1. In 1921 - 1941 The economy of the RSFSR and the USSR went through two stages of development:
— 1921 - 1929 - the NEP period, during which the state temporarily moved away from total administrative-command methods and moved towards partial denationalization of the economy and the admission of small and medium-sized private capitalist activities;
— 1929 - 1941 - the period of return to full nationalization of the economy, collectivization and industrialization, transition to a planned economy.
2. A significant change in the country’s economic policy in 1921 was caused by the fact that:
the policy of “war communism”, which justified itself at the height of the civil war (1918 - 1920), became ineffective during the country’s transition to peaceful life;
— the “militarized” economy did not provide the state with everything necessary, forced unpaid labor was ineffective;
— agriculture was in an extremely neglected state; there was an economic and spiritual break between the city and the countryside, the peasants and the Bolsheviks;
- anti-Bolshevik protests by workers and peasants began across the country (largest: “Antonovshina” - peasant war
against the Bolsheviks in the Tambov province led by Antonov; Kronstadt rebellion);
— the slogans “For councils without communists”, “All power to the councils, not parties!”, “Down with the dictatorship of the proletariat” became popular in society.
With the continued preservation of “war communism”, labor conscription, non-monetary exchange and distribution of goods by the state, the Bolsheviks risked completely losing the trust of the majority of the masses - workers, peasants and soldiers who supported them during the Civil War. In 1920 - early 1921. There is a significant change in the economic policy of the Bolsheviks:
— at the end of December 1920, the GOELRO plan was adopted at the VIII Congress of Soviets;
— in March 1921, at the 1st Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a decision was made to end the policy of “war communism” and begin a new economic policy (NEP);
- both decisions, especially on the NEP, were made by the Bolsheviks after fierce discussions, with the active influence of V.I. Lenin.
3. GOELRO Plan - The State Plan for the Electrification of Russia envisaged carrying out work to electrify the country within 10 years. This plan provided for the construction of power plants and power lines throughout the country; the spread of electrical engineering both in production and in everyday life. According to V.I. Lenin, electrification was supposed to be the first step to overcome the economic backwardness of Russia. The importance of this task was emphasized by V.I. Lenin’s phrase: “Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country.” After the adoption of the GOELRO plan, electrification became one of the main directions of the economic policy of the Soviet government.
By the beginning of the 1930s. In the USSR as a whole, a system of electrical networks was created, the use of electricity was widespread in industry and everyday life, and in 1932 the first large hydroelectric power station, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, was launched on the Dnieper. Subsequently, the construction of hydroelectric power stations began throughout the country.
4. The first steps of the NEP were:
- replacement of surplus appropriation in the countryside with tax in kind;
- abolition of labor conscription - labor ceased to be a duty (like military duty) and became free;
— gradual abandonment of distribution and introduction of monetary circulation;
— partial denationalization of the economy.
When the Bolsheviks carried out the NEP, exclusively command-administrative methods began to be replaced:
— state-capitalist methods in large-scale industry;
— private capitalist methods in small and medium-sized production and the service sector.
5. In the early 1920s. Trusts were created throughout the country that united many enterprises, sometimes industries, and managed them. The trusts tried to operate as capitalist enterprises (they independently organized production and sales of products based on economic interests; they were self-financing), but at the same time they were owned by the Soviet state, and not by individual capitalists. Because of this, this stage of the NEP was called state capitalism (as opposed to “war communism”, its management-distribution and private capitalism of the USA and other countries).
The largest trusts of Soviet state capitalism were:
— “Donugol”;
— “Khimugol”;
- Yugostal;
— “State Trust of Machine-Building Plants” (“GOMZA”);
- "Severles";
- "Sugar Trust".
In small and medium-sized production and the service sector, the state agreed to allow private capitalist methods. The most common areas of application of private capital:
- Agriculture;
— petty trade;
- handicrafts;
- service sector.
Private shops, shops, restaurants, workshops, and private farms in rural areas are being created throughout the country.
The most common form of small-scale private farming was cooperation - the association of several individuals for the purpose of carrying out economic or other activities. Production, consumer, trade, and other types of cooperatives are being created throughout Russia.
6. During the NEP period, reforms were also carried out in the macroeconomic sphere:
— the banking system was revived;
- in 1922 - 1924 several monetary reforms were carried out, in particular, two denominations (reducing the denomination of money, “reducing zeros”) and reducing the money supply;
- in 1924, along with the devalued Soviet money in circulation (“Sovznaki”), another currency was introduced in parallel - the chervonets, a monetary unit equal to 10 pre-revolutionary “tsarist” rubles and backed by gold;
- due to the fact that the chervonets (unlike other money) was backed by gold, it quickly gained popularity in Russia and became the international convertible currency of Russia;
— throughout the country, the replacement of natural commodity exchange with monetary exchange gradually began;
- cash payments and payment of wages began. If in 1921 workers received 95-100% of their earnings in the form of rations or other goods, then in 1925 80-90% of wages were paid in cash.
The NEP policy led to some economic recovery:
- the bulk of the population no longer experienced hunger, although the standard of living continued to remain very low;
- the market has become saturated with basic necessities that were in short supply during the civil war (bread, clothing, salt, matches, soap, etc.);
- the overall economic situation began to improve (production increased, while production was at the level of 50 - 70% of the pre-war level);
— development of domestic trade, banking activities;
- tension between city and countryside decreased - peasants began to produce products and earn money; some peasants became wealthy rural entrepreneurs; Peasant revolts stopped throughout the country, since their social basis (surplus appropriation and complete poverty) was eliminated.
Thus, the NEP helped to exit the regime of “war communism”, transition to peaceful life, and satisfied the basic needs of the population.
7. At the same time, the NEP did not solve the main strategic problems - Russia’s lag behind the developed capitalist states continued, Russia, 10 years after the revolution, remained an economically weak agrarian state. In 1926 - 1929 The NEP crisis began, which was expressed in:
- 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 state stopped providing it with gold; The chervonets, like the rest of the USSR currency (“sovzn-ki”), ceased to be convertible - it was swipe both in terms of internal economic development and the international prestige of the USSR;
- sales crisis - most of the population and small businesses did not have enough convertible money to buy goods, as a result, entire industries could not sell their goods.
The causes of the NEP crisis were predetermined by its very half-hearted nature - it was impossible to build a hybrid of capitalism and socialism without the main means - capital. Capital in Soviet Russia in the 1920s. there was clearly not enough, there were no conditions for its free circulation (free market), Russia was completely cut off from the world economy and foreign investment, which also contributed to financial starvation. In addition, the NEP did not solve the problem of accelerating industrial development, contributed to the revival of bourgeois relations in the countryside, and, in the long term, undermined the power of the Bolsheviks. Due to these circumstances, by the end of the 1920s. NEP had exhausted itself and was doomed.
8. In 1928 - 1929 The Bolshevik leadership abandoned the NEP. The economy was again nationalized. The country moved to a planned economy. Industrialization and collectivization began.
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1. Prerequisites for the transition to a new economic policy
1.1. Economic . The need to change the internal political course of the Soviet state after the end of the Civil War was caused by a crisis that acquired a total character, affecting the area of economic, political and social relations. The state distribution policy has not fulfilled the task of providing food to the urban population. The policy of war communism gave economic development a one-sided character and became a brake on expanded reproduction. It was necessary to restore the economy destroyed by the war and war communism.
1.2. Socio-political. Economic problems were closely intertwined with the most important issues policies, such as the attitude towards Soviet power.
The reluctance to tolerate surplus appropriation led to the creation of rebel centers in the Middle Volga region, on the Don, and Kuban. The Basmachi became more active in Turkestan. In February - March 1921, West Siberian rebels created armed formations of several thousand people. On March 1, 1921, a rebellion broke out in Kronstadt, during which political slogans were put forward (Power to the Soviets, not parties!, Soviets without Bolsheviks!). There were strikes and demonstrations by workers. Emergency measures in the economy were criticized by representatives of the moderate socialist parties, who had supported the Bolsheviks’ struggle against the whites and interventionists since the end of 1918.
As a result, the Soviet regime faced a serious internal political crisis. A real threat to the power of the Bolsheviks arose. In the absence of a world revolution, only an agreement with the peasantry could save the situation. The question of changing the economic course - replacing surplus appropriation with a tax in kind - was at the center of party discussions.
2. Main elements of NEP
2.1. The essence of NEP (1921-1928). This policy began with the decision to replace surplus appropriation with a tax in kind, adopted at the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) in March 1921. Initially, the NEP was considered by the Bolsheviks as a temporary retreat caused by an unfavorable balance of forces. The category of retreats included a return to state capitalism (in a number of sectors of the economy) and the establishment of a connection between industry and agriculture on the basis of trade and money circulation.
Then the NEP was assessed as one of the possible paths to socialism through the coexistence of socialist and market economies and the gradual - with reliance on commanding heights in politics, economics, ideology - the displacement of non-socialist economic forms. This meant that the entire peasantry (and not just its poorest part) became full participants in socialist construction.
2.2. I started first of all restoration of commodity-money relations in trade, industry, agriculture In order to restore industry and establish trade exchange between city and countryside, it was envisaged:
Carrying out partial denationalization of industry, development of small and handicraft production;
Was introduced self-financing, self-supporting associations were created - trusts and syndicates;
There was a rejection of labor mobilizations and equalization of wages;
State capitalist enterprises were created - in the form of concessions, mixed companies, and leases.
2.3. Financial policy During the NEP years, it was characterized by a certain decentralization of the credit system (commercial loans were allocated).
2.3.1. Credit system. In 1921, the State Bank was recreated, and later the Commercial and Industrial Bank, the Russian Commercial Bank, the Consumer Cooperative Bank, and a network of cooperative and local communal banks arose. The Central Agricultural Bank, created in 1924, allocated loans to rural cooperation in the amount of 400 million rubles over 3 years. A system of direct and indirect taxes was introduced (trade, income, excise taxes on consumer goods, local taxes).
2.3.2. Currency reform (1922-1924) was the most effective and most market-based measure of the financial policy of the Soviet government of that period. The reform stabilized the financial situation. A stable (convertible) currency was released into circulation - chervonets, which was equivalent to 10 pre-revolutionary gold rubles. It is important that the reform, carried out by financiers with pre-revolutionary experience, established the ratio of supply and demand as a criterion for the size of the issue.
2.4. Trade. The New Economic Policy demonstrated significant economic results, especially in its early years. The development of commodity-money relations led to the restoration of the all-Russian domestic market (large fairs were recreated - Nizhny Novgorod, Baku, Irbit, etc.). By 1923, 54 exchanges had been opened for wholesale transactions. Retail trade developed rapidly, 3/4 of which was in the hands of private traders.
2.5. Industry.
2.5.1. Decentralization. Real transformations took place in industry. The chapters were abolished, and instead they were created trusts- associations of single-industry enterprises that received partial economic and economic independence. In 1922, about 90% of industrial enterprises were united into 421 trusts. VSNKh lost the right to interfere in the current activities of enterprises and trusts. Trusts merged to syndicates involved in sales, supply, and lending. By the end of 1922, 80% of the trust industry was syndicated (by 1928 there were 23 syndicates).
