NEP. – Abbreviation for Novaja ekonomieška politika («New Economic Policy»). When, as a result of the civil war and War Communism (an attempt at the immediate total realization of communism), Russia faced economic collapse, Lenin was compelled to alter the economic course.
Heavy industry and foreign trade remained nationalized, while, within certain limits and in retail trade, private capital was once again tolerated. The NEP was decided upon at the 10th Congress of the Bolshevik Party in March 1921 and lasted until the period of industrialization and the First Five-Year Plan. It was definitively abolished in 1928. The deviation from communist theory, which underpinned the NEP, resulted in strong opposition within the Party, which erupted with particular violence after Lenin’s death (see BOLSEC-VISM; INTERNATIONALE; LENIN).