they came into conflict with the local Soviets, seeking to take power from them. A dual power was created in the village. On December 2, 1918, a decree on the dissolution of the committees was promulgated. This decision was due to both economic and political reasons. Calculations that the committees would help increase the supply of bread did not materialize. The price of bread, which was obtained as a result of the "armed campaign in the countryside", turned out to be immeasurably high - the general indignation of the peasants, which resulted in a series of peasant uprisings against the Bolsheviks. This factor could be decisive in overthrowing the Bolshevik government. It was necessary to restore the confidence, first of all, of the middle peasantry, which, after the redistribution of land, determined the face of the village. The dissolution of the committees of the rural poor was the first step towards the policy of appeasing the middle peasantry.
On January 11, 1919, a decree "On the allocation of bread and fodder" was issued. According to this decree, the state informed in advance exact figure their grain needs. Then this number was distributed (distributed) among the provinces, counties, volosts and peasant households. The implementation of the grain procurement plan was mandatory. Moreover, the surplus appraisal proceeded not from the capabilities of peasant farms, but from very conditional "state needs", which in fact meant the seizure of all surplus grain, and often the necessary stocks. A new element in comparison with the policy of the food dictatorship was only the fact that the peasants knew in advance the intentions of the state, but this was also an important factor for the peasant psychology.
accelerated nationalization. Liquidation of commodity-money relations. A course was taken for the accelerated nationalization of industrial enterprises, including small ones, "with more than ten or more than five workers, but with the use of a mechanical engine." All defense enterprises and railway transport were transferred to martial law. Having proclaimed the slogan "Who does not work, he does not eat," the Soviet government introduced general labor conscription and labor mobilization of the population to perform work of national importance: logging, road, construction, etc. The introduction of labor service influenced the solution of the problem of wages. The first experiments of the Soviet government in this area were crossed out by rampant inflation. In order to ensure the existence of the workers, the state tried to compensate for wages in kind, instead of giving money food rations, food stamps in the canteen, and basic necessities. Then the payment for housing, transport, utilities and other services was abolished. The state, having mobilized the working class, almost completely took over its maintenance.
The logical continuation of the economic policy of the Bolsheviks was the actual abolition of commodity-money relations. First, the free sale of food was prohibited, then other consumer goods, which were distributed by the state as naturalized wages. However, despite all the prohibitions, illegal trade continued to exist. According to various estimates, the state distributed only 30-45% of real consumption. Everything else was purchased on the "black market" and exchanged from "pouchers" - illegal food sellers.
The whole set of emergency measures is called politics "war communism". "Military" - because this policy was subordinated to the only goal - to concentrate all forces for a military victory over political opponents; "communism" - because the measures taken by the Bolsheviks surprisingly coincided with the Marxist forecast regarding some socio-economic features of the future communist society.
The new party program, adopted in March 1919 at the VIII Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - as the RSDLP (b) began to be called, already directly linked "military communist measures" with theoretical ideas about communism.
What you need to know about this topic:
Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.
Domestic policy of tsarism. Nicholas II. Strengthening repression. "Police socialism".
Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, course, results.
Revolution of 1905 - 1907 The nature, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.
Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'état June 3, 1907
Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. arrangement political forces in the Duma. Duma activity. government terror. The decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910
Stolypinskaya agrarian reform.
IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Duma activity.
The political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. The labor movement in the summer of 1914 Crisis of the top.
The international position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
Beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude towards the war of parties and classes.
The course of hostilities. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. Role Eastern Front in the first world war.
The Russian economy during the First World War.
Workers' and peasants' movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. Growing anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.
Russian culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries.
Aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Provisional Committee State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. Causes of dual power and its essence. February coup in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.
From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government regarding war and peace, on agrarian, national, labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. The arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.
Political parties(Kadets, Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.
Crises of the Provisional Government. An attempted military coup in the country. Growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital Soviets.
Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.
II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Organ formation state power and management. Composition of the first Soviet government.
The victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left SRs. Elections to the Constituent Assembly, its convocation and dissolution.
The first socio-economic transformations in the field of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.
Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. The introduction of food dictatorship. Working squads. Comedy.
The revolt of the left SRs and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.
First Soviet Constitution.
Reasons for intervention and civil war. The course of hostilities. Human and material losses of the period of the civil war and military intervention.
The internal policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War Communism". GOELRO plan.
The policy of the new government in relation to culture.
Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Participation of Russia in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition of the USSR by the main capitalist countries.
Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine of 1921-1922 Transition to a new economic policy. The essence of the NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP and its curtailment.
Projects for the creation of the USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.
Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intraparty struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime of power.
Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - purpose, forms, leaders.
Formation and strengthening state system economic management.
The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.
Results of industrialization and collectivization.
Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intraparty struggle. political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalinist regime and the constitution of the USSR in 1936
Soviet culture in the 20-30s.
Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.
Domestic policy. The growth of military production. Extraordinary measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Armed forces. Growth of the Red Army. military reform. Repressions against the command personnel of the Red Army and the Red Army.
Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish War. The inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories in the USSR.
Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. The initial stage of the war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events Surrender Nazi Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.
Soviet rear during the war.
Deportation of peoples.
Partisan struggle.
Human and material losses during the war.
Creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. Conferences of the "Big Three". Problems of post-war peace settlement and all-round cooperation. USSR and UN.
Start " cold war". The contribution of the USSR to the creation of the "socialist camp". The formation of the CMEA.
Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-1940s - early 1950s. Restoration of the national economy.
Socio-political life. Politics in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad business". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "Doctors' Case".
Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.
Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repressions and deportations. Intra-party struggle in the second half of the 1950s.
Foreign policy: the creation of the ATS. Input Soviet troops to Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. The split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American relations and Caribbean crisis. USSR and third world countries. Reducing the strength of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Tests.
USSR in the mid-60s - the first half of the 80s.
Socio-economic development: economic reform 1965
Growing difficulties economic development. Decline in the rate of socio-economic growth.
USSR Constitution 1977
Socio-political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.
Foreign Policy: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. The entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening of the Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.
USSR in 1985-1991
Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.
Aggravation national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. "Novogarevsky process". The collapse of the USSR.
Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Treaties with leading capitalist countries. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Disintegration of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact.
