Bloody stability

The tragic economic situation forced the Bolsheviks to move away from the politics of war communism in favour of the so-called mixed economy (socialist with elements of capitalism), described by Lenin as the New Economic Policy (NEP). Over the next three years, the last outbreaks of resistance from the White generals were suppressed and the intervention forces of the Western countries were forced to withdraw, thus bringing an end to the civil war. Ruthlessly, using the whole range of available weapons (including battle gases and artillery), the raging peasant uprisings were suppressed. The largest of these, the Tambayan uprising, cost the lives of 70 000 peasants in combat and a further 170 000 as a result of terror and artificially induced famine.