War communism is a policy that was implemented by the Soviet government during the Civil War. Then the policy of war communism envisaged the nationalization of large and medium-sized industry, food surplus, the nationalization of banks, labor service, the refusal to use money, and the state monopoly on foreign trade. In addition, the policy of war communism is characterized by free transport, the abolition of fees for medical services, free education, the absence of fees for utilities. One of the main features that we can characterize this policy is the most severe centralization of the economy.
When talking about the reasons for the Bolsheviks to pursue such a policy, it often comes to the conclusion that the policy of military communism was in line with the Marxist ideology of the Bolsheviks, their ideas about the onset of communism, universal equality, and so on. However, this view is incorrect. The fact is that the Bolsheviks themselves in their speeches emphasized that the policy of military communism is a temporary phenomenon, and it is caused by the most severe conditions of the civil war. Bolshevik Bogdanov, even before the establishment of communist power, wrote that such a system follows from the conditions of war. He was the first to propose calling such a system military communism. A number of historians also say that military communism is a system caused by objective factors, and similar systems were found in other countries and under other governments in similar extreme conditions. For example, the surplus-appraisal system is a system by which a peasant gives food at prices set by the state. The myth that the Bolsheviks allegedly came up with an extra surplus is quite popular. In fact, the surplus app was introduced by the tsarist government during the First World War. It turns out that many of the activities of war communism are not specific inventions of socialist thought, but universal methods of survival of the state’s economy in extreme conditions.
However, the policy of war communism also implied phenomena that could be attributed specifically to socialist innovations. This, for example, free transport, cancellation of fees for medical services, free education, lack of fees for utilities. It will be difficult to find examples when the state is in the most severe conditions and at the same time carries out such transformations. Although, perhaps, these events not only corresponded to Marxist ideology, but also contributed to the growth of popularity of the Bolsheviks.
Such a policy could not hold for a long time, and it was not needed in peacetime. Over time, there came a crisis of war communism policy, as evidenced by the constant peasant uprisings. During the civil war, the peasants believed that all hardships were temporary, that after the victory of the Communists it would become easier to live. When the war ended, the peasants no longer saw the point of supercentralization. If the beginning of the policy of war communism is associated with 1918, then the end of war communism is considered to be 1921, when the surplus appraisal was canceled, and a tax in kind was introduced in its place.
War communism - a phenomenon that was caused by objective reasons, was a necessary measure and was canceled when the need for it disappeared. The folding of such a policy was facilitated by repeated peasant uprisings, as well as events in Kronstadt (the uprising of sailors in 1921). We can assume that the main task of military communism has been fulfilled - the state has managed to resist, preserve the economy and win the Civil War.