Russian Federation in 1992-2000
Domestic policy: "Shock therapy" in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. The escalation of the struggle between the executive and legislature. Dissolution Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events of 1993. Abolition of local bodies of Soviet power. Elections to the Federal Assembly. The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 Formation of the presidential republic. Aggravation and overcoming of national conflicts in the North Caucasus.
Parliamentary elections 1995 Presidential elections 1996 Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. The financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections in 1999 and early presidential elections in 2000. Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. Participation of Russian troops in the "hot spots" of the near abroad: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Russia's relations with far-abroad countries. Withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and CIS countries, Russian-American agreements, Russia and NATO, Russia and the Council of Europe, Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia's position.
- Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.
War Communism (politics of war communism) - title domestic policy Soviet Russia held during the Civil War of 1918-1921.
The essence of war communism was to prepare the country for a new, communist society, to which the new authorities were oriented. War communism was characterized by such features as:
- the extreme degree of centralization of the management of the entire economy;
- nationalization of industry (from small to large);
- a ban on private trade and curtailment of commodity-money relations;
- state monopolization of many branches of agriculture;
- militarization of labor (orientation towards the military industry);
- total equalization, when everyone received an equal amount of goods and goods.
It was on the basis of these principles that it was planned to build a new state where there are no rich and poor, where everyone is equal and everyone receives exactly as much as is necessary for a normal life. Scholars believe that the introduction new policy was necessary in order not only to survive in the conditions of the Civil War, but also to quickly rebuild the country into a new type of society.
At the end of the Civil War, the Bolsheviks introduced a special economic state policy, the basis of which was war communism.
Less than a century after the events of 1918, modern historians consider the introduction of war communism not a means of rehabilitating the economy after internal confrontation and external intervention, but rather a planned action that primarily strengthened the ideological positions of Bolshevism.
Implementation of war communism
After a long destructive confrontation between the Red Army and the Whites, the economic situation in the country was extremely difficult, which affected the authority of the Bolsheviks.
The way out of such an unfavorable situation, the communist government saw in the introduction of the policy of war communism, which consisted in the nationalization of all large and medium-sized enterprises, food surplus and universal labor service.
Transition to monopolization of strategic industrial facilities began at the end of 1918. Gradually, all enterprises that employed more than 5 people passed into state ownership, which put an end to the existence of private small farms of farmers and artisans.
The management of industrial and agricultural enterprises was concentrated in the hands of the chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy.
War communism provided for food distribution, which consisted in the forced seizure of bread and other products from the peasants. The executive detachments of the People's Commissariat for Food actually robbed the rural population, taking away in fact 80% of the manufactured products.
Cash payments were completely replaced by food and labor payments. Transport and utilities were free during this time. For such a "liberal" gift of power, urban workers were forced to work for free in factories, factories and in the service sector.
Instead of wages, the state provided the workers with basic necessities: bread, milk, cereals and butter, previously confiscated from the peasants. Since 1920, compulsory universal labor service was introduced in the country, which affected mainly the peasantry.
In addition to food delivery, the villagers had to provide a wide range of services to the state: harvest wood, make fabric, and provide horse-drawn transport.
Popular resistance
The first to confront the policy of war communism were the peasants, who on principle refused to cultivate their lands in order to evade the surplus appropriation. Later, city workers also joined them.
The perniciousness of war communism became clear and for the Bolsheviks the economy of the state came at an even greater loss compared to the period of the Civil War. A series of protests swept through the state under the slogan: "Power to the Soviets, but not to the parties."
It was from this moment that the leadership of the RCP (b) began repressions against the protesters, organized special penal teams and the first concentration camps.
"War Communism" is the policy of the Bolsheviks, which was carried out from 1918 to 1920 and led to the Civil War in the country, as well as to the sharp dissatisfaction of the population with the new government. As a result, Lenin was hastily forced to curtail this course and announce the beginning of a new policy (NEP). The term "War Communism" was introduced by Alexander Bogdanov. Sove began the policy of war communism in the spring of 1918. Subsequently, Lenin wrote that it was a forced measure. In fact, such a policy was a logical and normal course from the point of view of the Bolsheviks, arising from the goals of the Bolsheviks. And the civil war, the birth of war communism, only contributed to the further development of this idea.
The reasons for the introduction of war communism are as follows:
- Creation of the state according to communist ideals. The Bolsheviks sincerely believed that they could create a non-market society with a complete lack of money. For this, it seemed to them, terror was needed, and it could only be achieved by creating special conditions in the country.
- Complete subjugation of the country. For the complete concentration of power in their hands, the Bolsheviks needed complete control over all state bodies, as well as over state resources. This could only be done by terror.
The question of "war communism" is important in a historical sense for understanding what happened in the country, as well as for the correct causal relationship of events. This is what we will deal with in this article.
What is "war communism" and what are its features?
War Communism is a policy pursued by the Bolsheviks from 1918 to 1920. In fact, it ended in the first third of 1921, or rather, at that moment it was finally curtailed, and the transition to the NEP was announced. This policy is characterized by the fight against private capital, as well as the establishment of total control over literally all spheres of people's lives, including the sphere of consumption.
History reference
The last words in this definition are very important to understand - the Bolsheviks took control of the process of consumption. For example, autocratic Russia controlled production, but let consumption take its course. The Bolsheviks went further ... In addition, war communism assumed:
- nationalization of private enterprise
- food dictatorship
- trade cancellation
- universal labor service.
It is very important to understand which events were the cause and which were the consequences. Soviet historians say that War Communism was necessary because there was an armed struggle between the Reds and the Whites, each of whom tried to seize power. But in fact, war communism was introduced first, and as a result of the introduction of this policy, a war began, including a war with its own population.
What is the essence of the policy of war communism?
The Bolsheviks, as soon as they seized power, seriously believed that they would be able to completely abolish money, and there would be a natural exchange of goods in the country along class lines. But the problem was that the situation in the country was very difficult, and here it was just necessary to keep power, and socialism, communism, Marxism, and so on, were relegated to the background. This was due to the fact that at the beginning of 1918 there was gigantic unemployment in the country, and inflation, which reached 200 thousand percent. The reason for this is simple - the Bolsheviks did not recognize private property and capital. As a result, they carried out nationalization and seized capital by terror. But instead they offered nothing! And here the reaction of Lenin is indicative, who blamed ... ordinary workers for all the troubles of the events of 1918-1919. According to him, people in the country are idlers, and they bear all the blame for the famine, and for the introduction of the policy of war communism, and for the red terror.
