War Communism

Anthony Barragan, Molly Cros, Sydney Howard, Ryann Puente, Sophia Viteri

What is war communism ● War Communism was an economic policy that was put into effect by the

Bolshevik party during the Russian Civil War. It was introduced in June 1918 and lasted until March 1921. They seized private businesses, the nationalization of industry throughout Soviet Russia, and ordered for all surplus grain from and food products from the peasants to be given to the government.

Reasoning behind war communism ● When Russia pulled out of WWI to do the signing of the Treaty of

Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, meant that the Bolshevik government lost territory on which; � of the country’s industrial resources had been lost. Production was temporarily halted, and grain deficits were exacerbated by the lack of industrial goods to exchange with the countryside.In grain producing areas the practice of forced grain requisitioning was implemented forcing all resources to be directed to the front line.

● The requisitioning of food was not only implemented to secure food supplies, but also to introduce class warfare. This was perfect to abolish private property, free market and trade.

Impact of War Communism: Economy ● The economic strength of Russia fell below the 1914 level. ● The state wanted to become the sole distributor and producer of food.

○ Food was distributed by the 4:3:2:1 ration where 40% of the food was given to those in higher risk jobs and 10% of it was given to those in lower risk jobs.

○ Though the industrial class was favored, little food was provided. ● This led to economic issues as malnourished and exhausted workers

couldn’t work causing large factories to shut down due to lack of skilled labor and fuel.○ By 1921, industrial production had dropped to one-fifth of 1913. ○ Wages of urban workers had declined by about two-thirds in three years.

Impact of War Communism: Economy (cont.) ● Inflation took place which deemed the Russian Rouble worthless, causing,

the government to resort to the exchange and distribution of goods and services without the use of money.

● By early 1921, the public was so upset with the state of the economy they had many strikes and protests which led to the Kronshtadt Rebellion in March of that year. ○ Because of this, the Bolsheviks had to adopt the New Economic Policy which caused the

group to temporarily stop all attempts to reach a socialist economic system by government demand.

Impact of War Communism: Social● Malnutrition and disease were common. ● Peasant farmers grew only for themselves because anything extra would

be taken by the state without any type of payment. ● Many believed the only way they could eat was to move to the countryside

and to grow food for themselves.○ Between 1916 & 1920, the cities of northern and central Russia lost 33% of their population

to those moving to the countryside. ○ The number of those working in the factories and mines dropped by 50%.○ The countryside became crowded and the amount of food was reduced even there.

● This caused the famine of 1921, which provoked the Bolshevik’s to go against their own beliefs and receive help from the capitalist America, as their situation was so problematic.

Was War Communism really Communism?I believe War Communism was truly a form of communism. This is due to the abolition of private property and free market. The Nationalization of Industry, with private ownership being to minimized to small businesses. Food requisitioning and distributing it equality followed the marxist idea of “to each according to his needs.” The decreasing value of money during the civil war was even seen as a communist victory. Labor mobilization on Saturdays and Sundays could even be seen as an attack on religion.

Was War Communism Practical?● War communism was practical from the perspective of solving the

military problem of keeping the army fell fed through food requisition and well armed through the nationalization of factories

● However, war communism left the peasants starving due to there not being enough food to distribute and a rail system unable to distribute goods well

● Droughts during the civil war were so severe that it thought peasants would rather eat grain seed than sowing it

To what extent should war communism be seen to have Failed● It led to famine in the Russian countryside● widespread opposition from the Russian population, most notably from the Kronstadt sailors● peasants were being made to produce a quota of crops in an attempt to get food for the

soldiers in the Red Army. ● Cheka requisition squads were sent into the countryside to take the peasantry’s grain by

force. During the years between 1918-21 the squads terrorized peasants after Lenin’s order to surpress them

● kulaks were targeted for particularly brutal treatment and whole villages would be massacred.

● War Communism had triggered a national famine. A fifth of the population was starving, while many even resorted to cannibalism.

● Workers were now in control of the factories but were seriously inefficient, general problems in the cities also had a negative effect on the factories’ outputs. The shortage of goods led to soaring price inflation and the value of the rouble collapsed, over half of Petrograd’s workforce had fled from the city by 1919. As a result, there were simply not enough workers to run fully functioning factories

To what extent should war communism be seen to have Failed● It established equality of men and women. women had to assume the

factory positions typically held by men whilst their husbands were away fighting the war

● economic policy equipped and fed the Red Army● It was also used to strengthen and unite the role and power of Lenin and

his Bolshevik party.● It also intended to ensure and maintain the newly established Communist

regime. The heavily enforced policy was able to eliminate capitalist aspects of Russia such as private property and implement communist economics

Efficiency of War CommunismSuccessful Outcomes● It reunified the tattered fragments of the Czardom into a functioning state, saving millions from the Whites.

● The Reds forced men into compliance by any means necessary, including extortion, hostages and heavy taxation..

● The soldiers received a lot of food from the efforts of the farmers.

● As well as the military use of railways, the soldiers managed to gain resources rather easily and made use of that to win the civil war.

● Under War Communism, all goods were produced, allocated, and distributed according to a government plan rather than the market need.

● Private trade was banned and food was requisitioned from the peasants to feed the Red army and ensured the workers were properly replenished.

Efficiency of War CommunismUnsuccessful Outcomes● The requisition of grains was disliked by the farmers because they lost the motivation to work long

hours to gain a lot of grains as most of them will be taken away by the government. ● The farmers refused to relinquish their crops to the government and began to destroy their surplus

crops. As a result, famines occurred which had killed millions and some people even resorted to cannibalism.

● This new set of policies also resulted in workers leaving for the countryside to ensure food security. This further decreased the possibility for barter of industrial goods for food and worsening the plight of the remaining urban population.

● This resulted in reduction in populations in major cities. Petrograd lost 72% of its population, and Moscow lost 53% of its population.

● As a result, numerous rebellions broke out within Bolshevik Russia, the most prominent ones being the Tambov rebellion and the Kronstadt rebellion. The Kronstadt rebellion was very serious for the Bolsheviks, as the Kronstadt sailors were huge supporters of the regime and the fact that they had turned against the Bolsheviks made Lenin realize such a policy was unsustainable. Finally on March 21 1921 Lenin announced the New Economic Policy (NEP), which took on a more capitalist form of economy.

Efficiency of War Communism● Though it might have saved the revolution of 1917, it was at a cost of millions of lives.

● All these measures also went along with the future policies of Bolshevism and so War Communism is argued that it brought Russia to the closest ever to true Communism.

● When the civil war was over, all these problems threatened stability within the Bolshevik regime and caused huge problems for the Bolsheviks in consolidating their rule.