After 1964

Question 1

What was reforms did Andropov introduce?

Answer 1

• Anti - corruption campaign: It investigated senior Party officials and industrial managers who were using Soviet resources to make themselves rich.
• Anti - alcohol campaign: shamed drunkenness, workers could be sacked for drunkenness.
• Operation Trawl: increased the use of the secret police.

Question 2

What were Kosygin’s Reforms?

Answer 2

Aim: To stimulate growth in light industry.
Tactic: Cut investment to inefficient farms and diverted the money towards light industry.
Successes: Improved incentives promoted the quality of goods. Provided greater freedom for managers.
Failures: Central planners did not agree with it. Caused a rebellion in Czechoslovakia so collapsed. (January - August 1968)

Question 3

What did Brezhnev do about socialism?

Answer 3

Dropped the idea of achieving socialism by 1980 due to slow economic growth and high military spending. Pushed for ‘developed socialism’.
Imported goods from the West to lower prices - goals not fulfilled but living standards improved.
85% had televisions by 1980 and 70% washing machines.

Question 4

What did Brezhnev do about military investment?

Answer 4

Increased military spending to 13%, increased the drain on Soviet resources.
The military - industrial complex made decisions without informing the Politburo. This resulted in Brezhnev being dragged into conflicts with the developing world.

Question 5

What was the ‘Second Economy’?

Answer 5

People began to call the black market the second economy.

Brezhnev accepted the sale of illegal sale, which improved living standards but hindered the economy.

Question 6

Why was there limited reform of the economy under Brezhnev?

Answer 6

Due to Khrushchev’s numerous past reforms and their failures, the idea of reform was discredited at least until the end of the 1970s.

Question 7

Why did the Soviet economy decline?

Answer 7

• After the 1950s, the golden age for the economy, stagnation occured from 1964 to 1985. During this period growth rates declined, military spending increased and the government was forced to import large amounts of grain to feed its own citizens. Inefficiency in the economy was also never solved.
• Legacy of the Stalinist System
• Problems inherent in a command economy
• The “social contract”: contract between government and workforce
• Lack of investment
• Outdated technology
• Dominance of the military-industrial complex