Document Question: The Russian Revolution And The New Soviet State 1917-1929 Essay, Research Paper
1)a) Document A refers to the grain seizures of 1918.? The term ?revolutionary enthusiasm and
discipline? refers to the way in which Lenin and his Bolsheviks wish the
actions to be carried out.? He expects
his fellow comrades to be enthusiastic about working for the good of the state
and to be disciplined and focussed on their task.? However, this order was given soon after the revolution and
therefore, the Bolsheviks are appointing a political commissar (a Bolshevik) to
ensure that his fellow ?comrades? who are not yet used to the communist way,
perform their actions in the correct manner.?
The order therefore expects the requisitioning squad not to carry out
their actions with ?revolutionary enthusiasm and discipline? and hence the
appointment of a political commissar. b) Document C refers to the problems of War Communism.? The extract ?Trotsky was the first prominent
Bolshevik to accept publicly the need to abandon requisition? refers to way in
which Trotsky in February 1920 was willing to go against the party and Lenin?s
policies in order to achieve the best for Russia. Trotsky realised before many
other Bolsheviks that the policy of War Communism was failing although he was not
the first to do so.? His prominence
within the party and his role in the civil war gave his word weight when he
spoke up against the policy.? It was a
realisation on his part that the nation needed reconstruction and War Communism
was not the best way to provide this.?
Trotsky, always the revolutionary, wanted change in order to achieve
improvement.c) Document D refers to the replacement of War Communism
with the New Economic Policy.? The
phrase ?in order to strengthen the peasant economy? refers to one of the key
aims of the policy.? The idea of the new
tax in kind was that the government received income in order to improve the
country, however, the Bolsheviks had realised that the peasants were motivated
to work only when working improved their existence.? For this reason, they were allowed to work as little or as much
as they wanted provided taxes were paid to the government.? This introduction of capitalism into a
communist society was designed in such a way as to bring about improvement in
the peasant economy.? The idea was that
the more money the individual peasant made, the more economically prosperous
the peasant class as a whole would become leading to an improvement in the
Russian economic situation as a whole and therefore, forming a vital part of
the post 1920 reconstruction.2)? War Communism was
clearly an unpopular policy in contrast to the comparatively successful New
Economic Policy. Documents A and B deal with the terror and force used by the
requisitioning squads in obtaining grain from the alleged greedy Kulak class
which was supposed to be holding back grain from the people.? Similarly, Document C attempts to explain in
depth the characteristics of War Communism.?
This source is particularly valuable to us in assessing the problems
with War Communism in comparison with?
Lenin?s New Economic Policy (NEP).?
It is clear from the first three sources that the Bolshevik?s, unused to
government as the title of these documents tells us they were, began by
implementing very idealistic communist ideals.?
Document C shows us that not only did the new Bolshevik government
attempt to ban all private enterprise and nationalise all industry but they
also attempted to remove money from the new communist system altogether.? However, Lenin?s claim that such measures
were necessary for the civil war in Document E is not entirely unjustified as
much of the state industry was entirely geared towards fighting a successful
war.? Furthermore, the terror under War
Communism was necessary whilst fighting the war in order to suppress all
possible uprisings against the Bolsheviks from within Bolshevik controlled
territory whilst the war was being fought.?
On the other hand, by February 1920, as Document C tells us, a new and
contrasting policy was being thought up.?
The policy of War Communism, partially necessary for the war and
partially due to the idealistic and partially naÏve policies of the new
Bolshevik government, was replaced by the NEP in order to be the ?basis on
which reconstruction could be achieved?? as Document C says. It is clear from
Document E that Lenin?s decision to alter his policy was due to the fact that
War Communism was not a policy that could be pursued during peacetime. We also
learn in Document D that Lenin realises that economic prosperity could not be
achieved under the idealistic values of War Communism.? ??????????? The first
three sources are concerned mainly with the faults of War Communism although
Document C branches briefly into the NEP.?
These show some of the attitudes that came with War Communism.? The Kulak class, a class of wealthy, greedy
peasants was ruthlessly persecuted under War Communism and all forms of
Capitalism was discouraged, whereas in the final two sources we see that under
NEP capitalism was actively encouraged in order to encourage economic
prosperity.? Furthermore, the attitude
towards learning from other capitalist states has changed, it is clear from the
first three sources that War Communism was a policy breaking away from convention
whereas in Document E, Lenin actively encourages learning from others: ??????????? ?We must
not be afraid of learning from bourgeois specialists, merchants and
capitalists.? ??????????? However,
even in the NEP we see a continuance of some of the War Communism style
policies.? In Documents C and D, the
collection of a tax in kind suggests that much of the produce will go to the
State and the State will still play an essential role in the day to day running
of the country but to a lesser extent. 3)???????? Document B
as a pictorial document can be considered as art and therefore is, to a limited
extent in this case, open to the interpretation of the viewer.? Different individuals may view this source
in a different light.? It is clear that
this source is a piece of propaganda used by the Bolshevik government to
present a negative image of the Kulak class.?
