War communism or wartime communism was the harsh economic policy adopted by Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. There were two main aims: To put Communist theories into practice by redistributing (giving out) wealth to the Russian people and to win the Civil War by keeping towns and the Red Army supplied with weapons and food. They inlude the following policies:
- All large factories to be controlled by the government.
- Production planned and organised by the government.
- Discipline for workers were strict and striker could be shot.
- Obligatory labor duty was imposed onto "non-working classes".
- prodrazvyorstka -- requisition of agricultural surpluses from peasants in excess of absolute minimum for centralized distribution among the remaining population.
- Food and most commodities were rationed and distributed in a centralized way.
- Private enterprise became illegal.
- Military-like control of railroads was introduced.
The term wartime communim was also reportedly in use during the Yugoslavian civil wars of nineteen nineties.