ABSTRACT
The purpose of this book has been to identify major trends in the development of Russian society under the New Economic Policy during the 1920s. Most of these resulted from the Bolsheviks’ interaction with various social groups. In a very nebulous way the Bolsheviks thought they were constructing socialism. Many of them wanted to believe that the party’s goal was to empower workers and women, to educate the masses, to overcome religious superstition (as they would have put it), and encourage the peasantry to utilize more advanced forms of agriculture. Many Bolsheviks were convinced that they were going to make life better for the average person. The Bolshevik agenda was nothing less than that of creating a new society based on a new ideology and its corollaries-new values, rituals, beliefs, social structures, and cultural practices.
