Period Of New Economic Policy Research Articles

Evolution of the State-Legal Foundations of the Soviet Agrarian System in the 20s of the XX Century

Introduction. The history of the Soviet state law is of great interest to the modern researchers. A number of aspects of the New Economic Policy development and implementation in Russia are presented in the works of historical, economic and political science scholars. However, in our opinion, the number of research referring to the 20s of the XX century conducted by the legal science scholars is definitely not enough. The article investigates the evolution of the state-legal foundations of the Soviet agrarian system as reflected in the USSR Constitution of 1924, the RSFSR Constitution of 1925, the RSFSR Land Code of 1922, the USSR General Principles of Land Use and Land Management of 1928, and in a number of decrees and other normative legal acts. The relevance of this topic is induced by the theoretical and practical significance of the legal regulation of the agrarian sphere of the society and the reform of the agrarian policy of the modern Russia. On the one hand, the relevance of the topic lies in the need to study the transitional state of the Soviet agrarian legislation, since, according to V. I. Lenin, the New Economic Policy (NEP) implied “transition from the civil war to civil peace”. On the other hand, in the late 20s of the XX century the Soviet leadership had abandoned many of the NEP legislation principles. However, six decades later they were successfully revived and developed in the People's Republic of China during the economic reform. The aim of this study is to reveal the evolution features of the Soviet agrarian system state-legal foundations of the 20s of the XX century. Materials and Methods. The research methodology comprises the general scientific and specific juridical methods, including the historical-legal and legalistic (dogmatic) methods. Due to the rapidly changing attitude towards these methods in the scientific community, the priority in the research has been given to the modern sources. The authors' concept statements have been analysed, which, in synthesis with the authors' empirical background, made it possible to formulate a number of new provisions. Results. The main acts that had legally formalized the state-legal foundations of the Soviet agrarian system in the 20s of the XX century were studied. The huge number of the agricultural laws is explained by the decision of the Soviet party and state leadership of the early 20s to start the recovery of economics with the agrarian sector — the backbone of the national economy of that period. The features of the NEP are elucidated not only as the change of the economic policy, but as the integrated legal policy, being a combination of the public and private law regulation upon absolute predominance of the public principles. It has been substantiated that transition to the NEP entailed the abolishment of the agrarian laws of the times of “war communism” and return to the principles of the peasant Mandate of 1917 — the most important element of the Decree on Land. Deep controversy of the agricultural legislation of the NEP period has been established, which in no way should be defined as a time of abandoning the concept and practice of the collectivization of agriculture. The party and state leadership continued to consider the individual peasant land use as having no economical prospect and dangerous for building socialism. Discussion and Conclusion. The evolution features and distinctions of the Soviet agrarian system state-legal foundations of the 20s of the XX century have been revealed. In normative legal acts and party-state documents of the studied period, the preference continued to be given to the collective farms with the various degree of land and means of production collectivization. Communes and the state-owned agricultural enterprises, sovkhozs (Soviet farms), were considered the most desirable farms, as the ones most closely corresponding to the socialist ideal. The agricultural cooperation, whichhighest form were the kolkhozs (collective farms), was also appreciated by the authorities. The theoretical significance of the conducted research lies in the fact that the state-legal foundations of the socialist agrarian system had been set in the studied period, when the policy of collectivization and public agriculture was stipulated in the Soviet legislation, the rules and norms for creation, organization and operation of the various forms of collective farms were developed, wherein the agricultural commune was considered the form closest to the socialist ideals. Taking into account all the above, further investigation of the process of developing the model Charters of communes, artels and partnerships for joint cultivation of land seems a forward-looking objective.

