5 Year Plans

Question 1

Gosplan

Answer 1

A state planning agency to ensure that the economic objectives of the 5 year plans were met

Question 2

Communist government’s control over Gosplan

Answer 2

They had the final say in how high the targets should be

Question 3

Issue with Gosplan’s information

Answer 3

Lack of reliable information over the cost of imports and exports

Question 4

Targets set by Gosplan

Answer 4

Very ambitious

Question 5

Reason why targets were ambitious

Answer 5

Intended to force managers and workers to devote their maximum efforts to the programme

Question 6

Why was there misinformation from the managers

Answer 6

Failure to achieve a target was deemed as a criminal offence, so those who administering the statistics ensured that targets showed significant improvement

Question 7

Aims of the First 5 year plan

Answer 7

Boost production by 300%, develop heavy industry, boost electricity production and double the output from the light industry

Question 8

Target of coal compared to actual total

Answer 8

75 million tonnes, when in reality 35.4 million was produced

Question 9

Successes of the First 5 year plan

Answer 9

Despite no major targets being met, it saw impressive growth in heavy industry with coal and iron doubling and electricity doubling

Question 10

Technological advancements mad because of First Five Year Plan

Answer 10

Engineering plants, HEP scheme and industrial complexes sprung up

Question 11

Failures of the First 5 Year Plan

Answer 11

Non of the extremely ambitious targets were met
Living conditions got significantly worse, housebuilding and food processing were neglected and smaller works lost out to bigger factories

Question 12

Second 5 Year Plan aims

Answer 12

Continue the development of the heavy industry, promote growth of the light industries, develop communications, and give more attention to consumer goods

Question 13

Successes of the Second 5 Year Plan

Answer 13

Steel production trebled to reach its target production, coal production doubled, USSR was self sufficient in metal goods and machine tools by 1937

Question 14

Technological advancements made from the Second 5 Year Plan

Answer 14

Moscow Metro 1935, Volga Canal 1937 and Dnieprostroi Dam was made the largest dam in Europe

Question 15

Failures of the Second 5 Year Plan

Answer 15

Oil production failed to meet its target, no appreciable increase in consumer goods, more emphasis on quantity rather than quality

Question 16

Aims of the Third 5 Year Plan

Answer 16

Promote rapid rearmament and complete the transition to communism

Question 17

Successes of the Third 5 Year Plan

Answer 17

Heavy industry continued to grow, advances in machinery and engineering, spending doubled on rearmament between 1938 and 1940

Question 18

Issue with spending so much on rearmament

Answer 18

Led to stagnation of other industries such as steel production

Question 19

Failures of Third 5 Year Plan

Answer 19

Oil failed to meet targets leading to a fuel crisis, reduction in specialists and technicians following Stalin’s purged, plan was disrupted because of German invasion

Question 20

Dates of the First 5 Year Plan

Answer 20

1928-32

Question 21

Dates of the Second 5 Year Plan

Answer 21

1933-37

Question 22

Dates of the Third 5 Year Plan

Answer 22

1938-42

Question 23

Dneiprostroi Dam

Answer 23

A hydroelectric power station opened in 1932 which powered steel and aluminium production
Was one of the largest power plants in the world at the time

Question 24

The Turksib Railway

Answer 24

A railway which connected Central Asia with Siberia which facilitated the transport of cotton and grain
Was built by nearly 50,000 workers

Question 25

Moscow Metro

Answer 25

First underground railway system in the USSR which introduced massive campaigns to employ unskilled labourers to work on it

Question 26

Moscow Volga Canal

Answer 26

A canal built by prisoners from the Dmitlag Labour camp which became the largest of its kind in 1934
Employed 200,000 prisoners

Question 27

Magnitogorsk

Answer 27

A gigantic steel part and a town of 150,000 people created from nothing

Question 28

Komsomolsk

Answer 28

A city generated from shipyard constructions and was built largely by the Communist Youth Organisation, Komsomol

Question 29

How did Henry Ford help the USSR in industrialisation

Answer 29

He advised on the car industry, trained Russian engineers in the US and helped to design the car plant at Gorky

Question 30

Foreign involvement on the Dnieprostroi Dam

Answer 30

Used experience gained from the construction of hydroelectric power stations in Canada

Question 31

Prize awarded to American Engineers for the work on the Dnieprostroi Dam

Answer 31

6 American Engineers were awarded the ‘Order of the Red Banner of Labour’

Question 32

Foreign involvement in the Moscow Metro

Answer 32

British consultants were used and based off the model of the London Underground

Question 33

Removal of foreign intervention

Answer 33

Secret police arrested numerous British Engineers working in Moscow because they had an in-depth knowledge of the city’s geographical layout

Question 34

Aleksei Stakhanov

Answer 34

A coal miner in the Don Basin who cut 102 tonnes of coal with his pneumatic pick in 5 hours and 45 minutes

Question 35

Propaganda of Aleksei Stakhanov

Answer 35

He was declared a soviet hero and a given a large bonus and rewards
Seen as the model for all workers and sprung bout competition