Prodrazverstka. Peasant Rebellion

War Communism

"War Communism" is the name of the internal policy of the Soviet state, which was carried out in 1918−1921 in the context of the civil war.

The policy of war communism was dictated by difficulties, economic ruin and, of course, the ideology of the Bolsheviks, who sought to turn the country into a single factory, the head office of which would manage all economic processes. At the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1919, the idea was voiced of the immediate construction of commodity-free socialism by replacing market trade with a planned, nationally organized distribution of products. Food distribution was introduced as the main means of providing food for the Red Army, workers and the urban population. Trade was closed, and distribution (by class) was introduced instead. Labor conscription and labor mobilization became part of the policy of war communism.

The apogee of the policy of "war communism" came in late 1920 — early 1921, when the decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars "On free food products for the population", "On free consumer goods for the population", "On the abolition of fees for all kinds of fuel" were issued.

Instead of the productivity growth expected by the Bolsheviks, there was a sharp drop in productivity, since most workers were simply malnourished. By 1921, the output of industrial products had decreased threefold compared to 1913. The number of workers decreased by two, but the number of Soviet officials increased a hundred times. The Bolsheviks' policy of "dying out" money led to hyperinflation and the growth of the black market. The situation in agriculture was particularly difficult. The number of livestock and the size of sown areas have decreased ("Why sow? they’ll take it away anyway").

On March 14, 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (b), it was decided to replace the pro-development with a food tax, which put an end to the policy of war communism and marked the beginning of the transition to a New Economic Policy (NEP).

The Peasant Uprising of 1921

At the beginning of 1921, in the southern counties of the Tyumen province, peasants, driven to desperation by the overdrawing, raised an uprising that went down in history as the "Kulak-Socialist revolt". On January 31, 1921, in the Chelnokovskaya volost of the Ishim district, peasants clashed with Red Army soldiers and food workers. The Kazan regiment, sent to "restore order", almost in full force, went over to the side of the rebels. The rebels were supported in neighboring villages and villages.

In the areas engulfed by the flames of war, the massacre of communists and food workers began. In the first month of the uprising alone, the Tyumen Bolsheviks lost about 2 thousand people. The first communes were plundered.

On March 9, the red detachments set aside Surgut, on March 21 — Berezovo. On March 17, an anti-Bolshevik uprising broke out in Obdorsk. At the cost of huge losses, it was suppressed. But two weeks later, on April 1, the rebels managed to capture the city.

The Tobolsk Council tried to send 320 fighters of Ivan Smekhov against the rebels. However, having calculated the real balance of forces, the Chonians were forced to retreat to Tara. On February 21, the rebels occupied Tobolsk. A Peasant-city council was established in the city, which abolished Soviet laws.

The rebels had no overall leadership, and the organization was weak. It was only in mid-February 1921 that the rebels managed to organize detachments into military formations. By this time, the Red Army units, including the battalion of the 253rd Infantry Regiment, the division of the 85th brigade of the VNUS and some other units, had gone over to their side. The support of the rebellious peasants by army formations posed a serious danger to the Bolsheviks. All possible measures were taken to suppress it as soon as possible. On February 6, martial law was imposed in the Tyumen province. To intimidate the population, the massacre of hostages was carried out. In the Ishim district executive committee, ten local residents were ordered to be shot for every communist killed. As the subsequent investigation showed, from 30 to 150 bayonet wounds were found on some of the corpses.

Regular units of the Red Army, detachments of special forces units, police and cadets of military schools were thrown into suppressing the uprising. At the end of February 1921, significant rebel forces were defeated in the Golyshmanovo area. In Ishim county, stubborn fighting continued until mid-March, and in Yalutorovsky County, the resistance of the peasants was broken only in May.

In the beginning, the scattered forces of the Reds began to gather in Tara. From there, a combined detachment under the command of the Tarsky military commissar Tsirkunov moved to Tobolsk. On March 28, 1921, Alexander Semakov, editor of the Tyumen newspaper Izvestia, was killed in the battle for the Vtorovagaisky yurts. The decisive assault on Tobolsk began on the evening of April 6. Two days later, the city was liberated from the rebels.

At the end of May 1921, the red units occupied Surgut and Berezov, and in early June — Obdorsk. However, individual peasant detachments continued to fight, hiding among forests and swamps. It took another two years to break their resistance.

The performance of peasants in the Tyumen province and other regions of Russia forced the Bolsheviks to abandon the harsh methods of "war communism" and make changes in economic policy.