Want to study New Economic policy in depth of anyone has any works covering the plan, the controversies, the disagreements in different factions then that would be much appreciated
As another commenter has said, I would recommend reading Lenin from that period.
Robert C. Allen’s “Farm to Factory” and Alec Noves’ “An Economic History of the USSR” cover the period in terms of economics, which is a very important aspect. The discussions and political positions were absolutely not theoretical but practical, and it’s vital to have a good understanding of the economic situation and results to be able to judge reality without falling into idealism.
Study and remember the utter destruction and poverty after 1921, and you will never doubt the historical reasons and correctness of the “socialism in one country” approach taken by the Bolsheviks. Trotskyists are idealists.
I was studying pre-civil war period and Bolsheviks literally tried peaceful development but then faced a civil war which led to the introduction of controlled capitalism, then into Stalin’s FYPs, they were needed to defend this new nation. Tl;dr Thanks for the recommendations, they will help me further my study
What were you reading in this study?
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Mostly Lenin, which is why I made this post for NEP so I can have a broader perspective.
I would probably recomend Kotkin’s “Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928”. I haven’t read it myself, but I aware of the fact that Kotkin does mention the “forgotten” people of the pro-NEP side, such as Rykov. Christopher Read in his book called “Stalin: From the Caucasus to the Kremlin” briefly discusses the issues with the NEP, namely the scissors crisis, controversy over the monopolization of the state trade and so on. I am absolutely certain that Kotkin goes into more depth than Read on this, but I Read’s book is also much shorter than Kotkin’s
I also went through essay collections such as “Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism: Complexities, Contradictions and Controversies”, “Stalin: A New History”, “Stalinism: New Directions” and so on, but I haven’t found a chapter that might interest you
Of course, you could also through “The Tax in Kind” by Lenin (and other Lenin’s works from the same period) or read Stalin’s “History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)”
Appreciate all the recommendations!
