Russia's Last Capitalists - by Alan M Ball Paperback

Book Synopsis

In 1921 Lenin surprised foreign observers and many in his own Party, by calling for the legalization of private trade and manufacturing. Within a matter of months, this New Economic Policy (NEP) spawned many thousands of private entrepreneurs, dubbed Nepmen. After delineating this political background, Alan Ball turns his attention to the Nepmen themselves, examining where they came from, how they fared in competition with the socialist sector of the economy, their importance in the Soviet economy, and the consequences of their "liquidation" at the end of the 1920s.

Alan Ball's history of this experiment with capitalism is strikingly relevant to current efforts toward economic reform in the USSR.

Review Quotes

"Alan M. Ball's study of the era in Soviet history of the New Economic Policy (NEP) appears at an unusually timely moment. Cooperative and individual enterprise has been legalized and leasing is to be recognized as a coequal form with state property in agriculture and industry. . . . NEP, not surprisingly, has returned as a subject of acute interest to contemporary Soviet policy makers. . . . Ball's book provides much valuable evidence on these matters. The gap it fills is a large one."--Thomas F. Remington, "American Historical Review

About the Author

Alan M. Ball is Associate Professor of History at Marquette University.