Lesson video

Hello everybody, and welcome back to your history lesson at Oak National Academy with me, Miss Porter.

Today is the third lesson of our inquiry, looking at what the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

For today's lesson, please make sure that you have a pen or a pencil to write with, that you've got some paper to write on, and that you've just moved yourself away from any distractions, to make sure that you can focus on today's content.

Once you've done that, you'll be ready to get started with today's lesson, and you can do so by writing down today's title, which is "War Communism and the New Economic Policy".

It is our third lesson of four on our inquiry on the Bolsheviks.

And during these four lessons, we're going to be looking at who the Bolsheviks were, and what they were trying to achieve.

In your previous lesson, we learned that the Bolsheviks faced opposition from many people in 1980, which resulted in the Civil War being fought.

The Bolsheviks won the Civil War and managed to achieve their goal of holding onto power.

In today's lesson, we're going to look at some policies that were introduced by the Bolsheviks during this period to help them achieve their goals.

Firstly, we're going to recap some of the content you were taught in the previous two lessons of this inquiry.

On this slide, you can see four statements.

Based on your own knowledge, I would like you to decide whether each of these statements are true or false.

To challenge yourself, you can see if you can correct the statement or statements that you think are false.

Pause the video here to complete your task and resume when you're ready.

Welcome back, everybody.

I'll now go through the answers with you.

So, the first is true, Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks.

The second statement is false, the Bolsheviks did not seize power of Russia in 1920.

They actually seized power in 1917.

The first statement is true.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia's participation in World War One.

And the fourth statement is false, a Civil War is actually a war between two groups within the same country, not two different countries.

Well done if you've got some or all of those correct.

If you'd like to make any corrections, you can now pause the video here and do so.

So far in this inquiry, we've learned about the following events.

In March, 1918, Lenin ended the war with Germany by agreeing to The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Although this achieved one of the Bolsheviks aims of ending the war, the harsh terms of the treaty made many Russian people angry.

As a result, in June, 1918, a Civil War broke out between the Reds or the Bolsheviks, and the Whites.

This war lasted for three years.

And in 1921, the Bolsheviks won.

This period of Civil War will be the focus of the first part of our lesson.

After coming to power, the Bolsheviks had three main names.

Firstly, as communists, they wanted to spread communism.

Communism is a system which replaces private ownership of property with public or state ownership.

So this was one of the aims they were trying to achieve.

As communists, the Bolsheviks also wanted to create a more equal society, ensuring that people shared property and wealth more evenly.

Lastly, they also wanted to hold onto power.

They had used force to gain power in October, 1917, and were willing to use it again to ensure they kept power.

During the Civil War, the Bolsheviks attempted to achieve these three aims. Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks had multiple roles during the Civil War.

He had to lead the Bolsheviks, but he also had to keep the Red army supply to ensure they worn the war.

Therefore, he was also in charge of producing enough food to feed the workers and soldiers and of ensuring industrial products, such as weapons, were still produced.

This was a difficult task as the Russian economy had already been weakened by the first World War.

To overcome these problems and to keep the Red army supplied, Lenin introduced a dramatic economic policy, called War Communism.

War Communism had several key features.

Firstly, in towns and cities, the government took control of factories.

Lenin also put his own managers in charge, and he used strict discipline to ensure workers met their targets.

This was introduced to increase industrial production, but also met the communist aim of replacing private ownership with state ownership.

The Bolsheviks also introduced food rationing, and gave larger rations to factory workers and soldiers.

Food was extremely scarce and most Russian people had to live off very little each day.

During the period of War Communism, money became virtually worthless.

And as a result, wages were often paid in food or other goods.

Traders were also not allowed to buy and sell goods, which made it more difficult for people to access food and resources Lenin needed to feed the workers and the Red Army.

And as money became virtually worthless, many peasants in the countryside did not sell their grain.

Therefore Lenin used the Cheka, the Russian secret police, to seize grain from peasants.

As a result of this policy, many peasants resisted and produced less grain as they knew it would be taken from them.

This caused Russian agriculture to collapse during the period of War Communism.

Throughout this time, the Bolsheviks also used terror to achieve their aims. Terror is the use of violent action or threats designed to cause fear among ordinary people.

The Cheka, or the Russian secret police became increasingly brutal during War Communism, and often arrested or shot people without trial.