The industry has developed rent A number of enterprises were commissioned foreign companies in the form of concessions. In 1926-27 there were 117 existing agreements of this kind, under which 1% of industrial output was produced.
2.5.2. Industry growth rate. As a result, production in industry increased at a very high rate in the first years of the NEP. In 1921 they were 42.1%; 1925 - 66.1%, 1926 - 43.2%, 1927 - 14.2%. The trust's self-financing, even limited, made it possible to revive heavy industry and transport. By the end of the 1920s, the Soviet economy as a whole was only slightly behind pre-war levels.
2.6. NEP in agriculture.
2.1.1. Tax in kind. Introduced instead of surplus appropriation food tax was initially set at 20% of the net product of peasant labor, and then reduced to 10% of the harvest or less, and took the form of money. . The tax was half the size of the appropriation; its size was announced in advance (on the eve of the sowing season) and could not be increased during the year. The surplus that remained with the peasants was allowed to be sold at market prices. However, the retreat was carried out gradually, under the pressure of circumstances. The peasantry received the right to free trade in grain only in August-September 1921 (before that, sales were possible only within the limits of local circulation), when it became clear that the village was in no hurry to deliver grain to the state.
In 1922, according to the new land code, it was allowed to lease land for a long term (up to 12 years), to allocate peasants from the community to organize farmsteads and cutting farms (this measure turned out to be timely, because as a result agrarian reform 1917-1920 Almost all the peasants found themselves back in the community). The ban on the use of hired labor and the creation of credit partnerships was lifted. The total amount of the single agricultural tax.
2.6.2. Development of cooperation. There was development in the village various forms cooperation. Cooperative ownership was viewed as a form of socialist ownership. During the NEP period, cooperation became an amateur organization, which was characterized by voluntary membership, share contributions, as well as the principles of material interest and self-financing. Agricultural cooperation united 6.5 million peasant farms, which accounted for the procurement of half of the types of raw materials consumed by state industry, as well as the promotion of agricultural machinery to the countryside. There was an increase in agricultural cooperation: in 1920 various types there were 12,850 associations (of which 10,521 were production); in 1925 - 54,813 (production - 15,178). Production cooperation included agricultural communes, artels, TOZs, state farms - all mainly poor and middle peasants. State and cooperative trade amounted to 47.3% in 1924; in 1927 - 65.4%.
2.6.3. Restoration of peasant farming. The revival of the agricultural market, the rise of industry, and the introduction of hard currency stimulated the restoration of the Russian countryside. By 1923, the sown areas had largely been restored. In 1925, the gross grain harvest exceeded the level of 1909-1913 by 20.7%. By 1927, the pre-war level in livestock farming had been achieved. The export of agricultural products and raw materials abroad began to develop.
2.7. Social status
2.7.1. The standard of living of the people. Some economic successes contributed to some improvement in the financial situation of the population. Compulsory labor service was abolished and the main restrictions on changing jobs were lifted. In industry and other sectors, cash wages were restored, and wage tariffs were introduced that exclude equalization. Real wage workers increased noticeably, amounting to 1925-1926. the industry average is 93.7% of the pre-war level. Food consumption has approached pre-revolutionary levels.
2.7.2. Busy. During the NEP years, the absolute number of unemployed increased from 1.2 to 1.7 million people in 1924-1929, but the expansion of the labor market was even more significant. The number of workers and employees increased from 5.8 to 12.4 million people over the same period. The length of the working day was 7 hours with a 6-day working week.
There were changes in the social structure of the village. In the 20s in the countryside, middle peasant farms predominated (over 60%), wealthy peasants (whose development was limited by the state) accounted for 3-4%, poor peasants - 22-26%, farm laborers - 10-11%.
NEP is a policy of the Soviet government, under which all enterprises of one industry were subordinate to a single central management body - the main committee (head office). Changed the policy of “war communism”. The transition from “war communism” to the NEP was proclaimed by the X Congress of the Russian Communist Party in March 1921. The initial idea of the transition was formulated in the works of V.I. Lenin 1921-1923: the ultimate goal remains the same - socialism, but the situation in Russia after the civil war dictates the need resort to a “reformist” method of action in fundamental issues of economic construction. Instead of a direct and complete breakdown of the old system to replace it with a new socio-economic structure, carried out during the years of “war communism”, the Bolsheviks took a “reformist” approach: not to break the old socio-economic structure, trade, small farming, small business, capitalism, but carefully and gradually master them and gain the opportunity to subject them to government regulation. In Lenin's last works, the concept of NEP included ideas about the use of commodity-money relations, all forms of ownership - state, cooperative, private, mixed, self-financing. It was proposed to temporarily retreat from the achieved “military-communist” gains, to take a step back in order to gain strength for the leap to socialism.
Initially, the framework of the NEP reforms was determined by the party leadership by the extent to which the reforms strengthened its monopoly on power. The main measures taken within the framework of the NEP: surplus appropriation was replaced by a food tax, followed by new measures designed to interest broad social strata in the results of their economic activity. Free trade was legalized, private individuals received the right to engage in handicrafts and open industrial enterprises with up to a hundred workers. Small nationalized enterprises were returned to their former owners. In 1922 the right to lease land and use hired labor was recognized; The system of labor duties and labor mobilizations was abolished. Payment in kind was replaced by cash, a new state bank was established and the banking system was restored.
The ruling party carried out all these changes without abandoning its ideological views and command methods of managing socio-political and economic processes. “War communism” gradually lost ground.
For its development, the NEP needed the decentralization of economic management, and in August 1921 the Council of Labor and Defense (SLO) adopted a resolution to reorganize the central administration system, in which all enterprises of the same industry were subordinate to a single central management body - the main committee (main committee). The number of branch headquarters was reduced, and only large industry and basic sectors of the economy remained in the hands of the state.
Partial denationalization of property, privatization of many previously nationalized enterprises, a system of running the economy based on cost accounting, competition, and the introduction of leasing of joint ventures - all these are characteristic features of the NEP. At the same time, these “capitalist” economic elements were combined with coercive measures adopted during the years of “war communism.”
The NEP led to a rapid economic recovery. The economic interest that appeared among peasants in the production of agricultural products made it possible to quickly saturate the market with food and overcome the consequences of the hungry years of “war communism.”
However, already at the early stage of the NEP (1921-1923), recognition of the role of the market was combined with measures to abolish it. Most Communist Party leaders viewed the NEP as a “necessary evil,” fearing that it would lead to the restoration of capitalism. Many Bolsheviks retained “military-communist” illusions that the destruction of private property, trade, money, equality in the distribution of material goods lead to communism, and the NEP is a betrayal of communism. In essence, the NEP was designed to continue the course towards socialism, through maneuvering, social compromise with the majority of the population, to move the country towards the party’s goal - socialism, although more slowly and with less risk. It was believed that in market relations the role of the state was the same as under “war communism,” and that it should carry out economic reform within the framework of “socialism.” All this was taken into account in the laws adopted in 1922 and in subsequent legislative acts.
The assumption of market mechanisms, which led to economic recovery, allowed political regime strengthen. However, its fundamental incompatibility with the essence of the NEP as a temporary economic compromise with the peasantry and bourgeois elements of the city inevitably led to the rejection of the idea of the NEP. Even in the most favorable years for its development (until the mid-20s), progressive steps in pursuing this policy were made uncertainly, contradictorily, with an eye to the past stage of “war communism.”
Soviet and, for the most part, post-Soviet historiography, reducing the reasons for the collapse of the NEP to purely economic factors, deprived herself of the opportunity to fully reveal its contradictions - between the requirements for the normal functioning of the economy and the political priorities of the party leadership, aimed first at limiting and then completely ousting the private producer.
The country’s leadership’s interpretation of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the suppression of all those who disagree with it, as well as the continued adherence of the majority of the party’s cadres to the “military-communist” views adopted during the civil war, reflected the communists’ inherent desire to achieve their ideological principles. At the same time, the strategic goal of the party (socialism) remained the same, and the NEP was seen as a temporary retreat from the “war communism” achieved over the years. Therefore, everything was done to prevent the NEP from going beyond limits dangerous for this purpose.
Market methods of regulating the economy in NEP Russia were combined with non-economic methods, with administrative intervention. The predominance of state ownership of the means of production and large-scale industry was the objective basis for such intervention.
During the NEP years, the party and state leaders did not want reforms, but were concerned that the private sector would gain an advantage over the public sector. Fearful of the NEP, they took measures to discredit it. Official propaganda treated the private trader in every possible way, and the image of the “NEPman” as an exploiter, a class enemy, was formed in the public consciousness. Since the mid-20s, measures to curb the development of the NEP gave way to a course towards its curtailment. The dismantling of NEPA began behind the scenes, first with measures to tax the private sector, then depriving it of legal guarantees. At the same time, loyalty to the new economic policy was proclaimed at all party forums. On December 27, 1929, in a speech at a conference of Marxist historians, Stalin stated: “If we adhere to the NEP, it is because it serves the cause of socialism. And when it ceases to serve the cause of socialism, we will throw the new economic policy to hell.”
At the end of the 20s, considering that the new economic policy had ceased to serve socialism, the Stalinist leadership discarded it. The methods by which it curtailed the NEP indicate the difference in the approaches of Stalin and Lenin to the new economic policy. According to Lenin, with the transition to socialism, the NEP will become obsolete in the course of the evolutionary process. But by the end of the 20s there was no socialism in Russia yet, although it had been proclaimed, the NEP had not outlived its usefulness, but Stalin, contrary to Lenin, made the “transition to socialism” by violent, revolutionary means.
One of the negative aspects of this “transition” was the policy of the Stalinist leadership to eliminate the so-called “exploiting classes”. During its implementation, the village “bourgeoisie” (kulaks) were “dekulakized”, all their property was confiscated, exiled to Siberia, and the “remnants of the urban bourgeoisie” - entrepreneurs engaged in private trade, crafts and the sale of their products (“NEPmen”), as well as their family members were deprived of political rights (“disenfranchised”); many were prosecuted.
NEP (details)
In the extreme conditions of the civil war, the internal policy pursued by the Soviet government was called “war communism.” The prerequisites for its implementation were laid by the widespread nationalization of industry and the creation of a state apparatus to manage it (primarily the All-Russian Council of the National Economy - VSNKh), the experience of military-political solutions to food problems through committees of the poor in the countryside. On the one hand, the policy of “war communism” was perceived by part of the country’s leadership as a natural step towards the rapid construction of market-free socialism, which supposedly corresponded to the principles of Marxist theory. In this they hoped to rely on the collectivist ideas of millions of workers and poor peasants who were ready to divide all property in the country equally. On the other hand, it was a forced policy, caused by the violation of traditional economic ties between city and countryside, and the need to mobilize all resources to win the civil war.
