New Economic Policy (NEP). NEP briefly - new economic policy Post-war crisis reasons for the transition to NEP

With the end of the civil war, the policy of "war communism" reached a dead end. It was not possible to overcome the devastation generated by 4 years of Russia's participation in the First World War and aggravated by 3 years of the Civil War. The threat of the restoration of pre-revolutionary agrarian relations disappeared, so the peasantry no longer wanted to put up with the policy of surplus appropriation.

There was no organized tax and financial system in the country. There was a sharp drop in labor productivity and the real wages of workers (even when taking into account not only the monetary part of it, but also supplies at fixed prices and free distributions).

The peasants were forced to hand over all the surpluses, and most often part of the most necessary things, to the state without any equivalent, because. there were almost no industrial goods. Products were confiscated by force. Because of this, mass demonstrations of peasants began in the country.

Since August 1920, in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces, the “kulak” rebellion continued, led by the Socialist-Revolutionary A.S. Antonov; a large number of peasant formations operated in Ukraine (Petliurists, Makhnovists, etc.); insurgent centers arose in the Middle Volga region, on the Don and Kuban. The West Siberian "rebels", led by the Social Revolutionaries and former officers, in February-March 1921 created armed formations of several thousand people, captured almost the entire territory of the Tyumen province, the cities of Petropavlovsk, Kokchetav, etc., interrupting the railway communication between Siberia and the center of the country for three weeks.

Surplus appropriation was avoided by concealing grain, transferring grain to moonshine, and in other ways. Small-scale agriculture had no incentive to maintain production at the current level, much less to expand. The lack of traction, labor, depreciation of inventory led to a reduction in production. The absolute number of the rural population remained almost unchanged from 1913 to 1920, but the percentage of the able-bodied in connection with the mobilizations and the results of the war dropped noticeably from 45% to about 36%. The area of ​​arable land decreased in 1913-1916. by 7%, and for 1916-1920. - by 20.3%. Production was limited only by their own needs, the desire to provide themselves with everything necessary. In Central Asia, the cultivation of cotton practically ceased, instead they began to sow bread. Sugar beet crops have been sharply reduced in Ukraine. This led to a decrease in the marketability and productivity of agriculture, because. beets and cotton are high-value crops. Agriculture became organic. It was necessary first of all to interest the peasantry economically in restoring the economy and expanding production. To do this, it was necessary to limit its obligations to the state within certain limits and give the right to freely dispose of the rest of the products. The exchange of agricultural products for essential industrial goods was supposed to strengthen the ties between the city and the countryside, to promote the development of light industry. On the basis of this, then it was possible to create savings, organize a financial economy, in order to then raise heavy industry.

To implement this plan, freedom of circulation and trade was necessary. These goals were pursued by the resolution of the 10th Congress of the RCP (b) and the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of March 21, 1921 “On the replacement of food and raw material appropriation with a tax in kind.” He limited the natural obligations of the peasantry to strictly established norms and allowed the sale of agricultural surpluses in the form of barter in local markets. This made it possible to resume local turnover and product exchange, as well as, within narrow limits, private trade. In the future, the need arose very quickly to restore complete freedom of trade throughout the country, and not in the form of natural product exchange, but in the form of money trade. During 1921, obstacles and restrictions on the development of trade were spontaneously broken down and abolished by law. Trade unfolded more and more widely, being in this period the main lever for the restoration of the national economy.

Later, due to limited funds, the state abandoned the direct management of small and partially medium-sized industrial enterprises. They were transferred to the jurisdiction of local authorities or leased to private individuals. A small part of the enterprises was handed over to foreign capital in the form of concessions. The public sector was made up of large and medium enterprises, which formed the core of socialist industry. Along with this, the state abandoned the centralized supply and marketing of products, giving enterprises the right to use market services to purchase the necessary materials and sell products. The beginnings of cost accounting began to be actively introduced into the activities of enterprises. The national economy from a strictly regulated subsistence economy of the period of "war communism" gradually moved to the path of a commodity-money economy. In it, along with a significant sector of state enterprises, enterprises of the private capitalist and state capitalist type also appeared.

The Decree on the Tax in Kind was the beginning of the liquidation of the economic methods of "war communism" and the turning point for the New Economic Policy. The development of the ideas underlying this decree was the basis of the NEP. However, the transition to the NEP was not seen as a restoration of capitalism. It was believed that, having strengthened in the main positions, the Soviet state would be able to expand the socialist sector in the future, ousting the capitalist elements.

An important moment in the transition from direct product exchange to money economy was the decree of August 5, 1921 on the restoration of the mandatory collection of payment for goods sold government bodies individuals and organizations, incl. cooperative. For the first time, wholesale prices began to form, which had previously been absent due to the planned supply of enterprises. The Price Committee was in charge of setting wholesale, retail, procurement prices and charges on the prices of monopoly goods.

