The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-1923, Vol. 3 (History of Soviet Russia)

415 Pages·1952·17.38 MB·English

by  E. H. Carr

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Here is an analysis of the economic
policies and problems of the first years
of the Soviet regime which shows exactly
what happened over the vast expanse* of
Soviet territory during that critical period.
Professor Carr shows how every project
of the infant regime" was vague and
chaotic, hut that during those, first few
formative years the leaders of tin- ievolu-
tion gave birth to the ideas which were to
become fruitful later and today arc con-
sidered responsible for turning a nation
torn with civil war into an inifciirittiiii
world power.
From the pages of this brillian!
emerges a clear picture uMi
tion triumphed ovei M
how the pour; <l 1' n ^ \s..,
crushed, and ihc U*iHj;rois administrative
machine, political and economic, was
smashed.
We see how the civil war interrupted
the "attempts to organize agriculture arid
industry; and how, after the civil war was
over, the peasant revolt against grain
requisitions and the disastrous decline of
industry forced Lenin to execute the New
Fx*onoinic Policy. In tracing the origin and
the rise of the NEP as a force, in the ntrw
government, the author stresses its im-
portance as the stimulus to production
which launched Soviet Russia on the path
of economic rehabilitation,, providing a
link between the proletariat and the peas-
antry which was so necessary for a solid
economic stabilization.
Professor Carr then follows the changes
in Soviet agrarian policies through the
progressive nationalization of all indus-
trial concerns, pointing out that the real

THE BOLSHEVIK
REVOLUTION
1917-1923
BY
EDWARD HALLETT CARR
VOLUME TWO
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1952
COPYRIGHT, 7952, by
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
All rights reserved MO part of this
book may be reproduced in any form
without permission in writing from
the publisher, except by a reviewer
who wishes to quote brief passages in
connection with a review written for
inclusion in magazine or newspaper.
PirstPrinting
Printed in theUnited States ofAmerica
PREFACE
OFthe criticismsmadebyreviewers ofthe firstvolumeofthis work,
the most cogentwasthe charge that I had invertedthe natural order
bydescribingthepolitical and constitutionalarrangementsofthefirst
yearsofthe Sovietregimeinadvanceofmytreatmentoftheeconomic
conditions which in large part dictated and explained them. The
appearanceofthesecondvolumeayearafterthefirstwillnowpermit
ofthetwo interconnected subjects being examinedsidebyside; and
Iamnotwhollyconvincedthat,sincetheawkwardchoicewasimposed
onme, Ishouldhavemadethingseasierbyembarkingonthecomplex
economicdevelopmentsoftheperiodwithoutfirstsettingthepolitical
framework in which they took place. Even now the picture is not
complete, since the foreign relations of Soviet Russia in these years
arereservedforathirdvolumewhichshouldbereadyforpublication
nextyear.
Withinthepresentvolumeawkwardproblems ofarrangementalso
presented themselves. While everypart ofan economy is dependent
on every other, it was obviously necessary here to divide the Soviet
economyintoits mainsectors. Whatwas less clearwasthenecessity
of a further division by periods within the main period covered by
thevolume. Atfirstsightitmighthaveseemedpreferable to discuss
the development of, say, agriculture through the whole period in a
singlechapter. Since, however,theperiodincludedthreesub-periods
with markedly different characteristics the period ofthe revolution
itself, the period ofwar communism and the first stage of NEP I
finally decided on a chronological division into chapters with each
sector ofthe economy discussed inturn in eachofthethree chapters
devotedtothese periods. Thetable ofcontentsmakesiteasy for the
reader, ifhesoprefers,toadoptthealternativecourseofpursuingthe
storyof, say, agriculturethroughoutthevolumewithoutturningaside
tointerveningsectionsonindustry,finance, etc.
Afurtherproblemonwhichawordofexplanationmayberequired
was the point atwhich to bring the volume to an end. The general
design of this first three-volume instalment of the history was to
carryitapproximatelyuptothetimewhenLeninwaswithdrawnfrom
the scene and the struggle for the succession began. In the first
volumethecreationoftheUSSR,theadoptionofits constitution and
PREFACE
vi
theabolitionofthePeople'sCommissariatofNationalitiesinJuly1923
formed a convenient stopping-point. In the second volume the
corresponding point comes slightly earlier. The culmination of the
firstphase ofNEP was reached in the winter of 1922-1923; and the
twelfth party congress met in April 1923 a month after Lenin's
final incapacity under the shadow of an imminent economic crisis
which was already compelling rival leaders to take up positions. In
this volume, therefore, I have stopped short of the twelfth party
congressexceptinthelastchapteron"TheBeginningsofPlanning".
Here the discussions at the congress were a recapitulation of earlier
controversies rather than the opening of a fresh debate, and have
thereforebeenreportedinthischapter.
Nearlyallthose whose assistance I gratefullyacknowledged in the
prefacetothefirstvolumehavealsoaidedmeinonewayoranotherin
the preparation of its successor; in addition to these, Mr. Maurice
Dobbkindlylentmefromhislibrarysomebookswhichwould other-
wise have been inaccessible to me, and Mrs. Dewar of the Royal
Institute of International Affairs generously allowed me to make use
ofthe materialwhichshehas collected foraprojectedstudyofSoviet
labour policies. To Mr. Isaac Deutscher I am specially indebted for
putting at my disposal the notes made by him of the unpublished
Trotsky archives in the Widener Library ofHarvard University. To
all these and others who have given me help or advice in the search
formaterial and inthewritingofthevolume I shouldlike oncemore
totendermysincerethanks.
I should add that a full bibliography and index to The Bolshevik
Revolution, igij-1923 will appear at the end of its third and last
V0lume
' E. H. CARR
Junes, 1951