The internal situation in the Soviet country was extremely difficult. The country is in crisis:
Political- in the summer of 1920, peasant uprisings broke out in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces (as they were called - “kulak rebellions”) - Antonovism. Peasants' dissatisfaction with surplus appropriation grew into a real peasant war: Makhno's detachments in Ukraine and Antov's “peasant army” in the Tambov region numbered 50 thousand people at the beginning of 1921, the total number of detachments formed in the Urals, Western Siberia, Pomerania , in the Kuban and Don, reached 200 thousand people. On March 1, 1921, the sailors of Kronstadt rebelled. They put forward the slogans “Power to the Soviets, not parties!”, “Soviets without communists!” The rebellion in Kronstadt was eliminated, but peasant uprisings continued. These uprisings were not an accident.” In each of them, to a greater or lesser extent, there was an element of organization. It was contributed by a wide range of political forces: from monarchists to socialists. These disparate forces were united by the desire to take control of the emerging popular movement and, relying on it, to eliminate the power of the Bolsheviks;
Economic- the national economy was fragmented. The country produced 3 percent of pig iron; oil was produced 2.5 times less than in 1913. Industrial production fell to 4-2 percent of 1913 levels. The country lagged behind the United States in iron production by 72 times, in steel by 52 times, and in oil production by 19 times. If in 1913 Russia smelted 4.2 million tons of pig iron, then in 1920 it was only 115 thousand tons. This is approximately the same amount as was received in 1718 under Peter I;
Social- Hunger, poverty, unemployment were rampant in the country, crime was rampant, and child homelessness was rampant. The declassification of the working class intensified, people left the cities and went to the countryside so as not to die of hunger. This led to a reduction in the number of industrial workers by almost half (1 million 270 thousand people in 1920 versus 2 million 400 thousand people in 1913). In 1921, about 40 provinces with a population of 90 million were starving, of which 40 million were on the verge of death. 5 million people died from hunger. Child crime, compared to 1913, has increased 7.4 times. Epidemics of typhoid, cholera, and smallpox were raging in the country.
Immediate, most decisive and energetic measures were needed to improve the situation of the working people and increase the productive forces.
In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (b), a course towards a new economic policy (NEP) was adopted. This policy was introduced seriously and for a long time.
The purpose of adopting the NEP was aimed at:
To overcome the devastation in the country, restore the economy;
Creating the foundation of socialism;
Development of large industry;
Displacement and liquidation of capitalist elements;
Strengthening the alliance of the working class and peasantry.
“The essence of the new economic policy,” said Lenin, “is the union of the proletariat and the peasantry, the essence lies in the union of the avant-garde, the proletariat, with the broad peasant field.”
The ways to accomplish these tasks were:
All-round development of cooperation;
Widespread encouragement of trade;
The use of material incentives and economic calculations.
Contents of the new economic policy:
Replacing the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind (the peasant could sell the remaining products after paying the tax in kind at his own discretion - either to the state or on the free market);
Introduction of free trade and circulation;
Allowance of private small commercial and industrial enterprises, while maintaining the leading industries (banks, transport, large-scale industry, foreign trade) in the hands of the state;
Permission to rent concessions, mixed companies;
Providing freedom of action to state-owned enterprises (introducing self-financing, self-financing, product sales, self-sufficiency);
Introduction of material incentives for workers;
Elimination of rigid sectoral formations of an administrative nature - headquarters and centers;
Introduction of territorial - sectoral management of industry;
Carrying out monetary reform;
Transition from in-kind to cash wages;
Streamlining the income tax (income tax was divided into basic, which was paid by all citizens except pensioners, and progressive - paid by NEPmen, privately practicing doctors, and all those who received additional income). The greater the profit, the greater the tax. A profit limit was introduced;
Permission to hire labor, rent land, enterprises;
Revival of the credit system - the State Bank was recreated, a number of specialized banks were formed;
The introduction of the NEP caused a change in the social structure and way of life of people. The NEP provided organizational economic freedom to people and gave them the opportunity to show initiative and entrepreneurship. Private enterprises were created everywhere in the country, self-financing was introduced at state enterprises, a struggle arose against bureaucracy and administrative-command habits, and culture improved in all spheres of human activity. The introduction of a tax in kind in the countryside gave the opportunity for widespread development Agriculture, including strong masters, who were later called “kulaks”.
The most colorful figure of that time was the new Soviet bourgeoisie - the “NEPmen”. These people largely defined the face of their era, but they were, as it were, outside of Soviet society: they were deprived of voting rights and could not be members of trade unions. Among the Nepmen, the old bourgeoisie had a large share (from 30 to 50 percent, depending on their occupation). The rest of the Nepmen came from among Soviet employees, peasants and artisans. Due to the rapid turnover of capital, the main area of activity of the Nepmen was trade. Store shelves began to quickly fill with goods and products.
At the same time, criticism of Lenin and the NEP as a “disastrous petty-bourgeois policy” was heard throughout the country.
Many communists left the RCP (b), believing that the introduction of the NEP meant the restoration of capitalism and a betrayal of socialist principles. At the same time, it should be noted that, despite partial denationalization and concession, the state retained at its disposal the most powerful sector of the national economy. Basic industries remained completely outside the market - energy, metallurgy, oil production and refining, coal mining, defense industry, foreign trade, railways, communications.
Important points of the new economic policy:
The peasant was given the opportunity to truly become a master;
Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs were given freedom of development;
Monetary reform, the introduction of convertible currency - the chervonets - stabilized the financial situation in the country.
In 1923, all types of natural taxation in the countryside were replaced by a single agricultural tax in cash, which, of course, was beneficial to the peasant, because allowed you to maneuver crop rotation at your own discretion and determine the direction of development of your farm in terms of growing certain crops, raising livestock, producing handicrafts, etc.
On the basis of the NEP, rapid economic growth began in the city and countryside, and the living standards of the working people rose. The market mechanism made it possible to quickly restore industry, the size of the working class and, most importantly, increase labor productivity. Already by the end of 1923 year it more than doubled. By 1925, the country had restored the destroyed national economy.
The New Economic Policy made it possible:
Economic relations between city and countryside;
Development of industry based on electrification;
Cooperation based on the country's population;
The widespread introduction of cost accounting and personal interest in the results of labor;
Improving government planning and management;
The fight against bureaucracy, administrative and command habits;
Improving culture in all spheres of human activity.
Showing a certain flexibility in economic policy, the Bolsheviks had no doubts or hesitations in strengthening the control of the ruling party over the political and spiritual life of society.
The most important instrument in the hands of the Bolsheviks here were the bodies of the Cheka (from the 1922 congress - the GPU). This apparatus was not only preserved in the form in which it existed during the era of the civil war, but also developed rapidly, surrounded by the special care of those in power, and more and more fully embraced state, party, economic and other public institutions. There is a widespread opinion that the initiator of these repressive and fiscal measures and their implementer was F.E. Dzerzhinsky, in fact, this is not so. Archival sources and research by historians allow us to note that at the head of the terror was L.D. Trotsky (Bronstein), who, as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, and then the People's Commissar of the Military and Naval Affairs, had punitive bodies unaccountable to the party that administered their justice and reprisals, were in his hands a valid means of usurping power and establishing a personal military-political dictatorship in the country.
During the years of the NEP, many legally published newspapers and magazines, party associations and other parties were closed, and the last underground groups of right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were liquidated.
Through an extensive system of secret employees of the Cheka-GPU, control was established over the political sentiments of civil servants, workers and peasants. Particular attention was paid to kulaks and urban private entrepreneurs, as well as the intelligentsia. At the same time, it should be noted that the Soviet government sought to involve the old intelligentsia in active labor activity. Specialists in various fields of knowledge were provided with more tolerable living and working conditions compared to the general population.
This was especially true for those who were in one way or another connected with strengthening the scientific, economic and defense potential of the state.
The transition to the NEP contributed to the return of emigrants to their homeland. For 1921-1931 181,432 emigrants returned to Russia, of which 121,843 (two thirds) - in 1921,
However, the class approach remained the main principle of building government policy towards the intelligentsia. If opposition was suspected, the authorities resorted to repression. In 1921, many representatives of the intelligentsia were arrested in connection with the Petrograd Combat Organization case. Among them there were few scientific and creative intellectuals. By decision of the Petrograd Cheka, 61 of those arrested, including the prominent Russian poet N.S. Gumilyov, were shot. At the same time, remaining in the position of historicism, it should be noted that many of them opposed the Soviet regime, involving in public and other organizations, including military and combat organizations, all those who did not accept the new system.
The Bolshevik Party is heading towards the formation of its own socialist intelligentsia, devoted to the regime and serving it faithfully. New universities and institutes are opening. The first workers' faculties (workers' faculties) were created at higher educational institutions. The system also underwent radical reform school education. It ensured continuity of education, from preschool institutions to universities. A program to eliminate illiteracy was proclaimed.
In 1923, the voluntary society “Down with Illiteracy” was established, headed by the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin. By the end of the 1920s, about 40 percent of the population could read and write (versus 27 percent in 1913), and a decade later the figure was 80 percent.
During the years of the NEP, the literary and artistic life of Soviet Russia was distinguished by its diversity and abundance of various creative groups and movements. In Moscow alone there were over 30 of them.
The NEP made it much easier for the USSR to break the economic blockade, enter international markets, and gain diplomatic recognition.
In just 5 years - from 1921 to 1926. the index of industrial production increased more than 3 times, agricultural production increased 2 times and exceeded the level of 1913 by 18 percent. But even after the end of the recovery period, economic growth continued at a rapid pace: in 1927, 1928. the increase in industrial production was 13 and 19 percent, respectively. In general, for the period 1921-1928. the average annual growth rate of national income was 18 percent.
Monetary reform played an important role in the restoration of the national economy and its further development. At the beginning of 1924, the Soviet government stopped issuing unstable banknotes. Instead, a gold-backed chervonets was introduced into circulation. This contributed to the stabilization Soviet ruble, strengthening the country's financial system.
An important point during the years of the new economic policy was that impressive economic successes were achieved on the basis of fundamentally new, hitherto unknown history, public relations. The private sector emerged in industry and commerce; some state-owned enterprises were denationalized, others were leased out: private individuals were allowed to create their own industrial enterprises with no more than 20 employees (later this “ceiling” was raised). Among the factories rented by private owners there were those that employed 200-300 people, and in general the private sector during the NEP period accounted for from 1/5 to 1/4 of industrial output and 40-80 percent of retail trade. A number of enterprises were leased to foreign firms in the form of concessions. In 1926-1927, there were 117 existing agreements of this kind. They covered enterprises that employed 18 thousand people and produced just over one percent of industrial output.
In industry key positions occupied by state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - by state and cooperative banks. The state put pressure on producers, forced them to find internal reserves for increasing production, to mobilize efforts to increase production efficiency, which alone could now ensure an increase in profits.
NEP Russia, whether it wanted it or not, created the basis of socialism. NEP is both a strategy and tactics of the Bolsheviks. “From NEP Russia,” said V.I. Lenin, “Russia will be socialist.” At the same time, V.I. Lenin demanded that we reconsider our entire point of view on socialism. The driving force of the NEP should be the working people, the alliance of the working class and the peasantry. The taxes paid by the Nepmen made it possible to expand the socialist sector. New plants, factories, and enterprises were built. In 1928, industrial production surpassed the pre-war level in a number of important indicators. Since 1929, the country has become a huge construction site.
