Kronstadt Uprising free essay sample

Although both the failure of war communism and the kronstadt rising were factors that led to the introduction of NEP, but the most important factor is arguably the failure of war communism as the political, economic and social features of the failure of war communism were more significant than the Kronstadt rising.One reason why war communism was the most important reason why NEP was introduced was due to the negative economic effects that war communism had on Russia, as the Bolsheviks had nationalised effectively all industry, resulting in the need for requisitioning of grain and government distribution of food on a 4:3:2:1 ratio to the military, manual workers, general workers and the middle classes. This resulted in a famine by 1922, as peasants were refusing to plant more than they could eat for fear of confiscation. This had a negative economic impact on Russia as with a lack of food being distributed, the productivity manual workers in cities suffered, meaning that workers were n’t able to produce a lot, and by 1921 industrial production had dropped to one-fifth of its pre-war levels. We will write a custom essay sample on Kronstadt Uprising or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This led to inflation and uncertainty, as real wages also plummeted as factories weren’t producing as much, resulting in the need for a new economic policy as the government was not only growing opposition and social unrest with their war communism, but seriously harming the economic potential of Russia as so many people were dying due to famine. This was a more important factor in introducing the NEP than the Kronstadt rising as the Kronstadt rising only further illustrated how much of a detrimental social and political impact war communism had on Russia; the Kronstadt sailors who had previously helped the Bolsheviks turned against them, as they felt betrayed by the Bolsheviks because war communism punished people so much. If it wasn’t for war communism failing the Kronstadt rinsing wouldn’t have happened, and NEP wouldn’t have been introduced.