The meaning of the policy of war communism is brief. Unified State Exam

The Bolsheviks began to implement their boldest ideas. On the background civil war and exhaustion strategic resources the new government took emergency measures to ensure its continued existence. These measures were called war communism. Prerequisites for the new policy In October 1917, they took power in Petrograd into their own hands and destroyed the highest government bodies of the previous government. The ideas of the Bolsheviks were in little agreement with the usual course of Russian life.

Even before coming to power, they pointed out the depravity of the banking system and large private property. Having seized power, the government was forced to requisition funds to maintain its power. Legislative framework The policies of War Communism were laid down in December 1917. Several decrees of the Council of People's Commissars established a government monopoly in strategically important areas of life. The decrees of the Council of People's Commissars in the territory controlled by the Bolsheviks were carried out immediately.

Creation of state monopolies

At the beginning of December 1917, the Council of People's Commissars nationalized all banks. This nationalization took place in two stages: first, land banks were declared state property, and two weeks later the entire banking business was declared a state monopoly. The nationalization of banks implied not only the confiscation of assets from bankers, but also the confiscation of large deposits of more than 5,000 rubles. Smaller deposits remained the property of depositors for some time, but the government set a limit for withdrawing money from accounts: no more than 500 rubles per month.

Because of this limit, a significant part of small deposits was destroyed by inflation. At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars declared industrial enterprises state property. The former owners and administrators were declared enemies of the revolution. Formally management production process was entrusted to the workers' trade unions, but in fact, from the very first days, a centralized management system was created, subordinate to the Petrograd government. Another monopoly of the Soviet state was the monopoly on foreign trade, introduced in April 1918.

The government nationalized the merchant fleet and created a special body that controlled trade with foreigners - Vneshtorg. All transactions with foreign clients were now carried out through this body. Establishment of labor conscription The Soviet government implemented in a special way the right to work declared in the first decrees. The Labor Code adopted in December 1918 turned this right into an obligation. Ore duty was imposed on every citizen of Soviet Russia. At the same time, the militarization of production was proclaimed. With the reduction in the intensity of military clashes, armed units were transformed into labor armies.

War communism in the countryside. Prodrazvyorstka

The apotheosis of war communism was the policy of “extracting surpluses” from the peasants, which went down in history under the name of surplus appropriation. The right of the state to confiscate all grain from peasants, except for sowing and necessary for food, was legislated. The state purchased these “surpluses” at its own reduced prices. Locally, the surplus appropriation system turned into outright robbery of the peasants. The forcible seizure of food was accompanied by terror. The peasants who resisted suffered heavy punishments, including execution.

Results of War Communism

The forceful seizure of means of production and strategically important goods allowed the Soviet government to strengthen its position and win strategic victories in the Civil War. But in the long term, War Communism was futile. He destroyed industrial ties and turned the broad masses of the population against the government. In 1921, the policy of War Communism was officially ended and replaced by the New Economic Policy ().

Have a good day everyone! In this post we will dwell on such an important topic as the policy of war communism - we will briefly analyze its key provisions. This topic is very difficult, but it is constantly tested in exams. Ignorance of concepts and terms related to this topic will inevitably entail a low grade with all the ensuing consequences.

The essence of the policy of war communism

The policy of war communism is a system of socio-economic measures that were implemented by the Soviet leadership and which was based on the key postulates of Marxist-Leninist ideology.

This policy consisted of three components: the Red Guard attack on capital, nationalization and confiscation of grain from the peasants.

One of these postulates states that it is an inevitable evil for the development of society and the state. It gives rise, firstly, to social inequality, and, secondly, to the exploitation of some classes by others. For example, if you own a lot of land, you will hire hired workers to cultivate it - and this is exploitation.

Another postulate of Marxist-Leninist theory says that money is evil. Money makes people be greedy and selfish. Therefore, money was simply eliminated, trade was prohibited, even simple barter - the exchange of goods for goods.

Red Guard attack on capital and nationalization

Therefore, the first component of the Red Guard's attack on capital was the nationalization of private banks and their subordination to the State Bank. The entire infrastructure was nationalized: communication lines, railways And so on. Worker control was also approved at factories. In addition, the decree on land abolished private ownership of land in the countryside and transferred it to the peasantry.