NEP meant the economic competition of socialism with capitalism. But this was an unusual competition. It took place in the form of a fierce struggle of capitalist elements against socialist forms of economy. The struggle was not for life, but for death, according to the principle of “who will win.” The Soviet state had everything it needed to win the fight against capitalism: political power, commanding heights in the economy, natural resources. There was only one thing missing - the ability to run a household and trade culturally. Even in the first days of Soviet power, V.I. Lenin said: “We, the Bolshevik Party, convinced Russia. We won Russia - from the rich for the poor, from the exploiters for the working people. We must now govern Russia.” The matter of management turned out to be extremely difficult. This was also evident during the years of the New Economic Policy.
The priority of politics over economics, proclaimed by the Bolsheviks in the process of social development, introduced disruptions into the mechanisms of the NEP. During the NEP period, many crisis situations arose in the country. They were caused by both objective and subjective reasons.
First crisis in economics arose in 1923. It went down in history as a sales crisis. 100 million peasants who received economic freedom filled the city market with cheap agricultural products. To stimulate labor productivity in industry (5 million workers), the state artificially inflates prices for industrial goods. By the fall of 1923, the price difference was more than 30 percent. This phenomenon, at the instigation of L. Trotsky, began to be called “scissors” of prices.
The crisis threatened the “link” between city and countryside and was aggravated by social conflicts. Workers' strikes began in a number of industrial centers. The fact is that the loans that enterprises previously received from the state were closed. There was no way to pay the workers. The problem was complicated by rising unemployment. From January 1922 to September 1923, the number of unemployed increased from 680 thousand to 1 million 60 thousand.
At the end of 1923 - beginning of 1924, prices for industrial goods were reduced by an average of more than 25 percent, and in light industry serving mass consumer, - by 30-45 percent. At the same time, prices for agricultural goods were increased almost 2 times. Much work has been done to improve state and cooperative trade. In May 1924, the People's Commissariat of Domestic and Foreign Trade was created. 30-year-old A.I. Mikoyan, the youngest People's Commissar of the USSR, was appointed to this post.
The economic crisis at this time is closely intertwined with the intensification of the struggle for power within the party due to the illness of the leader, V.I. Lenin. The fate of the country was influenced by internal party discussions that covered a wide range of issues: about worker and party democracy, bureaucracy and the apparatus, about the style and methods of leadership.
Second crisis arose in 1925. It brought new economic problems and difficulties. If during the recovery period the country immediately received a return in the form of agricultural and industrial goods, then during the construction of new and expansion of old enterprises, the return came after 3-5 years, and the construction paid off even longer. The country still received few goods, and wages had to be paid to workers regularly. Where can I get money backed by goods? They can be “pumped out of the village by raising prices for manufactured goods, or they can be printed further. But raising prices for manufactured goods did not mean getting more food from the village. The peasantry simply did not buy these goods, leading natural economy; His incentive to sell bread became less and less. This threatened to reduce the export of bread and the import of equipment, which, in turn, hampered the construction of new and expansion of old industries.
In 1925-1926 got out of difficulties due to foreign currency reserves and allowing state sales of alcohol. However, there was little prospect of the situation improving. In addition, in just one year, unemployment in the country, due to agrarian overpopulation, increased by a thousand people and amounted to . 1 million 300 thousand.
Third crisis NEP was associated with industrialization and collectivization. This policy required the expansion of planning principles in the economy, an active attack on the capitalist elements of the city and countryside. Practical steps to implement this party line led to the completion of the reconstruction of the administrative-command system.
Collapsing NEP
Until recently, scientists disagreed regarding the end of the NEP. Some believed that by the mid-30s the tasks set for the new economic policy had been solved. The New Economic Policy “ended in the second half of the 1930s. victory of socialism. Nowadays, the beginning of the NEP restrictions dates back to 1924 (after the death of V.I. Lenin). V.P. Danilov, one of the most authoritative researchers of the agrarian history of Russia, believes that 1928 was the time of transition to the frontal scrapping of the NEP, and in 1929 it was finished. Modern historians A.S. Barsenkov and A.I. Vdovin, the authors of the textbook “History of Russia 1917-2004,” connect the end of the NEP with the beginning of the first five-year plan.
History shows that the assumption of multi-structure and the determination of the place of each of these structures in the socio-economic development of the country occurred in an atmosphere of intense struggle for power between several party groups. In the end, the struggle ended in victory for the Stalinist group. By 1928-1929 she mastered all the heights of the party and state leadership and pursued an openly anti-NEP line.
The NEP was never officially cancelled, but in 1928 it began to wind down. What did this mean?
In the public sector, planned principles of economic management were introduced, the private sector was closed, and in agriculture a course was taken to eliminate the kulaks as a class. The collapse of the NEP was facilitated by internal and external factors.
Domestic:
Private entrepreneurs have strengthened economically, both in the city and in the countryside; The restrictions on profits introduced by the Soviet government reached their maximum. The experience of socio-political development shows: whoever has a lot of money wants power. Private owners needed power to remove restrictions on making profits and to increase them;
The party's policy of collectivization in the countryside aroused resistance from the kulaks;
Industrialization required an influx of labor, which only the countryside could provide;
The peasantry demanded the abolition of the foreign trade monopoly, claiming access to the world market, and refused to feed the city under conditions of low purchase prices for agricultural products, primarily grain;
In the country, dissatisfaction with the everyday behavior of the “Nepmen” was becoming more and more acute among the general population, who staged revelries and various entertainments in full view.
External:
The aggressiveness of capitalist states against the USSR increased. The very fact of the existence of the Soviet state and its successes aroused the furious hatred of the imperialists. International reaction aimed to disrupt the industrialization that had begun in the USSR at any cost and to create a united front of capitalist powers for anti-Soviet military intervention. An active role in anti-Soviet politics during this period belonged to the British imperialists. It is enough to note that W. Churchill, an outstanding politician of that time, repeatedly noted that we did not leave Soviet Russia out of our attention for a single day, and constantly directed efforts to destroy, at any cost, the communist regime. In February 1927, an attack was organized on the Soviet plenipotentiary mission in London and Beijing, and the plenipotentiary representative in Poland P.L. was killed. Voikova;
The Kuomintang government of China in 1927 suspended diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and closed all Soviet diplomatic missions.
In 1929, emergency measures to limit the free sale of bread were legalized. Priority sale of grain under government obligations is established. Already in the second half of 1929, partial expropriation of the kulaks began. The year 1929 was essentially decisive in the rejection of the NEP. The year 1929 went down in the history of the USSR as the “Year of the Great Turning Point.”
In the early 30s, there was an almost complete displacement of private capital from various sectors of the economy. The share of private enterprises in industry in 1928 was 18%, in agriculture - 97%, in retail trade- 24%, and by 1933 - 0.5%, 20% and zero, respectively.
Reasons for the transition to the new economic policy
In the first half of the 20s. The situation in Soviet Russia was simply catastrophic. This situation arose at the end of the Civil War. Firstly, the country experienced two revolutions in 1917, while simultaneously experiencing the events of World War I, where the situation at the fronts for the Russian army was unsuccessful. Immediately after the end of the October 1917 revolution. The Civil War began. The country did not have time to rest. Devastation and crisis were observed everywhere. 1921 was even called a “total crisis”, and Lenin described the country during this period as “a man beaten half to death”
The results of World War I, civil war and intervention are as follows:
¼ of the national wealth was destroyed; in 1920 Coal production decreased sharply, it amounted to 30% of the 1913 level, oil production in 1920. It was produced as much as in 1899. those. 2 times less than in 1913. This led to a fuel crisis, which led to the closure of industrial enterprises, a reduction in industrial production, and unemployment;
Demographic crisis, because for 1918 – 1922 9.5 million people died, according to medical statistics, famine 1921 - 1922. took away 5 million people, 1.5 - 2 million people emigrated. The demographic catastrophe has resulted in a mass of unborn children, and with them losses are estimated at 25 million people;
The crisis in agricultural production was aggravated by the drought of 1921, which struck in 1920. 7 provinces, and in 1921 – 13 and a territory with a population of 30 million people. Grain production fell by 50%;
The war isolated our economy from the world one, because... confrontation with capitalist powers intensified;
The acuteness of class consciousness, born of war and revolution, took hold for a long time, no one considered themselves sinners, people got used to killing, they became more cruel;
But the heaviest burden on the shoulders of the people fell on the policy of “War Communism”. It was she who led the country to complete collapse. It was not possible to quickly restore the mines of Donbass, the Urals, and Siberia. The workers were forced to leave their homes and go to the countryside. Petrograd lost 60% of workers when the Putilov, Obukhov and other factories closed, Moscow - 50%. Traffic on 30 railways stopped. Inflation increased uncontrollably. The sown area decreased by 25%, because... the peasants were not interested in expanding their farms.
The Bolshevik government did not immediately realize the failure of the “War Communism” policy. In 1920 The Council of People's Commissars created a State Commission (Gosplan) to develop current and long-term plans for the economic development of the country. The range of agricultural products that were subject to surplus appropriation expanded. A decree on the abolition of monetary circulation was being prepared. However, these measures conflicted with the demands of workers and peasants. They stopped understanding what they were fighting for in 1917? And Lenin understood this perfectly. The economic crisis was aggravated by the social crisis. The workers were irritated by unemployment and food shortages; they were dissatisfied with the infringement of trade union rights, the introduction of forced labor and its equalization of pay. Therefore, in cities at the end of 1920 - beginning. 1921 Strikes began in which workers advocated for the democratization of the country's political system, the convening of a Constituent Assembly, and the abolition of special distributions and rations. This is already a crisis of workers' confidence in the ruling Bolshevik party. There was a threat of the party losing power in the country due to the delay in the transition to peacetime politics after the end of the Civil War.
The peasants, outraged by the actions of the food detachments, not only stopped handing over grain according to the surplus appropriation system, but also rose up in armed struggle. The uprisings covered the Tambov region, Ukraine, Don, Kuban, Volga region and Siberia. The peasants demanded a change in agrarian policy, the elimination of the dictates of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal suffrage. Units of the Red Army and the Cheka were sent to suppress these protests.
Thus, by the end of the Civil War, the country was gripped by a total crisis, threatening the existence of power, established after October 1917, requiring an urgent change in policy. The event that accelerated the introduction of the NEP was the Krondstadt rebellion. In March 1921 sailors and Red Army soldiers of the naval fortress of Krondstadt demanded the release from prison of all representatives of socialist parties, re-election of the Soviets and expulsion of communists from them, freedom of speech, assembly and unions for all parties, ensuring freedom of trade, allowing peasants to freely use the land and dispose of the products of their farms , i.e. liquidation of surplus appropriation. The workers of Kronstadt supported them. In response, the government declared a state of siege in Petrograd, declared the rebels rebels and refused to negotiate with them. Regiments of the Red Army, reinforced by detachments of the Cheka and delegates of the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), who specially arrived from Moscow, took Kronstadt by storm. 2.5 thousand sailors were arrested, 6-8 thousand emigrated to Finland. Devastation and hunger, workers' strikes, an uprising of peasants and sailors - everything testified to the Crisis state of affairs. In addition, by the spring of 1921. the hope for a quick world revolution and material and technical assistance from the European proletariat had been exhausted. Therefore, V.I. Lenin revised the internal political course and recognized that only satisfying the demands of the peasantry could save the power of the Bolsheviks.
