From War Communism to the "expansion" of the New Economic Policy: the Evolution of the Bolsheviks Domestic Policy towards the Rural Population of Kuban and the Black Sea region (1920–1926)

Introduction. The article studies a topical issue of forming a model of the relationship between the Bolsheviks and the Russian peasantry in the conditions of the economic and military-political crisis of the early 1920s. The issue under consideration acquires not only theoretical, but also pronounced practical significance. In the context of modern permanent reforms, the development of an optimal strategy for interaction between the state and society becomes an important task. The opportunity to turn to historical experience makes it possible to avoid repetition of confrontational scenarios, and on the other hand, to use proven experience in overcoming the crisis of relationships. The historiography of the issue is very extensive and has passed through four main stages in its development: the first – 1920s – 1930s, the second – 1930s the first half of the 1950s; the third – mid-1950s – 1980s and the fourth – the second half of the 1980s – to the present time, which is characterized by the dependence of researchers on the political situation prevailing in the country.

Materials and Methods. The research is based on new documentary sources contained in federal and regional archives, which allow us to study the process of forming the internal policy of the Bolsheviks in the agrarian region. The research uses retrospective, problem-chronological methods, as well as comparative-historical and systemic-structural approaches.

Analysis. Soviet Russia experienced a military and political crisis in the early 1920s. The logic and content of the internal policy of the RCP(b) was reduced to retaining power and suppressing the resistance of a part of the rural population that actively expressed their disagreement.

Results. In the course of the study, we came to the following conclusions that during the NEP period, the evolution of the Bolsheviks domestic policy towards the rural population depended on the results of food, land policy and elections to the soviets, but at the same time, elements of war communism were present in all spheres of social and economic life.

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