The New Economic Policy of 1921

The New Economic Policy of 1921

" The real meaning of the New Economic policy is that we have met a

great defeat in our plans and that we are now making a strategic

retreat… Before we are utterly smashed, let us retrace our steps and

begin to build on a new foundation," - said Lenin in his speech on the

22nd of October 1921. His speech is considered to be one of the

frankest admissions of failure ever made by a leader of a great

nation. It is clear that the general reason of NEP's introduction was

to find a substitute for War Communism policy. What requires

investigation is the conditions Russia was in by 1921? At the same

time in this essay I will try to explain NEP's pluses and minuses as

well as why was it scrapped in 1928.

The New Economic Policy was the third major policy introduced by the

Soviet Government since it's establishment in 1917. As with the

previous policies: State Capitalism and War Communism - it was

introduced, generally speaking, to respond to the mood and situation

in the country and to achieve economical and political progress while

building socialism. But nevertheless there were some other, more

specific reasons. The problems developed during War Communism had

showed that it clearly failed at a practical level. Insufficient grain

supplies, caused by fierce peasant resistance to requisition by the

government in 1917, together with drought in the summer of 1921 and

the general disruption of Civil war, had created such a bad national

famine, Russia hadn't seen for thirty years. As it was admitted in

1921 by Pravda - one in five of population was starving. A lot of

factory workers left towns for countryside...

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economic planning, with some capitalist elements to it and he in fact

he was more towards Trotsky's views. Stalin was as well very concerned

about the position of Russia as the only communist country in the

world and felt that Soviet Union had to be rapidly modernised as soon

as possible and at any costs, so that it's prepared for any attacks

from it's enemies.Partly it was because of the 1927 " War Scare". In

his speech in 1931 he said: "We must increase (the tempo) as much as

it is within our powers and possibilities…To slacken the tempo would

mean falling behind…We are 50 or a 100 years behind the advanced

countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do

that, or we shall be crushed." It was clear that NEP was not suitable

for this kind of aims and tactics and therefore it was scrapped.