Brezhnev's Economic Reforms

Question 1

what did brezhnev abandon the attempts of & how did this take place?

Answer 1

making agriculture more productive = power returned to ministry of agriculture, virgin lands scheme dropped but still heavy investment in agriculture (1976 - 26% of investment was in it)

Question 2

what did brezhnev’s agricultural stuff cause?

Answer 2

steady rise in overall production but decline in worker productivity - large & unskilled workforce, equipment & machinery often broke down, most food rotted before it reached the market

Question 3

what did brezhnev do instead to get grain?

Answer 3

bought it from abroad using oil revenues which is WILD considering it has some of the best farmland in the world!!!

Question 4

kosygin reforms

Answer 4

• 1965 = alexei kosygin, prime minister, launched reforms aiming to unleash creativity in decision making & improve productivity - gave incentives to managers to use their resources more productively & make central planning more aware of cost & profit rather than quantity over quality

Question 5

why was little achieved with the kosygin reforms?

Answer 5

the central planners disliked reforms which made them accountable for policies they had less control over - brezhnev sympathised with the conservatives & sabotaged the reforms by watering them down to the point that they were ineffective

Question 6

why was the industrial industry inefficient & unproductive?

Answer 6

• bonuses for output were higher than bonuses for innovation so managers preferred to stick to quantity over quality

Question 7

why was there growth of corruption & the black market?

Answer 7

• large amounts of materials were stolen from state enterprises & diverted into private production for the black market (dress example)
• andropov tried to fix this but he died 2 years after coming into power

Question 8

what was the social contract?

Answer 8

an unspoken agreement between workers & the government that it would provide employment & reasonable living standards in return for workers’ compliance

Question 9

consumer goods

Answer 9

rate of growth higher than any other industry, targets weren’t met but still impressive AS PART OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT….

Question 10

consumer goods stat

Answer 10

by 1980, 85% of families had TVs
70% had washing machines
9% had a car but public transport was heavily invested in

Question 11

andropov’s attempted reforms

Answer 11

• instead of changing the system he believed it could work with a tougher, more disciplined approach
• focused on corruption removal from within the system (production figures being faked to meet targets)