AL topic 1 facts Flashcards
when did Stalin announce the first 5 year plan and collectivisation?
at the 15th Party Congress in December 1927, marking the end of the NEP
who disagreed with the abandonment of the NEP?
Buhkarin and the right wing of the party
how many peasants were in collective or state farms in mid 1929?
less than 5%
what did Stalin announce in January 1930?
that around 25% of the grain producing areas were to be collectivised by the end of the year
what were the reasons for the ‘Great Turn’?
- increase military strength
- achieve self-sufficiency
- increase grain supplies
- move towards a socialist society
- establish Stalin’s own credentials
- improve standards of living
what was different about Stalin’s economic schemes in comparison to Lenin’s?
the scale and thoroughness
what were the three main types of collective farm?
- the toz
- the sovkhoz
- the kolhkoz
what was the toz?
where peasants owned their land but shared machinery and co-operated in activities like sowing and harvesting. more common before 1930
what was the sovkhoz?
owned and run by the state. The peasants who worked on this state farm were paid a regular wage
what was the kolhkoz?
where all the land was held in common and run by an elected committee. To form one 50-100 houses were put together
what were machine and tractor stations (MTS)?
- established to support collective farms.. They maintained and hired out machinery
- also used to control the countryside. Each MTS had a political department whose job was to root out anti-soviet elements and troublemakers
how many MTS’s were established to support collective farms?
2500
what did Stalin announce in December 1929?
the liquidation of the kulaks as a class
who were the ‘Twenty-Five Thousanders?’
an army of 25,000 urban party activists enlisted by Stalin to help to revolutionise the countryside by rooting out the kulaks and persuading poor peasants to sign a register demanding to be collectivised
what was done with the Kulaks?
they were divided into 3 categories:
- counter-revolutionaries who were to be shot or sent to forced labour settlements
- active opponents of collectivisation were deported often to Siberia
- those who were expelled from their farms and settled on poor land
what is the Holodomor genocide question?
attempts to determine whether the Holodomor, a 1933 man-made famine that killed 4 million people in Ukraine, was an ethnic genocide or an unintended results of the Soviet regime’s re-direction of already drought-reduced grain supplies
did collectivisation succeed in its main aim?
yes- it provided resources for industrialisation
how many people were deported to Siberia or labour camps through collectivisation?
up to 10 million people
by how much did the grain harvest fall during collectivisation?
from 73.3 million tonnes in 1928 to 67.6m in 1934
by how much did the state procurement levels of grain rise during collectivisation?
from 10.8m tonnes in 1928 to 22.8 in 1931
by how much did exports rise during collectivisation?
from 0.03 million tones of grain in 1928 to 5.06m tonnes in 1931
how much did livestock fall during collectivisation?
- cows- 70.5m in 1928 to 38.4m in 1933
- pigs- 26m in 1928 to 11.6m in 1932
- sheep and goats 146.7m in 1928 to 50.2m in 1933
how many peasants were dispossessed between 1929 and 1932?
10 million of which 2-3 million died
what was the consequence of the removal of the kulaks?
lost agriculture its best and most skilled farmers
how much resistance was there to collectivisation?
- 30,000 arson attacks 1929-30
- 229 mass disturbances in the second half of 1930 alone
how many lorries were there by 1938?
196k. But this compares to over 1 million in the US
how many peasant households were in collectives by 1934 and 1936?
70% in 1934 rising to 96% in 1936
what years did the first 5 year plan run?
October 1928 to December 1932
what years did the second five year plan run?
January 1933 to December 1937
how much did industrial outputs increase as a result of the 5 year plans?
- coal production from 35.5m tonnes in 1928 to 165.9m tonnes in 1940
- copper production from 30 thousand tonnes in 1929 to 160.9 thousand in 1940
- electric power from 5 billion kWh in 1928 to 48.3 billion kWh in 1940
who were the people’s Commissariats?
people responsible for working out detailed plans for different regions and enterprises under their control
what was Magnitogorsk?
a new industrial city intended to showcase socialism in action. It was a big steel plant and town of 150k people
what was the Moscow Metro?
the first underground railway system in the USSR. It was a second five year plan project designed to help Moscow deal with rapid industrialisation as peasants moved from the countryside to the city.
when was the Moscow Metro built?
between 1932-1937
What was the Dnieprostroi Dam?
powered aluminium and steel production in nearby new industrial centres. A dam that generated hydro-electric power
when was the Dnieprostroi Dam constructed?
from 1927-1932
what was the Moscow-Volga canal?
a 128km canal connecting the Moskva River to the Volga River. It made the Moskva river navigable by ships
how was the Moscow-Volga canal built?
by 200k prisoners from the Dmitlag labour camp. Of which 22k died
when was the Moscow-Volga canal built?
from 1932-1937
what measure were brought in from 1930-1933 to deal with absentees?
- dismissal
- eviction from factory owned homes or loss of various benefits
- prison sentences
- wage differentials introduced to reward those who worked more
when did absenteeism become a crime?
1940
when was the labour book issued?
1938
what forced labour occured?
- 300k prisoners worked on Baltic-White sea Canal, many of them Kulaks
- After April 1930 all criminals sentenced to more than 3 years were sent to labour camps to provide cheap labour
what increasing pressures did managers face?
- by 1936 the number of new workers coming int industry had declined by 2/3 because of better living conditions on collective farms and drafting into armed forces
- military was given priority in the allocation of resources
who was Alexei Stakhanov?
a drill operator who cut 102 tonnes of coal, 16x the norm amount in a shift. Claimed he had the world record for productivity and rewarded with 200 roubles and many other benefits like an apartment.
when did the Stakhanov movements begin?
September 1933
what % of women made up the 5YP workforce?
44%
what were living conditions like during the 5YP?
worse:
- living space fell from 8.5m2 to 5.8m2
- 25% of families were living in one room shared by other families
- 5% of families lived in a bathroom, kitchen, corridor or hallway
