March 21, 1921. The New Economic Policy.

Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy, a short run return to capitalism under state control.  It was essentially an acknowledgment of the complete failure of communism in the economy and darned near the complete failure of communism in general.

The policy was primarily an effort to revive agricultural production, which had fallen off dramatically. The mass of the Russian peasants were overwhelmingly opposed to Communism and were resisting collectivization.  80% of the Russian population was rural and support for Communism was nearly completely centered in urban areas, an interesting example of people basically voting for what they could get, as Communist appropriations benefited only the urban working class. Russian peasantry, in contrast, had viewed the Revolution as simply a chance to get formal ownership of the land they were working, a process that had in actuality been going on by default, but which was not yet completed, for some time. 

Lenin thought that ultimately collectivization would occur, but only after the NEP had built up rural areas over a period of decades.  He oddly acknowledged that creating a functioning capitalist economy, but under state control, would lift the Russian economy out of the basement, but he believed that by doing that the entire state would be educated in the benefits of Communism and then would convert to complete state ownership thereafter.  It was a peculiar belief, as it welded the reality of the present with a clinging belief that somehow collectivization would ultimately benefit everyone.

Upon Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin, who had favored the NEP over objections like those of Trotsky, would reverse course and force collectivize agriculture, resulting in a massive man made famine.  This isn't the only area where Stalin would follow a path first suggested by his arch rival, and it should make fans of Trotsky, who have traditionally assumed he was a more benign malignancy than Stalin, pause.  In reality he was an even bigger fanatic.  At any rate, the forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture in the 1920s through the early 1930s, which took that long, resulted in a massive death toll from starvation.  What remains surprising is that the Soviet populations didn't rise up in rebellion at the time.

Lenin fans have continued to note that Lenin, in his political will, suggested that Stalin be sidetracked and that if he had been, Communism would have succeeded.  This is probably completely incorrect, however.  In reality if the NEP had progressed in Soviet Russia a capitalist middle class would have developed. Where the country would have gone from there is unclear, but it wouldn't have been further into Communism.

Indeed, there's reason to look at modern Red China as a state employing what is essentially the NEP. The present leaders of that state have expressed the view that the NEP better represented what Communism was supposed to be about and have basically employed elements of it in their economy.  How that will play out for them remains to be seen.  At any rate, modern Red China's state run capitalism is similar to what the NEP imagined, and imagined would then go into full collective ownership.

Soviet gold backed note.  The NEP reintroduced gold backed currency in Soviet Russia.

The Constituent Assembly of Georgia held its last session, and then abandoned the country to the invading Soviet Union.

The British changed the Mandate for Palestine to allow for the creation of Transjordan, which is now Jordan.

The most successful Irish Republican Army raid in County Kerry occurred when the IRA ambushed a British troop train at Headford.  Like most IRA/British battles, there were low casualties.