Image of the Soviet Authorities in the Perception of the Siberian Peasants during the Russian Civil War and the Period of New Economic Policy

The article explores the ideas of the Siberian peasantry regarding Soviet authorities during the Russian Civil War and the Period of Implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The importance of this issue lies in the fact that the population’s perception of the governing bodies plays a significant role in the life of any society since it influences the political sentiments and the behavior of different social groups. However, this topic has not been extensively studied by Russian or international historiography. The research is based on a wide range of official documents, including newly discovered ones, produced by various Communist Party (Bolsheviks) bodies, the Joint State Political Directorate, and letters from ordinary people to authorities. The authors of the article analyze how different categories of Siberian peasants imagined the Soviet power vertical, what factors and how influenced formation and transformation of ideas about authorities during the Russian Civil War and NEP period. The article concludes by arguing that different social groups of the Siberian peasantry had different perceptions of Soviet authorities, which did not remain unchanged but varied over time. From the end of 1917 until the end of 1919, ideas about the Soviet authorities arose mainly independently, without significant external influence. The situation changed after the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The government’s policies and practices of implementation were the determining factors that shaped the image of the Soviet authorities throughout the 1920s

Modernization of the Urban Infrastructure of Ekaterinburg – Sverdlovsk in 1923–1930

Introduction. The article examines the process of formation and modernization of the urban infrastructure of Ekaterinburg – Sverdlovsk during the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The main mechanisms for the development of the urban economy are shown in conditions of regenerative growth of economics and a rapid increase of city’s population. The transformation of Ekaterinburg into Sverdlovsk, the administrative and political center of the Ural region, opened up opportunities to concentrate in it the local community resources and attract government funding. Using of limited market mechanisms of the NEP allowed the Sverdlovsk City Council to develop large infrastructure projects in conditions of moderate co-financing from the state. Results. Despite the large number of publications on local history, a comprehensive study of the processes of modernization of the urban infrastructure of Sverdlovsk during the NEP period was not carried out. The work analyzes the modernization of the most important sectors of urban infrastructure: electricity, transport, construction, water supply and sewerage. The abolition of command management mechanisms and the permission of private initiative in trade and small industry caused rapid growth in the city’s economy and its population. Sverdlovsk’s status as an administrative and political center of the Ural region strengthened the financial well-being of the city. The Sverdlovsk City Council received large loans from the state-controlled banking system for the development of capital construction and the development of urban infrastructure. By the end of the 1920s in Sverdlovsk, the main elements of modern urban infrastructure were created, water supply, sewerage, bus transit was built, and the construction of a tram system began. In order of regulation of economic activity and city’s property management on market conditions, a communal enterprise was created under the Sverdlovsk City Council – called Komkhoz. Conclusion. Modernization of the urban infrastructure of Sverdlovsk in 1923–1930 occurred mainly through the efforts of the local community. With the active attraction of local equity capital and loans from state-sanctioned banks, during the NEP period the city began the successful formation of a modern urban infrastructure. The course towards the development of forced industrialization of the USSR through accelerated growth of the public sector of the economy led to the gradual curtailment of private initiative on the ground in 1929–1930.

Poryadok, paradigma i politika estetiki: reforma odezhdy v period nepa (1921–1928)

Based on the combing and analysis of historical documents and newspaper images, this paper examines the early Soviet social costume style in the New Economic Policy (NEP) period, and the reasons for its transformation from the perspective of social history of art. The research shows that the dress reform during the NEP period of the Soviet Union experienced multiple model stages such as the paradigm shift from “simple imitation” to “self-construction”, and the discourse integration of “modern” and “national”. At the same time, the aesthetic discourse of socialist fashion, as the politics of aesthetics in daily life, become the mythic metaphor of socialist utopia in the process of constructing national ideology, social and cultural concepts and citizenship consciousness.

