Policy Of War Communism example essay topic

1) a) Document A refers to the grain seizures of 1918. The term revolutionary enthusiasm and discipline refers to the way in which Lenin and his Bolsheviks wish the actions to be carried out. He expects his fellow comrades to be enthusiastic about working for the good of the state and to be disciplined and focussed on their task. However, this order was given soon after the revolution and therefore, the Bolsheviks are appointing a political commissar (a Bolshevik) to ensure that his fellow comrades who are not yet used to the communist way, perform their actions in the correct manner. The order therefore expects the requisitioning squad not to carry out their actions with revolutionary enthusiasm and discipline and hence the appointment of a political commissar. b) Document C refers to the problems of War Communism.

The extract Trotsky was the first prominent Bolshevik to accept publicly the need to abandon requisition refers to way in which Trotsky in February 1920 was willing to go against the party and Lenins policies in order to achieve the best for Russia. Trotsky realised before many other Bolsheviks that the policy of War Communism was failing although he was not the first to do so. His prominence within the party and his role in the civil war gave his word weight when he spoke up against the policy. It was a realisation on his part that the nation needed reconstruction and War Communism was not the best way to provide this. Trotsky, always the revolutionary, wanted change in order to achieve improvement. c) Document D refers to the replacement of War Communism with the New Economic Policy. The phrase in order to strengthen the peasant economy refers to one of the key aims of the policy.

Th idea of the new tax in kind was that the government received income in order to improve the country, however, the Bolsheviks had realised that the peasants were motivated to work only when working improved their existence. For this reason, they were allowed to work as little or as much as they wanted provided taxes were paid to the government. This introduction of capitalism into a communist society was designed in such a way as to bring about improvement in the peasant economy. The idea was that the more money the individual peasant made, the more economically prosperous the peasant class as a whole would become leading to an improvement in the Russian economic situation as a whole and therefore, forming a vital part of the post 1920 reconstruction.

2) War Communism was clearly an unpopular policy in contrast to the comparatively successful New Economic Policy. Documents A and B deal with the terror and force used by the requisitioning squads in obtaining grain from the alleged greedy Kulak class which was supposed to be holding back grain from the people. Similarly, Document C attempts to explain in depth the characteristics of War Communism. This source is particularly valuable to us in assessing the problems with War Communism in comparison with Lenins New Economic Policy (NEP). It is clear from the first three sources that the Bolsheviks, unused to government as the title of these documents tells us they were, began by implementing very idealistic communist ideals. Document C shows us that not only did the new Bolshevik government attempt to ban all private enterprise and nationalism all industry but they also attempted to remove money from the new communist system altogether.

However, Lenins claim that such measures were necessary for the civil war in Document E is not entirely unjustified as much of the state industry was entirely geared towards fighting a successful war. Furthermore, the terror under War Communism was necessary whilst fighting the war in order to suppress all possible uprisings against the Bolsheviks from within Bolshevik controlled territory whilst the war was being fought. On the other hand, by February 1920, as Document C tells us, a new and contrasting policy was being thought up. The policy of War Communism, partially necessary for the war and partially due to the idealistic and partially nave policies of the new Bolshevik government, was replaced by the NEP in order to be the basis on which reconstruction could be achieved as Document C says. It is clear from Document E that Lenins decision to alter his policy was due to the fact that War Communism was not a policy that could be pursued during peacetime. We also learn in Document D that Lenin realises that economic prosperity could not be achieved under the idealistic values of War Communism.

The first three sources are concerned mainly with the faults of War Communism although Document C branches briefly into the NEP. These show some of the attitudes that came with War Communism. The Kulak class, a class of wealthy, greedy peasants was ruthlessly persecuted under War Communism and all forms of Capitalism was discouraged, whereas in the final two sources we see that under NEP capitalism was actively encouraged in order to encourage economic prosperity. Furthermore, the attitude towards learning from other capitalist states has changed, it is clear from the first three sources that War Communism was a policy breaking away from convention whereas in Document E, Lenin actively encourages learning from others: We must not be afraid of learning from bourgeois specialists, merchants and capitalists. However, even in the NEP we see a continuance of some of the War Communism style policies. In Documents C and D, the collection of a tax in kind suggests that much of the produce will go to the State and the State will still play an essential role in the day to day running of the country but to a lesser extent.

3) Document B as a pictorial document can be considered as art and therefore is, to a limited extent in this case, open to the interpretation of the viewer. Different individuals may view this source in a different light. It is clear that this source is a piece of propaganda used by the Bolshevik government to present a negative image of the Kulak class. The simplicity of the artwork is designed specifically so that everyone can understand what the Kulaks are doing i.e. hoarding up grain and getting fat and rich. This source is obviously extremely biased towards the communist government and against the Kulak class of peasants. The source as a piece of evidence is limited in its historical value in so far as it is an inaccurate artistic impression of what the government wanted its people to think.