All was monopolized international trade so that citizens cannot enrich themselves. Also, the entire river fleet became state property.

The second component of the policy under consideration was nationalization. On June 28, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars issued a Decree on the transfer of all industries into the hands of the state. What did all these measures mean for the owners of banks and factories?

Well, imagine - you are a foreign businessman. You have assets in Russia: a couple of steel production plants. October 1917 comes, and after some time the local Soviet authority announces that your factories are state-owned. And you won't get a penny. She cannot buy these enterprises from you because she has no money. But it’s easy to appropriate. So how? Would you like this? No! And your government won't like it. Therefore, the response to such measures was the intervention of England, France, and Japan in Russia during the civil war.

Of course, some countries, for example Germany, began to buy shares from their businessmen in companies that the Soviet government decided to appropriate. This could have led to the intervention of this country in the process of nationalization. That is why the above-mentioned Decree of the Council of People's Commissars was adopted so hastily.

Food dictatorship

In order to supply cities and the army with food, the Soviet government introduced another measure of military communism - food dictatorship. Its essence was that now the state voluntarily and forcibly confiscated grain from the peasants.

It is clear that the latter will not hurt to hand over bread for free in the quantity required by the state. Therefore, the country's leadership continued the tsarist measure - surplus appropriation. Surplus appropriation is when required quantity bread was distributed among the regions. And it doesn’t matter whether you have this bread or not, it will still be confiscated.

It is clear that the lion's share of bread went to wealthy peasants - kulaks. They definitely won’t hand over anything voluntarily. Therefore, the Bolsheviks acted very cunningly: they created committees of the poor (kombedas), which were entrusted with the responsibility of confiscating grain.

Well, look. Who is more on the tree: poor or rich? It’s clear - the poor. Are they jealous of their wealthy neighbors? Naturally! So let them confiscate their bread! Food detachments (food detachments) helped confiscate bread for the poor people. This is, in fact, how the policy of war communism took place.

To organize the material, use the table:

	Politics of War Communism
"Military" - this policy was caused by the emergency conditions of the Civil War					"Communism" - a serious influence on economic policy influenced the ideological beliefs of the Bolsheviks who strove for communism
		Why?
	Main events
↓			↓				↓
In industry			IN agriculture				In the field of commodity-money relations
↓			↓				↓
All enterprises were nationalized			The committees were dissolved. A Decree on the allocation of grain and fodder was issued.				Prohibition of free trade. Food was given as wages.

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Measures of "war communism"
On September 2, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee declared the Republic a single military camp. A regime was established whose goal was to concentrate all available resources in the state. The policy of “war communism” began to be pursued, which took complete shape by the spring of 1919 and consisted of three main groups of activities:
1) to solve the food problem, a centralized supply of the population was organized. By decrees of November 21 and 28, trade was nationalized and replaced by forced state-organized distribution; In order to create food reserves, food allocation was introduced on January 11, 1919: free trade in bread was declared a state crime. Bread received from the allotment (and later other products and goods of mass demand) was distributed centrally according to the class norm;
2) all industrial enterprises were nationalized;
3) universal labor conscription was introduced.
The supreme body was the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense established on November 30, 1918 by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
Civil war and foreign
By the fall of 1918, the Republic was surrounded by fronts. The North was occupied by intervention by British, French and American troops, the Far East by Japanese, English, French and Canadian interventionists. The Baltic states, parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Crimea, and Georgia were captured by the Germans. Soviet power was overthrown in the territory from the Volga to Vladivostok. IN Central Russia Anti-Soviet riots broke out. The armies of Denikin and Krasnov operated in the South.
In January 1919, the Red Army launched an offensive and in the spring of 1919 all cities of Southern Russia were liberated.
At the second stage of the Civil War and intervention (March 1919 - March 1920), the Red Army carried out successful fighting against the armies of Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich. A significant part of the Entente troops was evacuated. In January 1920, the Entente ended the economic blockade of Russia.
Replacing trade with direct distribution
In the current situation, the process of maturation of the idea of ​​​​immediately building commodity-free socialism by replacing trade with a planned, organized on a national scale distribution of products is accelerating. This position was recorded as a party policy in the Second Program of the RCP (b) in March 1919. The culmination of “military-communist” activities was the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921, when the decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars “On the free supply of food products to the population” were issued (4 December 1920), “On the free supply of consumer goods to the population” (December 17), “On the abolition of fees for all kinds of fuel” (December 23). Projects for abolishing money were proposed. However crisis state economy indicated the ineffectiveness of the measures taken. In 1920, compared to 1917, coal production decreased by more than three times, steel production by 16 times, and production of cotton fabrics by 12 times.
Centralization of management
The centralization of management is sharply increasing. Enterprises were deprived of independence in order to identify and maximize the use of available resources. The supreme body was the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense established by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on November 30, 1918, chaired by V.I. Lenin, which was called upon to establish a firm regime in all sectors National economy and the closest coordination of the work of departments. The Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) remained the supreme body for industrial management.
Development of the GOELRO plan
Despite the difficult situation in the country, the ruling party began to determine the prospects for the country's development, which was expressed in the GOELRO plan - the first long-term national economic plan approved in December 1920. The plan provided for the priority development of mechanical engineering, metallurgy, fuel and energy base, chemistry and railway construction - industries designed to ensure technical progress of the entire economy, Over the course of ten years it was planned to almost double industrial production with an increase in the number of workers of only 17%. It was planned to build 30 large power plants.