The main features of war communism in brief
- Introduction of surplus appropriation in agriculture. The essence of this phenomenon is very simple - practically everything that was produced by them was forcibly taken from the peasants. The decree was signed on January 11, 1919.
- exchange between city and country. This is what the Bolsheviks wanted, and their "textbooks" on the construction of communism and socialism spoke about this. In practice, this has not been achieved. But they managed to worsen the situation and provoke the anger of the peasants, which resulted in uprisings.
- nationalization of industry. The Russian Communist Party naively believed that it was possible to build socialism in 1 year, to remove all private capital, by carrying out nationalization for this. They carried it out, but it did not give results. Moreover, in the future, the Bolsheviks were forced to carry out the NEP in the country, which in many respects had the features of denationalization.
- The ban on the lease of land, as well as the use of hired force for its cultivation. This is again one of the postulates of Lenin's "textbooks", but this led to the decline of agriculture and famine.
- Complete abolition of private trade. Moreover, this cancellation was done even when it was obvious that it was harmful. For example, when there was a clear shortage of bread in the cities and the peasants came and sold it, the Bolsheviks began to fight the peasants and apply penalties to them. The end result is hunger again.
- The introduction of labor service. Initially, they wanted to implement this idea for the bourgeois (rich), but they quickly realized that there were not enough people, and there was a lot of work. Then they decided to go further, and announced that everyone should work. All citizens from 16 to 50 years of age were required to work, including in labor armies.
- Distribution of natural forms of calculation, including for wages. main reason such a step - terrible inflation. What cost 10 rubles in the morning could cost 100 rubles in the evening, and 500 by the next morning.
- Privileges. The state provided free housing, public transport, did not charge for utilities and other payments.
War communism in industry
The main thing with which the Soviet government began was the nationalization of industry. Moreover, this process proceeded at an accelerated pace. So, by July 1918, 500 enterprises were nationalized in the RSFSR, by August 1918 - more than 3 thousand, by February 1919 - more than 4 thousand. As a rule, nothing was done to the heads and owners of enterprises - they took away all the property and everything. Here is something else interesting. All enterprises were subordinated to the military industry, that is, everything was done to defeat the enemy (whites). In this regard, the policy of nationalization can be understood as the enterprises that the Bolsheviks needed for the war. But after all, among the nationalized factories and factories there were also purely civilian ones. But they were of little interest to the Bolsheviks. Such enterprises were confiscated and closed until better times.
War communism in industry is characterized by the following events:
- Decree "On the organization of supply". In fact, private trade and private supply were destroyed, but the problem was that private supply was not replaced by another. As a result, the supply collapsed completely. The resolution was signed by the Council of People's Commissars on November 21, 1918.
- The introduction of labor service. At first, the working off concerned only “bourgeois elements” (autumn 1918), and then all able-bodied citizens from 16 to 50 years old were involved in the work (decree of December 5, 1918). To give coherence to this process, work books were introduced in June 1919. They actually attached the worker to a specific place of work, with no options to change him. By the way, these are the books that are still in use today.
- Nationalization. By the beginning of 1919, all large and medium-sized private enterprises were nationalized in the RSFSR! In small business there was a share of private traders, but there were very few of them.
- militarization of labor. This process was introduced in November 1918 in railway transport, and in March 1919 in river and sea transport. This meant that work in these industries was equated with service in the armed forces. The laws here began to apply appropriate.
- Decision of the 9th Congress of the RCP b of 1920 (late March - early April) on the transfer of all workers and peasants to the position of mobilized soldiers (labor army).
But in general, the main task was industry and its subordination to the new government for the war with the whites. Has this been achieved? No matter how much Soviet historians assured us that they succeeded, in fact the industry in these years was destroyed and finally finished off. In part, this can be attributed to the war, but only in part. The whole trick is that the Bolsheviks staked on the city and industry, and they managed to win the Civil War only thanks to the peasantry, who, choosing between the Bolsheviks and Denikin (Kolchak), chose the Reds as the least evil.
The whole industry was subject central government in the face of Glavkov. They concentrated on themselves 100% of the receipt of all industrial products, with the aim of its further distribution to the needs of the front.
The policy of war communism in agriculture
But the main events of those years took place in the village. And these events were very important and extremely deplorable for the country, since terror was launched to obtain bread and everything necessary to provide the city (industry).
Organization of the exchange of goods, mostly without money
On March 26, 1918, a special decree was adopted for the implementation of the PVK, which is known as "On the organization of commodity exchange." The trick is that, despite the adoption of the decree, there was no functioning and real exchange of goods between the city and the village. It did not exist not because the law was bad, but because this law was accompanied by an instruction that fundamentally contradicted the law and interfered with activity. It was an instruction from the People's Commissar for Food (NarkomProd).
At the initial stage of the formation of the USSR, it was customary for the Bolsheviks to accompany each law with instructions (by-laws). Very often these documents contradict each other. Largely because of this, there were so many bureaucratic problems in the early years of the Soviets.
History reference
What was in the instructions of the People's Commissariat for Food? It completely prohibited any sale of grain in the region, except for cases when the region handed over in full the amount of grain that was "recommended" by the Soviet authorities. Moreover, even in this case, an exchange was supposed, not a sale. Instead of agricultural products, the products of industry and cities were offered. Moreover, the system was arranged in such a way that most of this exchange was received by representatives of the authorities, who were engaged in “extortion” in the countryside in favor of the state. This led to a logical reaction - the peasants (even small owners on the land) began to hide the bread, and were extremely reluctant to give it to the state.
Seeing that it was impossible to get bread in the countryside peacefully, the Bolsheviks created a special detachment - KomBedy. These "comrades" staged a real terror in the village, knocking out by force what they needed. Formally, this applied only to rich peasants, but the problem is that no one knew how to determine the rich from the not rich.
Emergency powers of the People's Commissariat for Food
The policy of war communism was gaining momentum. The next important step took place on May 13, 1918, when a decree was adopted that literally pushed the country into civil war. This decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee "On emergency powers." These powers were vested in the People's Commissar of Food. This decree was highly idiotic. did not hand over the grain as much as the state ordered him to. That is, the peasant is told that he needs to hand over, conditionally, 2 tons of wheat. The rich peasant does not hand over, because it is not profitable for him - he just hides. The poor does not hand over, because he does not have of this wheat. In the eyes of the Bolsheviks, both of these people are kulaks. This was in fact a declaration of war on the entire peasant population. According to the most conservative estimates, the Bolsheviks wrote about 60% of the country's population as "enemies"!