Thus, until 1921, the economic and political life of the country proceeded in accordance with the policy of "war communism", a policy of complete rejection of private property, market relations, absolute control and management by the state. Management was centralized, local enterprises and institutions did not have any independence. But all these cardinal changes in the country's economy were introduced spontaneously, were not planned and viable. Such a tough policy only exacerbated the devastation in the country. It was a time of fuel, transport and other crises, the fall of industry and agriculture, the lack of bread and the rationing of products. There was chaos in the country, there were constant strikes and demonstrations. In 1918 martial law was introduced in the country. In order to get out of the plight created in the country after the wars and revolutions, it was necessary to make cardinal socio-economic changes.

The goal of the October Revolution was nothing less than the building of an ideal state. A country in which everyone is equal, where there are no rich and poor, where there is no money, and everyone does only what they love, at the call of the soul, and not for a salary. That's just the reality did not want to turn into a happy fairy tale, the economy was rolling down, food riots began in the country. Then it was decided to move to the NEP.

A country that survived two wars and a revolution

By the 20s of the last century, Russia from a huge rich power turned into ruins. First World War, the coup of the 17th year, the Civil War - these are not just words.

Millions of dead, destroyed factories and cities, deserted villages. The country's economy was practically destroyed. These were the reasons for the transition to the NEP. Briefly, they can be described as an attempt to return the country to a peaceful track.

The First World War not only depleted the economic and social resources of the country. It also created the ground for deepening the crisis. After the end of the war, millions of soldiers returned home. But there were no jobs for them. The revolutionary years were marked by a monstrous increase in crime, and the reason was not only temporary anarchy and confusion in the country. The young republic was suddenly flooded with people with weapons, people who had lost the habit of peaceful life, and they survived as their experience suggested. The transition to the NEP made it possible to a short time increase the number of jobs.

Economic disaster

The Russian economy at the beginning of the twentieth century practically collapsed. Production has decreased several times. Large factories were left without management, the thesis "Factories for workers" turned out to be good on paper, but not in life. Small and medium businesses were practically destroyed. Craftsmen and merchants, owners of small manufactories were the first victims of the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. A huge number of specialists and entrepreneurs fled to Europe. And if at first it seemed absolutely normal - an element alien to communist ideals was leaving the country, then it turned out that there were not enough workers for the effective functioning of industry. The transition to the NEP made it possible to revive small and medium-sized businesses, thereby ensuring the growth of gross output and the creation of new jobs.

Crisis of agriculture

The situation with agriculture was just as bad. The cities were starving, a system of wages in kind was introduced. The workers were paid in rations, but they were too small.

To solve the problem of food, a surplus appraisal was introduced. At the same time, up to 70% of the harvested grain was confiscated from the peasants. A paradoxical situation has arisen. Workers fled from the cities to the countryside to feed themselves on the land, but here, too, hunger awaited them, even more severe than before.

The labor of the peasants became meaningless. Work for a whole year, then give everything to the state and starve? Of course, this could not but affect the productivity of agriculture. Under such conditions, the only way to change the situation was to move to the NEP. The date of the adoption of the new economic course was a turning point in the revival of dying agriculture. Only this could stop the wave of riots that swept across the country.

The collapse of the financial system

The prerequisites for the transition to the NEP were not only social. Monstrous inflation devalued the ruble, and products were not so much sold as exchanged.

However, if we recall that the state ideology assumed a complete rejection of money in favor of payment in kind, everything seemed to be normal. But it turned out that it was impossible to provide everyone and everyone with food, clothes, shoes, just like that, according to the list. The state machine is not adapted to perform such small and precise tasks.

The only way that war communism could offer to solve this problem was surplus appropriation. But then it turned out that if the inhabitants of the cities work for food, then the peasants work generally for free. Their grain is taken away without giving anything in return. It turned out that it is almost impossible to establish a commodity exchange without the participation of a monetary equivalent. The only way out in this situation was the transition to the NEP. Briefly describing this situation, we can say that the state was forced to return to the previously rejected market relations, postponing for a while the construction of an ideal state.

Brief essence of the NEP

The reasons for the transition to the NEP were not clear to everyone. Many considered such a policy a huge step back, a return to the petty-bourgeois past, to the cult of enrichment. The ruling party was forced to explain to the population that this was a forced measure of a temporary nature.

Free trade and private enterprise were again revived in the country.

And if earlier there were only two classes: workers and peasants, and the intelligentsia was just a stratum, now the so-called NEPmen have appeared in the country - merchants, manufacturers, small producers. It was they who ensured the effective satisfaction of consumer demand in cities and villages. This is what the transition to the NEP looked like in Russia. The date 03/15/1921 went down in history as the day when the RCP(b) abandoned the tough policy of war communism, once again legitimizing private property and monetary and market relations.