Revolutionary Military Railway Tribunals in Northwestern Russia

This article discusses aspects of activities and social functions of the revolutionary military railway tribunals, which operated in 1920–1923. The novelty of the research is ensured by the lack of attention to this theme in historiography and the involvement of a wide range of sources which have not been previously introduced into the scholarship. The author focuses on the activities of the railway tribunals in four railway networks: the United North-Western Roads (Warsaw and Baltic directions), the Petrograd part of the Moscow-Vindava-Rybinsk network, Nikolaevskaii railway network (the prospective October railway), and Murmansk network. Three revolutionary military railway tribunals operated there. The author, for the first time in historiography, describes the reasons and the process of organizing the latter, their staff composition, and the forms of their work that changed at different stages. The emphasis is placed on the emergency powers of employees of these departments and the tasks assigned to them which was manifested in almost unlimited freedom of the members of the tribunals in administering justice in the “interests of the revolution”. The article presents an original perspective on the process of the controversial activity of the transport tribunals. The study reveals a conflict between their urgent task to restore labor discipline, on the one hand, and practical activities aimed at indulging the avant-garde class, on the other hand. The author comes to the conclusion that the tribunals, first of all, sought to unite the proletarian collectives around the Communist Party. Managers’ enthusiasm for an ideological project led them away from reality. In the final part of the article, it is proved that during the period of new economic policy, the activities of the revolutionary tribunals lost their extraordinary character. They ceased tocorrespond to their purpose and, in fact, turned into people’s courts, being abolished in 1923.

Подсказки из опыта НЭПа для решения современных экономических проблем (к 100-летию перехода к НЭПу)

The article analyzes the experience of New economic policy (NEP), some of its features, the study of which may be helpful in solving the problems of the modern domestic economy. Certain similarities are obvious between the mixed economy of the NEP period, which V. Lenin called state capitalism, and the modern market economy with the growing role of the state. Within the framework of the chosen topic of NEP lessons, fi ve key research areas have been identifi ed: 1) selection of qualifi ed personnel, 2) limitation of the excessive control system, 3) monetary policy, combining fi ghting infl ation and stimulating economic growth, 4) a stable exchange rate of the domestic currency or devaluation; 5) attracting foreign capital. For each of these areas, the problems during the NEP period are highlighted. They were caused not only by the complexity of the economic recovery following the civil war. Contradictions in the ruling stratum of the Communist Party were also of great importance. The communists with high posts in the economy considered the development of productive forces to be the main priority and proceeded from the need to stimulate an increase in production. Party ideologists and apparatchiks, representatives of various control bodies, were guided primarily by political and ideological considerations. As a result of these contradictions, economic policy was often inconsistent. The study of the NEP experience lets us fi nd the positive lessons that can be used in modern conditions, and those negative features that should not be repeated.

Comparative Analysis of the Economic Structure of the Socialist Market Economy of China and the New Economy Policy

ABSTRACT This article presents an analysis of the Chinese mode of production since the 1978 economic reforms. We try to explain the Chinese economic reforms based on its Marxist-Leninist ideology. Our research takes the form of a comparative analysis of the economic structures of the Soviet NEP (New Economic Policy) and Chinese reforms using a Marxist theoretical framework. Does the Chinese economic model correspond to the same kind of socialism found in the USSR during the NEP period? Our thesis is that the modern Chinese mode of production, since 1990s, follows a logic similar to the Soviet one during the NEP era. In the light of the NEP experience, our research shows that the Chinese development strategy shouldn't be understood as trending towards a neoliberal model. It is rather an original evolution of Marxism, in line with the tradition of Marxism-Leninism, adapted to the cohabitation with a globalized capitalist system. The NEP model is one of the earliest examples of a type of socialism based in part on market relations. In the USSR, as in China, the critical structures of the economy, heavy regulations and a certain level of economic planning are the basis of this socialist market model.

Spatial Location and the State of Timber Industry Enterprises in the Soviet Union by the End of the First Five-Year Plan

In the period of New Economic Policy in the USSR industrialization issues became very topical. In timber industry complex, the solutions were related to the development of forested areas in Northeastern regions of the country as well as to the construction and reconstruction of enterprises. The article provides the first-time analysis of maps and forest industry location, based on the results of the First Five-Year Plan published in the atlas “The Industry in the USSR and the beginning of the Second Five-Year Plan“ and statistical collection materials ”Social Construction of the USSR”. The analysis was made in order to define the situation in the industry, the main directions of production as well as the regional specificities. Using the example of wood machining sphere the author presents the analysis of enterprise groups according to different criteria. The research resulted in conclusions about highest intensity of enterprise reconstruction and construction in timber sawing, in furniture industry and intra-sectoral combination. In timber industry, the majority of enterprises were small and middle companies, which greatly contributed to its development. Regional specificities of timber industry location included concentration of main facilities in northwestern, western and central parts of the country, in the Volga region and in Ural. However only several regions had developed wood machining and deep processing spheres, such as Leningrad oblast, the Gorky Krai, Belarusian and the Ukrainian Soviet Republics.