To better demonstrate the horror of those days, I want to quote Trotsky (one of the ideological inspirers of the revolution), which he voiced at the very beginning of the formation of Soviet power:
Our Party for the Civil War! The civil war needs bread. Long live the Civil War!
Trotsky L.D.
That is, Trotsky, as well as Lenin (at that time there were no disagreements between them), advocated war communism, terror and war. Why? Because the only way to keep power, writing off all their miscalculations and flaws in the war. By the way, this technique is still used by many.
Food orders and combos
At the next stage, Food Detachments (Food Detachments) and KomBeds (Committees of the Poor) were created. It was on their shoulders that the task of taking bread from the peasants fell. Moreover, a norm was established - a peasant could keep 192 kilograms of grain per person. The rest is the surplus that was required to be given to the state. These detachments performed their duties extremely reluctantly and undisciplined. Although at the same time they managed to collect a little more than 30 million poods of grain. On the one hand, the figure is large, but on the other hand, within Russia, it is extremely insignificant. Yes, and the Kombeds themselves often sold the confiscated bread and grain, bought the right from the peasants not to hand over the surplus, and so on. That is, already a couple of months after the creation of these “divisions”, the question arose of their liquidation, since they not only did not help, but interfered with the Soviet government and further aggravated the situation in the country. As a result, at the next congress of the CPSU b (in December 1918), the “Committees of the Poor” were liquidated.
The question arose - how to logically justify this step to people? After all, no later than a couple of weeks before that, Lenin proved to everyone that the Kombeds were urgently needed and without them it was impossible to govern the country. Kamenev came to the aid of the leader of the world proletariat. He said briefly - Combeds are no longer needed, since the need for them has disappeared.
Why did the Bolsheviks actually take this step? It is naive to believe that they felt sorry for the peasants who were tortured by the KomBedy. The answer is elsewhere. At this very time, the Civil War was turning its back on the Reds. There is a real threat of White's victory. In such a situation, it was necessary to seek help and support from the peasants. But for this it was necessary to earn their respect and, no matter what, but love. Therefore, the decision was made - you need to get along and put up with the peasants.
Major Supply Problems and Complete Destruction of Private Trade
By the middle of 1918, it became clear that the main task of war communism had failed - it was not possible to establish an exchange of goods. Moreover, the situation was complicated, as famine began in many cities. Suffice it to say that most cities (including big cities) provided themselves with bread only by 10-15%. The rest of the townspeople were provided by "bagmen".
Sackers are independent peasants, including the poor, who independently came to the city, where they sold bread and grain. Most often in these transactions there was an exchange in kind.
History reference
It would seem that the Soviet government should carry “bagmen” in their arms, who save the city from starvation. But the Bolsheviks needed complete control (remember, I said at the beginning of the article that this control was established over everything, including consumption). As a result, the fight against bagmen began ...
Complete destruction of private trade
On November 21, 1918, a decree "On the organization of supply" was issued. The essence of this law was that now only the People's Commissariat of Food had the right to provide the population with any goods, including bread. That is, any private sales, including the activities of "bagmen", were outlawed. Their goods were confiscated in favor of the state, and the merchants themselves were arrested. But in this desire to control everything, the Bolsheviks went very far. Yes, they completely destroyed private trade, leaving only the state, but the problem is that the state had nothing to offer the population! The supply of the city and the exchange of goods with the countryside was completely broken! And it is no coincidence that during the civil war there were "reds", there were "whites" and there were, few people know, "greens". The latter were representatives of the peasantry and defended its interests. The Greens did not see much difference between the Whites and the Reds, so they fought with everyone.
As a result, the easing of those measures that the Bolsheviks had been strengthening for two years began. And this was a forced measure, because people were tired of terror, in all its manifestations, and it was impossible to build a state on violence alone.
The results of the policy of war communism for the USSR
- A one-party system finally took shape in the country, and the Bolsheviks ended up with all power.
- A non-market economy has been created in the RSFSR, completely controlled by the state, and in which private capital has been completely removed.
- The Bolsheviks gained control over all the resources of the country. As a result, it was possible to establish power and win the war.
- Exacerbation of the contradictions between the workers and the peasantry.
- Pressure on the economy as the policies of the Bolsheviks led to social problems.
As a result, war communism, which we briefly talked about in this material, completely failed. Rather, this policy fulfilled its historical mission (the Bolsheviks gained a foothold in power thanks to terror), but it had to be hastily curtailed and transferred to the NEP, otherwise power could not be retained. So the country is tired of terror, which was the hallmark of the policy of war communism.
Chapter III
Economic policy of the Soviet government
IN AND. Lenin. Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Power
Having created a new, Soviet, type of state, ... we have solved only a small part of the difficult task. The main difficulty lies in the economic field: to carry out the strictest and universal accounting and control of the production and distribution of products, to increase labor productivity, socialize production in practice.
All the originality of the moment experienced, the whole difficulty lies in understanding transition features from the main task of persuading the people and the military suppression of the exploiters to the main task management.
... after its decisions (in the main and main features) it will be possible to say that Russia became not only a Soviet, but also a socialist republic.
On the order of the day comes the restoration of the productive forces destroyed by the war and the rule of the bourgeoisie; ...
In the war against capital, progress cannot be stopped, and it is out of the question for us to refrain from further expropriation of capital. It's about change center of gravity our economic and political work. Still in the foreground there were measures for the direct expropriation of the expropriators. Now in the foreground an organization of accounting and control is becoming established in those farms where the capitalists have already been expropriated, and in all other farms. ...
Without the guidance of specialists from various branches of knowledge, technology, and experience, the transition to socialism is impossible.... And specialists are inevitably in the mass bourgeois, by virtue of the whole situation of that public life which made them experts. ... the best organizers and top specialists can be used by the state either in the old, bourgeois way (i.e., for high pay), or in a new, proletarian way (i.e., by creating that environment of nationwide accounting and control from below, which would inevitably subjugate and attract specialists by itself).
