3.3 Economic Developments Flashcards
What was the Scissors Crisis of 1923?
This was the name for an incident which occurred during the New Economic Policy, where there was a widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices.
From 1913 to 1923:
Industrial prices were 276% higher.
Agricultural prices were only 89% of their original levels.
This meant that peasants struggle to afford manufactured goods as their income fell. This forced many peasants to just farm food for themselves, increasing fears of famine.
What was the Gosplan?
Formed in 1921, the Gosplan was a central board which planned the economy of the Soviet Union by outlining economic objectives.
What was the Grain Crisis of 1928?
This was referred to as the crisis of the NEP.
The Gosplan had assumed because 1925 and 1926 had exceeded grain expectations, there would be a greater amount of grain reserves in 1927.
Poor harvests in 1927 led to the targets for Grain reserves being missed by around 2 million tonnes.
This led to the end of the New Economic Policy (NEP).
Why was Stalin’s First Five Year Plan initiated?
Stalin wanted to initiate rapid industrialisation as it would correspond with his idea of Socialism in One Country.
The Grain Crisis had led to the failure of the NEP and so a replacement economic policy was needed.
What did Stalin’s First Five Year Plan include?
Rapid industrialisation, collective farming, grain requisition and cultural revolution.
Define Rapid Industrialisation.
Maximisation of production and efficiency output. 80% of the economy was focused on this.
Define Collective Farming.
Combining small private farms into larger state farms.
Define Cultural Revolution.
The hope that communism would begin to spread into more countries once Russia became more powerful.
What were the consequences of Stalin’s First Five Year Plan?
Kulaks rebelled against collectivisation, leading to their land being burnt and livestock slaughtered, which led to further food shortages.
Farmers struggled to feed themselves with the food leftover from the grain requisition.
There was an overall drop in living standards.
The education that people received was below par, leaving people unqualified for jobs.