The simplicity of the artwork is designed specifically so that everyone
can understand what the Kulaks are doing i.e. hoarding up grain and getting fat
and rich.? This source is obviously
extremely biased towards the communist government and against the Kulak class
of peasants.? The source as a piece of
evidence is limited in its historical value in so far as it is an inaccurate
artistic impression of what the government wanted its people to think. However,
it is an interesting piece of historical government as it shows that attitude
of the Bolshevik government under Lenin towards the greedy hoarding of the
Kulak class.? It is unknown whether the
Kulak class did in fact exist in Russia, and we cannot tell whether Lenin and the
Bolsheviks actually saw that Kulaks as the sort of people portrayed in this
picture.? However, we can tell that this
is how they wanted them to be portrayed and this is the value of Document B as
a piece of historical evidence. ??????????? Document D
is similarly a piece of historical evidence requiring careful analysis.? As a decree published by the All-Russian
Soviet Executive Committee published in Pravda, the Bolshevik party newspaper
it is clearly valuable in so far as it is a directive direct from the government.? It is clearly a directive explaining and
excusing government policy and therefore must be taken as a biased piece of
historical propaganda and it must be realised that anything published in Pravda
will have been censored and it will take the government line on an issue such
as the NEP.? The decree clearly paints
the NEP in a very positive light and it is difficult to judge its relative
merits from this article.? However, some
facts regarding the NEP can be ascertained such as the fact that limited amounts
of capitalism are to be reintroduced.?
Therefore, as a historical source it can be useful in so far as it
presents some of the facts regarding the introduction of NEP into the new
Bolshevik government.? However, it must
be weighed up carefully as it places the NEP in a very positive light and will
certainly refer to none of the possible problems or harmful side effects that
the new policy may bring.? In this way
again, Document D is a useful source in so far as it is a piece of biased
writing.? 4) The policy of War Communism was introduced by Lenin once
power was seized in 1917.? The policy
was intent upon the introduction of an idealistic communist style government
into Russia at the same time as fighting a war.? The army drained the resources and were it not for the effective
repression of the Cheka, the new government would almost certainly have been
overthrown.? The problems with the new
system were twofold.? First, War
Communism was an idealistic policy based upon Marxist teachings.? When these ideas were put into practise,
Lenin and his Bolsheviks found that they led to the collapse of industry and
agriculture due to a shortage of production as there was no incentive for
people to work.? Idealistic ideas such
as the abolition of currency were unsuccessful in practise.? It was the transition between being an
idealistic, revolutionary opposition party and being a successful government
that, in part, caused the problems with War Communism.? In short the Bolshevik party had no
experience and no ideas of how to run a country, they turned to their
fundamental beliefs in Marxist ideologies only to find that in practise these
too were impractical and failed to take into account human nature.? However, there naivety cannot be blamed
entirely for all the problems of War Communism.? The starvation of the people owed more to the civil war than to
ineffective government.? The civil war
meant that productive areas were lost, many farmers and workers were
conscripted to fight and indeed in 1919 two thirds of all the working days
available were lost.? The towns
depopulated as people went hungry and as the army drained the country of
supplies, those who were not fighting found survival was tough.? War Communism was designed partially as a
means to sustain the Bolsheviks whilst fighting the civil war and in this
respect it was successful, however, from its abysmal failure, the Bolsheviks
learnt much about communism and its faults in practical government.? It is unsurprising then that Lenin, intent
upon maintenance of power rather than sustaining ideological government changed
his ideas to allow a limited amount of capitalism into his system. Lenin, as
shown in Document E, realised that his policy had been an abject failure, he
acknowledges in this source that the war has ruined Russia and for this reason
he is willing to allow a limited amount of capitalism and is willing to learn
from other more experienced systems in order to reconstruct Russia under
communist rule.? The Kronstadt Sailors
uprising against the Bolsheviks, of whom they had previously been passionate
supporters, in 1921 was the final straw that forced Lenin to realise the damage
War Communism was causing.? Despite the
bloody repression of this and other revolts, the loss of loyal supporters
forced Lenin to make the realisation expressed in Documents D and E.? It was in fact Trotsky who first realised
the obvious problems with War Communism in February 1920 as shown in Document
C.? It was a demonstration of Trotsky?s
powers of persuasion that within a year the New Economic Policy had been
introduced.? ??????????? The NEP was
introduced because of the failure of War Communism.? It was a realisation on Lenin?s part that it would take time for
a communist system to be introduced and the people must first get used to
socialism before communism could be brought about.? Lenin here continued the process of fashioning Marxist theory
into his own system of practical government.?
Lenin was far more concerned about the maintenance of power than the
strict application of Marxist philosophy.?
In his step allowance of limited capitalism he showed is willingness to
adapt in order to achieve improvement.?
As Document C says: ??????????? ?By the
beginning of 1920 the time had come to consider the basis on which
reconstruction could be achieved.? ??????????? It was for
the good of the country and for the maintenance of power that Lenin abandoned
War Communism and replaced it with the NEP.?
Lenin was willing to abandon his communist ideologies to allow the
country a limited amount of breathing space and to make economic recovery
possible.