In the 1918-1920, the policy of military communism was implemented in Polotsk, as well as throughout the country. The members of the food detachments operating in the Polotsk region requisitioned from the peasants for the needs of the troops and the maintenance of the workers' surpluses of bread and other products. The county “Sovnarkom” took under strict accounting all the products of industrial enterprises. Provision of workers and employees was carried out on cards. By the beginning of 1919, 25 enterprises had been nationalized. The estates of the landlords became the property of the state.
As a result of the German and Polish occupation, Polotsk was destroyed by 75%. The equipment of almost all industrial enterprises was disrupted. Medicines, clothes, food and goods, money were sent to the city from the state as aid. An emergency commission was established to guide the restoration of the city, the citizens worked as volunteers. The restoration of the power station and a brick factory was in the priority. From November 1920 to March 1923, the construction of a railway bridge across the Western Dvina was conducted. Almost all types of work were done manually.
The policy of military communism in 1921 was replaced by a new economic policy, private shops, workshops, canteens, and furnished rooms began to open.
According to the census conducted in late 1920 more than 18.5 thousand people lived in Polotsk.