Private trade in the years of NEP: Russian historiography of the 1920s–1980s

Abstract

The goal of this research lies in the analysis of Russian historiography of the 1920s–1980s dedicated to private trade in the years of NEP. The presented material is valuable for familiarization with the problem navigating through the variety of publications, as well as for in-depth study of the topic, such as writing historiographical sections of dissertations. The material is systematized on the basis of problematic-chronological approach, and includes stages that are traditional for the Russian historiography. The staged vary in content, covering NEP as a whole and its separate aspects, such as specificity of functionality of mixed economy, goods-money relations, analysis of commercial practices in different economic sectors, and social aspects of private entrepreneurship. The period of the new economic policy is the dynamic and contradictory stage of the national history; there are multiple opinions and discussions around the alternatives to the development of the country. Multistructurality of the economy implied multilayeredness and polemical sharpness of arguments that unfolded at that time and left a mark in the historiography of 1920s. On the other hand, monostructurality of the economy and ideocratic approach in science led to the interpretation of NEP as a ‘”departure”. In the historiography of 1930s – early 1980s, private trade was openly marginalized, and the variety of ongoing processes was reduced to the struggle of private owner with collectivized sector solely within the framework of the antagonistic concept of “class warfare”. Since the mid-1980, the researchers once again addressed the issues that were relevant in the 1920s. The return to variety of interpretations was on the background of convergence of the Russian and foreign historiography in the context of seeking the alternatives to the “Marxist-Leninist concept of the historical process”.