Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
34 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
What was one of the key features of Stalin' industrial policy? |
Centralised economic planning of industry, whereas under the NEP state-owned industries had a considerable amount of autonomy |
|
|
What were the aims of the Five Year Plans? |
- The primary objective was to industrialise Russia by combining centralised planning with large-scale investment - S believed the USSR was 100 years behind USA and UK and that it could catch up in 15 years - Wanted to eliminate the inefficiencies of the NEP e.g. nepmen, small scale - Feared Germany would invade and needed to produce weapons for a modern war - S wanted to assert his own authority by iitiating a new phase of building socialism |
|
|
The 3 Five Year Plans |
- First Five Year Plan October 1928 to December 1932 - Second Five Year Plan January 1933 to December 1937 - Third Five Year Plan January 1938 to June 1941 |
|
|
Why was the first five year plan cut short? |
Due to problems with the plan |
|
|
Why was the third five year plan cut short? |
Due to German invasion of the USSR |
|
|
The nature of the plans |
- Gosplan (central economic agency) formulated production targets for every mine, factory and workshop in the USSR - Massive propaganda campaigns focused on the objectives, celebrated the successes, claimed the plans had led to the destruction of capitalism and described the modern, industrial future that the plans would create - There was no attempt to ensure the factories had the resources they needed to reach their targets - There were no clear ideas what the goods would be used for |
|
|
What is Stalin's economy known better as rather than a planned economy? |
A command economy |
|
|
Achievements 1928 - 1941 - Heavy Industry |
- Production of iron, steel, coal, oil and electricity all increased massively - It was the biggest success of the first 3 plans - Coal - 35.40 million tons (1927) to 165.9 million tons (1940) - Steel - 4 million tons (1927) to 18.3 million tons (1940) - Achieved in part due to building new factories |
|
|
Achievements 1928 - 1941 - Transport |
- The Moscow Metro's first lines opened in 1935 - The Moscow-Volga Canal was constructed 1932 to 1937 - The Metro - travel more easily - Canal - more efficient transportation of goods |
|
|
Achievements 1928 - 1941 - Labour Productivity |
- Soviet workers were significantly less productive than Britain and USA, for example - 1st 5 Yr Plan - due to long hours, low pay and lack of incentive - Addressed through a nationwide initiative introduced in 1935 which authorised higher pay and rewards for high productivity - Electricity production productivity up 51% |
|
|
Achievements 1928 - 1941 - Rearmament |
- As war approached, eco planners increasingly prioritised arms production - By 1940, 1/3 government spending was devoted to rearmament - The plans led to the construction of 9 military aircraft factories 1939-1941 - Shortages of quality materials, e.g. steel, held up arms production |
|
|
Problems with the plans |
- Despite industrialising the economy, the plans proved a very inefficient way of industrialising - There were problems in specific areas of the economy - There were systemic problems with the Stalinist model of economic planning |
|
|
Production problems |
- Production quality was often low - The plans set targets for quantity not quality - Little co-ordination between factories - Not specified what materials should be used for and therefore decayed in storage - Lack of transport in first years made problems worse - Plans were disorganised and undermined by stalin's other policies |
|
|
Production problems - disorganisation |
- plan took months tp be published - the great terror had purged industrial managers and eco planners - due to stalin's terror attacking officials at gosplan the 3rd 5 year plan was never finished - For the periods during the 1st and 3rd plans the soviet economy had a planned economy but no plan |
|
|
Production problems - undermining of policies |
- the effectiveness of the plans was undermined by unrealistic targets set by Gosplan - industrial managers were under enormous pressure and therefore lied about figuresand production levels - as effective planning relies on accurate data, false data made eco management even harder |
|
|
Production problems - Historian Donald Filtzer |
- These problems meant that Soviet economic growth was 'self-consuming' - Economic growth was so inefficient that it consumed extremely high levels of resources that could otherwise have been used to improve quality of life of citizens |
|
|
Consumer goods |
- Heavy industry and defence was prioritised resulting in shortages of consumer goods - Planners underestimated the needs of consumers - Producing more complex consumer goods required more sophisticated techniques which the economy lacked - Tried to manage to problem through rationing however they were so scarce that minimun level of rations couldn't even be reached |
|
|