... The sooner we ourselves, the workers and peasants, learn better labor discipline and higher technology labor, using bourgeois specialists for this science, the sooner we will get rid of any "tribute" to these specialists.
The rise in labor productivity requires, first of all, the provision of the material basis for a large-scale industry: the development of the production of fuel, iron, mechanical engineering, and the chemical industry. ... The development ... of natural wealth by the methods of the latest technology will provide the basis for an unprecedented progress of the productive forces.
Another condition for raising labor productivity is, first, the educational and cultural upsurge of the masses of the population. This upsurge is now proceeding with tremendous speed, which those who are unable to understand how much impulse for light and initiative is now unfolding among the "lower classes" of the people thanks to the Soviet organization. Secondly, a condition for an economic upswing is also an increase in the discipline of the working people, their ability to work, their arrogance, the intensity of work, and its better organization. ...
In every transition from capitalism to socialism, dictatorship is necessary for two main reasons, or in two main directions. In the first place, capitalism cannot be defeated and eradicated without merciless suppression of the resistance of the exploiters, who cannot immediately be deprived of their wealth, their advantages of organization and knowledge, and, consequently, will inevitably try to overthrow the hated power of the poor over a fairly long period. Secondly, any great revolution, and a socialist one in particular, even if there were no external war, is inconceivable without an internal war, i.e. civil war, which means even greater devastation than an external war - meaning thousands and millions of cases of hesitation and shifts from one side to the other - meaning a state of greatest uncertainty, imbalance, chaos. ...
The difference between the proletarian dictatorship and the bourgeois one is that the former directs its blows against the exploiting minority in the interests of the exploited majority. And then in the fact that the first is carried out - and through individuals... the masses of the working and exploited ... the revolution, and precisely in the interests of its development and strengthening, ... in the interests of socialism, requires unquestioning obedience masses one will labor leaders...
The fight against the bureaucratic perversion of the Soviet organization is ensured by the strength of the ties between the Soviets and the "people", ... by the flexibility and elasticity of this tie. ... There is nothing more stupid than the transformation of the Soviets into something frozen and self-sufficient. The more resolutely we must now stand for mercilessly firm power, ... the more diverse must be the forms and methods of control from below in order to paralyze every shadow of the possibility of distorting Soviet power, in order to repeatedly and tirelessly uproot the weeds of bureaucracy.
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 36. S. 171-173, 174, 176, 178-179, 181, 188, 195, 199-200, 205-206.
Economics and politics in the era of the dictatorship of the proletariat
October 1919
... Theoretically, there is no doubt that between capitalism and communism lies a certain period of transition. …
We are talking about the "first steps" of communism in Russia (...) ... on the very first day of the dictatorship of the proletariat, October 26, 1917 (November 8, 1917), private ownership of land was abolished, without compensation to large owners ... In a few months they were expropriated, also without compensation, almost all big capitalists, owners of factories, plants, joint-stock companies, banks, railways, and so on. The state organization of large-scale production in industry, the transition from "workers' control" to "workers' management" of factories, factories, railways - this, in its main and most important features, has already been carried out, but in relation to agriculture this has only just begun ("Soviet farms ", large-scale farms organized by the workers' state on state land). … organization started various forms associations of small farmers, as a transition from small-scale commercial agriculture to communist agriculture. The same must be said about the state organization of the distribution of products instead of private trade, i.e. state procurement and delivery of bread to the cities, industrial products to the countryside. …
Peasant farming continues to be small-scale commodity production. Here we have an extraordinarily broad base of capitalism, which has very deep, very strong roots. On this basis, capitalism is preserved and revived again - in the most bitter struggle against communism. The forms of this struggle: bagging and speculation...
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 39. S. 271-274.
Decree on workers' control
November 1917
1. In the interests of the planned regulation of the national economy, in all industrial, commercial, banking, agricultural, transport, cooperative, productive partnerships and other enterprises that have hired workers or provide work at home, worker control is introduced over the production, purchase, sale of products and raw materials, their storage, as well as over the financial side of the enterprise.
2. Workers' control is exercised by all the workers of a given enterprise through their elected institutions...
6. Organs of workers' control have the right to monitor production, establish a minimum output of the enterprise and take measures to ascertain the cost of the products produced.
8. The decisions of the organs of workers' control are obligatory for the owners of enterprises...
December 1917
… 2) The task of the Supreme Council of the National Economy is the organization of the national economy and state finances. To this end, the Supreme Council of the National Economy develops general rules and regulation plan economic life countries, coordinates and unifies the activities of central and local regulatory institutions (conferences on fuel, metal, transport, the Central Food Committee, etc.), the relevant people's commissariats (trade and industry, food, agriculture, finance, naval, etc.) etc.), the All-Russian Council of Workers' Control, as well as the corresponding activities of factory and professional organizations of the working class.
1) The Supreme Council of the National Economy is granted the right to confiscate, requisition, sequestration, forced syndication of various branches of industry and trade and other activities in the field of production, distribution and public finance. ...
Decrees of the Soviet power. M., 1957. T. 1. S. 172-173.
April 1918
All foreign trade is nationalized. Trade transactions for the purchase and sale of all kinds of products (mining, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.) with foreign states and individual trading enterprises abroad are carried out on behalf of the Russian Republic by specially authorized bodies. In addition to these authorities, all trade transactions with foreign countries for import and export are prohibited ...
Decrees of the Soviet power. M., 1957. T. 1. S. 158.
April 1919
13 party members and 2 sympathizers were present.
Listened: Comrade Burakov's report on strengthening the work of the communists.
Resolved:
Implement Protocol No. 15, i.e. to work for the communists Saturday from 8 pm to 6 pm.
Karlova L.A. Workshop on the history of the USSR. pp. 155-156.
April 1920
Communist labor ... is free labor for the benefit of society. …
Subbotniks, labor armies, labor service—this is the practical realization of socialist and communist labor in various forms.
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 40. S. 315.
June 1918
I. To declare the property of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic ... industrial and commercial enterprises located within the Soviet Republic with all their capital and property, whatever they may be: [list of over 60 enterprises - ed.]
II. The organization of management of nationalized enterprises is instructed ... to put into practice ... departments of the Supreme Council of the National Economy ...
IX. Enterprises owned by consumer cooperative societies and partnerships and their associations are not subject to transfer into the ownership of the Republic...
Decrees of the Soviet power. M., 1957. T. I. S. 498-503.
