Changes in Industry Flashcards
1
Q
What were the three main motives for rapid industrialisation?
A
- Industrial stagnation under NEP - scissors crisis
- Ideological motives - Marx taught Socialist countries = industrialised, with industry under control of workers – USSR needed to follow this
- Stalin’s Political Motives - Bukharin supported NEP + was against rapid industrialisation. As problems arose in NEP - Stalin argued for rapid industrialisation - undermined Bukharin
2
Q
what was the scissor crisis
A
as food prices dropped, peasants had less money to buy manufactured goods –> industrial production could not grow without a market
3
Q
What was Gosplan?
A
- The organisation responsible for** setting targets for all the key industries**
- 1928-1937 set up 5,000 new factories
- Putting emphasis on quantity not quality
- enormous pressure in mangers + workers to deliver targets
- If workers and managers met targets –> rewarded with higher wages
4
Q
what was the general aim of the 5 year plans
A
rapid industrialisation on enormous scale
5
Q
When was the 1st 5 year plan and what was its focus?
A
- 1928-1932
- focus on increased heavy industry e.g. steelmaking, engineering, chemicals
6
Q
When was the 2nd 5 year plan and what was its focus?
A
- 1933-1937
- Also focused on increase output of heavy industry
- Greater efficiency
- Increased consumer product output
7
Q
When was the 3rd 5 year plan and what was its focus?
A
- 1938-1941
- focus on military production
- focus on improvement to education
8
Q
Who was Alexei Stakhanov?
A
- A coal miner
- Allegedly mined 14x his quota
- He was made a celebrity
- His use was to promote other workers to become Stakhanovites - workers who went way past their quotas.
9
Q
Why did managers hate Stakhanovites?
A
- disrupted factory routines and made the lives of managers difficult.
- Managers tried to prevent workers from following the Stakhanovite movement, which made them seem to be obstructing industry
- Those managers were then shot for being “wreckers”
10
Q
What were the successes of industrialisation?
A
- The USSR was now fully industrialised
- Increased arms production helped to repel Germany in WWII
- Raw material supply increased
- New towns/cities built - Magnitogorsk
- No unemployment
- Huge new factories + industrial complexes built
- Communist party had more support from proletariats.
11
Q
What were the failures of industrialisation?
A
- Some production depended upon the Gulags - slave labour
- Dangerous factory conditions
- No improvement in Living conditions had to queue for basic item - shortage of consumer goods
- Poor quality goods - targets compromised quality
- Frequent waste/confusion due to inefficient production techniques + transport
- Figures soon falsified all the time - low / missing targets overlooked, factory manager could not be trusted
12
Q
Interpret how rapid industrialisation caused chaos on the Soviet Union
A
- raw materials often never arrived
- no spare parts to broken machinery
- lie about production or low quality products were only way to meet targets
