I'm going to go. He's

a-a-ra-s-s-s-s-a-s-s-a-s-a-s- Hey Hoi again! We're Hoi again!

Welcome to the Russian rulers podcast.

Episode 72.

Comrade Lennon. We hardly knew you. Last time, the Bolsheviks were faced with

three major crises once they gained power in November of 1917.

The first ending Russian involvement in World War I.

The second, the Russian Civil War, and the third and most critical,

the famine and unrest of 1921.

Successful in resolving crises 1 and 2,

Lenin moved on to number 3.

Known as a staunch idealist, Lenin's brilliance laid not in his entranient or unwavering

insistence on clinging into one way of doing things, but his realistic attitude in deciding

when to change direction when things were not going on as planned. He had to change

directions when he realized that the Russian Revolution was not spreading throughout Europe as he had envisioned, and that his people would have to go at it alone.

He also understood that the peasants and industrial workers were not as avid ideologues

as he was, and that they were not going to just give up their wares to the government

out of goodwill. Something had to change. So, Lenin proposed a new

economic policy known by his acronym,ent, an EP or nep.

In it, instead of total socialism,

small forms of capitalism would be allowed.

A large industry remained in the hands of the government, the NEP allowed private ownership

...