My Revision Notes: AQA ASA-level History: Revolution and Dictatorship, Russia 1917-53 by Neil Owen & Robin Bunce

Author:Neil Owen & Robin Bunce [Owen, Neil; Bunce, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder Education
Published: 2017-09-10T16:00:00+00:00

During the time period of 1917 until 1924, Lenin led Russia through his leadership and control of the Bolshevik party. This essay will examine the extent of the economic, social and political success of his leadership of Russia.

Success to be categorised in these themes.

In economic terms, it is clear that Lenin was not a successful leader. Economic stability had been problematic in Russia since the end of the First World War, especially since March 1918, when Lenin signed the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which resulted in the loss of a large proportion of Russian land to Germany. Lenin’s central economic policy was the introduction of War Communism in the summer of 1918, which he pursued until 1921. The two aims of this policy were to spread communism through Russia and to win the civil war, which was further weakening the state of the economy. While War Communism did help the Reds emerge victorious in the Russian Civil War, it also led to the complete self-destruction of the Russian economy. For example, money became worthless as inflation rocketed to 1 million per cent. Industrially, output of all resources dropped – in 1913, factories’ collective industrial output was 10,210 million roubles; however, by 1921, when War Communism was in its apex, it had dropped to 2,004 million roubles. Agriculturally, the output of grain by the peasants reduced – they no longer grew as much grain as they could, only enough to keep them going. This led to a backlash of starvation in Russia; a famine began in 1921, due to the requisitioning of grain. This famine led to over 5 million peasants dying of starvation, and more disturbingly, an increase in cannibalism, including the selling of bodies for money. It was in view of this crisis that Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy in March 1921. It took a more relaxed view on socialism and Lenin had effectively reverted to a more capitalistic system. This led to a more successful impact on the economy than War Communism. Industrial and agricultural output increased; by 1924 factory output had risen to 4,660 million roubles in value, and agricultural output had grown from 37.6 million tonnes in 1921 to 51.4 million tonnes in 1924. However, the output by 1924 still hadn’t risen to the heights that it had under Tsarism in 1913. Therefore, even though he had to rule in the context of the First World War and then the Russian Civil War, Lenin did not advance the Russian economy to a scale beyond that of Tsarist Russia.

Clear argument established.

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