When peasants refused to hand over their grain, they were often arrested and sent to labour camps for opposing the Bolsheviks policies.

This use of terror increased apposition to the Bolsheviks during the Civil War.

By 1921, the impact of War Communism was evident.

Whilst War Communism had contributed to the Red Army success in the Civil War, the human cost of this policy was huge.

The policy of seizing grain to feed workers and soldiers had caused Russian agriculture to collapse.

And this led to a famine which killed up to five million people between 1921 and 1923.

You can see in this image, a photo of abandoned children, most are bare feet, in the Volga district in Russia.

This was an area that was heavily hit by the famine in 1921.

This next image shows people carrying the coffins of loved ones who had died as a result of the famine in Russia, showing the human cost of Lenin's economic policy of War Communism.

With this in mind, it's important to reflect upon why Lenin and the Bolsheviks would introduce a policy such as War Communism.

If we think back to the Bolsheviks aims, we can see two clear aims for introducing War Communism in 1918.

Firstly, to spread Communism.

Policies such as the state ownership of factories show that Lenin wanted to introduce more communist policies.

However, we can also see that War Communism was introduced to help the Bolsheviks hold onto power.

Although there were some communist elements, the forced seizure of grain from peasants and the use of terror demonstrates that Lenin was willing to introduce extremely harsh policies to feed the Red Army, and to ensure the Bolsheviks held onto power.

To recap what you've just learned.

I'd like you to see if you can answer the following question.

Why was War Communism introduced? Pause the video here to complete the task, and resume when you're ready, If needed, I've given you a sentence starter to help you structure your answer.

Welcome back, everybody, and very well done for completing your sentences.

You can see here that I've written a couple of example answers.

Remember that yours may look different to mine, and that is absolutely fine.

So one answer could be that, War Communism was introduced to help the Bolsheviks introduce communist ideas, such as state ownership of factories.

Or, another answer could be that War Communism was introduced to help the Bolsheviks hold onto power by supporting the Red Army during the Civil War.

Well done if you've got something similar.

If necessary, you can pause the video here to check through your answers or make any corrections.

Now, War Communism didn't fully meet it's aims. By the end of the Civil War, the policy of seizing grain and state ownership of factories had weakened Russian economy further.

It had also increased opposition to Lenin and the Bolsheviks, as it had made people's lives even more difficult.

One important example of opposition to the Bolsheviks and War Communism was the Kronstadt Uprising in March, 1921 Sailors in the Kronstadt naval base outside of Petrograd staged an uprising in response to Lenin's policies, which lasted for over two weeks.

Traditionally, the sailors had supported the Bolsheviks.

So this uprising was shock to the government.

The Bolsheviks worried that the sailors refusal to follow their orders meant that they were losing control.

Trotsky had to therefore use the Red Army to crush the Kronstadt Uprising, and hundreds of men were killed and wounded in the attack.

The rest of the soldiers were sent to labour camps, and the Bolsheviks managed to restore power.

Here you can see the soldiers from the Red Army preparing to attack the Kronstadt naval base in March, 1921.

However, Kronstadt Uprising had scared the Bolsheviks, In fact, Lenin referred to it as the flash that lit up reality.

By this, he meant that it made him aware of the damage that the Civil War and War Communism had caused, and that if he did not improve the economic situation in Russia soon, the Bolsheviks may not survive or hold on to power.

Therefore in 1921, Lenin ended the policy of War Communism.

So now we've seen why War Communism was introduced, and the impact it had.

I'd like you to test your understanding by answering some multiple choice questions.

Firstly, during which event was War Communism introduced? Pause the video here and choose the correct answer from option A to D, and resume the video when you're ready.

Okay, hopefully you decided that the correct answer was option B, the Civil War.

Well done if you got that correct.

The second question is, which of the following was not a feature of War Communism? Pause the video here, choose the correct answer and resume when you're ready.

Okay, welcome back.

The correct answer is option C, traders being able to buy and sell goods was not a feature of War Communism.

In fact, buying and selling goods was not allowed during this time.

The third question is, which event caused Lenin to reconsider War Communism? Pause the video here and choose your answer.

So the correct answer is option A, the Kronstadt Rebellion.

Fantastic work if you've got some, or hopefully, all of these, correct.

