Lenin's Economic Policies in 1924

Lenin's Economic Policies in 1924

When the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917 they inherited many

of the problems faced by the old Tsarist regime as well as those of

the Provisional Government after the Tsars abdication. Lenin, as

leader of the Bolsheviks took many measures to try and solve these

problems, each with varying degrees of success. This essay will,

therefore, go on to look at and discuss the various measures that

Lenin and the Bolshevik party took, and, whether these measures

created more problems for Russia in the end or in fact made

significant progress towards the communist society that Lenin had

prophesised for Russia.

In the early days of Bolshevik rule, there were many problems facing

Lenin. As communication was poor to the rural areas of Russia, the

peasants had little or no knowledge of political parties and so did

not support the Bolsheviks in their takeover. When the Bolsheviks

changed to the Communist party in 1918, many peasants believed these

to be a new party challenging Bolshevism and so made banners saying

’Down with the Communists, Long live the Bolsheviks!’ The national

minorities currently part of the Russian empire, predominately Finland

and Poland, were demanding independence and Russia’s allies, Britain,

France, USA, Japan, etc. were growing ever suspicious of Bolshevism

and so were set to intervene if the Bolsheviks were to pull out of

World War 1. Along with this massive group of opponents, Lenin also

faced acute starvation as little grain was being produced and this

lead to high inflation and so quick action was needed if Lenin was to

keep his promise of bread to the people.

The...

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... private ownership and the militaristic rule over

factories was stopped. Money was reinstated and anyone could set up a

shop and sell or hire goods for a profit. Lenin remained adamant that

this was not a permanent back track to capitalism, it was a temporary

measure, and once the economy picked up the NEP would be eradicated.

The NEP’s results were unexpected. The starvation in the towns and

cities, which had driven some to cannibalism, was over and life began

to flow back into the cities. Grain became so readily available that

the prices dropped, causing more unwillingness to sell grain. The

government responded by bringing prices down on industrial goods to

balance the problem. The NEP appeared to be the answer to all of

Russia's problems but Lenin insisted that communism was not dead, it

was simply on hold.