The essence of the NEP
So, in the first half of the 20s. The main task for the party was to restore the destroyed economy, create a material, technical and socio-cultural basis for building socialism, promised by the Bolsheviks to the people.
In March 1921, at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), V.I. Lenin proposed a new economic policy. The essence of the new policy is the reconstruction of a multi-structured economy, the use of the organizational and technical experience of capitalists while maintaining the “commanding heights” in the hands of the Bolshevik government. They were understood as political and economic levers of influence: the absolute power of the RKB (b), the public sector in industry, the centralized financial system and the monopoly of foreign trade.
In the assessment of the NEP, modern histories were divided into three main groups:
1) some historians proceed from the fact that the NEP was a purely Russian phenomenon, dictated by the crisis caused by the Civil War;
2) others regard the NEP as an attempt by politicians to return the country to a generally civilized path of development;
3) still others believe that under the conditions of the political monopoly of the Bolsheviks, the NEP was doomed from the very beginning.
The NEP must be looked at, first of all, as a means of getting out of a difficult crisis situation. This approach is not without interest from the point of view of current realities. The question is: where did the idea of the NEP come from?
Many people are considered to be the authors of the idea. For a long time Lenin was recognized as its creator. In 1921 Lenin wrote in the brochure “On the Tax in Kind” that the principles of the NEP were developed by him back in the spring of 1918. in the work “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power” there is a certain “roll call” between the ideas of 1918 and 1921. of course have. This becomes obvious when taking into account what Lenin said about the multi-structured economy of the country and the state policy in relation to individual structures. And yet the different placement of emphasis is striking, which Lenin did not pay attention to.
If in 1918 It was supposed to build socialism through maximum support and strengthening of the public sector, along with the use of elements of state capitalism in opposition to private capital and the “petty-bourgeois elements,” but now they are talking about the need to attract other forms and structures for the needs of restoration. It would be a mistake to associate the NEP only with the name of Lenin. Ideas about the need to change the economic policy pursued by the Bolsheviks were constantly expressed by more far-sighted people, regardless of their political affiliation. The Bolsheviks had a place to emphasize their knowledge of how to rebuild the economy. The ideas of stimulating agricultural production through differentiated taxation, cooperative sales and supply systems, encouraging trade and exchange to expand domestic and foreign market, stabilization of the currency in the interests of improving the standard of living of the population, demonopolization of industrial management and its partial denationalization. However, and this is a significant difference between the reforms of the NEP period and previous and subsequent ones, not particularly trusting their knowledge and experience in practical matters accumulated during the “heroic period,” the Bolshevik leadership widely involved “bourgeois specialists” in economic activities. Under almost every governing body - VSNKh, Gosplan, Narkomfin, Narkomtrud - there was an extensive system of institutions developing scientifically sound and fairly balanced economic policies. The NEP program was most consistently outlined in the 20s. in the works of N.I. Bukharin.
At the height of the implementation of military communist measures in February 1920. one of their main inspirers, L. D. Trotsky, unexpectedly came up with a proposal to replace surplus appropriation with a fixed tax, but his proposal had no concrete consequences. It was rather an impulsive act, a reaction to difficulties associated with food supply. Neither at that moment, nor later, Trotsky never showed himself to be either a consistent supporter of reforms in the spirit of the NEP, or supporters of a return to “war communism,” adhering to pragmatic rather than doctrinal economic views.
So, this policy is called New because it recognized the need for maneuver, allowing some freedom of economic activity, trade, commodity-money relations, concessions to the peasantry and private capital.
The main goals of the NEP.
Fundamentally, the goal did not change - the transition to communism remained the programmatic goal of the party and state, but the methods of transition were partly revised.
The main political goal of the NEP is to relieve social tensions and strengthen the social base of Soviet power in the form of an alliance of workers and peasants.
The economic goal of the NEP is to prevent devastation, overcome the crisis, restore the economy and strengthen the financial system.
The social goal of the NEP is to provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society and improve the standard of living.
Foreign policy goals are the restoration of normal foreign policy and foreign economic relations to overcome international isolation. Achieving these goals led to a gradual recovery from the crisis.
Implementation and main steps of the NEP.
The transition to the NEP was legally formalized by the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, decisions of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets in December 1921. The NEP included a complex of economic and socio-political measures. They meant “a retreat from the principles of “war communism”” - the revival of private enterprise, the introduction of freedom of internal trade and the satisfaction of the demands of the peasantry.
Agriculture.
The introduction of the NEP began with agriculture.
1) The surplus appropriation system was replaced by a tax in kind (food tax). It was set before the sowing campaign, could not change during the year and was 2 times less than the allocation.
2) After state deliveries were completed, free trade in the products of one’s own household was allowed.
3) Renting land and hiring labor was allowed.
4) The forced establishment of communes stopped, which allowed the private, small-scale commodity sector to gain a foothold in the countryside.
Individual peasants provided 98% of agricultural products.
In general, the tax in kind system provided the opportunity for the accumulation of surplus agricultural products and raw materials among the peasantry, which created an incentive for industrial production. As a result, by 1925 on the restored sown areas, the gross grain harvest was 20.7% higher than the average annual level of pre-war Russia.
The supply of agricultural raw materials to industry has improved.
3. Orlov A. S., Georgiev V. A. History of Russia. – M. 2002 – page 354
Trade
To implement the project, supplies were required that were not available in the devastated country. It became clear that in order to meet growing demand, it is necessary to attract private capital to the production of consumer goods, and this requires the denationalization of some enterprises.
Since state trade could not ensure the growth of trade turnover, private capital was allowed into the sphere of trade and money circulation. As a result of the admission of private relations into trade, the country normalized market relations.
In 1924 The People's Commissariat of Internal Trade of the USSR was created. Fairs began to operate (in 1922–1923 there were more than 600 of them), the largest were Nizhny Novgorod, Kiev, Baku, Irbit, trade exhibitions and exchanges (in 1924 there were about 100 of them), State Trade Stores were formed (GUM, Mostorg, etc.) , state and mixed trading companies (“Bread Product”, “Raw Leather”, etc.). Consumer cooperation played a major role in the market. It was separated from the system of the People's Commissariat of Food and turned into a widely ramified system covering the entire country. Thus, state, cooperative, and private enterprises participated in domestic trade. They complemented each other, and the competition that arose between them further stimulated the growth of trade turnover. By 1924 it already served economic ties in the economy quite well.
Financial system.
In the financial sector, in addition to the unified State Bank, private and cooperative banks and insurance companies appeared. Fees were charged for the use of transport, communication systems and utilities. Government loans were issued, which were forcibly distributed among the population in order to pump out personal funds for industrial development. The stabilization of the monetary system had a beneficial effect on market relations in the country.
November 16, 1921 The State Bank of the RSFSR and specialized banks were opened. Bank lending at this stage becomes not gratuitous financing, but a purely commercial transaction between banks and clients, for violation of the terms of which one must be held accountable by law.
Tax policy is becoming very strict. 70% of the profits of industrial enterprises were transferred to the treasury. The agricultural tax was 5%. decreasing or increasing depending on the quality of the land and the number of livestock. The income tax consisted of basic and progressive. The basic rate was paid by all citizens, except laborers, day laborers, state pensioners, as well as workers and employees with a salary of less than 75 rubles. per month. Progressive tax was paid only by those who received additional profit (nepmen, privately practicing lawyers, doctors, etc.). There were also indirect taxes: on salt, matches, etc.
In 1922 Monetary reform was carried out by Sokolnikov. The so-called Sovznaki were issued. This was the first denomination of banknotes, one new ruble was equal to 10 thousand old rubles. The ruble became convertible. 1 ruble – 5 US dollars. The Soviet chervonets was introduced into circulation - 10 rubles. The issue of paper money has decreased. The Soviet chervonets was highly valued in the world foreign exchange market. This made it possible not only to strengthen the national currency, but also to combat inflation. The second denomination was carried out in 1923. The ruble of this model was equal to 1 million of the previous rubles. On the basis of hard currency, it became possible to completely eliminate the budget deficit, which began to play the role of a unified state plan, and most of the budget items go to the restoration and development of the economy.
Industry
The restoration of industry began with the restructuring of organizational forms and management methods. Decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars (May–August 1921) suspended the nationalization of small and medium-sized industry, allowed private entrepreneurship, and enterprises with up to 20 people could be transferred into private hands. Renting was allowed everywhere. The reorganization of the public sector was envisaged based on the introduction of economic accounting relations. The basic principle of self-financing is operational independence and self-sufficiency. The decree on the general nationalization of industry was canceled. But the state reserved the right to retain commanding heights in such industries as:
Metallurgy
Transport
Fuel industry
Oil production
International trade
This allowed the state to control and influence the growth of capitalist elements. Small and medium-sized enterprises producing consumer goods were leased. Industrial leasing generally yielded positive results: several thousand small enterprises were restored, which contributed to the development of the goods market and the strengthening of economic ties between city and countryside; additional jobs were created; rent increased the material and financial resources of the state.
Another significant capitalist form in the first half of the 20s was concessions. They occupied an important place in the state's relations with foreign capital. Concession (from the Latin “assignment”) is an agreement on the lease to foreign firms of enterprises or plots of land owned by the state, with the right to production activities. The state represented enterprises or territories for the development of natural resources and exercised control over their use without interfering in economic and administrative affairs. Concessions were subject to the same taxes as state-owned enterprises. Part of the profit received (in the form of products) was given as payment to the state, and the other part could be sold abroad. In essence, this is how a new state-capitalist sector arose for the Russian economy. Strict centralization in the supply of raw materials to enterprises and the distribution of finished products was abolished.
The activities of state enterprises were aimed at greater independence, self-sufficiency and self-financing. Instead of a sectoral management system, a territorial sectoral one was introduced. After the reorganization of the Supreme Economic Council, management was carried out by its chief executives through local councils of the national economy (sovnarkhozes) and sectoral economic trusts. Also, large enterprises united into trusts subordinate to the Supreme Economic Council. Labor conscription and labor mobilization were abolished, and wages were introduced at tariffs taking into account the quantity and quality of products. As a result, as a result of the NEP measures in 1926. pre-war levels were reached for the main types of industrial products. Light industry developed faster than heavy industry, which required significant capital investments. The living conditions of urban and rural populations have improved significantly. The rationing system for food distribution was abolished.
Thus, one of the goals of the NEP - overcoming devastation - was resolved.
