War Communism (redirected from Wartime communism)

War Communism

(1918–21) Soviet economic policy applied by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Its chief features were the expropriation of private business and the nationalization of industry, as well as the forced requisition of surplus grain and other food products from the peasantry. These measures caused a rapid decline in agricultural production, labour productivity, and industrial output. Real wages declined by two-thirds, and uncontrolled inflation made paper currency worthless. By 1921 public discontent resulted in strikes and protests, culminating in the Kronshtadt Rebellion. In response, the Bolsheviks adopted the less-radical New Economic Policy.