The political unrest of 1920 and 1921, which produced turmoil in the countryside, in the city, and within the party itself, forced the Bolsheviks to change course. The move toward a new course was not easy in that it required a fundamental rethinking of the basic tenets of Bolshevism and socialist construction. Trotsky, for example, had introduced a proposal for the substitution of a tax-in-kind for requisitioning as early as February 1920, but only received four out of 15 votes within the Central Committee in support.¹ Even as late as December 1920 the All-Russian Congress of Soviets rejected a proposal for the introduction of a tax-in-kind on the grounds that it would betray the principles of Bolshevism and allow free trade, in other words, it would represent a retreat to capitalism.