The Murder of an Army Commander, in which he clearly hinted that the Red Army leader and Deputy Commissar for War in 1924-25, Mikhail Novel titled: Tale of the Unextinguished Moon. Pilnyak, who opposed organized terror, wrote a However, while Yesenin's suicideĪpparently was brought on by debauchery, Mayakovsky's stemmed at least in part fromĭisillusionment with Stalin's brand of communism. (1886-1921), also writers such as Boris A. Likewise, state-owned publishing houses printed large editions of both classical and contemporaryĪt this time, most of the poets and writers supported the Soviet system, e.g. Specially in the key cities, where the theater and art exhibitions were accessible to the people. Great emphasis was placed on the popularization of culture, The arts flourished: literature, literary criticism, art, and theater, Nevertheless, in comparison with the later Stalinist period, NEP was a time Late 19th century, culture and education had a didactic mission: they were to educate the people in the Thus, as Chernyshevsky had preached in the There was censorship of all printed matter and writers were organized in a "ProletarianĬultural and Educational Organization" (Proletcult). While this was partly due to new educational theory, it also stemmed from a lack ofĪppropriate textbooks written in a communist framework. Finally, during the 1920s, most schools abolished textbooks andĮxaminations. The old high schools, called "gimnazia," were abolished and replacedīy new secondary schools which combined general education with vocational training both Education at all levels was free, but it taught communist ideology it also combined book The Soviet government launched a campaign to eradicate illiteracy and reorganized the school Reforms carried out in Red China by Deng Xsiao Ping in the 1980s and after). Poland and Hungary in the late 1950s and and early 1960s in the USSR under Nikita S. Ivanovich Bukharin, 1888-1938, murdered by Stalin in 1938, inspired plans for economic reform in We should bear in mind that NEP, whose best known exponent and defender was Nikolai HeĬalled it "state capitalism," and claimed it was "the ante-chamber of socialism." He had, in fact, triedīriefly to implement a similar system in spring 1918, calling it the "New Course," but abandoned it Lenin himself saw NEP not as a departure from socialism, but as a temporary expedient. Party members did not think so they considered NEP to be a betrayal of communist principles. But was this communism or even socialism ? Many Were goods in the shops and outdoor markets. There was more food from the farmers there They could be seen everywhere in large cities spending their money Owned industry with parts and raw material. Made a very good living by finding and selling what was most needed. The stateĪ new class of entrepreneurs appeared, called Nepmen. Forced deliveries were abolished and peasants paid graduated taxes instead. However, they were to do so within the old communal system, and use onlyįamily labor. Well as the leasing of some larger enterprises to private entrepreneurs. private shops, restaurants, and small scale manufacture, as
Of heavy industry, banking, and transport, but allowed a free internal market Therefore, it allowed The state kept control of "the heights," i.e., NEP was a mixture of socialism and capitalism. To implement the New Economic Policy, NEP. Therefore, he persuaded his colleagues in the leadership To relax controls and rebuild the economy. Thus, the threat to Bolshevik power convinced him of the need In reality, the Kronstadt revolt expressed general unrest and convinced Lenin that he had The revolt as a "White Guardist Plot." This was propaganda, since no "White Guard" officers were Tukhachevsky, who led troops over the frozen sea to the island base. The Kronstadt revolt was brutally put down by Trotsky (then War Commissar) and The Soviets freedom of speech and press the peasants' right to work their own land as they wished Īnd the legalization of small scale private industry. The sailors demanded free and secret elections to In November 1917, now revolted against them. Of Kronstadt (pron: Kronshtatt, island just outside Leningrad), who had fought for the Bolsheviks In March 1921, the same "Red sailors" of the naval base on the island Lenin had begun this practice in theĪt the same time, there was growing unrest in the towns as well as protest against undemocratic Bolshevik rule. War communism wasĬarried out with particular ruthlessness in Tambov province. The forcible requisitioning of their produce to feed the army and the cities. The peasants were revolting against war communism, This policy was implemented in March 1921, primarily because massive peasant revolts all