On the day of the first assault on Kronstadt, on March 8, the 10th Congress of the RCP (b) opened its meetings. The coincidence of these events was not accidental, there was a certain political calculation behind it. By the end of the first day of the congress was supposed to make a statement on the elimination of the uprising. The Bolshevik leaders were well aware of the need to adjust the course - the relevant documents began to be developed at the end of 1920. The government did not want to accept the demands of the Kronstadters, which were to eliminate the monopoly power of the RCP (b), and tried to suppress this kind of mood by force.

In the resolution adopted by the congress, it was noted that "the layout as a way of state procurement of food, raw materials and fodder is replaced by a natural tax." All food reserves remaining with the peasant after the tax, were at his disposal. This decision contributed to the promotion of the personal initiative of the peasantry. It is not by chance that V.I. Lenin, speaking at the congress, emphasized that "only an agreement with the peasantry can save the socialist revolution before the revolution in other countries".

By the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of March 28, 1921, a grain tax was set at 240 million pounds (“with an average yield”) instead of 423 million pounds of the schedule for 1920. It was supposed to receive an additional 160 million pounds in addition to trade and money. the most planned minimum required for consumption, up to 400 million pounds.

The preservation of the "bond" between the peasantry and the proletariat, with the help of which they managed to defend the Soviet power during the years of the civil war, was proclaimed the basis of NEP. The period of the new economic policy was not the time of the boundless freedom of private capitalist entrepreneurship . The government considered as its task the preservation of the state economic sector created in the post-revolutionary years - the nationalized industry. State property, participating in the market competition, had to remain unshakable and to be protected from possible encroachments of denationalization.

The 10th Congress of the RCP (B.) Also adopted a resolution “On Party Unity,” which spoke of the dangers and inadmissibility of “any factionalism”. The congress ordered to dissolve all the groups formed on one or another platform. Failure to comply with this resolution entailed "immediate expulsion from the party. The appearance of this resolution was associated with the discussion of trade unions that began in 1920 - early 1921 and the presentation of the" workers' opposition "(A. G. Shlyapnikov, S. P. Medvedev, A. M. Kollontai.

The ideological and political platform of this group was most fully set forth in the Kollontai brochure “Workers' Opposition.” It proposed transferring the management of the entire national economy to the “All-Russian Congress of Manufacturers” united in trade unions. industry had to be concentrated in the relevant trade unions. The latter were given the right to elect all governing bodies. At the 10th congress, the “workers' opposition” numbered 45 delegates and continued to defend its own: views, but was defeated. Those of the opposition members who did not stop their activities, a year later, at the XI Congress of the RCP (b), were expelled from the party.

The decision to move to NEP was accompanied by the concern of the Bolshevik leadership over the change in the social composition of party members. So, if in 1917, workers accounted for more than 60% of the total number of the RSDLP (b), then by 1921 - only 41%. During this same time, the percentage of peasants in the party grew from 7.6% to 28.2%, which meant the erosion of the social base of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In order to strengthen the ranks of the RCP (b) and free them from alien elements (including some opposition figures), a party purge was proclaimed.

On July 27, 1921, the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) Published an appeal in Pravda "To all party organizations. On cleansing the party." The task was set to free the party ranks from the kulak-compatriots and petty-bourgeois elements from peasants and county inhabitants, and also to show particular severity in relation to Soviet employees - people from the bourgeois intelligentsia. People from other parties were singled out to a special category subject to the most thorough scrutiny. The most "sticky disease" was declared Menshevism. The first stage of the party cleansing took place during the second half of 1921, as a result of which the proletarian core of the party increased to 44.4% of the total composition of the RCP (B). More than 1/3 of those excluded from the party were a passive element in their organizations.

They were expelled for "instability", "loafer", "as an unnecessary element" or applied to them the characteristic "doubtful", "hesitant", "ballast", "unprepared", etc. Almost 25% were cleaned for " to discredit the Soviet government "," shkurnichestvo "," careerism "," drunkenness "," bourgeois way of life "," disintegration in everyday life. " A common phenomenon was the expulsion from the party for religious beliefs, bribery, blackmail.

Among those who voluntarily left the Communist Party during the purge (3.1%) were also those who thus expressed their disagreement with the new economic policy. As a result, after the census of members of the RCP (b), held in the spring of 1922, it became clear that in quantitative terms the detachment of the Bolshevik party was significantly reduced - from 732 thousand in March 1921 to 410 thousand at the beginning of 1922.

The essence of NEP in the consciousness of a significant part of the country's population did not enter immediately. In September 1921, a circular was circulated to the localities signed by the secretary of the Central Committee of the RKP (b) V.M. Molotov, which emphasized that "our new economic course is still far from being adopted not only by broad strata of workers, but also by individual party members workers. Some comrades from the field, "complained Mo-lots," did not quite understand the basics of the new economic policy. "

Attention of the party organs in 1921-1922 It was aimed at strengthening its influence in emerging private enterprises. In just one year, more than 10,000 of them arose. Often, enterprises have become the property of the former owners for a period of 2 to 5 years instead of 10-15% of their products. An attempt was made at every private enterprise to form a party collective, which should, in the event of a strike at a leased factory, develop and maintain workers' demands.