Political sphere in 1921 - 1929 and contradictions of the NEP
New trends in the economy have not changed the methods of political leadership of the country. State issues were still decided by the party apparatus. But the NEP did not pass without a trace for the Bolsheviks. Among them, a discussion began about the role and place of trade unions in the state, about the essence and political significance of the NEP. Factions emerged with their own platforms opposing Lenin’s position. They insisted on democratizing the management system, providing trade unions with broad economic rights (the “labor opposition”). Others proposed further centralizing management and eliminating trade unions (L. D. Trotsky). Many communists left the RCP (b), believing that the introduction of the NEP meant the restoration of capitalism and a betrayal of socialist principles; the party was in danger of splitting.
At the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), resolutions were adopted prohibiting the creation of factions; after the congress, a check was carried out on the ideological stability of party members (“purge”), which reduced its number by a quarter. An important link in the political system in these years was the apparatus of violence - the Cheka, in 1922. it was renamed GPU - Main Political Directorate. The GPU monitored the mood of all layers of society, identified dissidents, and sent them to prison. Particular attention was paid to political opponents. In 1922 The GPU accused 47 previously arrested leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party of counter-revolutionary activities. The first major political process took place under Soviet rule. In the autumn of 1922 160 scientists and cultural figures who did not share the Bolshevik doctrine were expelled from Russia (“philosophical ship”). The ideological confrontation was over.
Also during the NEP years, a blow was dealt to churches. In 1922 under the pretext of raising funds to fight hunger, a significant part of church valuables was confiscated. Anti-religious propaganda intensified, temples and cathedrals were destroyed. The persecution of priests began. Patriarch Tikhon was placed under house arrest. After Tikhon's death, the government prevented the election of a new patriarch. Many priests were arrested or forced to show loyalty to the Soviet regime. In 1927 they signed a Declaration in which they obliged priests who did not recognize the new government to withdraw from church affairs.
The strengthening of party unity and the defeat of political and ideological opponents made it possible to strengthen the one-party political system, in which the so-called “dictatorship of the proletariat in alliance with the peasantry” in fact meant the dictatorship of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). This politic system with minor changes, it continued to exist throughout the years of Soviet power.
After the death of V.I. Lenin, the situation in the party worsened, a struggle for power began, where Stalin, who had held office since 1922, was the favorite. fast Secretary General Central Committee of the RCP (b). Stalin concentrated enormous power in his hands and placed cadres loyal to him in the localities and in the center.
Different understandings of the principles and methods of socialist construction, the personal ambitions of L. D. Trotsky, A. B. Kamenev, G. E. Zinoviev and their rejection of Stalinist methods - all this caused opposition sentiments in the press party. By pitting political opponents against one another and skillfully interpreting their statements as anti-Leninist, J.V. Stalin eliminated his opponents, i.e. laying the foundation stone for the cult of personality.
Overall, the achievements of the NEP were significant. According to the apt expression of the historian V.P. Dmitrenko, it led to the restoration of backwardness: the tasks of modernization, but did not solve them. Moreover, the NEP was characterized by very serious contradictions, which led to a whole series of crises: the sale of goods in the fall of 1923, the shortage of industrial goods in the fall of 1925, grain procurements in the winter of 1927/28.
NEP contradictions:
1) Political - V.I. Lenin, the author of the NEP, who in 1921 assumed that this would be a policy “seriously and for a long time”, a year later at the 11th Party Congress he declared that it was time to stop the “retreat” towards capitalism and it was necessary to move on to building socialism . He wrote a number of works where he outlined the main goals of the party: industrialization, broad cooperation, cultural revolution. At the same time, Lenin insisted on maintaining the unity and leading role of the party in the state. Lenin warned the party against its bureaucratization; he considered the political rivalry between L. D. Trotsky and J. V. Stalin to be the main danger.
2) Economic contradictions - technical backwardness of industry - high rates of its recovery, urgent need for renewal production capacity and the lack of capital within the country, the impossibility of widely attracting foreign investment, the absolute predominance of small, semi-subsistence peasant farms in the countryside.
3) Social contradictions- increasing inequality, non-acceptance of the NEP by a significant part of the working class and peasantry, a feeling of the temporary nature of their position among many representatives of the NEPman bourgeoisie.
The most important contradiction was between economics and politics: the economy, based on the partial recognition of the market and private property, could not develop stably in the conditions of a tightening one-party political regime, the program goals of which were the transition to communism - a society free of private property. The policy towards the peasantry was inconsistent. The price policy distorted the NEP. The country's leadership consciously supported low prices for bread. Inequivalent relations between city and countryside gave rise to the sales crisis of 1923. The abandonment of NEP was officially announced in December 1929.
Results of the NEP
The NEP ensured the stabilization and restoration of the economy. By 1925 industry provided 75.5% of pre-war production. It was a great success. Energy construction based on the GOERLO plan played a huge role in it: old power plants were restored and new ones were erected - Kashirskaya, Shaturskaya, Kizelovskaya, Nizhny Novgorod, etc. Electricity production increased 6 times. Despite the thoughtfulness, measures to establish direct trade between the city and the countryside were a complete failure. By the end of 1925 there was a sharp jump in agricultural production: grain yields exceeded the pre-war level: 1913 - 7 c/ha, 1925 - 7.6 c/ha, gross grain harvests increased: 1913 - 65 million tons, 1926 - 77 million tons.
Although the NEP allowed private trade, it was already in 1923. An offensive began against the Nepmen in the capitals, deporting them and their families, and prohibiting them from living and trading in large centers.
Since 1924 private trade is being squeezed out, and with the transition to the NEP, unemployment has increased. Workers in the cities constantly felt the threat of hunger, although there was bread in the country, but due to the siphoning of funds from the countryside, difficulties arose in providing the city with food and, moreover, at prices affordable for the working masses. The standard of living of the peasantry, according to modern economists, was lower than the level of 1913. The process of fragmentation of peasant farms continued, more focused on their own consumption than on the market.
The need to ensure the independence of the country's defense capability required further development of the economy, primarily heavy industry. The transfer of funds from cities to villages began, purchasing prices were lowered, and prices for manufactured goods were artificially inflated. The quality of industrial products was also poor. As a result, 1923 – sales crisis, overstocking with poor, expensive manufactured goods. 1924 - a price crisis, when peasants refused to hand over grain, having collected a good harvest, at fixed prices, deciding to sell it on the market. Mass uprisings began in the Amur region, Georgia due to the refusal to hand over grain under the tax in kind.
In the mid-20s. the volume of state procurements of bread and raw materials fell. This reduced the ability to export agricultural products, and consequently reduced the foreign exchange earnings needed to purchase industrial equipment abroad. As a result, the government took a number of administrative measures to overcome the crisis. Centralized management of the economy was strengthened, the independence of enterprises was limited, prices for manufactured goods were increased, and taxes were raised for private entrepreneurs, traders and kulaks. This meant the beginning of the collapse of the NEP.
In the autumn of 1920, the social and economic crisis intensified in the country. Peasant farms, devastated by war and crop failure, were in a difficult situation. Hunger began. Workers, dissatisfied with food shortages, unemployment, and equal pay, began strikes. A wave of peasant uprisings swept across the country, covering Ukraine, the Don, Kuban, Siberia, and the Volga region. The largest peasant uprising, which lasted from the summer of 1920 to the summer of 1921, took place in the Tambov province under the leadership of the Socialist Revolutionary A.S. Antonov. The unrest of workers and peasants was supported by the military. On February 28, 1921, the sailors of Kronstadt rebelled. The rebel sailors demanded respect for the rights and freedoms proclaimed in October 1917. Neither the peasants, nor the workers, nor the sailors made a call for the overthrow of the Soviet power. There was dissatisfaction only with the omnipotence of one party - the Bolshevik party.
A split was brewing in the party itself. The issue of democratization, the development of collegiality in management and the weakening of the dictates of the center was increasingly on the agenda. Urgent measures were needed to get the country out of the crisis and restore the destroyed economy.
13.1. New Economic Policy
In March 1921, a decision was made to transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP). The essence of the new economic policy was to build socialism using various forms of ownership, to create a multi-structured economy while maintaining the regulatory role of the state.
The goals of the NEP were the following: to relieve social tension, strengthen the social base of Soviet power, provide favorable conditions for building a socialist society, overcome international isolation and restore political and economic relations with other states.
The transition to the NEP was legislatively formalized by the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars and the decisions of the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets. During the implementation of the NEP program, surplus appropriation was replaced by a food tax, which was established before the start of spring sowing and could not be changed during the year. In addition, the tax in kind was half the size of the surplus appropriation system. Poor and collective farms were exempt from taxes in kind and received certain benefits. Private trade, the use of hired labor, and leasing of land were allowed. The private sector has strengthened. State-owned enterprises were transferred to self-financing, workers received the right to move from one enterprise to another, private enterprises were allowed to be created, enterprises with up to 21 employees were denationalized, universal labor conscription was abolished, and labor exchanges were introduced. In December 1921, the state began returning enterprises with no more than 10 workers to private owners.
The implementation of the NEP led to an improvement in the situation in the national economy. By 1925, the cultivated area and gross output of large-scale industry had almost reached pre-war levels. Electricity production exceeded the pre-war level by 1.5 times. A planned principle was introduced in the economy.
In 1920, the State Electrification Plan of Russia (GOELRO) was adopted. This was the first long-term plan for the development of the national economy. Subsequently, planned economy became a characteristic feature of state management of the economy.
Market principles operated in the economy during the NEP period. Commodity-money relations became the main link between the individual parts of the economic mechanism. In 1922, the production of a new monetary unit, the chervonets, began. On the foreign exchange market, both domestically and abroad, chervonets were freely exchanged for gold and major foreign currencies at the pre-war exchange rate of the Tsarist ruble (1 American dollar was equal to 1.94 rubles).
In 1921, the State Bank was recreated, lending to industry and trade on a commercial basis. In addition, a number of specialized banks were created. On October 1, 1923, there were 17 independent banks operating in the country, and by October 1926 their number increased to 61.
The most important result of the NEP was that impressive economic successes were achieved on the basis of fundamentally new, unknown to the history of social relations. In industry, key positions were occupied by state trusts, in the credit and financial sphere - by state and cooperative banks, in agriculture - by small peasant farms covered by the simplest types of cooperation.
Under the conditions of the NEP, the economic functions state: if earlier, under the conditions of “war communism,” the center directly established natural, technological proportions of reproduction by order, now it has moved on to regulating prices, trying to ensure balanced growth using economic methods.
13.2. Changes in the state apparatus under the NEP
There have been changes in the state apparatus. The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was reorganized into the Council of Labor and Defense. The chapters were abolished, and in their place trusts were created - associations of homogeneous or interconnected enterprises that received complete economic and financial independence, up to the right to issue long-term bond issues. By the end of 1922, about 90% of industrial enterprises were united into 421 trusts. The enterprises that were part of the trust were withdrawn from state supplies. The state treasury was not responsible for the debts of the trusts. Trusts began to unite into syndicates on the basis of cooperation. The board of syndicates was elected at a meeting of representatives of the trusts. The sale of finished products, the purchase of raw materials, materials and equipment were carried out on the wholesale market, in connection with which a wide network of trading enterprises, fairs, commodity exchanges. The functions of domestic trade were transferred to the People's Commissariat of Domestic Trade with broad rights in the field of price regulation.
