33 - Economic Developments, 1945-64 Flashcards
What did most Russians hope for after the hardship and suffering experienced in wartime? What Plan was returned?
Better quality of life
Five-Year Plans
What did Russia want to rebuild after 1945? Why did they want to rearm?
The economy
For the Cold War
What 2 areas were given priority in the Five-Year Plans?
Heavy industry
Defence
What 2 areas were ignored in the new Five-Year Plan?
Consumer goods
Infrastructure
How many towns had the War destroyed? How many villages?
1,710 towns
70,000 villages
How many factories had the War destroyed? How many collective farms had stopped working?
30,000 factories
100,000 farms
What 2 industries were rebuilt after 1945? What reopened?
Factories
Steel works
Mines
What 2 areas of production passed 1940 levels post-war?
Coal
Steel
What weapon was tested by Russia in 1949? Who did this show that the Soviet Union was catching up with?
Atomic bomb
US
In what 2 factors was the new Five-Year Plan achieved?
Longer hours
Harsh discipline
What did the prison camps provide for the workforce? How much did the population rise from 1945 to 1950?
Unpaid labour
500,000 to 1 million
Where did peasants continue to be squeezed of their resources?
Countryside
How much of peasants’ grain did the state take? Why was this an issue?
70%
They could barely feed themselves
Who paid low prices for grain? What 2 things saw grain exports increase so they could be paid for?
Peasants
Industry
Military
Where did famine take place again in 1946-47? Approximately how many people died?
Countryside
Over a million
What standards did Khrushchev recognise needed to be raised? What did he need to tackle?
Living standards
Poverty
What shortage was present in Russia? What advancement did Khrushchev want to bring to Russia that previous leaders promised?
Housing shortage
Material advancement
What pay did Khrushchev increase for peasants? What did he cut?
Grain payments
Taxes
What was the name of the big house-building programme Khrushchev developed?
The “Virgin Lands” scheme
What shortages did the Virgin Lands scheme want to solve? What would be developed to do this?
Chronic food shortages
Developing uncultivated land in Siberia and Kazakhstan
How many people were mobilised to go East and and become pioneers of the Virgin Lands scheme? Who were most of these people?
300,000
Young party enthusiasts
How did the Virgin Lands scheme appear initially? How much did grain production rise from 1954 to 1958?
Successful
75%
What was an issue with most of the uncultivated land in the Virgin Lands scheme? What was it subject to?
It was on the edge of deserts
Drought
What was an issue with the soil used in the Virgin Lands scheme?
It wasn’t properly prepared or fertilised
What happened to the top soil used in the Virgin Lands scheme? What erosion was it subject to?
It became arid
Wind erosion
How could the planning of the Virgin Lands scheme be described? How was it implemented?
Poorly
Too hastily
How could the management of the Virgin Lands scheme be described?
Ineffective and inefficient
Who suffered with poor housing during the Virgin Lands scheme? What happened as enthusiasm waned?
Volunteers
Many drifted back to the comfortable city life
Why did the Soviet Union have to import large amounts of grain from North America in 1963?
To avoid famine
What did Khrushchev recognise the need for within Russia’s industry? What development was emphasised?
Modernisation
Technological development
Who did Khrushchev want the Soviet Union to “catch up with and overtake” in industry? What ideology did he want to prove worked?
“Catch up with and overtake America”
Communism
In what 2 industrial resources did investment increase? What goods production increased?
Oil
Natural gas
Consumer goods
Whose economy was Russia’s economy growing faster than by the late 1950s? What did the Soviets launch into orbit in 1957, the first ever?
US
Satellite
Why was Soviet prestige increased in 1961? What was the name of this man?
Russia launched the first man to space in history
Yuri Gagarin
Who gained more control from Khrushchev’s reorganisation of management? How many factories were transferred from central government to regional government?
Producers
11,000
What did regional devolution measures strengthen? What did this come at the expense of?
The Communist Party
Economic ministries in Moscow
Whose power and control was strengthened by devolution? What did increasing costs in defence and space cause in the early 1960s?
Khrushchev’s control
Slow growth
What does Historian Edward Acton believe the growth in agricultural production leave behind?
“The growth in agricultural production left the stagnation of Stalinism behind”
