Satirical Comedy and Melodrama

Abstract

In the early months of 1921, despite the fact that the Civil War had effectively been won, the Bolsheviks faced a crisis that was so severe that it threatened the very existence of Soviet Russia. The extremely stringent economic measures which had been taken during the Civil War, and which included the requisitioning of grain by Red Army units, had so alienated the peasants that they were cutting back on grain production rather than have any surplus simply taken from them without payment. In the cities factories stood silent and empty and many shops were closed, since normal trading had ceased. The country had in fact ground to a halt. Serious anti-Bolshevik uprisings took place in several provincial centres, and even among the sailors at Kronstadt, who had been among the staunchest of Bolshevik supporters in 1917. Clearly something had to be done to stimulate the economy and placate the population. The measures adopted in March 1921 were known as the New Economic Policy, or NEP, and involved a ‘temporary retreat’ to a limited form of capitalism. Peasants were once again allowed to sell their surplus grain on the open market; small-scale industry was privatised; larger concerns were reorgan­ised along more commercial lines; trade was carried out by a new class of ‘nepmen’ who sprang up almost at once.