The dual nature of the NEP

Of course, such reforms did not at all mean a full-fledged return to the free market. Large factories and plants, banks still belonged to the state. Only it had the right to dispose of the country's natural resources and conclude foreign economic transactions. The logic of administrative and economic management of market processes was of a fundamental nature. The elements of free trade rather resembled thin shoots of ivy, braiding the granite rock of a rigid state economy.

At the same time, there were a huge number of changes that the transition to the NEP caused. Briefly, they can be described as providing a certain freedom to small producers and traders - but only for a while, to relieve social tensions. And although in the future the state was supposed to return to the old ideological doctrines, such a neighborhood of the command and market economy was planned for quite a long time, sufficient to create a reliable economic base that would make the transition to socialism painless for the country.

NEP in agriculture

One of the first steps towards the modernization of the former economic policy was the abolition of the surplus appraisal. The transition to the NEP provided for a food tax of 30%, handed over to the state not free of charge, but at fixed prices. Even though the cost of grain was small, it was still an obvious progress.

The remaining 70% of the production, the peasants could dispose of independently, albeit within the boundaries of local farms.

Such measures not only stopped the famine, but also gave impetus to the development of the agricultural sector. The hunger has receded. Already by 1925, the gross agricultural product approached pre-war volumes. It was precisely the transition to the NEP that ensured this effect. The year when the surplus appraisal was canceled was the beginning of the rise of agriculture in the country. An agrarian revolution began, collective farms and agricultural cooperatives were massively created in the country, and a technical base was organized.

NEP in industry

The decision to move to the NEP led to significant changes in the management of the country's industry. Although large enterprises were subordinate only to the state, small ones were relieved of the need to obey the central administrations. They could create trusts, independently determining what and how much to produce. Such enterprises independently purchased necessary materials and independently sold products, managing their income minus the amount of taxes. The state did not control this process and was not responsible for the financial obligations of the trusts. The transition to the NEP brought back the already forgotten term "bankruptcy" to the country.

At the same time, the state did not forget that the reforms were temporary, and gradually planted the principle of planning in industry. The trusts gradually merged into concerns, uniting enterprises supplying raw materials and manufacturing products into one logical chain. In the future, it was precisely such production segments that were to become the basis of a planned economy.

Financial reforms

Since the reasons for the transition to the NEP were largely economic in nature, an urgent monetary reform was required. There were no specialists of the proper level in the new republic, so the state attracted financiers who had significant experience in the days of tsarist Russia.

As a result of economic reforms, the banking system was restored, direct and indirect taxation was introduced, and payment for some services that were previously provided free of charge. All expenses that did not correspond to the income of the republic were ruthlessly abolished.

A monetary reform was carried out, the first state securities, the country's currency became convertible.

For some time, the government managed to fight inflation by keeping the value of the national currency at a sufficient high level. But then a combination of incongruous - planned and market economies - destroyed this fragile balance. As a result of significant inflation, the chervonets, which were in use at that time, lost the status of a convertible currency. After 1926, it was impossible to travel abroad with this money.

Completion and results of the NEP

In the second half of the 1920s, the country's leadership decided to move to a planned economy. The country reached the pre-revolutionary level of production, and in fact, in achieving this goal, there were reasons for the transition to the NEP. Briefly, the consequences of applying the new economic approach can be described as very successful.

It should be noted that there is little point in continuing the course for market economy the country did not have. After all, in fact, such a high result was achieved only due to the fact that the production facilities that were inherited from the previous regime were launched. Private entrepreneurs were completely deprived of the opportunity to influence economic decisions; representatives of the revived business did not take part in the government of the country.

Attraction of foreign investments in the country was not welcomed. However, there were not so many who wanted to risk their finances by investing in Bolshevik enterprises. At the same time, there were simply no own funds for long-term investment in capital-intensive industries.

It can be said that by the beginning of the 1930s the NEP had exhausted itself, and this economic doctrine was to be replaced by another one, one that would allow the country to start moving forward.

They were colossal. The country by the beginning of the 1920s, having retained its independence, nevertheless hopelessly lagged behind the leading Western countries, which threatened to turn into a loss of the status of a great power. The policy of "war communism" has exhausted itself. Lenin faced the problem of choosing the path of development: to follow the dogmas of Marxism or proceed from the prevailing realities. Thus began the transition to NEP - new economic policy.

The reasons for the transition to the NEP were the following processes:

The policy of "war communism", which justified itself in the midst of the Civil War (1918-1920), became ineffective when the country transitioned to a peaceful life; The "military" economy did not provide the state with everything necessary; forced labor was inefficient;

There was an economic and spiritual gap between the city and the countryside, the peasants with the Bolsheviks; the peasants who received the land were not interested in the necessary industrialization of the country;

Anti-Bolshevik protests of workers and peasants began across the country (the largest of them: "Antonovshchina" - peasant protests against the Bolsheviks in the Tambov province; Kronstadt mutiny of sailors).

2. Main activities of the NEP

In March 1921 at the Tenth Congress of the CPSU (b) after fierce discussions and with the active influence of V.I. Lenin, a decision is made to move to the New Economic Policy (NEP).

