ABSTRACT
The Soviet government, NEP, and collectivization (Fourth Revolution) In 1924 Lenin died and a power struggle to succeed him ensued among the top Communist leaders who sat in the Politburo. The fray revolved around the NEP. The left wing of the Party demanded that this concession to private property, this fundamental repudiation of communism, be abandoned and replaced by collectivization and that the government’s main focus should be on stimulating the international revolution and overturning the Western global order. The right wing of the Party supported the continuation of the NEP because it had been a resounding success and had restored the agricultural sector of the Russian economy. Citizens of the Soviet Union were no longer starving. Its effectiveness meant that a middle class would develop and that the process of industrialization and, thus, the formation of a working class would evolve more slowly, but the Communists would still be in charge and would guide the development of a balanced economy while presumably favoring policies that grew industry and the working class. The international revolution would be supported, but carefully and not at the risk of endangering the Soviet economy and security. Both wings supported the antireligious campaign, but the right wing would have inevitably moderated the effort because the peasants were very religious and any middle class arising from the peasantry would reflect that heritage.
