By Lauri Vauhkonen 11MEP
War Communism
• Introduced in 1921 by Lenin and Trotsky as a policy and a plan to support the Bolshevik war effort during the civil war.
• The idea behind War communism was to gather and take the food and other resources from the farmlands and factories in order to give the Red army as much support as possible.
• The idea in the view of the Bolsheviks was a success as it gave their soldiers the much needed support and help to win the civil war.
• War Communism was one of the major factors how the Bolsheviks
Consolidated their power.
Opposition and disadvantages to
War Communism
• The Cheka forced the farmers and factory workers to hand over their supplies or else those who opposed were executed. Many people did refuse. • This in turn led to the “Red Terror” where the Cheka and the reds killed any who opposed or did not cooperate with them.
• With most of their food and resources taken from them, the Russian public suffered endured a famine with killed 8 million people.
• The Ruble dropped in value as businesses and shops closed while there were riots in the streets.
Kronstadt rebellion
• The sailors of Kronstadt in particular opposed and disliked the idea of War
Communism.
• This led to the sailors refusing to work with the communists anymore and eventually, fighting occurred between the sailors and the Red Army.
• Led by Stepan Petrichenko, the remaining sailors held and defended the
Kronstadt fort against the Red Army.
• After 10 days of fighting, Petrichenko surrendered and the remaining sailors were executed or sent to work camps to die.
New Economic Policy
• Introduced by Lenin after the civil war to stop the opposition to war communism and to rebuild Russia’s economy.
• The concept behind the policy was to allow people to make a living for themselves and allow free trade among each other without their jobs and wages being controlled by the government.
• The NEP was overall a success. Living