VSNKh, having lost the right to intervene in the current activities of enterprises, turned into a coordination center.
In December 1921, the Cheka was reorganized. Instead, the State Political Directorate (GPU) was created under the NKVD. With the formation of the USSR, the GPU was reorganized into the United State Political Administration (OGPU) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Political departments were created locally. Within the GPU and political departments, special departments were created that fought crimes in the army and navy, and transport departments that fought counter-revolution in transport. The activities of the OGPU focused on solving political and state crimes.
A new principle of organization was introduced in the army. Its number was reduced to 600 thousand people. Along with personnel units, territorial ones began to be created. The armed forces began to be divided into land, sea, air and special forces, the OGPU and convoy guards. Compulsory military service was introduced for men aged 19 to 40 years. In 1924, the period of service in the army was established as two years, in the navy as four.
13.3. Education USSR
The Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 enshrined the principle of national-territorial federation as a form of government. From 1918 to 1920, more than 20 national autonomous entities (republics and regions) arose on the territory of the RSFSR. The resulting Soviet national republics - Ukrainian, Belarusian and others were grouped around the RSFSR due to economic, military and other necessity.
The form of unification that emerged between the republics was called a contractual federation. The republics entered into financial agreements among themselves, formed common production plans, and pooled raw materials and commodity funds. The following were created: a unified command of military formations, Councils of the National Economy, Railway Transport, Finance, and Labor Commissariats. With the multi-party system that existed, the leading role was recognized and belonged to the Communist Party. The socialist idea acted as a guarantor of the unity of the new state formation.
In March 1922, the union of the republics of Transcaucasia was formed - the Transcaucasian SFSR, which united Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. There was a need for internal and international reasons unification of independent Soviet republic states into a common state.
In August 1922, a commission was formed to develop a project for a future federal state. Various options were proposed: a confederation of republics with the preservation of their currency and army, autonomization, i.e. education Soviet republics, which are part of the RSFSR with the rights of autonomy, and a federation of equal republics. The third option was accepted. In the fall of 1922, the project was discussed at the congresses of the Soviets of Transcaucasia, Belarus, and Ukraine, and on December 30, 1922, the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and elected a Central Executive Committee (CEC) with four chairmen , one from each republic: M.I. Kalinin (RSFSR), G.I. Petrovsky (Ukrainian SSR), A.G. Chervyakov (BSSR), N.N. Narimanov (ZSFSR).
In 1925, the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR joined the USSR. In 1929, the Tajik ASSR as part of the Uzbek SSR was transformed into a Union Republic and accepted into the USSR. In 1936, the USSR already consisted of 11 subjects. It included the Kazakh and Kyrgyz union republics. The formation of the USSR contributed to the strengthening of the country's military and economic power. The Russian Empire, which collapsed as a result of the revolution, was revived again, on the basis of voluntary unification. The unification of the republics ensured their independence and made it possible to more successfully solve foreign policy problems, both defense and diplomatic.
The All-Union Congress of Soviets became the highest legislative body of the new state. Congresses were to meet annually, and extraordinary congresses were allowed. In the period between Congresses of Soviets, the supreme authority was the Central Executive Committee of the Union, which consisted of two chambers - the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities. The Central Executive Committee of the USSR formed the first union government - the Council of People's Commissars, headed by V.I. Lenin. After his death, A.I. became the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. Rykov (until 1930).
The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR supervised the activities of the all-Union People's Commissariats: foreign, military and maritime affairs, foreign trade, communications, posts and telegraphs, the State Bank and the State Planning Committee.
The Central Executive Committee of the USSR was given the right to issue decrees and resolutions binding on all union republics. Between sessions of the Central Election Commission, all legislative and executive powers were transferred to its presidium.
The territorial and administrative division of the country changed: provinces, districts, and volosts were transformed into regions, territories, and districts. National districts and districts were created.
13.4. Codification of Soviet law
During the period under review, the codification of Soviet law was carried out. The RSFSR adopted: Criminal, Civil, Criminal Procedure Codes, Code of Labor Laws and Code of Laws on Marriage, Family and Guardianship. In 1922, judicial reform was carried out and the prosecutor's office of the RSFSR was created.
Constitutional law. The Constitution of 1918 was in force in the RSFSR, and with the adoption by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR on January 31, 1924 of the Basic Law of the USSR - the Constitution of the USSR, which consisted of two sections - the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR - the need arose to adopt a new Constitution, which and was done in 1925. Moscow became the capital of the USSR and the RSFSR.
The Constitution of the USSR established a new state association of republics - the federation and established a system of supreme authorities of the USSR and union republics: the Congress of Soviets, the Central Executive Committee, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
The Union's jurisdiction included foreign relations and foreign trade, resolving issues of war and peace, organizing and directing the armed forces, general management and planning of the economy and budget, and developing the foundations of legislation. The Constitution provided for the creation of a Supreme Court under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
On May 11, 1925, a new Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted, which established the RSFSR as a federal state with autonomous entities. The Constitution states: “The RSFSR is a socialist state of workers and peasants, built on the basis of a federation of national Soviet republics,” in which all power belongs to the Soviets of workers, peasants, Cossacks and Red Army deputies. The Constitution of the RSFSR defined the powers of the state authorities of the republic, the structure of which corresponded to the structure of similar bodies of the USSR. In terms of their content, the Constitution of the USSR of 1924 and the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1925 complemented each other. Part of the powers of the RSFSR was transferred to the jurisdiction of the allied authorities and administration. The Constitution of the RSFSR also introduced new authorities - the presidiums of the executive committees of local Soviets. The presidiums were elected by the executive committees. The powers of Councils at all levels and the procedure for their elections were discussed in some detail. The previous norms of representation, establishing the advantages of workers over peasants, were preserved. The Constitution of the RSFSR enshrined the provision that land, factories, factories, water and air transport were the property of the state. The Constitution of the RSFSR consisted of 6 sections, 8 chapters and 89 articles.
Civil law. Each union republic had its own civil code. The Civil Code of the RSFSR of 1922, in force until 1964, consisted of the General Part, property law, obligations and inheritance law.
The General Part, which consisted of several articles, described the operation of the Civil Code throughout the entire territory of the RSFSR, noting that civil rights are protected by law, except in cases where they conflict with social and economic purposes. All citizens of the RSFSR were recognized as subjects of law. Gender, race, nationality, religion, origin had no influence on civil legal capacity, which began at the age of 18.
Legal entities were recognized as associations of persons, institutions or organizations that could acquire rights to property, enter into obligations, seek and answer in court.
Transactions, i.e. actions aimed at establishing, changing or terminating civil legal relations could be unilateral and mutual. They could be done orally or in writing. Written documents were divided into simple and notarized. Transactions made in violation of the law were considered invalid. The limitation period was set at three years.
The Civil Code distinguished between state, cooperative and private property. Land, mineral resources, forests, waters, railways and their rolling stock were declared the exclusive property of the state. The subject of private property could be non-municipalized buildings, industrial enterprises that had hired workers in the number provided by law (up to 20 people), tools and means of production, money, securities and any property that was not withdrawn from circulation. Cooperative organizations could own all kinds of property on an equal basis with private individuals. Cooperative industrial enterprises were not limited in the number of workers they hired. The disposal of state property was carried out by state bodies. State property was not subject to alienation into the ownership of private individuals and legal entities. It could not be the subject of a pledge.
Agreements for the provision of city plots for development were concluded by municipal departments with physical and legal entities for periods: for stone and reinforced concrete buildings - up to 65 years, for mixed buildings - up to 60 years, for wooden buildings - up to 50 years.
Property that was not withdrawn from circulation could be the subject of a pledge. The mortgagor must be the owner of the property. The pledge agreement for the building and the right of development was certified by a notary. The mortgaged property, except for the building and the right of development, was transferred to the mortgagee.
Law of obligations. The Civil Code provides for the grounds for the emergence and termination of agreements on obligations. The agreement was considered concluded when the parties agreed with each other on all its points. An agreement for an amount over 500 rubles must be made in writing. A gift agreement for an amount over 1000 rubles was certified by a notary. Interest under the loan agreement was determined at 6% per annum of the debt amount. If the contract was declared invalid due to a violation of the law, then the parties were obliged to return to each other everything received under the contract.
Property lease agreements are common. The term of employment must not exceed 12 years. The period of employment by state and cooperative organizations of state-owned enterprises should not exceed 24 years.
Living space in houses owned by state enterprises was rented out under contracts for a certain period.
The subject of purchase and sale could only be non-municipalized and demunicipalized residential buildings, subject to the purchase of only one building per family. One property could be sold within three years. The purchase and sale agreement for a building must be certified by a notary.
Agreements of barter, loan, contract, guarantee, commission, partnership, and insurance were practiced.
A loan agreement for an amount over 50 rubles must be concluded in writing. The lender could demand interest only if it was provided for in the contract. Interest was accrued only on the principal amount of the debt.
Under a work contract, one party (contractor) was obliged to perform certain work, and the other party (customer) was obliged to pay the agreed remuneration for all the work or in parts.
According to the partnership agreement, there was an obligation to combine contributions to achieve an economic goal. A partnership was recognized as full when the participants were responsible for the obligations of the partnership with all their property as joint and several debtors. A limited partnership consisted of unlimitedly responsible partners and investors. In an LLP, all participants were equally liable for the obligations of the partnership, not only with the contributions made, but also with personal property.
Inheritance law. The Civil Code allowed inheritance by law and will. According to the law, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the surviving spouse and persons who were dependent on the deceased for at least one year before his death were recognized as heirs. Children born after the death of the testator could also be heirs. The testator had the right to bequeath property to the state or its individual institutions and enterprises, party, trade union and other public organizations. It was impossible to deprive minor children of inheritance rights.
When inheriting by law, all property was divided into equal parts among all heirs. The inheritance was considered escheated if the heirs did not register the right to inheritance with a notary within six months after the death of the testator.
Civil procedural law. In July 1923, at the 2nd session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Civil Procedure Code of the RSFSR was adopted (valid until 1964), which set out the rules for conducting legal proceedings in civil cases. The basis for starting the process was a statement from the interested party. The participation of a prosecutor was provided for, who, by court decision, could intervene in the case at any stage of the process. Legal proceedings were conducted in the language of the majority of the population of the area. If the parties or witnesses did not speak the language in which the proceedings were conducted, the court was obliged to invite translators. The parties could conduct the case in court in person or through their representatives. The process was based on the principles of transparency and publicity. All arising from civil relations cases both between private individuals and between state, cooperative and other public organizations, as well as disputes between collective farms. All civil cases were considered by a court composed of a presiding judge and two lay judges. From everyone statement of claim a duty was collected. Procedural deadlines were determined: cases of labor disputes were considered within 5 days, cases of alimony - from 10 to 20 days. In cases of alimony collection, measures were taken to secure the claim in the form of seizure of a share of earnings and an inventory of property. Cases were heard publicly and orally. Minutes were kept at each court hearing.