The most important economic measures of the NEP were:

1) replacement of a dimensionless surplus appropriation (food apportionment) with a limited tax in kind. The state began not to confiscate grain from the peasants, but to buy for money;

2) abolition of labor service : labor ceased to be a duty (like a military one) and became free

3) allowed small and medium private property both in the countryside (renting land, hiring laborers) and in industry. Small and medium-sized factories and factories were transferred to private ownership. New owners, people who earned capital during the years of the NEP began to be called "nepmen".

During the implementation of the NEP by the Bolsheviks, exclusively command-administrative methods of managing the economy began to be replaced by: state-capitalist methods in big industry and private capitalist in small and medium production, service sector.

In the early 1920s across the country, trusts were created that united many enterprises, sometimes entire industries, and managed them. The trusts tried to operate as capitalist enterprises, but at the same time they were owned by the Soviet state, and not by individual capitalists. Although the government was powerless to stop the surge of corruption in the state capitalist sector.

Private shops, shops, restaurants, workshops, and private households in the countryside are being set up across the country. The most common form of small private farming was cooperation - association of several persons for the purpose of carrying out economic activities. Production, consumer and trade cooperatives are being created across Russia.

4) Was revived financial system:

The State Bank was restored and it was allowed to create private commercial banks

In 1924 along with the depreciated "sovznaks" in circulation, another currency was introduced - gold chervonets- a monetary unit equal to 10 pre-revolutionary tsarist rubles. Unlike other money, the chervonets was backed by gold, quickly gained popularity and became the international convertible currency of Russia. An uncontrolled outflow of capital abroad began.

3. Results and contradictions of the NEP

The NEP itself was a very peculiar phenomenon. The Bolsheviks - ardent supporters of communism - made an attempt to restore capitalist relations. The majority of the party was against the NEP ("why did they carry out a revolution and defeat the whites, if we again restore a society divided into rich and poor?"). But Lenin, realizing that after the devastation of the Civil War it was impossible to start building communism, declared that The NEP is a temporary phenomenon designed to revive the economy and accumulate strength and resources to start building socialism.

Positive results of the NEP:

The level of industrial production in the main branches reached the indicators of 1913;

The market was filled with essentials that were lacking during the Civil War (bread, clothing, salt, etc.);

The tension between the city and the countryside decreased - the peasants began to produce products, earn money, some of the peasants became prosperous rural entrepreneurs.

However, by 1926 it became obvious that the NEP had exhausted itself, did not allow to accelerate the pace of modernization.

Contradictions of the NEP:

The collapse of the "chervonets" - by 1926. the bulk of enterprises and citizens of the country began to strive to make payments in chervonets, while the state could not provide gold for the growing mass of money, as a result of which the chervonets began to depreciate, and soon the authorities stopped providing it with gold

Sales crisis - most of the population, small businesses did not have enough convertible money to buy goods, as a result, entire industries could not sell their goods;

The peasants did not want to pay excessive taxes as a source of funds for the development of industry. Stalin had to force them by force, creating collective farms.

The NEP did not become a long-term alternative; the contradictions that came to light forced Stalin to curtail the NEP (since 1927) and move on to the accelerated modernization of the country (industrialization and collectivization).

New economic policy - economic policy pursued in Soviet Russia and the USSR in the 1920s. It was adopted on March 15, 1921 by the X Congress of the RCP (b), replacing the policy of "war communism", which was carried out during the Civil War. The New Economic Policy was aimed at restoring the national economy and the subsequent transition to socialism. The main content of the NEP is the replacement of the surplus appropriation tax in the countryside (up to 70% of grain was confiscated during the surplus appropriation tax, about 30% with the food tax), the use of the market and various forms of ownership, the attraction of foreign capital in the form of concessions, the implementation of the monetary reform (1922-1924), in as a result of which the ruble became a convertible currency.

Prerequisites for the transition to the NEP

After the end of the civil war, the country found itself in a difficult situation, faced a deep economic and political crisis. As a result of almost seven years of war, Russia has lost more than a quarter of its national wealth. The industry has been especially hard hit. The volume of its gross output decreased by 7 times. Stocks of raw materials and materials by 1920 were basically exhausted. Compared with 1913, the gross output of large-scale industry has decreased by almost 13%, and that of small-scale industry by more than 44%.

Huge destruction was inflicted on transport. In 1920, the volume of railway traffic was 20% compared to the pre-war level. The situation in agriculture worsened. The area under crops, productivity, gross harvest of grain, production of livestock products have decreased. Agriculture has become more and more consumerist, its marketability has fallen by 2.5 times. There has been a sharp drop standard of living and labor of workers. As a result of the closure of many enterprises, the process of declassing the proletariat continued. Huge hardships led to the fact that from the autumn of 1920, discontent began to increase among the working class. The situation was complicated by the beginning of the demobilization of the Red Army. As the fronts of the civil war retreated to the borders of the country, the peasantry began to more and more actively oppose the surplus appropriation, which was implemented by violent methods with the help of food detachments.

