What legal rights did the New Economic Policy restore for private business and contracts?

The New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced by Vladimir Lenin in 1921, marked a significant shift in Soviet law by restoring the legal foundations necessary for a functioning market economy. Following the post-revolutionary destruction of the prerevolutionary legal structure, the NEP reestablished essential frameworks for private enterprise.1

Key legal rights restored under the NEP included:

• Business Formation: The government permitted the formation of private business entities, allowing for the return of most retail trade and small-scale light industry to private ownership and management.21
• Contract and Property Rights: To support these economic activities, Lenin ordered the drafting and enactment of a civil code modeled after western European civil law. This code provided the necessary legal protections for basic contract and property rights.1
• Enforcement: The state established a court system specifically tasked with enforcing these newly recognized rights and adjudicating disputes.1

These measures provided a temporary period of economic stability until the late 1920s, when the government under Joseph Stalin began to reverse these policies, nationalizing private businesses and reasserting total central control over the economy.21