Social & Economic Issues Melissa Calil

Daniel de la RosaRylee Levine

Daniela RamirezJohn Woodman

Economic Problems Russia Faced in 1918

The peasants of Russia had been freed from serfdom in 1861 by Alexander II. However, in order to give the peasants land, the government had to pay the landowners for it. As a result, the peasants had to pay this ‘loan’ back to the state in the form of Redemption Payments. This increased the hardship of peasants.

“Land Hunger” was a major problem. The amount of land a single peasant had was declining through the practice of dividing land among successive generations of a family.

The peasants had difficulty sustaining agricultural output because of a lack of labor due to the conscription and requisitioning of resources.

Economic Problems Russia Faced in 1918

WW1 devastated Russia’s economy. In order to fund the war the government printed more money causing inflation. The rising prices caused food to be unaffordable, and trading unprofitable, which led to peasants hoarding their stock. There was food and fuel shortages which meant that Russians were both hungry and cold.

Industry decreased significantly. Hundreds of factories closed and put out of work because raw materials were unobtainable.

Economic Solutions by Lenin & the Bolsheviks● Land Decree of 1917- the Bolsheviks issued a land decree that stated:- No private ownership was allowed- Land could not be sold, leased, or mortgaged- All private owned land will be confiscated by the government without

compensation

This solution is appropriate for a Marxist.

Economic Solutions by Lenin & the Bolsheviks● The obvious and practical solution to the downfall of the economy would have

been to return back to capitalism.● In 1921, Lenin introduced the Tax In Kind policy that replaced the policy which

assigned a specific amount of the peasants’ produce entitled to the State (surplus-food appropriation).

● The produce collected would go directly to the government and then distributed to the rest of the country to make sure everyone was provided food.

● This policy was placed to increase the peasants’ confidence and improve their motivation to work.

● Peasants were also now allowed to produce on the market for profit, which would not have been allowed under War Communism.

Economic Solutions by Lenin & the Bolsheviks● However, this policy did not work and Russia faced a famine because there

were too many people and not enough food.● Lenin realized that the Russian economy was failing due to the War

Communism. The majority of the population consisted of peasants even though the government had been set up for the Proletariat. Therefore, Lenin had to make sure that the peasants benefited in the New Economic Policy.

● The New Economic Policy was not meant to be a permanent solution for the economy. The policy would replace the nationalization of agriculture with a free-market like economy with the inclusion of private businesses.

● This capitalist type policy was meant to build the foundation of a socialist economy, according to Lenin.

Economic Solutions by Lenin & the Bolsheviks● The new policy was a combination of the communist politics and capitalist

economy.● Large businesses were still nationalized to make sure that they were not

receiving too much power and to ensure that the growing socialist economy would not lead to imperialism.

● The NEP would also allow the leasing of enterprises and foreign trade. ● The Bolsheviks feared that the capitalists may take over their power and

overthrow communism.● The NEP, however, was short lived due to Lenin’s death and Stalin’s new

power. ● These solutions may not be seen as appropriate for a Marxist.

Social Problems Facing the Country 1918/19The Constituent Assembly

The Bolsheviks had criticised Keresnky for his failure to call the Constituent Assembly. In order to keep their word, the Bolsheviks had to hold elections for the assembly despite Lenin’s warning. The Social Revolutionaries ‘won’ the election with 21 million votes, against the Bolshevik’s 9 million votes. Lenin decided to dissolve the Assembly, which caused a large social unrest. The Bolshevik’s were claiming to be “for the people,” but when the people actually have a say in government, their ideas were rejected. Needless to say, the majority of the Russian people were very upset.

Social Problems Facing the Country 1918/19The Constituent Assembly (Solutions)

● A good, non-Marxist solution would be to reinstate the Constituent assembly and have Russia become a Democratic nation, thus living happily ever after.

● Sadly, this is Russia, so the solution for a Marxist would be to give some representatives names and political titles, but not actually let them have any say or do in the government.

● This would make the Russian people think that they were being heard and that some changes in Bolshevik rule were being implemented.

Social Problems Facing the Country in 1918/19Religion and the Orthodox Church

Christianity: Religion was seen as an alternative to ideology, which was used as a method of social control to keep order amongst the population and uphold the old regime. Since the Orthodox Church had been a pillar of Tsarism, it was necessary for the Bolsheviks to reduce its power and influence radically.

Islam: Islam had not been closely associated with the Tsarist regime but it maintained a strong hold over the peoples of Central Asia. The Bolsheviks lacked the confidence needed to reduce the powerful influence of Islamic traditions.

Social Problems Facing the Country in 1918/19Religion and the Orthodox Church (Solutions)

Christianity

● A probable solution would be to use terrorism to “scare” the religion out of people, per say.

● The CHEKA could be the best method of using terror, since they were so violent in their practices.

Islam:

● A solution would be to manipulate excerpts from the Kuran, making it seem as though the Kuran complies to Marxist ideologies.

Social Problems Facing the Country in 1918/19Red Terror

The Internal Troops of the Cheka and the Red Army practised the terror tactics of taking and executing numerous hostages, often in connection with desertions of forcefully mobilized peasants. Thousands of deserters were killed, and their families were often taken hostage. This uncalled for terror against innocent people resulted in an outcry of social injustice. Again, the Bolsheviks were claiming to be fighting for the people, and then turned around and murdered those they claimed to be fighting for.

Social Problems Facing the Country in 1918/19● A non-Marxist solution would be to end all of the unfair and reckless killing,

and try to combine all of the different ideologies and create a just Democracy where everyone gets their say.

● Once again, this is not the case for Russia, therefore a Marxist solution would be to begin an ad campaign of posters or speeches and things of that sort to try and calm the people and explaining the “reasoning” behind all of the mass killings.

The peasants were the biggest socio/economic problem Lenin faced in 1918. To what extent do you agree?

During 1918, Lenin and the Bolsheviks experienced many problems as they struggled for control over Russia. Peasants and the issues they faced were one of Lenin’s largest economic and social problems during not only 1918, but his entire reign. Peasants, making up the majority of Russia’s population, faced major problems economically even before Lenin came into power. They were in constant struggle with landowners as many peasants began seizing private and state land for their own use and ransacking and burning estate houses. After the end of Nicholas II’s rule, many peasants began to think that nobles no longer owned the land and that it should be owned by those who worked it. Lenin was forced to deal with this issue during his coming to power and his solutions to this were greatly disliked by the peasants. WWI also had a major impact on the peasants. As the economy collapsed due to inflation, major food shortages occurred and peasants began hoarding food supply. Lenin began a policy of requisitioning that took food supply from the peasants for the war. The peasants reacted with the murdering of 7,000 members of a requisition squad that Lenin had sent out. Lenin knew the continuation of the war would most likely lead to the complete destruction of Russia, and so signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, taking them out of WWI.

The peasants were the biggest socio/economic problem Lenin faced in 1918. To what extent do you agree? Cont.

Lenin, however, was also faced with major social issues with peasants. Lenin’s harsh implementation of Red Terror led to thousands of deaths of peasants by the CHEKA. These peasants were usually deserters of the war who were conscripted in, but the CHEKA would also execute the peasants’ families, inciting much fear in the people of Russia. This led to an outrage by the Russian people as they demanded social justice for what Lenin had ordered to do. Lenin now had a major social problem to deal with and attempted to solve it through propaganda and claims that the Bolsheviks were fighting for the people, although many of the peasants didn’t believe it. Overall, Lenin faced huge problems both economically and socially from the peasants and would spend the next several years of his reign trying to fix these problems.