The policy of war communism, which ensured the survival of the country during the difficult years of the Civil War, mainly soldiers of the Red Army and workers working in military industries, caused discontent among various sections of the population, and first of all, the peasantry. Deep socio-economic and political crises forced the country’s leadership to pass to the New Economic Policy (NEP), proclaimed in March 1921 at the 10th Congress of the RCP(b).
By the decision of the Congress, the transition from the food allotment to the fixed food tax was carried out. In May 1921, free trade was legalized, and in the summer, the Council of People’s Commissars (SNK) of the RSFSR restored the payment for the transportation of goods and passengers, as well as for postal, telegraph, utilities, etc. Part of the light and food industries enterprises, the most of the trade, passed into private hands, while heavy industry and transport remained in the hands of the state.
On December 30, 1922, the largest state by area appeared on the world map — the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The 1st All-Union Congress of Soviets approved the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR and the Union Treaty. The construction of the new state was completed on January 31, 1924, when the II Congress of Soviets of the USSR adopted the Constitution of the USSR.
Death of Vladimir Lenin on January 21, 1924 intensified the internal party struggle, which was fought not only for personal power, but also for choosing the path for the Soviet state development. By the end of 1920s, Joseph Stalin managed to neutralize his political opponents; his concept of transition to the construction of socialism in a single country, which provided for accelerated industrialization and collectivization, began to be realized. The transition from the New Economic Policy to the planned system of organization of the national economy has occurred.
In the 1920s in the USSR, the Cultural Revolution began — the process of radical restructuring of the cultural and ideological life of society, the purpose of which was to turn the principles of Marxist-Leninist ideology into personal convictions of a person.