January 1920
1. In the order of labor service to carry out:
a) Involving the working population in the one-time or periodic performance - regardless of permanent work by occupation - of various types of labor service: fuel, agricultural, both for state and, in certain cases, for peasant farms, construction, road, food, snow, horse-drawn, to deal with the consequences of public disasters, etc. ...
b) Usage work force parts of the Red Army and Navy.
c) Attracting the necessary skilled workers from the army, as well as transferring persons employed in agriculture and handicraft enterprises to work in state enterprises, institutions and farms.
d) The widespread and constant involvement in socially useful work of persons who are not engaged in such work. ...
Karlova L.A. Workshop on the history of the USSR (Soviet period), Part 1. M., 1964. S. 157.
November 1920
1. All industrial enterprises owned by private individuals or companies, having more than 5 workers with a mechanical engine or 10 without a mechanical engine, are declared nationalized. ...
Karlova L.A. Workshop on the history of the USSR (Soviet period), Ch. 1. M., 1964. S. 159.
March 1921
We have gone too far on the path of nationalizing trade and industry, on the path of shutting down local trade. Was it a mistake? Undoubtedly.
…But there was also forced necessity: we have lived until now in conditions of ... war, when there was nothing left for us but to act in a military way in the economic sphere.
We must economically satisfy the middle peasantry and agree to freedom of circulation, otherwise it is impossible, economically impossible, to maintain the power of the proletariat in Russia, while the international revolution is slowing down.
... The apportionment assumed: to withdraw all surpluses, to establish a mandatory state monopoly. We could not do otherwise, we were in a state of dire need. Theoretically, it is not necessary to accept that a state monopoly is the best from the point of view of socialism. …
... We need to build our state economy in relation to the economy of the middle peasant, which we have not been able to remake in three years and will not be able to remake in another ten years.
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 43. S. 63, 70-71.
November 1918
In relation to the middle peasant, we say: by no means no violence. In relation to the big peasants, we say: our slogan is their subordination to the grain monopoly; fighting them when the grain monopoly is broken, when they hide the grain. …
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 37. S. 209.
Congress of Trade Unions
January 1919
... our food policy is characterized by three main acts ...: the first is the resolution on the formation of committees of the poor ... With this step, we have crossed the line that separates bourgeois revolution from the socialist...
The second step ... was the decree on the use of cooperation. …
The third step, which marks our food policy, is the creation of workers' food organizations. ... Now the socialist revolution will be lasting only insofar as we are able to new class, the proletariat, to raise to management, to make sure that the proletariat rules Russia.
… The Komprod is given the most difficult task. ... we have a lot of ruin and disorder in the management of large enterprises, in accounting for the products of large enterprises. But this is several thousand times easier than taking into account the food collected by millions of peasants. But there is no choice. There are few products in the country at all. They are not enough to feed everyone.
If every peasant voluntarily agreed to reduce his consumption somewhat below the well-fed norm and give everything else completely to the state, and if we distributed it all correctly, we would be able to survive with reduced food, but without starvation. … if you allow free trade, if not enough products, ..., you will create a frenzied speculation, you will cause the prices of products to rise to a price called the monopoly or starvation price, and that at these crazy prices the small tops, who receive an income much higher than the average, can satisfy themselves, and the huge mass will stay hungry. …
Our enemy are speculators and bureaucrats - a speculator, which, by his inclination, is every peasant who has the opportunity to profit ....
... people who have suffered from hunger show the greatest impatience, demand that we, at least from time to time, deviate from this only food policy. And we have to retreat from time to time, but on the whole we will not deviate from our policy and will not retreat.
... we had to go for one and a half pounds. ... when it [one and a half days - ed.] became intolerable, we had to move away from it in order to help at least temporarily, in order to save vigor and fortitude. ...
Each half-year ... brings us closer ... to the victory ... of the world revolution. ... we, making temporary concessions necessary in case of fatigue and famine, we will defend the foundations of our communist food policy and convey them unshakably until the time when the time comes for the complete and world victory of communism.
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 37. S. 412-416, 418, 420.
April 1921
... from a socialist point of view, an alliance between the small peasants and the proletariat can only be established when transport and large-scale industry are fully restored and allow the proletariat to give the peasants in exchange for food all the products they need and to improve their economy. With the enormous ruin of the country, this could not have been achieved at once. The apportionment was the most accessible measure for an insufficiently organized state to hold out in a difficult war against the landowners. …
The food policy of Soviet Russia in 1917-1921 was undoubtedly very rough, imperfect, and gave rise to many abuses. There were a number of mistakes in its implementation. But it was the only one possible under those conditions ... And it fulfilled its historical task: it saved the proletarian dictatorship in a devastated and backward country. …
Lenin V.I. Full coll. op. T. 44. S. 7, 9.
1. For the purpose of consistent implementation of the state grain monopoly, it is necessary to immediately transfer the matter of supply into the hands of the Soviets. Establish fixed prices for all essentials and introduce a state monopoly on the most important branches of industry that supply the peasants with essentials: textiles, leather, iron, tea, kerosene, etc. essentials.
2. In order to attract sufficient quantities of peasant grain to the bulk points, the Congress considers it necessary to establish an exchange of goods organized on a national scale.
3. The principle of centralization in the food business must be carried out steadily and no separate organizations from outside shall be granted the right to independently purchase supplies without the orders of the All-Russian Committee.
4. ... temporarily stop passenger traffic and move grain by block trains, oppose bagging by all means, involving both sellers and buyers of grain in the revolutionary tribunal, in addition to the Soviet procurement apparatus.
5. ... to take the most decisive measures against large sowers who hide or refuse to take out grain, including up to the confiscation of grain and bringing the owners to a revolutionary tribunal.
6. ... the fight against the production of moonshine and against trade, this is the revolutionary duty of the local organs of the workers' and peasants' government; in this struggle, the Congress suggests that the Soviets stop at no measures, no matter how severe (arrests, fines, confiscation of property).
Red Archive. 1939. No. 6. pp. 81-82.
March 1918
2) For food exchange, the following are used: fabrics, threads, haberdashery, leather, saddlery, shoes, galoshes, matches, soap, candles, kerosene, lubricating oil, agricultural machines and implements, wire, sheet, high-quality iron, horseshoes, nails, sheaves twine, rope products, glass, dishes, tobacco and tobacco products, salt, molasses, sugar and tea with their substitutes ...
