October 01, 2018 Monday
Bedtime Story
What Lenin would have Wished
When Lenin had introduced the NEP, he had
it planned to keep it active for much longer time; in his very own words “The
NEP is in earnest and very long term”.
From this it can easily be surmised that
had Lenin lived longer he would definitely have continued it far beyond 1929
making the necessary changes/adjustments as the circumstances demanded on the
way.
He undoubtedly (to my mind) would have
pushed for massive nation-wide industrialization as that was indeed the need of
the hour (mind you that the entire West had already industrialized the century
before) but without the collectivization of agriculture that the Leftist Stalin
opted for.
It must be stressed that in spite of his
NEP ideologically Lenin was never in favor of free economy and private
enterprise as is seen from his statement: “We are taking one step backward, to
take two steps forward later.”
This only implied that he viewed capitalism
and free market as a necessary evil that had to be born through to achieve the
necessary conditions that would eventually allow socialism to prevail in this
vast nation and gradually (as he dreamt) all over the world.
All that I can surmise from these past
events that it was just a matter of historical chance that conditions at that
time in that nation of Soviet Russia simply did not exist for capitalism to
prevail and flourish.
The opportunity for free market and trade
came and went though it itself is surprising that under the Red Bolsheviks and
Lenin in particular it actually got a chance to put its feet inside the walls
of the early Soviet Union.
Perhaps this little table will show why
Lenin was left with very little options but to sacrifice his much cherished
ideological economical system.
The exchange rate of British Pound in
contemporary rubles is a fascinating study of the hyperinflation and the
complete debauchery of the Soviet ruble that was taking place in those years
before and when NEP was launched.
Date Value of British pound
in rubles
1918 I quarter 45
1918 II quarter 60
1918 III quarter 80
1918 IV quarter 150
1919 I quarter 400
1919 II quarter 900
1919 III quarter 1,200
1919 IV quarter 3,000
1920 I quarter 6,000
1920 II quarter 10,000
If this looks bad, just wait till you see
the inflation and devaluation for the ruble starting in 1922.
Just keep the figure of 10,000 in your head
for 24 hours.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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