So to recap the key events so far, we know that the Civil War broke out in June, 1918, and to support the Red Army during this period, Lenin introduced War Communism.

However, after the Kronstadt Rebellion, and end of the Civil War in 1921, Lenin ended War Communism.

Instead, he now introduced a New Economic Policy, and this will be the focus of the second half of today's lesson.

So, the New Economic Policy was introduced in 1921 to improve the economy, and to ensure the Bolsheviks could retain control after facing a large amount of opposition.

This policy had a number of features.

And some even reversed policies that were implemented during War Communism.

Firstly, factories, selling consumer goods, such as clothes and shoes, were returned back to their owners.

All the the large industries such as steel and transport did still remain under state control.

Secondly, traders were allowed once again to buy and sell goods.

This was something that had been illegal during War Communism.

And lastly, grain requisitioning or the seizing of grain from peasants was stopped.

Now peasants gave a fixed amount of grain per year to the government, and they were allowed to keep any surplus that they produced.

Now, if we get back to our inquiry question of what were the Bolsheviks trying to achieve, we can question why Lenin decided to introduce the New Economic Policy.

We can see that this policy actually reversed some communist features that had been put in place during War Communism.

Therefore it was not introduced to spread communism.

It also allowed traders to buy and sell goods, and factory owners to take back control.

So it did not aim to necessarily make society more equal.

Therefore we can see that this policy was introduced to help the Bolsheviks hold onto power.

Even at the cost of their communist beliefs, the Bolsheviks introduced the New Economic Policy to strengthen the economy and allow them to hold on to power, following the opposition that they had faced during the Civil War.

The New Economic Policy lasted until 1928, and it did improve the economy as more food was produced and more people began to buy and sell goods once again.

However, although the economy improved, prices of food and goods rose during this period, meaning some peasants and workers still suffered.

Many people found it difficult to get a job.

And illegal activity occurred as people struggled to survive.

The New Economic Policy also angered many Bolsheviks who viewed it as return to capitalism, or the economic policies that existed under the czar before the Russian Revolution.

Although the New Economic Policy was extremely important for helping the Bolsheviks hold on to power, many wanted more communist methods of running the economy, and wanted to end this policy in the late 1920s.

Now Lenin himself was aware that the New Economic Policy had reversed some communist policies, and had been introduced to save the economy.

However, he promised the Bolsheviks that this was only temporary, and was necessary to hold on to power.

He believed that once the economy had improved, more communist policies would be able to be introduced.

This post on the right here was produced to illustrate his message.

It reads, "From the Russia of the New Economic Policy, "a new socialist Russia with arise," meaning that because of the progress made under the New Economic Policy, the Bolsheviks could now continue to spread communism in Russia.

We can see the image of Lenin here looking forward to the future.

So to quickly test your knowledge of the lesson so far, I'd like you to see if you can answer the following questions.

Firstly, which policy was introduced in 1921? Pause the video, choose your answer, and resume when you're ready.

Hopefully, you got the answer as B, the New Economic Policy.

Well done if you've got that question correct.

Secondly, which of these policies was not a feature of the New Economic Policy? Pause the video here, choose the correct answer from the options below, and resume when you're ready.

Welcome back, the correct answer is option D, traders were in fact allowed to buy and sell goods during the New Economic Policy.

Excellent work if you got the correct answer.

In a minute or so, you'll complete these comprehension questions based on today's reading.

To find out more about each of these policies, I'll quickly talk you through this lessons questions.

So the first asks, during which event did the Bolsheviks introduce War Communism? The second asks you to describe one method used by the Bolsheviks to feed workers and soldiers.

The third asks, why did Lenin introduce the New Economic Policy? The fourth asks, what impact did the New Economic Policy have on the economy? And your challenge question today is why were some Bolsheviks angered by the New Economic Policy? So why didn't all Bolsheviks approve of this new policy.

Now pause the video, open a worksheet and complete today's questions.

There is a glossary to provide you with some definitions of the key words, if you need it.

And once you're finished, you can return to the video to check through your answers.

Welcome back, everybody, and very well done for completing those questions.

So we'll now read through these answers together.

Remember that my answers may look different to yours, which is okay.

You may want to pause the video after each question to check through your work or to make any changes.