However, it is an interesting piece of historical government as it shows that attitude of the Bolshevik government under Lenin towards the greedy hoarding of the Kulak class. It is unknown whether the Kulak class did in fact exist in Russia, and we cannot tell whether Lenin and the Bolsheviks actually saw that Kulaks as the sort of people portrayed in this picture. However, we can tell that this is how they wanted them to be portrayed and this is the value of Document B as a piece of historical evidence. Document D is similarly a piece of historical evidence requiring careful analysis.

As a decree published by the All-Russian Soviet Executive Committee published in Pravda, the Bolshevik party newspaper it is clearly valuable in so far as it is a directive direct from the government. It is clearly a directive explaining and excusing government policy and therefore must be taken as a biased piece of historical propaganda and it must be realised that anything published in Pravda will have been censored and it will take the government line on an issue such as the NEP. The decree clearly paints the NEP in a very positive light and it is difficult to judge its relative merits from this article. However, some facts regarding the NEP can be ascertained such as the fact that limited amounts of capitalism are to be reintroduced. Therefore, as a historical source it can be useful in so far as it presents some of the facts regarding the introduction of NEP into the new Bolshevik government. However, it must be weighed up carefully as it places the NEP in a very positive light and will certainly refer to none of the possible problems or harmful side effects that the new policy may bring.

In this way again, Document D is a useful source in so far as it is a piece of biased writing. 4) The policy of War Communism was introduced by Lenin once power was seized in 1917. The policy was intent upon the introduction of an idealistic communist style government into Russia at the same time as fighting a war. The army drained the resources and were it not for the effective repression of the Cheka, the new government would almost certainly have been overthrown.

The problems with the new system were twofold. First, War Communism was an idealistic policy based upon Marxist teachings. When these ideas were put into practise, Lenin and his Bolsheviks found that they led to the collapse of industry and agriculture due to a shortage of production as there was no incentive for people to work. Idealistic ideas such as the abolition of currency were unsuccessful in practise. It was the transition between being an idealistic, revolutionary opposition party and being a successful government that, in part, caused the problems with War Communism. In short the Bolshevik party had no experience and no ideas of how to run a country, they turned to their fundamental beliefs in Marxist ideologies only to find that in practise these too were impractical and failed to take into account human nature.

However, there naivety cannot be blamed entirely for all the problems of War Communism. The starvation of the people owed more to the civil war than to ineffective government. The civil war meant that productive areas were lost, many farmers and workers were conscripted to fight and indeed in 1919 two thirds of all the working days available were lost. The towns depopulated as people went hungry and as the army drained the country of supplies, those who were not fighting found survival was tough. War Communism was designed partially as a means to sustain the Bolsheviks whilst fighting the civil war and in this respect it was successful, however, from its abysmal failure, the Bolsheviks learnt much about communism and its faults in practical government. It is unsurprising then that Lenin, intent upon maintenance of power rather than sustaining ideological government changed his ideas to allow a limited amount of capitalism into his system.

Lenin, as shown in Document E, realised that his policy had been an abject failure, he acknowledges in this source that the war has ruined Russia and for this reason he is willing to allow a limited amount of capitalism and is willing to learn from other more experienced systems in order to reconstruct Russia under communist rule. The Kronstadt Sailors uprising against the Bolsheviks, of whom they had previously been passionate supporters, in 1921 was the final straw that forced Lenin to realise the damage War Communism was causing. Despite the bloody repression of this and other revolts, the loss of loyal supporters forced Lenin to make the realisation expressed in Documents D and E. It was in fact Trotsky who first realised the obvious problems with War Communism in February 1920 as shown in Document C. It was a demonstration of Trotsky powers of persuasion that within a year the New Economic Policy had been introduced. The NEP was introduced because of the failure of War Communism. It was a realisation on Lenins part that it would take time for a communist system to be introduced and the people must first get used to socialism before communism could be brought about. Lenin here continued the process of fashioning Marxist theory into his own system of practical government.

Lenin was far more concerned about the maintenance of power than the strict application of Marxist philosophy. In his step allowance of limited capitalism he showed is willingness to adapt in order to achieve improvement. As Document C says: By the beginning of 1920 the time had come to consider the basis on which reconstruction could be achieved. It was for the good of the country and for the maintenance of power that Lenin abandoned War Communism and replaced it with the NEP. Lenin was willing to abandon his communist ideologies to allow the country a limited amount of breathing space and to make economic recovery possible.