In agriculture, it was planned to increase the acreage, carry out work on mechanization, land reclamation and irrigation, and define tasks for raising the culture of agriculture.
But it was not just about electrification of the national economy, but about transferring the economy to an intensive path of development based on it. The main thing was to ensure rapid growth labor productivity at the lowest cost of material and labor resources countries. “To align the front of our economy with the achievements of our political system” - this is how the goal of the GOELRO plan was formulated.
End of the war
At the end of April 1920 at Soviet Russia Poland attacked. Thus began the third stage of the war and intervention. In March 1921, a peace treaty was signed with Poland, according to which Western Ukraine, Western Belarus. In November 1920, Crimea was liberated from Wrangel's army.
With the end of the Civil War at the end of 1920, the tasks of restoring the national economy came to the fore. At the same time, it was necessary to radically change the methods of governing the country. The militarized management system, the bureaucratization of the apparatus, and dissatisfaction with the surplus appropriation system caused an internal political crisis in the spring of 1921, which manifested itself in the Kronstadt rebellion, peasant uprisings in the Tambov province, Siberia, the Caucasus, and worker strikes in Moscow, Petrograd, and Kharkov.

Prodrazverstka.

Artist I.A.Vladimirov (1869-1947)

War communism - this is the policy pursued by the Bolsheviks during the civil war in 1918-1921, which included a set of emergency political and economic measures to win the civil war and protect Soviet power. It is no coincidence that this policy received this name: "communism" - equal rights for everyone, "military" -the policy was carried out through force.

Start The policy of war communism began in the summer of 1918, when two government documents appeared on the requisition (seizure) of grain and the nationalization of industry. In September 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution to transform the republic into a single military camp, the slogan - “Everything for the front! Everything for victory!”

Reasons for adopting the policy of war communism

The need to protect the country from internal and external enemies

Defense and final assertion of Soviet power

The country's recovery from the economic crisis

Goals:

The maximum concentration of labor and material resources to repel external and internal enemies.

Building communism by violent means (“cavalry attack on capitalism”)

Features of War Communism

Centralization economic management, system VSNKh (Supreme Council of the National Economy), central administrations.

Nationalization industry, banks and land, liquidation of private property. The process of nationalization of property during the civil war was called "expropriation".

Ban hired labor and land rental

Food dictatorship. Introduction surplus appropriation(decree of the Council of People's Commissars January 1919) - food allocation. These are state measures to implement agricultural procurement plans: mandatory delivery to the state of an established (“detailed”) standard of products (bread, etc.) at state prices. Peasants could leave only a minimum of products for consumption and household needs.

Creation in the village "committees of the poor" (committees of the poor), who were engaged in food appropriation. In the cities, armed forces were created from workers food detachments to confiscate grain from peasants.

An attempt to introduce collective farms (collective farms, communes).

Prohibition of private trade

Curtailment of commodity-money relations, supply of products was carried out by the People's Commissariat for Food, abolition of payments for housing, heating, etc., that is, free public utilities. Cancellation of money.

Equalizing principle in the distribution of material goods (rations were issued), naturalization of wages, card system.

