From the NEP Russia will come the Socialist Russia!

Development, Part 6a

From the NEP Russia will come the Socialist Russia!

The attached short speech to the Moscow Soviet in November 1922 gives more of the background and history of the NEP. 

There is so much that is strong from Lenin, and it ranges so widely, that it is difficult to keep in mind that after the October 1917 revolution he only had four years of relatively good health, and that was interrupted by the assassination attempt of August 1918. During 1922 and 1923 he was mostly ill, and he died in January 1924.

Therefore Lenin’s direct leadership of the policy that he, more than any other person, is associated with - namely the New Economic Policy or NEP - only went for about a year from its beginning, which was in March, 1921.

The NEP was abandoned in favour of collectivisation and full central planning in 1928, under the leadership of J V Stalin.

As can be seen in the last paragraph of this speech of Lenin’s, he intended “that NEP Russia will become socialist Russia.” This phrase is echoed in the translation given on the Internet for the slogan in Russian on the NEP poster (above). The other image is of a peasant produce market held during the NEP.

How the transition to socialism was to take place, or exactly what it meant in Lenin’s mind, is a matter of study. We will continue this study with the next of these three items on the NEP.

·        The above is to introduce the original reading-texts: Plenary Session of Moscow Soviet, 1922, Speech re NEP, Lenin.