4) The Food Commissariat is instructed ... to establish the procedure and norms for the issuance of these goods in exchange for bread and other food products procured according to state plans.
5) The implementation of the exchange of goods, at the direction of the People's Commissariat for Food, is entrusted to local food authorities and organizations authorized for this by the Commissariat.
Decrees of the Soviet power. M., 1959. T. II. pp. 23-24.
food commissioner
May 1918
While the consuming provinces are starving, the producing provinces still have large stocks of even unthreshed grain from the harvests of 1916 and 1917. This bread is in the hands of the rural kulaks and the rich, in the hands of the rural bourgeoisie. …
The food practice of previous years has shown that the disruption of fixed prices for grain and the rejection of the grain monopoly ... would make grain completely inaccessible to the many millions of working people and subject them to inevitable starvation.
To the violence of the owners of bread against the starving poor, the answer must be violence against the bourgeoisie.
Not a single pood of grain should remain in the hands of the holders, except for the amount necessary for the seeding of their fields and for the food of their families until the new harvest. …
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets decided:
1) Confirming the inviolability of the grain monopoly and fixed prices, as well as the need for a merciless struggle against grain speculators-sacks, to oblige each owner of grain the entire surplus, in excess of the amount necessary for seeding the fields and personal consumption for established standards before the new harvest, declare for delivery within a week ...
3) Declare all those who have a surplus of grain and do not take it out to bulk points, as well as squander grain stocks for moonshine, as enemies of the people, bring them to a revolutionary court so that the perpetrators are sentenced to imprisonment for a term of at least 10 years, subject all property confiscation and banish forever from the community, and moonshiners, moreover, to be sentenced to forced community service.
4) If someone finds an excess of bread not declared for delivery in accordance with paragraph 1, the bread is taken away from him free of charge, and the value of the undeclared surplus due at fixed prices is paid in half to the person who indicates the concealment of the surplus. .
Grant the following powers to the People's Commissar for Food:
4) Use armed force in case of counteraction to the taking away of bread or other food products.
5) Dissolve or reorganize local food authorities in case of opposition to their orders of the people's commissar...
Decrees of the Soviet power. T. 2. M., 1959. S. 2261, 264-266.
§one. Volost and rural committees of the rural poor are being established everywhere, organized by local Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies...
§3. The scope of activities of the volost and rural committees of the poor includes the following:
1. Distribution of bread, basic necessities and agricultural implements.
2. Rendering assistance to local food authorities in seizing grain surpluses from the hands of the kulaks and the rich.
§four. The circle of persons whose supply of bread, basic necessities and agricultural implements is the duty of the volost and rural committees of the poor is determined by the committees themselves. ...
§ten. Complex agricultural implements are being placed at the disposal of the volost committees of the poor to organize the public cultivation of the fields and the harvesting of the crops of the rural poor...
Decrees of the Soviet power. M., 1959. T. 2. S. 416-419.
From the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On Speculation"
July 1918
1. A person guilty of selling, buying up or storing for the purpose of selling, in the form of fishing for food products monopolized by the Republic, is subject to a punishment of at least imprisonment for a term of at least 10 years ...
2. A person guilty of selling, buying or storing for the purpose of selling, in the form of fishing for rationed foodstuffs at prices higher than solid ones (established by taxes), or monopolized items other than foodstuffs, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of at least 5 years. .. [This act also establishes responsibility for the sale and purchase of precious metals and securities. - Ed.]
Collection of legalizations and orders of the workers' peasant government. M., 1918. N 54. S. 650
August 1918
The following standards for the population: 12 pounds per capita; with a stock of potatoes of at least 18 poods, the norm is reduced to 9 poods of bread or flour.
Livestock: workhorse - no more than 18 pounds of oats, horses can be registered on the farm: up to 10 dess. sowing - no more than 2, up to 17 dess. sowing - no more than 3, up to 24 dec. sowing - no more than 4. Foals under 1 year old receive no more than 3 pounds, large cattle- no more than 9 pounds.
1 cow is allowed per family up to 5 people, 2 cows per family up to 7 people, 3 cows per family up to 12 people.
Above all, the farm is left with no more than 5 poods a year for other expenses. All norms are annual, gubernia food committees have the right to lower these norms.
Red Archive. 1939. No. 6. pp. 81-89.
Rozhkov Nikolai Alexandrovich (1868-1927) - historian and political figure. In 1905 he joined the RSDLP and was elected a member of the Central Committee. Menshevik. Comrade of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs of the Provisional Government (May - July 1917). In the early 20s. arrested twice.
Vladimir Ilyich, I am writing to you ... for the reason that I cannot remain silent, observing a situation that seems to me desperate ... I will only talk about the food question ... half of the population of Petrograd is doomed to starvation. Under such conditions, you will not stay in power ... All your threats to the barrage detachments will not help: anarchy reigns in the country, and they will not be afraid and will not listen to you ... Who could object to the state monopoly of trade in the most important necessities, if the government could supply the population in sufficient quantities with them! But it's impossible...
Save your supply apparatus and continue to use it, but do not monopolize the trade in any food item, not even bread. Supply what you can, but allow completely free trade ... only your one-man dictatorship can cross the road and seize power from a counter-revolutionary dictator who will not be as stupid as the tsarist generals and Cadets, who are still absurdly taking away the land from the peasants. Such a smart dictator not yet. But he will... We must seize the dictatorship from him. Even now only you, with your authority and energy, can do this. And this must be done urgently and first of all in the most acute food business. Otherwise, death is inevitable... It is necessary to rebuild the entire economic policy, with a socialist goal in mind. And again, this will require a dictatorship. Let the Congress of Soviets vest you with extraordinary powers for this...
28. V.I. Lenin - N.A. Rozhkov...
January 1919
Nikolai Alexandrovich! I was very glad to receive your letter - not in terms of content, but because I hope for rapprochement...
The situation is not desperate, but only difficult ... one should not think about freedom of trade - it should be clear to an economist that freedom of trade with an absolute lack of the necessary product equals frenzied, bestial speculation and the victory of the haves over the have-nots. Not backwards through free trade, but further forward through (improvement of) state monopoly towards socialism. ... As for the "one-man dictatorship", excuse the expression, it's a trifle. The apparatus has already become quite gigantic in some places (excessive), and under such conditions "one-man dictatorship" (in general) is not feasible, and attempts to implement it would only be harmful.