Militarization of labor (that is, its focus on military purposes, defense of the country). Universal labor conscription(since 1920) Slogan: "Who does not work shall not eat!". Mobilization of the population to carry out work of national importance: logging, road, construction and other work. Labor mobilization was carried out from 15 to 50 years of age and was equated to military mobilization.

Decision on ending the policy of war communism accepted on 10th Congress of the RCP(B) in March 1921 year in which the course towards the transition to NEP.

Results of the policy of war communism

Mobilization of all resources in the fight against anti-Bolshevik forces, which made it possible to win the civil war.

Nationalization of oil, large and small industries, railway transport, banks,

Massive discontent of the population

Peasant protests

Increasing economic devastation

It began in the spring of 1918 in conditions of devastation, hunger, and economic blockade.

By the autumn of 1918, the Soviet Republic was surrounded by fronts on all sides. The country lost its main food, raw materials and fuel areas.

In September 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee announced Soviet Republic military camp. And then the Soviet government carried out a series of emergency measures, the totality of which was called the policy of “war communism”.

2. Labor service for all citizens (from 16 to 50 years old).

3. Strict centralization of production and distribution management (“Glavkism”).

4. Prohibition of private trade in bread and other essential items. Direct exchange of goods between city and countryside.

5. Cancellation of fees for utilities, transport, etc.

6. Martial law in transport (introduced in November 1918).

According to the decree on surplus appropriation, the entire amount of bread and fodder necessary to meet state needs was distributed among the grain-producing provinces. The peasants were left with a strictly defined minimum of food for nutrition, fodder for livestock and grain for sowing. All other grain was subject to confiscation for money. However, by that time money had lost its meaning, so that in fact bread was taken away from the peasants for free. Moreover, they took away not only the surplus, but also part of the bread the peasant needed. Those who did not hand over the grain were subject to trial.

The civil war and foreign intervention accelerated the nationalization of industry. By the way, the Bolsheviks began with the introduction of workers' control at enterprises. Workers' control was a preparatory measure for subsequent nationalization. Now many people write that the Bolsheviks nationalized everything and everyone from the very first days - this is not entirely true. By the summer of 1918, in accordance with the Bolshevik program, the nationalization of large industrial enterprises. The railways, sea and river fleets became state property.

Back in December 1917, all private banks were nationalized. To manage the country's economy, the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) would be established under the Council of People's Commissars. It was supposed to carry out a gradual transformation of small and medium industry. However, the war required the immediate concentration of all resources in the hands of the state and the strictest centralization of control. Entire industries were nationalized. The enterprises worked according to the orders of the headquarters and did not have economic independence. VSNKh and its headquarters distributed orders, organized production accounting, and product sales. Even handicraft industry enterprises were subordinated directly to the Glavkustprom VSNKh. This super-centralized management system was called “glavkizm”.

One of the most important features The policy of “war communism” was the prohibition of private trade in bread and other essential items. With the liquidation of private trade, the People's Commissariat for Food became the main distributor of products. The entire population was assigned to single consumer societies, from which they received food and commodity rations. Wage was issued mainly in kind, i.e. products and goods on cards. The card system was built on a class principle. This was how direct trade between city and countryside was established.

A characteristic feature of the economic life of this period was the diminishing role of money. In conditions of disorder of the monetary system, enterprises received raw materials and materials without monetary payment (moreover, all this was centrally distributed by the central offices!).

The decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 11, 1920 “On the abolition of certain monetary payments” abolished fees for housing, fuel, water, and for the use of mail and telegraph.

The forced introduction of the policy of “war communism” contributed to the formation of an administrative-command control system. Its individual provisions will be in the 30s. partially transferred to peacetime conditions. It should be noted that “war communism” is not a mandatory and economically inevitable stage in the development of a socialist state. However, the dire situation forced the government to take such measures.

For many years, scientists assessed “war communism” as a policy brought to life by the extreme ruin of the country, i.e. as a forced policy. IN last years there was an assertion that this policy was an attempt by the Bolsheviks to implement Marxist doctrine of building socialism in Russia. Other scientists believe that at first a number of state measures were forced, and then the temptation arose to quickly implement socialist transformations, nationalizing all industry, abolishing monetary relations, etc.