October 1917: How it all went wrong

Summary Following the Russian Revolution and the storming of the Winter Palace – which took place 100 years ago today (Gregorian calendar) – the Bolsheviks attempted a radical social and economic transformation of Russia. However, by the early 1920s, mass shortages and hyperinflation had arrived. This saw the abandonment of the command economy and the introduction of the New Economic Policy NEP. The experience of the 1920s stimulated a