ABSTRACT
Few would dispute the claim that the razverstka, the Bolshevik method of grain procurement, was a centerpiece of "war communism." Given the fearsome reputation of the razverstka as the symbol of war communist radicalism, it is something of a shock to learn that when the razverstka was introduced by Bolshevik food-supply officials in 1918 and 1919 they viewed it as a concession to the peasantry. Of course, under civil war conditions the razverstka policy was even further distorted. Lenin's obfuscations sealed the fate of proper historical understanding of the razverstka. The use of war communism as an interpretive framework also leads to an overstatement of the contrast between the razverstka and the NEP policy that followed. The contrast between war communism and NEP suggests that the razverstka represented an attitude of coercive voluntarism aimed at immediate elimination of the market, as opposed to the gradualism of NEP.