The policy of "war communism" led to the destruction of commodity-money relations. The sale of food and industrial goods was limited, they were distributed by the state in the form of wages in kind. An equalizing system of wages among workers was introduced. This gave them the illusion of social equality. The failure of this policy was manifested in the formation of a "black market" and the flourishing of speculation. In the social sphere, the policy of “war communism” was based on the principle of “ Who does not work shall not eat". In 1918, labor service was introduced for representatives of the former exploiting classes, and in 1920 - universal labor service. Forced mobilization of labor resources was carried out with the help of labor armies sent to restore transport, construction work, etc. The naturalization of wages led to the free provision of housing, utilities, transport, postal and telegraph services. During the period of “war communism”, the undivided dictatorship of the RCP (b) was established in the political sphere, which also later was one of the reasons for the transition to the NEP. The Bolshevik Party ceased to be a purely political organization; its apparatus gradually merged with government agencies. It determined the political, ideological, economic and cultural situation in the country, even the personal life of citizens. In essence, it was about the crisis of the policy of "war communism".

Devastation and famine, strikes of workers, uprisings of peasants and sailors - all testified that a deep economic and social crisis had ripened in the country. In addition, by the spring of 1921, the hope for an early world revolution and the material and technical assistance of the European proletariat had been exhausted. Therefore, V. I. Lenin revised his internal political course and recognized that only the satisfaction of the demands of the peasantry could save the power of the Bolsheviks.

The essence of the NEP

The essence of the NEP was not clear to everyone. Disbelief in the NEP, its socialist orientation gave rise to disputes about the ways of developing the country's economy, about the possibility of building socialism. With the most varied understanding of the NEP, many party leaders agreed that at the end of the civil war in Soviet Russia, two main classes of the population remained: workers and peasants, and in the early 20 years after the NEP was introduced, a new bourgeoisie appeared, the bearer of restoration tendencies. A wide field of activity for the Nepman bourgeoisie was made up of industries serving the main and most important consumer interests of the city and countryside. V. I. Lenin understood the inevitable contradictions, the dangers of development on the path of the NEP. He considered it necessary to strengthen the Soviet state in order to ensure victory over capitalism.

In general, the NEP economy was a complex and unstable market-administrative structure. Moreover, the introduction of market elements into it was of a forced nature, while the preservation of administrative-command elements was fundamental and strategic. Without abandoning the ultimate goal (creation of a non-market economic system) of the NEP, the Bolsheviks resorted to the use of commodity-money relations while maintaining in the hands of the state "commanding heights": nationalized land and mineral resources, large and most of the medium industry, transport, banking, monopoly foreign trade. A relatively long coexistence of the socialist and non-socialist (state-capitalist, private capitalist, small-scale, patriarchal) structures was assumed with the gradual displacement of the latter from the economic life of the country, relying on "commanding heights" and using the levers of economic and administrative influence on large and small owners (taxes, loans , pricing policy, legislation, etc.).

From the point of view of V. I. Lenin, the essence of the NEP maneuver consisted in laying an economic foundation for the “alliance of the working class and the working peasantry”, in other words, granting a certain freedom of economic management that prevailed in the country among small commodity producers in order to remove their acute dissatisfaction with the authorities and ensure political stability in society. As the Bolshevik leader emphasized more than once, the NEP was a roundabout, indirect way to socialism, the only possible one after the failure of the attempt to directly and quickly break down all market structures. However, he did not reject the direct path to socialism in principle: Lenin recognized it as quite suitable for the developed capitalist states after the victory of the proletarian revolution there.

NEP in agriculture

The resolution of the 10th Congress of the RCP(b) on replacing the apportionment with the tax in kind, which marked the beginning of the new economic policy, was legally formalized by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in March 1921. The size of the tax was almost halved compared to the surplus, and its main burden fell on wealthy rural peasants. The decree limited the freedom of trade in the products remaining with the peasants after paying the tax "within the limits of local economic turnover." Already by 1922, there was a noticeable growth in agriculture. The country was fed. In 1925 the sown area reached the pre-war level. The peasants sowed almost the same area as in pre-war 1913. The gross grain harvest amounted to 82% compared with 1913. The number of livestock exceeded the pre-war level. 13 million peasant farms were members of agricultural cooperatives. There were about 22,000 collective farms in the country. The implementation of grandiose industrialization required a radical restructuring of the agricultural sector. In Western countries, the agrarian revolution, i.e. the system of improving agricultural production preceded revolutionary industry, and therefore, on the whole, it was easier to supply the urban population with food. In the USSR, both of these processes had to be carried out simultaneously. At the same time, the village was considered not only as a source of food, but also as the most important channel for replenishing financial resources for the needs of industrialization.