Профсоюзы и реализация социально-защитной функции в период нэпа (на материалах Дона, Кубани и Ставрополья)

The paper reveals the basic aspects of the South East trade unions activity in the period of New Economic Policy. This activity represents trade unions nature and social purpose. The author summarizes experience of the social protection function realization in the Don, Kuban and Stavropol regions, which constitutes scientific originality of the research. As a result, the author identifies specificity of the regional trade union movement: preservation of the Mensheviks’ influence up to 1923; trade unions readiness to protect workers’ rights and interests, which largely predetermined socially oriented development of the region under study as compared to central Russia regions.

Историко-правовая концепция развития продовольственной безопасности: опыт НЭПа

Examined is the current legal issues of what is today called food security. The process of formation of this institution in the 1920s is considered through the prism of regulatory material. Such a retrospective analysis helps to prevent the dynamics of problems in modern state development. The purpose of the study is to identify the methodological, material and legal foundations for the emergence of food security during the New Economic Policy (NEP). Objectives to study the course of state and legal development during the NEP period are to analyze legal sources and archival materials of the Soviet policy in the 1920s in the field of food security. In the process of working on the study, a number of special methods were used, in particular, historical-legal, formal-legal, comparative-legal. The implementation of research tasks was achieved on the basis of a historical and legal analysis of the main sources and archival materials of the state and legal development of the NEP period, which enshrined the legal aspects of food security. An abstract review of the legal framework of the normative sources of the NEP allows to assert, that already in the 1920s, the issue of food security was formed. In addition, attempts were actively made to resolve it in corresponding legislative base formed. The experience of the NEP showed that the state agricultural food policy requires a very clear and clear legislative structure. These contradictions are more or less obvious in modern state of legal policy. This must be taken into account when making decisions. It is important to understand that the tasks of agricultural food policy do not have simple and complex solutions.

Publishing cooperation as a catalyst for the formation of the national market of book products in the conditions of the NEP (theoretical aspect for studying the problems of economic history)

The subject of the study is the role and place of cooperative publishing houses in the formation of the domestic consumer market of book products and scientific assessment of organizational, publishing and trade activities of publishing cooperatives in the context of the new economic policy (NEP). The purpose of the scientific article is to study the role and place of cooperative publishing houses in the formation of the domestic consumer market of book products and, through the prism of studying the problems of economic history, to give a scientific assessment of organizational, publishing and trade activities of the NEP. Methods of research. All components of the study are based on fundamental principles – scientific, historicism, objectivity, system, development, priority of concrete verity, pluralism; and also the methods of knowledge of social and economic processes of social development – analysis, synthesis, problem-chronological, comparative analytical, archaeological, retrospective, statistical, a systematic and integrated approach. Research methodology. In the process of the study, the fundamental principles were based on Economic History and History of Economic Thought, the Ukrainian and foreign scientists’ works and experts in this area. Results of work. In the context of this issue, we explored the role and place of cooperative publishing houses in the formation of the domestic consumer market of book products and, through the prism of studying the problems of economic history, gave a scientific assessment of organizational, publishing and trade activities of the NEP. The field of application of results. The results of this research can be applied to study the issues of Economic History and History of Economic Thought, History of the Publishing Industry. Conclusions. Thus, cooperative publishing houses were business-type societies, organizationally and functionally belonged to cooperative societies, and on the other hand - were public associations with editorial, production, economic and socio-cultural functions. Examining the activities of cooperative publishing houses, it can be stated that they occupied an important place in the distribution and printing of various literature: socio-economic, socio-political, agricultural, artistic, children's books, textbooks, natural, military. Consumers of book products of cooperative publishing houses were the most various social and professional groups of the population: workers, peasants, employees, women, youth, military, children. By distributing literature in a country where almost two-thirds of the population was illiterate, publishing houses contributed to the full operation of educational institutions, raising the intellectual and spiritual level of society, creating conditions for the development of science, art, culture and education. There was a completely organic connection between publishers' cooperatives, cultural, educational, and scientific institutions, and a kind of intellectual and spiritual dependence developed due to the high demand for books, as publishers published literature from all fields of knowledge. The activities of cooperative publishing houses of the NEP period, especially the formation of the organizational structure and the implementation of advertising and propaganda work should be taken into account when developing the legal framework of the national program of book publishing in Ukraine.