A turning point in the intelligentsia has come. Civil war in Germany...
At home in Russia, they considered this “only savagery” of Bolshevism. And now history has [showed] that this is a worldwide collapse of bourgeois democracy and bourgeois parliamentarism, that civil war is indispensable anywhere ... the intelligentsia will have to come to the position of helping the workers precisely on the Soviet platform. Then, I think, circles, organizations, committees, free unions, groups, small groups of intellectuals will spring up like mushrooms, offering their selfless work in the most difficult posts of food and transport work. And when we reduce and ease the pain of childbirth for months. And something amazingly good and viable will be born, no matter how heavy these torments are. Hello!
History of Russia... Ekaterinburg, 1993. S. 93-95.
Civil war and blockade
The ratio of working days and holidays:
In fact, we have been celebrating even less lately, because. and part of the holiday time is used - with payment in one and a half size- for overtime work ~ 50 days per 1 worker per year. The right to a two-week vacation - 77 days of rest per year ... a significant part of the workers have not yet used their vacation right for various reasons.
Distribution of the working year in days:
Lowering the rate of use of working time due to absenteeism and downtime - the impact of the consequences of the civil war and the blockade.
In December 1918, the hourly productivity of the average worker in all surveyed industries was 64% of the pre-war norm.
Daily number of calories spent on work:
The productivity of Russian workers should fall by 54%. And it fell by 35%. ... the Russian worker worked better than his diet allowed him to, depleting his old reserves, depleting his body and thereby reducing his efficiency for future times. It means that it was not laziness, but heightened zeal, which, as was to be expected, was brought to life in the Russian worker by the proletarian revolution.
Damage during the years of the civil war (in million rubles):
Council of People's Commissars
August 1918
1. Large professional workers' associations (including railway associations), associations of factory committees, district and city Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies are given the right to organize food detachments from workers and the poorest peasants for trips to the grain provinces in order to purchase at fixed prices or requisitions of bread from the kulaks...
4. Half of the harvested bread is sent to the province that sent this detachment ...
Economic policy of the USSR. T. 1. M., 1947. S. 205-206.
46. Form a permanent commission under the People's Commissariat of Food for supplying workers with food...
8. Families of workers and employees of enterprises and facilities supplied with consumer goods in accordance with this regulation are provided primarily according to the norms of ordinary workers' food cards.
Decrees of the Soviet power. M., 1973. T. 6. S. 500-501.
Food orders to the village?
Peasant!
The worker helped you take the land from the landowner;
help the worker take the bread from the kulak!
We, the people of Petrograd, will send to you especially many detachments for bread. Because hunger attacks us with particular ruthlessness.
As chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Red Army Deputies, I want to tell you in detail... Why are we sending these detachments to your village? Our enemies and yours are whispering to you: the workers want to take the last crumbs from the peasants, the workers allegedly went to war against the countryside. It is not true. The fraternal ... alliance of the working class and the poorest peasants is the guarantee of our and your victory over all our enemies. But in the countryside, as in the city, there are rich people, kulaks. With them ... we will fight. But not with the poor and middle peasantry.
In the cities... there is no bread. ... what is an eighth pound of bread? Twice bitten and - there is no this piece. ... the workers of Petrograd for a long series of months receive, and even then not every day, only an eighth pound of bread, half consisting of oats and other indigestible impurities.
Sackers- these are those unscrupulous people who take a bag on their back, bring 2-3 pounds of flour, bread, butter, and other things from the village and sell them for furious prices for those who have a tight bag. A worker cannot pay 300 rubles for a pood of flour (18 rubles 75 kopecks for 1 kg). Only the rich buy at these prices.
We have now tripled the price of bread. And the prices of goods - chintz, tobacco, nails, etc. - we are trying to lower. You can't do everything right away. But soon we ... will achieve that the prices of goods will correspond to the prices of bread. ...
Rural Poor Committees. These committees should include all the poorest and all middle peasants who do not want to profit from the famine. All our goods - chintz, soap, nails, everything that we have, we will take to the village and exchange it there for bread. And in exchange for this, we demand from you ... surplus of your bread.
It is for this purpose that we are now sending our food detachments to the grain provinces.
There is no doubt that some unworthy people also get into our detachments. You must not judge our detachments by the fact that this or that individual Red Army soldier or worker has committed this or that injustice. We have established mutual responsibility in these detachments. At the head of each detachment are several people of the most efficient and experienced workers from the trade unions and other workers' organizations. We are supplying these units with the goods that we now have at our disposal. Give us bread, feed our workers - and there will be five times, ten times more goods than what we have now.
Our troops are coming to you armed. Why? ...kulaks have weapons. ... the kulaks are more ready to kill hundreds and hundreds of our comrades than to part with their grain reserves and with other riches acquired by hook or by crook. We cannot give our comrade workers to be slaughtered to the kulaks. We are doing the right thing. But behind the right should be strength.
We must guard each train with grain with reliable detachments, because bread is robbed along the way. To fend off these bands of nobles, we again must be armed. We cannot go to these Christ-sellers with a word of gospel admonition. These robbers will not understand any other language than the language of a rifle and a machine gun.
The parties operating under the banner of the "Constituent Assembly" (Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries) united with the tsarist generals, with officers, with the White Guards and Czechoslovaks, and in Siberia, in the Urals, on the Volga, they detained hundreds and hundreds of wagons of bread collected by Siberian peasants for St. Petersburg and Moscow workers. They burn this bread.
Know, peasant brothers! If a German comes to you, he will not leave a single grain in the bins, not a single head of cattle in your hands. ... it is no better if English, French or Japanese troops come to you, if a new war begins on our soil.
In the fraternal alliance of workers and peasants is the guarantee of our and your salvation.
Zinoviev G. Letter to the peasants: Why do workers send food detachments to the village? Petrograd, 1918. S. 1-16.
Nizhny Novgorod province: There is very little bread in the province. In some volosts, famine sets in. Others will last until spring, but there will not be enough bread until the new harvest. There is a proposal to bring bread from the Vyatka province.
Novgorod province: There were 2-3 cases of destruction of estates, the reason was the lack of food. The Council took strict measures to stop the devastation. To take away the stolen inPrevious 1