NEP in industry

Radical transformations also took place in industry. Glavki were abolished, and trusts were created instead - associations of homogeneous or interconnected enterprises that received complete economic and financial independence, up to the right to issue long-term bonded loans. By the end of 1922, about 90% of industrial enterprises were united in 421 trusts, 40% of which were centralized, and 60% were local subordination. The trusts themselves decided what to produce and where to sell their products. The enterprises that were part of the trust were removed from the state supply and switched to purchasing resources on the market. The law provided that "the state treasury is not responsible for the debts of trusts."

The Supreme Council of National Economy, having lost the right to interfere in the current activities of enterprises and trusts, turned into a coordinating center. His apparatus was drastically reduced. It was at that time that economic accounting appeared, in which the enterprise (after mandatory fixed contributions to the state budget) has the right to manage the income from the sale of products, is itself responsible for the results of its economic activity, independently uses profits and covers losses. Under the NEP, Lenin wrote, "state enterprises are transferred to the so-called economic accounting, that is, in fact, to a large extent on commercial and capitalist principles."

The Soviet government tried to combine two principles in the activities of trusts - market and planning. Encouraging the former, the state strove, with the help of trusts, to borrow technology and methods of work from the market economy. At the same time, the principle of planning in the activities of trusts was strengthened. The state encouraged the spheres of activity of trusts and the creation of a system of concerns by joining trusts with enterprises producing raw materials and finished products. The concerns were to serve as centers for the planned management of the economy. For these reasons, in 1925, the motivation for “profit” as the purpose of their activities was removed from the provision on trusts and only the mention of “commercial calculation” was left. So, the trust as a form of management combined planned and market elements, which the state tried to use to build a socialist planned economy. This was the complexity and inconsistency of the situation.

Almost simultaneously, syndicates began to be created - associations of trusts for the wholesale sale of products, lending and regulation of trade operations in the market. By the end of 1922, the syndicates controlled 80% of the industry covered by the trusts. In practice, there are three types of syndicates:

1. with a predominance of the trading function (Textile, Wheat, Tobacco);
2. with a predominance of the regulatory function (Council of Congresses of the main chemical industry);
3. syndicates created by the state on a forced basis (Solesyndicat, Oil, Coal, etc.) to maintain control over the most important resources.

Thus, syndicates as a form of management also had a dual character: on the one hand, they combined elements of the market, as they were focused on improving the commercial activities of the trusts that were part of them, on the other hand, they were monopoly organizations in this industry, regulated by higher state bodies (VSNKh and people's commissariats).

Financial reform of the NEP

The transition to the NEP required the development of a new financial policy. Experienced pre-revolutionary financiers took part in the reform of the financial and monetary system: N. Kutler, V. Tarnovsky, professors L. Yurovsky, P. Genzel, A. Sokolov, Z. Katsenelenbaum, S. Volkner, N. Shaposhnikov, N. Nekrasov, A. Manuilov, former assistant minister A. Khrushchev. Great organizational work was carried out by People's Commissar for Finance G. Sokolnikov, member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Finance V. Vladimirov, Chairman of the Board of the State Bank A. Sheiman. The main directions of the reform were identified: the cessation of money emission, the establishment of a deficit-free budget, the restoration of the banking system and savings banks, the introduction of a single monetary system, the creation of a stable currency, the development of an appropriate tax systems s.

By a decree of the Soviet government dated October 4, 1921, the State Bank was formed as part of the Narkomfin, savings and loan offices were opened, payment for transport, cash and telegraph services was introduced. The system of direct and indirect taxes was restored. To strengthen the budget, they sharply reduced all expenses that did not correspond to state revenues. Further normalization of the financial and banking system required the strengthening of the Soviet ruble.

In accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars, from November 1922, the issuance of a parallel Soviet currency, the "Chervonets", began. It was equated to 1 spool - 78.24 shares or 7.74234 g of pure gold, i.e. the amount that was contained in the pre-revolutionary golden ten. It was forbidden to pay off the budget deficit with chervonets. They were intended to serve the credit operations of the State Bank, industry, and wholesale trade.

To maintain the stability of the chervonets, the special part (SP) of the currency department of the Narkomfin bought up or sold gold, foreign currency and chervonets. Despite the fact that this measure was in the interests of the state, such commercial activities of the OCH were regarded by the OGPU as speculation, therefore, in May 1926, arrests and executions of the leaders and employees of the OCH began (L. Volin, A.M. Chepelevsky and others, who were only rehabilitated 1996).

The high nominal value of chervonets (10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles) created difficulties with their exchange. In February 1924, a decision was made to issue state treasury notes in denominations of 1, 3, and 5 rubles. gold, as well as small changeable silver and copper coins.

In 1923 and 1924 two devaluations of the soviet mark (the former settlement banknote) were carried out. This gave the monetary reform a confiscatory character. On March 7, 1924, a decision was made to issue state marks by the State Bank. For every 500 million rubles handed over to the state. sample 1923, their owner received 1 kopeck. So the system of two parallel currencies was liquidated.