Изучение юридического обеспечения многоукладности советской экономики периода НЭПа в отечественной историографии

The research objective includes analysing domestic historiography on legal basis for multistructurality of the Soviet economy in the period of New Economic Policy. The article examines domestic historians’ views regarding normative-legal acts of the 1920s which provided a legal basis for multistructurality of the Soviet economy. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that relying on the legal norm interpretation, using data of historiographical and juridical sciences, the author provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the problem. The research findings are as follows: the paper reveals domestic scientists’ views regarding normative-legal acts of the NEP period and their legal consequences.

Methods and characteristics of commercial advertising in the socio-cultural context of the New Economic Policy (NEP)

The publication analyzes the advertising practice in Soviet Russia (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) in the 1920s - during the period of the new economic policy. The reasons for the advertising renaissance during the NEP period are indicated, the leading of which are the refusal of the Bolshevik leadership from the policy of "war communism" and the restoration of exchange relations. The author's opinion is justified, according to which commercial advertising during the NEP was a synthesis of pre-Soviet methods and Soviet innovations, and the latter modified not only the style of advertising activities but also its goals and objectives, giving them a politicized character. The article considers and characterizes both the socio-cultural specifics of the NEP and its impact on commercial advertising in the RSFSR (USSR). Which were expressed in the creation of innovative advertising texts and visual images, ideologization and a certain militarization of the advertising language, etc.

The “Facing the Village” Policy as a Manifestation of NEP Contradictions in 1924-1926 (Based on Don and Kuban Materials)

The authors analyze one of the aspects of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which meant finding a compromise between the Bolshevik party-state power and the Russian peasantry. This policy course is studied with the example of the large agricultural regions of the Don and Kuban. Using new archival documents and published sources, the authors reveal causal relationships between trans formations and changes in the status of local Soviets on national level and in the southern region, and show the impact of reforms on the economic situation and political behavior of the peasantry in the South of Russia. The authors highlight the features of the implementation of the Face to the Village policy in the Don and Kuban, which combined class and estate tasks of civil reconciliation, a slower pace of land management while maintaining Cossack allotments, and an active attracting of Cossacks and middle peasants to cooperations and Soviets, among other things. The refusal to use administrative pressure and the provision of the voting right to deprived people (lishentsy) during the election campaign led to the victory of the Cossack opposition in a number of local Soviets and land societies in 1925-1926. The result was a dual power situation in which village councils (sel'skie sovety) stood opposite to party committees. The reforms of the NEP period in southern Russia brought well-to-do strata of the population the right to participate in cooperations and local authorities (Soviets); they also led to the introduction of long-term leasing of land, separated farmers from the peasant community, and started the elimination of the traditional land use order. Reforms consolidated the division of the rural population into Cossacks and nonresidents, which contradicted the goals of socialist construction in the countryside; the Bolsheviks saw themselves threatened by a loss of control over local authorities, and by a loss of support from the poor and nonresidents. As a result, in the south of Russia the Bolsheviks rejected the Face to the Village policy course much earlier and with more decisiveness than in the country as a whole.

Борьба с преступностью несовершеннолетних в Енисейской губернии в 1920-е гг.

