Municipal economy and private capital in Petrograd during the transition to the NEP

The article is devoted to the study of the changes that occurred in the municipal economy of Petrograd during the transition to the NEP. Nationalized, subsidized sector of the economy passed on a commercial basis, communal economic executives have been forced to recruit private capital. This research was done on the materials of Petrograd, as all processes in its extensive municipal economy are most acutely manifested. Subdivision of business enterprises of the Department of municipal economy of Petrograd provincial executive committee was among a few companies where private contractors were allowed to be recruited. A lot of materials of this subdivision can be found in the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg (CGA SPb), they have not attracted the attention of researchers yet. The archival documents and published sources gave the opportunity for the author to present information on new procedures in the organization of public utilities and relation to them of the city government during the transition to the NEP. City cleaning, sewage disposal, municipal baths and funeral business are taken as the examples to show the changes in government policy in relation to private capital that were strongly opposed by the Soviet leaders. Private entrepreneurs, set out in adverse conditions, worked out their survival tactics, which were not always legitimate. This increased the distrust from the Soviet authorities. Elements of market economy and private initiatives, which were admitted in municipal economy, confronted with the communist ideology of power. It was very difficult to put them together. That was one of the major conflicts of the NEP.