2B: Industry and Agriculture in the Stalin Era. Flashcards

1
Q

What were the aims of the Five Year Plans in Russia?

A
  • Combine central planning and large-scale investment to industrialise Russia.
  • Catch up to GB within 15 years.
  • Eliminate inefficiencies and corruption of N.E.P.
  • Defend Soviet territories through strengthening the economy.
  • Assertion of Stalin’s own authority.
  • 1st: 1928-32; 2nd: 1933-37; 3rd: 1938-41.
  • Use Gosplan to manage targets or every means of production.
  • Utilise propaganda to motivate the working population.
  • Ultimately became a command economy.
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2
Q

Outline the successes of the Five Year Plans in Russia.

A
  • Heavy industrial output increased drastically (e.g. 35.4 mill tons were produced in 1927 compared to 165.9 in 1940) as a result of the introduction of new factories.
  • Transport services improved, e.g. opening of Moscow Metro lines in 1935.
  • Labour productivity rose significantly, perhaps due to incentives and a propaganda scheme based around Alexei Stakhanov.
  • Prioritisation of arms production with war impending = rearmament: by 1940, 1/3 government income was dedicated to military production.
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3
Q

Outline the problems/failures of the Five Year Plans in Russia, 1928-41.

A
  • Low quality goods as quantity was prioritised over quality.
  • Lack of transport and communication led to inefficient use of products; as much as 40% of produce was wasted.
  • The purges had rid industry of many experts now needed to manage production.
  • Continual shortages of consumer goods due to poor planning, consideration and technical knowledge.
  • Similarly, living and working conditions were never prioritised
  • Black market trade still flourished.
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4
Q

What were the reasons and methods used for launching collectivisation in Russia.?

A
  • Communist ideology: advocated abolishing private trade and ownership as a means of efficiency, equality and commitment.
  • Failure of N.E.P. = ‘grain procurement crisis’ and potential opposition to the socialist model.
  • Stalin’s position would be made more secure by siding with Trotsky and the left, who wanted to end the N.E.P. as they held the most power in government.
  • Within a year of announcing full-scale collectivisation in 1929, Stalin claimed total success.
  • The re-introduction of grain requisitioning and rationing signalled the end of free trade and arguably helped fund industrialisation.
  • This stimulated class conflict, giving Stalin the excuse he needed to purge his opponents.
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5
Q

What were the consequences of collectivisation?

A
  • devastated agriculture, but released funds for industrialisation.
  • provoked protests among peasants in the form of destruction of crops, animals and machinery.
  • famine, often government created, as a result of failure to meet targets.
  • limited impact of mechanisation (75,000 tractors =/= 17 million horses).
  • increased grain procurement and exportation = starvation.
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6
Q

State the features of industry and agriculture in the USSR during and after WWII.

A
  • collective farms only around 3/4 productive as private farms = continual small harvests.
  • reliant on US imports for 1/5 calories consumed by the Red Army during WWII; rations continually decreased.
  • The Fourth Five Year Plan began recovery from the devastation of was; industrial output increased by 80% in the five years after WWII.
  • military spending continued to dominate government expenditure, meaning consumer goods continued to be scarce.
  • wages remained low; everyone able to was forced to work.
  • agriculture faced a return to the strict guidelines of the pre-war period.
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