The New Economic Policy (NEP) was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control", while socialized state enterprises would operate on "a profit basis".
Reestablishment of a stable currency, the gold-backed chervonets, was an essential policy component of the Soviet state's return to a money-based economy
"Nepmen", caricature by Dmitry Kardovsky, 1920s
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. It was the largest country in the world by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with twelve countries. A successor state to the Russian Empire, the country was nominally organized as a federal union of fifteen national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR; in practice both its government and economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was the world's third-most populous country and Europe's most populous country. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was a flagship communist state. Its capital as well its largest city was Moscow. Other highly urbanized centers were Leningrad, Kiev, Tashkent and Baku.
Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union and the leader of the Bolsheviks
Leon Trotsky, founder of the Red Army and a key figure in the October Revolution
Lenin, Trotsky and Kamenev celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution
Dissolution of the elected Russian Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks on 6 January 1918