War communism 345370 218405123 2008-06-10T14:33:32Z Ulflarsen 77741 interwiki '''War communism''' (or '''military communism''') ([[Russian language|Russian]]: Военный коммунизм; 1918 - 1921) is the term created by western historians, referring to the economic and political system that existed in the Soviet Russia from [[1918]] to [[1921]]. According to [[Soviet historiography]], this policy was adopted by the [[Bolshevik]]s with the aim of keeping [[town]]s and the [[Red Army]] [[supplies|supplied]] with [[weapon]]s and [[food]], in conditions when all normal economic mechanisms and relations were being destroyed by the war. "War communism", which began in June 1918, was enforced by the Supreme Economic Council, known as the [[Vesenkha]]. It ended on [[March 21]], [[1921]] with the beginning of the NEP ([[New Economic Policy]]), which lasted until 1928. War communism included the following policies: #All industry was nationalized and strict centralized management was introduced. #State monopoly on foreign trade was introduced. #Discipline for workers was strict, and [[strike action|strikers]] could be shot. #Obligatory labour duty was imposed onto "non-working classes". #''[[Prodrazvyorstka]]'' &ndash; requisition of [[agriculture|agricultural]] surpluses from [[peasant]]s in excess of absolute minimum for centralized distribution among the remaining population. #Food and most commodities were [[rationing|rationed]] and distributed in a centralized way. #Private enterprise became illegal. #Military-like control of [[railroad]]s was introduced. Because all of these measures were implemented in a time of civil war, they were far less coherent and coordinated in practice than they might appear on paper. Large areas of Russia were outside the Bolsheviks' control, and poor communications meant that even those regions loyal to the Bolshevik government often had to act on their own, lacking any orders or central coordination from Moscow. It has long been debated whether "war communism" represented an actual economic policy in the proper sense of the word or merely a set of desperate measures intended to win the civil war at any cost. <ref> See [[Nicolas Werth]], ''Histoire de l'Union Soviétique de Lénine à Staline'', 1995 {{fr icon}} </ref> The goals of the Bolsheviks in implementing war communism are a matter of controversy. Some commentators, including a number of Bolsheviks, have argued that its sole purpose was to win the war. Other commentators, such as the historian [[Richard Pipes]], have argued that War communism was actually an attempt to immediately implement communist economics and that the Bolshevik leaders expected an immediate and large scale increase in economic output. War communism aggravated many hardships experienced by the population as a result of the war. Peasants refused to co-operate in producing food, as the government took away far too much of it. Workers began migrating from the cities to the countryside, where the chances to feed oneself were higher, thus further decreasing the possibility of the fair trade of industrial goods for food and worsening the plight of the remaining [[urban area|urban]] population. Between 1918 and [[1920]], [[Petrograd]] lost 75% of its population, whilst [[Moscow]] lost 50%. A [[black market]] emerged in Russia, despite the threat of the [[martial law]] against profiteering. The [[Russian ruble|ruble]] collapsed and was replaced by a system of [[bartering]] and, by [[1921]], heavy industry had fallen to output levels of 20% of those in 1913. 90% of all wages were "paid with goods" (payment in form of goods, rather than money). 70% of [[locomotive]]s were in need of repair and the food requisitioning, combined with the effects of 7 years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths.[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#Russian] As a result, a series of workers' strikes and peasants' rebellions, such as the [[Tambov rebellion]] rolled over the country. The turning point was the [[Kronstadt rebellion]] at the naval base in early March, [[1921]]. The rebellion had a startling effect on [[Lenin]], because the Kronstadt sailors had been among the strongest supporters of the Bolsheviks. After the end of the civil war the policy of War Communism was replaced with the [[New Economic Policy]]. Lenin, [[Trotsky]] and other seniors in the Bolshevik Party never referred to the economic and political policy as ''War Communism'', they saw it as applying [[Marx]]'s theory to Russia. The term War Communism was created many years later by Western Historians, to refer to the economic and political policy. == Footnotes == <references/> ==References== *Sheldon L. Richman, [http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/5_1/5_1_5.pdf "War Communism to NEP: The Road From Serfdom"], ''Journal of Libertarian Studies'', Winter 1981, 5(1), pp. 89-97. == See also == *[[History of the Soviet Union]] *[[New Economic Policy]] (NEP) *[[State capitalism]] [[Category:1918 establishments]] [[Category:1921 disestablishments]] [[Category:Economy of the Soviet Union]] [[Category:History of the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia]] [[Category:Soviet phraseology]] [[cs:Válečný komunismus]] [[de:Kriegskommunismus]] [[es:Comunismo de guerra]] [[eo:Militkomunismo]] [[fr:Communisme de guerre]] [[it:Comunismo di guerra]] [[he:קומוניזם לוחם]] [[pl:Komunizm wojenny]] [[no:Krigskommunisme]] [[pt:Comunismo de guerra]] [[ro:Comunism de război]] [[ru:Военный коммунизм]] [[simple:War communism]] [[tt:Xärbi kommunizm]] [[vi:Cộng sản thời chiến]] [[uk:Воєнний комунізм]] [[zh:战时共产主义]]