In general, the state has achieved some success in carrying out monetary reform. Chervonets began to be produced by stock exchanges in Constantinople, the Baltic countries (Riga, Revel), Rome, and some eastern countries. The course of the chervonets was equal to 5 dollars. 14 US cents.

The strengthening of the country's financial system was facilitated by the revival of the credit and tax systems, the creation of exchanges and a network of joint-stock banks, the spread of commercial credit, and the development of foreign trade.

However, the financial system created on the basis of the NEP began to destabilize in the second half of the 1920s. due to several reasons. The state strengthened the planning principles in the economy. The control figures for the financial year 1925-26 affirmed the idea of ​​maintaining money circulation by increasing emission. By December 1925, the money supply had increased by 1.5 times compared to 1924. This led to an imbalance between the volume of trade and the money supply. Since the State Bank constantly introduced gold and foreign currency into circulation in order to withdraw cash surpluses and maintain the exchange rate of the gold coin, the state's foreign exchange reserves were soon depleted. The fight against inflation was lost. From July 1926, it was forbidden to export chervonets abroad and the purchase of chervonets on the foreign market was stopped. Chervonets from a convertible currency turned into the internal currency of the USSR.

Thus, the monetary reform of 1922-1924. was a comprehensive reform of the sphere of circulation. The monetary system was rebuilt simultaneously with the establishment of wholesale and retail trade, the elimination of the budget deficit, and the revision of prices. All these measures helped restore and streamline monetary circulation, overcome emission, and ensure the formation of a solid budget. At the same time, financial and economic reform helped streamline taxation. A hard currency and a solid state budget were the most important achievements of the financial policy of the Soviet state in those years. In general, the monetary reform and financial recovery contributed to the restructuring of the mechanism of operation of the entire national economy on the basis of the NEP.

The role of the private sector during the NEP

During the NEP period, the private sector played a major role in restoring the light and food industries - it produced up to 20% of all industrial output (1923) and dominated wholesale (15%) and retail (83%) trade.

Private industry took the form of handicraft, rental, joint-stock and cooperative enterprises. Private entrepreneurship has become notable in the food, clothing, and leather industries, as well as in the oil-pressing, flour-grinding, and shag industries. About 70% of private enterprises were located on the territory of the RSFSR. In total in 1924-1925. in the USSR there were 325 thousand private enterprises. They employed about 12% of the entire workforce, with an average of 2-3 employees per enterprise. Private enterprises produced about 5% of all industrial output (1923). the state constantly restricted the activities of private entrepreneurs by using the tax press, depriving entrepreneurs of voting rights, etc.

At the end of the 20s. in connection with the curtailment of the NEP, the policy of restricting the private sector was replaced by a course towards its elimination.

Consequences of the NEP

In the second half of the 1920s, the first attempts to curtail the NEP began. Syndicates in industry were liquidated, from which private capital was administratively ousted, and a rigid centralized system of economic management (economic people's commissariats) was created.

In October 1928, the implementation of the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy began, the country's leadership set a course for accelerated industrialization and collectivization. Although no one officially canceled the NEP, by that time it had already been actually curtailed.

Legally, the NEP was terminated only on October 11, 1931, when a resolution was adopted on a complete ban on private trade in the USSR.

The undoubted success of the NEP was the restoration of the destroyed economy, and, given that after the revolution, Russia lost highly qualified personnel (economists, managers, production workers), the success of the new government becomes a "victory over devastation." At the same time, the lack of those same highly qualified personnel has become the cause of miscalculations and errors.

Significant economic growth rates, however, were achieved only due to the return to operation of pre-war capacities, because Russia reached the economic indicators of the pre-war years only by 1926-1927. Potential for further growth economy turned out to be extremely low. The private sector was not allowed to "command heights in the economy", foreign investment was not welcomed, and investors themselves were not particularly in a hurry to Russia because of the ongoing instability and the threat of nationalization of capital. The state, on the other hand, was unable to make long-term capital-intensive investments only from its own funds.

The situation in the countryside was also contradictory, where the "kulaks" were clearly oppressed.

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By the spring of 1921, political tension had sharply increased in Russia. Conflicts between various political forces, as well as between the people and the government, deepened and escalated. Only the Kronstadt uprising, as Lenin put it, posed a much greater danger to the power of the Bolsheviks than Denikin, Yudenich and Kolchak combined. And Lenin, as an experienced politician, understood this very well.

He immediately sensed the danger, realized that in order to retain power, it is necessary: ​​first, to come to an agreement with the peasantry; secondly, it will be even tougher to fight both with the political opposition and with everyone who does not share the Bolshevik beliefs, which are correct by definition. In the 1930s, the opposition was liquidated. Thus, in March 1921, at the 10th Congress of the RCP (b), Lenin announced the introduction of the NEP (New Economic Policy).

