THE SOVIET EXPERIMENT OF NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP) AND GEORGIA (1921-1928)

Abstract

The communist authorities in the Soviet Union initiated several social experiments (making of a new person, creation of the Soviet people, etc.), the first among them was the new economic policy - NEP, which lasted for 7-8 years from 1921.

NEP allowed market relations within limited possibilities, lease transfer of small and unprofitable enterprises to private individuals and cooperatives, the practice of concessions, etc.

NEP was not a natural process of socio-economic development, it was a temporary and manageable policy initiated by the Soviet government to maintain and strengthen the regime, which was carried out in newly conquered and Sovietized Georgia from 1921. First of all, there were started processes of nationalization of land and production facilities, which were taken over by the state.

NEP was not a novelty for Georgia. In fact, it was a continuation of the policy existing in the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918-1921, but in a modified and specific form. NEP accelerated the rise of the light industry, primarily those industries that consumed local raw materials. At the same time, it caused a price imbalance, a so-called price scissors, which was caused by the artificial increase in the cost of manufactured products and the decrease in prices for agricultural products.

The Bolsheviks declared the representatives of the bourgeoisie, rich and wealthy people to be domestic enemies, private capital was outlawed and the "expropriation of the expropriators" was encouraged in the country. Peasants drove the nobles en masse from their estates, and their houses and other buildings were declared public property. In the cities, the government itself realized requisition and confiscation of private properties. Plants and factories were confiscated from the owners, though they were left with the right to use the lease. A well-known soft drinks specialist, businessman M. Laghidze was appointed only as a specialist in his former enterprise.

In 1925, in Moscow, Soviet authorities and American industrialist, A. Harriman signed an agreement on the concession of the Chiatura manganese deposit for 20 years. The Georgian political emigration decisively opposed such alienation of national property, the income of which was included not in the budget of Georgia, but of the Soviet Union, and sharply condemned it. The new economic policy brought innovation to social relations as well. There appeared so-called “Nepmans" or "Sovburs" (Soviet bourgeois), - small entrepreneurs and private traders. Their legal competence was strictly limited: Nepmans had no social status, or electoral vote and did not enjoy political rights. Kulaks - the same owners, wealthy peasants who used hired labor or were engaged in trade were also excluded from public and political life.

The authorities viewed the category of Nepmans with suspicion, called them "predatory capitalists", "exploiters", "class enemies", and harassed and persecuted them. Communist ideology established the idea that private entrepreneurship and private trade were not organic for Soviet citizens who were building a bright future - socialism and communism.

A kind of liberalization of the economy caused by NEP did not lead to the democratization of political life in Georgia either. In the Bolshevik Party, factionalism was forbidden, and pluralism and multi-partial policy became inadmissible. The regime first attacked the anti-Soviet parties and along with the ideological confrontation with them, started a policy of suppression. To destroy and eliminate the opposing political forces, the methods of "decomposition" - excavation from the inside and "self-liquidation" were widely used. They resorted to the practice of arresting, exiling, and expulsion of individual political leaders. In 1923, the left-wing ESR organization of Georgia joined the Bolshevik Party, the Social-Democratic (Menshevik) Workers', Right-wing Federalist and National-Democratic parties of Georgia announced their self-liquidation under the pressure of the government, although they did not cease to exist and continued their activities underground. Under their political leadership, a large-scale anti-Soviet uprising was organized in August 1924.

NEP was not officially banned in the Soviet Union, including Georgia, but due to the transition to the five-year plans of the public economy, industrialization, and collectivization, it was actually stopped.

Based on the analysis of empirical material, the article shows the changes caused by NEP in the socio-economic life and traditional existence of the population of Georgia.

Keywords: Soviet Union; Georgia; New Economic Policy; Nepman; Concessions.