Russian Revolution Essay Research Paper Essay QuestionExamine

Russian Revolution Essay, Research Paper

Essay Question:

Examine the degree in which there was a period of economic, social and political consolidation following the critical revolutionary period.

During the period of 1921-1928 in Russia, following the critical revolutionary period, there was a large degree of economic, social and political consolidation. There were new policies drawn up, changes in ideologies. These all led to things such as the NEP, the famine, War Communism, Anti-religious views, growth of urbanised areas, education, the use of the secret police and power-playing.

This examination would start us at a certain occurrence known to all as the Kronstadt Rebellion. The reason for this rebellion was because of the policies of War Communism. These policies stated that basically:-

h The state took over all production plants, for example factories, mines and workshops.

h The state set up food commissariat. This was a group of people who gathered food from towns and rationed in evenly throughout all the villages. This made private trading illegal.

h The state made work compulsory.

h State took over banks, tried to abolish money by using goods and services system of payment.

All the Russian people did not accept these policies to start with, but none were brave enough to complain, as the secret police (the Cheka) were out looking for such people who complained. These sailors at this naval base Kronstadt had had enough and demanded changes or they would retaliate against the state. These demands were:-

h Fair elections immediately

h Freedom of speech and press

h Liberation of all political prisoners

h Food commissariat to be removed

These conditions were bad enough as these rebels were known to be true loyal supports of Lenin, which made Lenin see that if his most loyal are turning against him now, then the others won t be far away. After putting this rebellion down, killing all involved, Lenin saw that the economic problems that he faced during 1920-21 as a result of the civil war and War Communism was no production was being produced anymore as the Russian people were being starved to death. Famine, cold weather and disease killed 7 million Russians. The added problems of cut-offs from where the sources of production were and the loss of valuable land to Germany during World War I was adding up. This made Lenin see that he needed a new Policy scheme. This came from the NEP (New Economic Policy).

The NEP, introduced by Lenin in 1921, March, had some new reforms. These new policies were:-

h Confiscation of farm produce ceased, instead grain tax imposed.

h Small factories and shops operated under private ownership. Trade Unions were free of government control and strikes were permitted.

h Foreign companies were encouraged to trade and invest in Russia.

These new reforms settled the public opinion down and took pressure off the Bolshevik party for now. The NEP was quite successful though. From the major slump in 1921, Coal rose from 6.9 million tons to 27.6 million tons by 1926. Steel rose from 0.2 million tons to 3.1 million tons. Pig iron rose from 0.1 million tons to 2.4 million tons. Electricity rose from 520 million kWh to 3508 million kWh. The Industry was back to its full strength. Transport rose. Rail freight rose from 39.4 million tons to 83.4 million tons. In agriculture, the sown area grew from 77.7 million hectares to 104.3 million hectares and the grain harvest rose from 50.3 million tons to 72.5 million tons. These statistics clearly show the boom that occurred during the NEP introduction. Russia was on its way back to becoming a World Power once again, but the main thing being at the time, getting out of the major slump it was currently in. Although Industry and Agriculture boomed, there came to be known the Scissors Crisis. This was because although food prices remained low, manufactured goods rose due to scarcity. The peasants could not afford to purchase necessary tools, as industrial goods were expensive. Russia also had a problem with its currency. The funding of agriculture had placed a great strain on Russian financial resources and had led to the printing of the rouble notes, which resulted in the devaluation of the paper currency. This is seen by the fact that one gold rouble was approximately 21 paper roubles in January 1918, whereas in July 1921, the price of one gold rouble rose to 80 700 paper roubles. A new currency and the NEP helped to stabilise this crisis though.

In 1921, there was a party purge, ridding the party of those who were critical of the central leadership and those of low morale stature. The Cheka were sent to deal with this problem (renamed the GPU in February 1922). Thus by the end of that year, around one-quarter of the membership had been expelled. Lenin had certain views upon the Educational, Social and Cultural topics. From 1921 to the end of the NEP in 1927, it was a period marked with tolerance, diversity and innovation. Russian theatre, film and writing flourished under Lunacharsky, head of the Commissariat of Enlightenment (Ministry of Education and Arts). Traditional and Communist artists and writers were supported. Theatres were subsidised and enjoyed a reasonable degree of autonomy (for example a choice of productions). Education was div

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