So, firstly, during which event did the Bolsheviks introduce War Communism? And the acceptable answer is the Civil War.

The good answer, you could put this into a full sentence such as, the Bolsheviks introduced War communism during the Civil War.

Second question asks you to describe one method used by the Bolsheviks to feed workers and soldiers.

Now, there are a few acceptable answers here, so you could have had food rationing, grain requisitioning or using the Cheka.

A good answer could be, one method the Bolsheviks used to feed workers and soldiers was grain requisitioning.

The peasants were forced to give up the grain for free, and were punished harshly by the Cheka if they refused.

So giving a little bit more description there in that good answer.

Third question asked, why did Lenin introduce the New Economic Policy? So you could have had, to improve the economy, or to hold onto power, as an acceptable answer.

A good answer could link these together.

So Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy in 1921 to improve the economy.

He feared that the Bolsheviks would not be able to hold onto power unless they strengthened the Russian economy.

Fourth question asked, what impact did the New Economic Policy have on the economy? The acceptable answer could be that it strengthened or improved the economy.

The good answer could be, the New Economic Policy strengthened the Russian economy by allowing traders to buy and sell goods, and by ending the policy of grain requisitioning.

So you've given a couple of examples there of how it strengthened the economy.

And your challenge question is, why were some Bolsheviks angered by the New Economic Policy? You could have had, as an acceptable answer, that it reversed their policies or the policies introduced in War Communism.

A good answer could be that some Bolsheviks were angered by the New Economic Policy because they viewed is a reversal of some of the communist policies introduced during War Communism.

They feared that this signalled a return to capitalism, they might have returned to the economic policies used by the czar before Russian Revolution.

Now, you may want to spend a few minutes now adding some extra details to your answers.

And if so, you can pause the video here, and again, very well done for completing these questions.

We now are going to return to the inquiry, and think about the following question, which is, what do these policies reveal about what the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve? So what did War Communism and the New Economic Policy tell us about what the Bolsheviks wanted to achieve? To answer this question, for your final task, I'd like you to complete the following table.

Under each policy, I'd like you to note down what you think it tells us about what the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

So for example, under War Communism, you could write that it shows us that the Bolsheviks wanted to create a more equal society.

And under the New Economic Policy, you could write that it tells us that Lenin wanted to improve the economy, so he re-introduced buying and selling of goods.

You can now pause the video here, and see if you can write down maybe three or four examples under each economic policy.

Once you've completed the task, you can resume the video to check through your answers.

Brilliant, welcome back, everybody.

And really well done for completing your tables.

I'm going to talk you through some examples I've written now, but remember that my work may be slightly different to yours.

So don't worry if yours looks a little different.

Also, well done if you've managed to include some examples that I haven't shown here.

So under War Communism, I've written that it shows that the Bolsheviks wanted to create a more equal society by removing wealthier peasants.

It also shows the Bolsheviks wanted to spread communism by removing private ownership of factories.

And lastly, that the Bolsheviks wanted to hold onto power and introduced War Communism to help them win the Civil War.

So I've given three things that the War Communism shows us about what Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

Under the New Economic Policy, I've written that it shows, Lenin wanted to improve the economy, so re-introduced buying and selling of goods.

Lenin's priority was to hold onto power, and the Bolsheviks were willing to change policies temporarily to revive the economy or strengthen the economy.

You can now pause the videos to check through your work and make any corrections.

And once again, very well done for completing this task.

As we conclude today's lesson, we're going to quickly look at what you've covered so far in this inquiry.

In the first lesson of the inquiry, you were introduced to the Bolsheviks, and began to think about their initial aims of taking power overthrowing the czar and the provisional government.

In the second lesson, you've seen how the Bolsheviks pause the process of spreading communism to ensure they establish their control over Russia, and remove their opposition during the Civil War.

In this lesson, you looked at some of the economic policies introduced by the Bolsheviks and what they were trying to achieve with each of these.

And in your next and final lesson of the inquiry, you will look at some of the policies the Bolsheviks introduced to change the way that people lived their lives, and we call these social policies.

So you've now completed today's lesson.

Thank you so much for your hard work.

And really well done for completing your questions and your final task.

Please now complete the end of the lesson quiz to check your understanding.

And I look forward to teaching you in the final lesson of this inquiry scene.