The paper aims to identify specificity of organizing juvenile correctional institutions in Soviet Russia in the years of New Economic Policy. The authors examine causes of increasing juvenile delinquency in the Siberian region in the period of New Economic Policy and describe preventive measures that were taken by the state bodies. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that relying on previously unpublished archival materials, the authors analyse regional experience in struggle against juvenile delinquency. The conducted research allows concluding that the juvenile correctional system was not formed during that period, efforts of the state bodies to eliminate juvenile delinquency turned out to be inefficient.

Материальное обеспечение комсомольских работников Омской губернии в первой половине 1920-х гг.

The study aims to determine the level of the Komsomol workers’ material and financial provision in Omsk province during the initial period of New Economic Policy. Basing on archival records, the article analyses dependence of the Komsomol youth’s salary rate on general economic environment in the country, identifies its behaviour pattern and compares it to the party cadres’ salaries and workers’ wages. The primary ways of replenishing budgets of the local Komsomol cells allocated, among other things, for the party cadres’ salaries are elucidated. The research is novel in that material provision of the provincial Komsomol during the New Economic Policy period is assessed for the first time in the Russian historiography. As a result of the study, it has been proved that the Komsomol regular employees’ salaries were subject to acute fluctuations; in the early 1920s, they were inferior not only to average earnings of the party cadres but also to those of workers.

Трансформации детских домов в Тамбовской губернии в условиях новой экономической политики советской власти

The paper aims to identify changes in child care institutions of Tambov province in the period of New Economic Policy implemented in Soviet Russia in the 1920s. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the impact of New Economic Policy on people’s living conditions is considered through the prism of changes in everyday life of orphan children who prevailed in child care institutions of Tambov province. The research findings are as follows: the authors prove that New Economic Policy had a serious negative impact on everyday life of “children in trouble” due to permanent reduction in funding for orphanages and other child care institutions. It is worth mentioning that orphan education was aimed to enhance foster children’s socialization, to develop self-care and self-reliance skills.

Взаимодействие меннонитской сельскохозяйственной кооперации в России и на Украине в годы нэпа

The paper aims to identify specificity of interaction of the Mennonite agricultural cooperatives in Russia and Ukraine in the years of New Economic Policy. The article considers interaction of the All-Russian Mennonite Agricultural Union and the Mennonite agricultural cooperatives in Ukraine, justifies existence of mutually beneficial economic cooperation. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the authors analyze activity of the Mennonite agricultural cooperation in the USSR in the 1920s, introduce new empirical material. The research findings are as follows: the authors prove that interregional interaction of the Mennonite cooperatives continued almost throughout the entire period of New Economic Policy, which makes them a unique socio-economic structure under the Soviet regime.

Нэп на Дону, Кубани и Ставрополье (политический и социально-экономический контекст)

The article aims to describe the socio-economic and socio-political situation in the south-east of Russia in the period of New Economic Policy. Central authorities had to take into consideration local realities when developing political course. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the author analyses New Economic Policy at the micro-level (regional specificity) and considers not only unidirectional influence of central power on the regional socio-economic situation but also multidirectional influence. The conducted research has allowed the author to reveal regional specificity of New Economic Policy realization: introduction of a unified agricultural tax, transition to New Economic Policy delayed for two years, market relations were introduced from 1923. The party and Soviet bodies conducted policy of unification of the rural population, suppressed the “white-green” movement (until the autumn of 1924) and preserved emergency bodies (revolutionary committees, sowing committees).

Административное и идеологическое воздействие органов власти на религиозные общины Севастополя (середина 1920-х - 1930-е гг.)

For the first time in domestic historiography, the article examines evolution of the Soviet policy towards Sevastopol religious communities in the middle of the 1920-1930s in the context of its basic trends: administrative and ideological. It is shown that in the period of New Economic Policy, attempts were made to spread ideological anti-religious propaganda that failed to achieve its purpose. When New Economic Policy was abandoned, administrative pressure on the laymen and the clergy increased. As a result, the regional structures of all confessions were liquidated over the 1930s.