What is NEP

An attempt to get out of the crisis, both economic and political, to give a new impetus economy and agriculture for the purpose of their development and prosperity- the essence of the new economic policy. The policy of "war communism" pursued by the Bolsheviks until 1921 led Russia to economic collapse.

And for this reason, on March 14, 1921 - this historical date is considered to be the beginning of the NEP - on the initiative of V. I. Lenin, a course was set for the NEP. The main goal of the course taken is to restore the national economy. For the sake of this, the Bolsheviks decided to take extremely dubious and even "anti-Marxist" measures. This is private enterprise and a return to the market.

The Bolshevik project, huge in scale, was, of course, a gamble, since the "Nepman" or "Nepacha" perceived by the majority of the population as a bourgeois. That is, a class enemy, a hostile element. Nevertheless, this project turned out to be successful. Over the eight years of its existence, it has shown its usefulness and economic efficiency in the best possible way.

Reasons for the transition

The reasons for the transition can be summarized as follows:

• the policy of "war communism" has ceased to be effective;
• the economic and spiritual gulf between the city and the countryside was clearly marked;
• uprisings of workers and peasants swept through the regions (the largest are the Antonovshchina and the Kronstadt rebellion).

The main activities of the NEP include:

In 1924, a new currency was issued, the gold chervonets. It was equal to 10 pre-revolutionary rubles. Chervonets was backed by gold, rapidly gaining popularity and became a convertible currency. The height of the bar taken by the Bolsheviks thanks to the new policy was impressive.

Impact on culture

It is impossible not to say about the influence of the NEP on culture. People who began to earn money began to be called "Nepmen". It was completely uncharacteristic for shopkeepers and artisans to be interested in the ideas of revolution and equality (this feature was completely absent in them), nevertheless, it was they who were in this period in key roles.

The new rich were not at all interested in classical art - it was inaccessible to them due to lack of education, and NEP language was little like the language of Pushkin, Tolstoy or Chekhov. These people can be treated differently, but it was they who set the fashion. Frivolous, littering with money, spending a lot of time in cabarets and restaurants, Nepmen became a hallmark of that time. It was typical for them.

Economic results of the NEP

The restoration of the destroyed economy is the main success of the NEP. In other words, it was a victory over ruin.

Positive and negative consequences

1. The collapse of the chervonets. By 1926, the state was unable to restrain the issue of money. Calculations were made in chervonets, thus, the chervonets began to depreciate quickly. Soon the authorities stopped providing him with gold.
2. Sales crisis. The population and small businesses did not have enough convertible money to buy goods, and there was an acute problem of marketing.

Peasants stopped paying huge taxes, which went to the development of industry, so Stalin had to forcibly drive people to the collective farms.

market resuscitation, different forms of ownership, foreign capital, monetary reform (1922-1924) - thanks to all this, it was possible to revive the dead economy.

In the conditions of a severe credit blockade, the most important task of the state was to survive. Thanks to the NEP, the national economy began to quickly recover from the consequences of the First World War and the Civil War. Russia began to get on its feet and develop in all directions.

The reasons for the transition to the NEP were not accepted by everyone. Such a policy was perceived by many as a rejection of Marxist ideas, as a return to the bourgeois past, where the main goal is enrichment. The party explained to the population that this measure was forced and temporary.

Before 1921 there were only two classes - workers and peasants. Now there are Nepmen. They provided the people with everything they needed. Such was the transition to the NEP in Russia. The date March 15, 1921 went down in history. On this day, the RCP (b) abandoned the tough policy of war communism and switched to the liberal NEP.

The political goal of the new economic policy was to toughen the fight against the opposition, as well as to eradicate and suppress any dissent.

The main differences from "war communism"

As can be seen from the table, until 1921 the leadership country was carried out mainly by administrative-command methods. But after 1921 administrative-market methods prevailed.

Why did you have to turn

By 1926, it became obvious that the new policy had completely exhausted itself. From the second half of the 1920s, the Soviet leadership began to attempt to curtail the NEP. Syndicates were liquidated, economic people's commissariats were created. The time of the NEP and the Nepmen is over. At the end of 1927, the state failed to procure bread in the required quantity. This was the reason for the complete curtailment new policy. As a result, already at the end of December, measures for the forced confiscation of bread began to return to the village. These measures were suspended in the summer of 1928, but resumed in the fall of that year.

In October 1928, the Soviet government decided to finally abandon the NEP and set the people the task of implementing the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy. The USSR headed for accelerated industrialization and collectivization. Despite the fact that the NEP was not officially canceled, in fact it was already curtailed. And legally, it ceased to exist on October 11, 1931, along with private trade.

The NEP did not become a long-term project, and from the very moment of its inception it was not supposed to be so. As a result of the contradictions that emerged in the early to mid-1920s, Stalin and the Soviet government were forced to abandon the NEP (1927) and start modernizing the country - industrialization and collectivization.