Economic contradictions NEP (briefly)

In the early 20-ies. The last century, Russia was in ruins. As a result of wars, epidemics, and emigration, numerous territories were lost, the population declined by 25 million, factories stopped, the people became impoverished and degraded. In such conditions, it was urgently needed to move from the policy of war communism to a new stage of management, whose goal was the economic growth of the country and the revival of the social Sphere. The article presents the contradictions of the NEP and the results of economic reforms.

The essence of NEP

The new economic policy was announced at the 10th congress of the Communist Party on March 1, 1921. It became a positive period of Bolshevik rule, which consisted in the growth of the economy, liberalization and democratization of social and political life. After several years of stagnation, the transition to a new form of management made it possible to increase production, to take the state out of stagnation. As a result, the Bolsheviks were able to gain a foothold in power and received the support of the population. Components of the market economy were smoothly pouring into the state, but could not gain a foothold, since such a policy was a temporary solution, it was not planned to deviate from the main direction for socialization. In such conditions, the formation of the private sector was limited to small entrepreneurship and speculation, which did not help the development of the economy. Such a policy delayed the decline of all spheres of life, it seemed to revive and prolonged for a couple of years the life of the country. At the very beginning, the main economic contradictions of the NEP were laid. Briefly about the main of them is set out below.

Prerequisites of NEP

The reasons for the transition to NEP :

• Public, financial and political problems in the country.
• Resentment in rural areas and cities, troops and the navy.
• The concept of building socialism and communism through the elimination of market relations was not realized.

The government pursued such goals: muffling the threat of civil war, saving the regime of power, modernizing the economic situation in the country.

Instruments of the new policy in the agrarian sector of the economy

The new economic policy (NEP) is a vector of the internal direction of the Soviet state in the period from 1921 to 1928. This was a temporary retreat of the Bolsheviks from the party's general line. The essence of the NEP was the use of elements of market relations and different forms of ownership. The main measure of the NEP was the replacement in the village of a surplus-fund by a tax in kind. If in the first case peasants collected 70% of the grain from the harvest, then in the NEP period the tax was supposed to be only 30% of the grain. In the future, the tax was reduced to 10% of the net agricultural product. The natural form of the tax was replaced with a monetary one. Such an easing has revived the agrarian sector of the country. On the other hand, rich peasants were taxed with additional taxes, which seriously hampered the development of agriculture in the USSR. Such contradictions of the NEP were the result of economic illiteracy of the authorities and the desire for total centralization.

NEP in industry

The glavks have been abolished, instead of which trusts have been created. In them, all homogeneous in production or interconnected financial enterprises were merged. They were given a lot of freedom - after paying a state tax of 20% of the profits they could independently dispose of their funds. Also refused planned production. From now on, the trusts independently decided what products and in what volume to produce, where to buy raw materials, as well as sales issues. So the origin of self-financing.

In addition to trust management, private production was permitted with a number of hired workers no more than 20 people. Later this figure was increased.

Contradictions of New Economic Policy

When teachers propose to students: "Describe the contradictions of the NEP," it must be answered that the disagreements were laid in the very beginning, when the reasons were formed and the goals were built. On the one hand, market relations were applied in the new policy, on the other hand, the goal of the state remained unchanged-it is socialism. In the Soviet state there was an urgent need for industrialization and the creation of a military-industrial complex, but the program did not provide for investment in these sectors.

Briefly describe the contradictions can be as a discrepancy between the political and economic structure of the state. This led to all other problems and crises. The state control did not give an opportunity to implement all the planned economic reforms, which caused the relatively short existence of the NEP and its achievements.

The results of the economic thaw

NEP quickly yielded its fruits: agriculture resumed its work by 70% compared with 1913, and industry - by 39%. Differences between the pace of development of industries contributed to the overestimation of prices for industrial and understatement of agricultural products. As a result, peasants gave their product almost free of charge, and it was almost impossible to buy manufactured goods because of high prices. The agrarian stopped producing for sale. Why give away for nothing? This led to a shortage of food. The Bolsheviks decided the problem simply and rudely: the forcible seizure of grain and other agricultural products began.

Inflation

Difficulties with the sale of manufactured goods led to a shortage of money and provoked an increase in the release of depreciated money, which only exacerbated the crisis. The impossibility of buying manufactured goods caused a decrease in the flow of funds to the industry. The circle is closed.

State intervention ultimately led to the aggravation of the situation, since, on the one hand, there was the abolition of the nationalization of industry and the small ones along with medium-sized enterprises were transferred to private individuals, and on the other hand, the bulk of industry and all foreign trade remained in the hands of the state.

Social problems

Contradictions NEP, of course, reflected on the social sphere. The program provided for a course for the creation of an equal and just society, but as a result, social differentiation took place. The bureaucratic apparatus increased because of state intervention in the sphere of production, and also because of the low qualification of the staff, which allowed serious miscalculations. And the top still lived better than the working class - they had concentrated all the benefits, rations and surcharges.

The peasants became angry because of the new "wealth" tax, which made it meaningless to increase the volume of agricultural production.

All this loosened society, the tension grew.

Problems of NEP

The crisis of 1925 was brought about by negative economic problems and contradictions. NEP caused problems with grain procurements, grain exports fell.

In terms of lending, mistakes were made, which led first to an unjustified expansion and increase in production. The increase in the number of workers in factories and plants led to an increase in labor remuneration, which somewhat improved the solvency of the population. There was a demand for products. In agriculture, the inflow of money also increased, but the growth rate of production lagged far behind the rate of increase in incomes of the population. There was a new problem - commodity hunger.

As a result, the raising of living standards was hampered by high prices and a shortage of essential goods.

New government attempts to improve the situation

The government applied a policy of "freezing" unfinished facilities, reducing imports, increasing indirect taxes. On the whole, we managed to improve the situation, but the main problem remained - this is a deficit of money for the development of the economy.
The problem of contradiction was that small industry, village, retail trade quickly adapted to new conditions, which can not be said about heavy industry. It was difficult to adapt to the new conditions, although it was in the priority of the party. There was an unfair exchange of goods between the city and the countryside, this constituted the main economic contradiction of the NEP, threatening at the same time with an acute social crisis.

Another serious contradiction, which was a brake on the stabilization of the situation, was the discrepancy between the political system and the economic structure that they were trying to build. It was the political structure that hindered all progress, establishing a monopoly on power.

Result

What are the main contradictions of the NEP? The table clearly demonstrates the divergence of the economic and political course:

Thus, the contradictions of the NEP reduced the effectiveness of new economic decisions, which negatively affected all spheres - economic, political and social.