What were the main activities of the NEP? Features of the New Economic Policy of the USSR (table)

After the October Revolution of 1917 the country of the Soviets lay in ruins. Hunger and poverty reigned everywhere. This generated social tension. The voice of the dissatisfied people sounded louder, and insurrections began to flare up everywhere.

In such a situation, it was necessary first of all to revive the country's economy, for which the Bolsheviks introduced a new economic policy. The article outlines the main activities of the NEP. Also briefly presented are the contradictions and results of the new course in the economy.

Prerequisites for transition to NEP

Before answering the question about what were the main activities of the NEP, it is necessary to briefly outline the main reasons for the economic transformations of the Bolsheviks:

• Huge losses as a result of the civil war amounted to no less than 50 billion gold rubles;
• The collapse of heavy industry, which gave production 7 times less than in 1913;
• Human losses amounted to more than 10 million people due to wars, hunger, epidemics and emigration;
• The terrible famine in 1921 as a result of the surplus-appropriation. Hunger drove people into villages, as a result of the city emptied, in factories and factories there was an acute shortage of workers;
• A peasant war was brewing;
• A great danger was represented by focal revolts of workers, soldiers and sailors.

The government issued a number of severe decrees, but it did not impress the hungry and angry people. Nobody did them. Then the Bolsheviks realized that with an economic catastrophe their power would end, and urgently at the Tenth Congress of the Communist Party in March 1921 a new course was taken.

What were the main activities of the NEP in agriculture

First of all, it was necessary to feed the hungry people, for which it was required to revive the village and the agrarian sector. The surplus-appropriation was replaced by a tax in kind, which meant taking out not 70% of grain, but only 30%. In the future, the norm was reduced to 10% of the total net product, and after that it was replaced with a monetary form.

The prosperous peasants were imposed a single agricultural tax. This measure seriously hampered the development of agriculture.

It was allowed to take land for rent, use of hired labor.

As a result of the revision of the price policy, prices for grain and basic agricultural products were raised. This enabled the peasants to receive sufficient compensation for their labor and to purchase industrial goods.

The lion's part of the peasant households was involved in various forms of simple cooperation.

Influence of NEP on industry

What were the main activities of the NEP in industry? First of all, it was also embraced by the cooperative movement.

Small and medium-sized private entrepreneurship was revived. The private producer was allowed to lease enterprises and hired workers for up to 20 people. Later, a possible number of hired people increased.

A wide network of commodity firms was established in the country, which organized a wholesale distribution of finished products.

The headquarters were occupied by trusts, into which were united the homogeneous by type of production and financially connected industrial enterprises. After paying income tax, they had the right to independently dispose of the remaining funds.

The Bolsheviks temporarily abandoned the planned production, allowing the trusts themselves to decide what and how much to produce, in what volume to purchase raw materials and where to sell the products. Such a system is called self-financing.

The main economic contradictions of NEP

How much were the activities of NEP? The table briefly describes the main negative results of the new course:

Such decisions neutralized the positive actions of the NEP. The table above confirms that the illiterate economic decisions of the Bolsheviks have caused a new crisis in the country and social tension.

Results of the new course

The economic activities of the NEP turned out to be rather contradictory. On the one hand, they were aimed at stabilizing the economy, stimulating the revival of the village and industry, and ensuring a short-term growth in the well-being of the population. On the other hand, the new economic policy was based on market relations, whereas the political goal of the state - building socialism - has not changed. Nationalization has led to a complete outflow of foreign investment.

In the years of the NEP, in order to supply the country with food, the Bolsheviks again began to seize the "surplus" of food in the countryside, as a result of which the peasants reduced their sown areas. Why produce, then to be selected?

"Price scissors" between the agrarian and industrial sectors provoked an overabundance of consumer goods against the background of food shortages. Difficulties in the sale of manufactured goods caused the loss of industry. To cover the lack of financial resources, the Bolsheviks released new money into circulation, which immediately led to hyperinflation.

All these contradictions led to the collapse of the NEP in 1928.