The main types of evidence were witness testimony, written evidence, and examination. The decision was made by a majority vote; the judge could add his own dissenting opinion to the case. The decision of the people's court could be appealed to the regional or Supreme Court within 10 days.
Family law. In 1926, the second Code of Laws on Marriage, Family and Guardianship of the RSFSR was adopted. A uniform minimum age for marriage was established - 18 years. Those getting married could leave their premarital surnames. In exceptional cases, local executive committees of the Soviets were given the right to lower the marriageable age for women, but not by more than one year. The actual marriage was legalized. The conditions for recognition of a de facto marriage were living together, maintaining a common household and raising children. The Code gave the court the right to deprive parents of parental rights and transfer children to guardianship authorities. Guardianship was established over children under the age of 14, over the mentally ill and the mentally ill. The possibility of adoption of minor children was established. Adoptive parents, at their request, could be recorded in the birth registration books as parents with the assignment adopted child surname and patronymic of the adoptive parent.
Marriages between persons, one of whom was in another marriage, were not subject to registration; between the mentally ill and the mentally ill; between close relatives.
The couple enjoyed complete freedom to choose their occupations and professions. The procedure for running a common household was established by mutual agreement. Property owned by spouses before marriage remained separate. Property acquired during the marriage was considered common. A change of residence by one spouse did not oblige the other to follow him. Spouses could enter into all property and contractual relations permitted by law. The disabled spouse had the right to receive maintenance from the other spouse.
The marriage ended with the death of one of the spouses. During the life of the spouses, the marriage could be terminated by divorce through the courts. The People's Court was obliged to establish the reasons for the divorce and take measures to reconcile the spouses. The decision on divorce was made by the regional, regional, district, city or Supreme Court.
The father and mother of the child were recorded in the birth register. When a child was born to an unmarried mother, the child was registered under the mother's surname with a patronymic assigned at her direction. Illegitimate children were given equal rights to those born during marriage. Alimony was set at judicial procedure. For the maintenance of one child, one quarter of the salary received was recovered, for the maintenance of two children - one third, and for the maintenance of three or more children - half of the defendant's salary.
The children's surname and citizenship were determined by agreement between the parents. Parents were obliged to take care of minor children, they were given the right to send their children for upbringing and education. Children are obliged to support their needy and disabled parents.
Labor law. In November 1922, the second Labor Code of the RSFSR was adopted. The Labor Code applied to all persons who worked for hire, to all organizations and individuals who used hired labor. Particular attention was paid to regulation labor relations in the private sector. Sanctions were provided for violators of labor discipline. A number of articles protected the interests of workers from the arbitrariness of private entrepreneurs. Social insurance was introduced, which covered all types of payments: illness, pregnancy, disability, survivor's pension. All payments were made from the funds of the enterprise or the employer. Labor disputes were considered in labor sessions of the courts.
Universal labor conscription was abolished. The principle of free hiring of labor was established. Employment contracts were concluded on the principle of voluntariness for a definite (no more than one year) and for an indefinite period. The employment contract could be terminated by agreement of the parties, at the request of the employer and at the request of the employee, who must notify the employer 7 days in advance (in case of a contract for an indefinite period). Conditions employment contract determined by agreement of the parties. In exceptional cases, the Code also allowed for universal labor conscription. The Code introduced the institution of collective agreements concluded by trade unions with the enterprise. Instead of social security, social insurance was introduced, which extended to employees. Insurance premiums were contributed by enterprises and all users of hired labor, without the right of deduction from the insured’s salary. Social insurance provided not only for the provision of temporary disability benefits, but also for the provision of medical care, as well as the issuance of additional benefits, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, and in the event of the death of the breadwinner. The transition from an 8-hour working day to a 7-hour day began. This transition was carried out in 1928 - 1932. without salary reduction.
Mandatory intermediation of stock exchanges in the hiring of workers and employees has been abolished.
Financial right. The tax system has been streamlined. The natural tax was replaced by a monetary one. In addition to direct taxes, indirect taxes were introduced. A number of decisions were made on the transfer of part of the agricultural tax to the volost budget, on the transfer of enterprises and property (mills and forges) to the volosts. The idea of transforming the volost “into a financial and economic unit” was implemented. In 1921 - 1923, banknotes were exchanged: first, 1 ruble was exchanged for 10,000 rubles, and then again for 100 rubles. Savings banks were created. Along with state banks, commercial, cooperative, communal banks, agricultural credit institutions, and agricultural credit partnerships were created. Was recovering credit system, domestic government loans were introduced. A unified monetary and credit system was established for all union republics. A unified budget of the USSR was established. All union republics, except the RSFSR, received subsidies from the all-Union budget. The Union republics, with the permission of the Union, could introduce additional taxes and fees that went to their budgets.
Land law. In May 1922, the Law on Labor Land Use was adopted, and in December - the Land Code of the RSFSR. The Code consolidated the abolition of private ownership of land, mineral resources, water and forests. Particular attention was paid to agricultural lands. The Land Code consisted of the Basic Provisions and three parts: on labor land use, on urban lands and state land properties, on land management and resettlement. All citizens of the RSFSR who wished to cultivate it with their own labor had the right to use land for farming. This right was unlimited. The purchase and sale, will, donation and pledge of land were prohibited. Labor leases and the use of hired labor were allowed in compliance with all labor law standards. Peasants were given freedom to choose forms of land use: artels, communes, TOZs, district (cut, farm), communal with equalized redistributions. Preference was given to collective forms of labor.
On December 15, 1928, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted the General Principles of Land Use and Land Management of the USSR and Union Republics, which regulated relations related to land use and land management.
Criminal law. The Criminal Code of the RSFSR was adopted on May 26, 1922 and was in force until 1961. The Criminal Code set the task of strengthening the legal protection of the state for workers from crimes and from socially dangerous elements. Protection was carried out by applying penalties or other social protection measures to violators of the revolutionary legal order.
The Criminal Code consisted of two parts: General and Special. The Code applied to all crimes committed within the RSFSR by both its citizens and foreigners. Any action or inaction directed against the Soviet system or violating the rule of law established by the workers' and peasants' government "for the period of time transitional to the communist system" was considered a crime. Criminal liability began at the age of 14. Medical and pedagogical measures were applied to adolescents from 14 to 16 years of age. Article 20 of the Criminal Code provided for exemption from liability in the event of harm caused in the conditions of necessary defense.
Crime system. In the first place were state crimes: counter-revolutionary, aimed at overthrowing Soviet power; armed uprisings to seize territory; espionage; propaganda and agitation, expressed in a call for the overthrow of Soviet power; production and storage of literature of a counter-revolutionary nature; inventing and spreading false rumors for counter-revolutionary purposes.
Crimes against the order of government included: participation in mass riots, organization and participation in gangs (armed gangs), aiding and concealing gangs, tax evasion, evasion of military service, forgery of documents, resistance to authority, forgery of banknotes and documents, concealment collections and ancient monuments.
Official crimes were recognized as abuse of power, inaction of power, negligent attitude towards service, official forgery, taking a bribe, and disclosing secret information.
The Criminal Code included crimes that violated the rules on the separation of church and state: using the religious prejudices of the masses to overthrow the government; committing deceptive acts with the aim of inciting superstition among the masses; teaching religious doctrines to children and minors; collection of fees in favor of church and religious organizations; assignment of administrative or judicial functions by religious or church organizations.
Economic crimes included labor desertion, production of substandard products, failure to fulfill contractual obligations, violation of the Labor Code by the employer, obstruction of the legitimate activities of trade unions, eviction of workers and government employees from apartments and charging rents above those established by the Council of People's Commissars, and others.
A large group consisted of crimes against life, health, freedom and dignity of the individual: intentional murder, negligent homicide, assisting or inciting the suicide of a minor, artificial termination of pregnancy not in a medical institution, intentional bodily harm resulting in a danger to life and health, exceeding the limits necessary defense, unlawful deprivation of liberty and others.
An important place in the Criminal Code was occupied by property crimes: theft of other people's property, purchase of stolen goods, theft of livestock, damage and destruction of property belonging to private individuals, misappropriation or waste of property by an official, fraud, forgery of official papers and receipts, sale of unusable seed material, deliberate destruction of property by arson or drowning.
Military crimes included insult by subordinate military personnel to their superior, unauthorized leaving of service, failure to report to the place of duty from a business trip on time without good reason, failure to comply with military regulations, evasion of military service, abuse of power, and looting.
The Criminal Code included crimes that constituted violations of rules protecting public health, public safety and public order, as well as crimes that constituted remnants of tribal life.
As measures of social protection of a judicial-correctional nature, the following were used: declaration of an enemy of the people with deprivation of citizenship of the union republic and mandatory expulsion from the republic, imprisonment in forced labor camps, imprisonment in places of detention, forced labor without imprisonment, defeat in political rights, dismissal from office, public censure, confiscation of property, fine, imposition of obligations to make amends for the harm caused, warning.
Imprisonment in cases of espionage, sabotage, sabotage is set for up to 10 years. Imprisonment for a term of up to three years was served in places of detention, over three years - in forced labor camps.
Medical and pedagogical measures were applied to minors and the mentally ill.
In cases pending before revolutionary tribunals, execution was used.
Criminal process. In May 1922, the first Criminal Procedure Code of the RSFSR was adopted, which was in force until 1960. The Code defines the principles of criminal proceedings: transparency, publicity of meetings, conducting the process in the language of the majority of the population of the area. The court was not limited by any formal obligations; the process completely depended on it. An oath was not allowed as evidence. The procedure for inquiry and investigation was regulated in detail. When passing a verdict, all issues were decided by a majority vote. The judge, who remained in the minority, had the right to express his dissenting opinion in writing, which was attached to the verdict, but was not subject to publication. The appeal was cancelled. A cassation procedure for appealing verdicts was established. The Code also contained standards for the execution of sentences.
To regulate relations in connection with the execution of sentences, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the use of labor of prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty and those serving forced labor without imprisonment" was adopted in 1921. Labor was put in first place in the re-education of convicts.
In 1924, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved the Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR (ITC). The Code set the goals of punishing and re-educating criminals and isolating them from society. The Code stated that detention in correctional institutions should be expedient and should not be intended to cause physical suffering or humiliation of human dignity. Instead of prisons there should be labor colonies. The regime of detention of prisoners varied depending on class affiliation. Control over places of detention was carried out through public commissions, and oversight of legality was carried out by prosecutors.
At the XV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1927, the work of the justice authorities was seriously criticized. The congress pointed out the need to improve the activities of the judiciary in the fight against bureaucracy, and to bring to justice administrative and business workers guilty of criminal mismanagement. There was a need for better leadership of the judiciary by higher courts. In 1929, a provision was adopted on the Supreme Court of the USSR, which was given the right to give directives to the Supreme Courts of the Union republics and check the quality of their work. The supervisory functions of the Supreme Court of the USSR have expanded significantly.