Housing and living conditions |
- The plans required a huge increase in urban workforce however necessary housing was never built - Most houses built lacked running water and bathhouses were scarce - No bathhouse for 650,000 people in Liubertsy - Magnitogorsk was built for US specialists then Magnitogorsk managers - The majority of the workers lived in wooden shacks, tents and mud huts - A better standard of living was never a key objective |
|
|
The Black Market |
- The plans failed to end the free market - Shortages of materials led to the growth of a thriving black market - Workers would steal goods and material from their workplaces and sell to the highest bidders |
|
|
The causes of collectivisation |
- Communist ideology - The failure of the NEP - The leadership struggle |
|
|
The causes of collectivisation - communist ideology |
- Communists believed private property was one of the foundations of capitalism - Communists believed larger farms were likely to be more efficient than smaller farms as expertise and equipment could be shared |
|
|
The causes of collectivisation - The failure of the NEP |
- Until 1926, the NEP had led to rising agricultural production however in 1927 and 1928 it was lower than 1926 - More was being produced than needed which therefore lowered prices - 'the grain procurement crisis' - food supplies decreased whilst there were higher profit for farmers (right wing) - 'the kulak grain strike' - kulaks were putting their own profits ahead of the USSR's need to industrialise (left wing) - Many communists therefore felt the NEP needed to be replaced |
|
|
The causes of collectivisation - The leadership struggle |
- At the end of 1927, Stalin and Bukharin defeated Z, K and T - Z, K and T (the United Opposition) had advocated a radical left-wing policy of collectivisation adn rapid industrialisation and their expulsion meant the left wing had no leader - Moving to the left, Stalin hoped to gain support and he did (gained a majority in the Central Committee) |
|
|
Introducing collectivisation |
- In 1928, Stalin didn't introduce full scale collectivisation however he did become bolder as his new policies won support in the Party - In late 1929, he ordered full scale collectivisation - By 1930, he claimed 100% success |
|
|
Introducing collectivisation - Emergency measures |
- July 1928 - NEP ended - Stalin ordered the Red Army and the Cheka to end the 'kulak grain strike' by requisitioning grain from the peasants - This grain would then feed the workers and sold overseas to fund industrialisation |
|
|
Dekulakisation |
- Peasants resisted the reintroduction of requisitioning with violence, by hiding grain and even destroying it - Stalin claimed that this was an attack on socialism by kulaks - Dekulakisation involved mass deportations and killings of all peasants who resisted government policies - 1.5 million peasant were sent to labour camps |
|
|
Collectivisation |
- Introduced in late 1929 - Farms were forcibly merged and equipment was taken from richer peasants for poorer peasants - Peasant on collective farms were allowed to keep a small amount of grain to live on - The rest of the grain was used to feed workers in the cities or sold abroad |
|
|
The consequences of collectivisation 1929 - 1934 |
- It devastated Soviet agriculture but helped fund industrialisation - Peasants would rather destroy their farms than hand them over to the government (crops, animals and machinery) - Grain production decreased - Ukrainian farmers couldn't reach targets and fiercely resisted collectivisation. Stalin punished by seizing grain and livestock = famine - 5 million died in the famine and Stalin wanted to use it to destroy resistance - Mechanisation - Grain procurement |
|
|
Grain procurement |
1928 - government procured 10.8 million tons of grain from peasants 1933 - 22.6 million tons |
|
|
Long term consequences of collectivisation |
- Grain harvests decreased - Collective farms produced less than private - Collective farms - 320kg grain per hectare - Private farms - 410kg per hectare - Farming was unstable and failed to meet the needs of the citizens and the army during WW2 |
|
|
Agriculture during WW2 |
- Soviet government relied on US imports - Harvests declined by half - Potato rations fell 80% |
|
|
The USSR after the war |
- Destroyed almost all of the economic progress made during the first 3 five year plans - 25 million were homeless - Industry was producing 2/3 less than in 1940 |
|
|
The Fourth Five Year Plan 1945 - 1950 |
- 88% investment into heavy industry - Industrial output increased 80% - Coal (165 m tons to 261 m tons) - The Cold War (1946) expanded soviet military and increased military spending - Production of consumer goods doubled - Only 12% investment in consumer goods and food production - Wages were kept low - Housing shortages, instead construction of factories |
|
|
Post-war agriculture |
- Suffered severe shortages of resources and workers 1946 - 1949 - Stalin ordered an end to private farming - 1952 - grain production reached pre-war levels |
