Chapter 14 - Industrial and social developments in towns and cities 1929-1941 Flashcards

1
Q

When was the first 5YP launched?

A

1928

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2
Q

When was the Dnieprostroi Dam completed?

A

1932

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3
Q

When was the second 5YP launched?

A

1933

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4
Q

When was new emphasis placed on armaments production?

A

1936

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5
Q

When was the Moscow-Volga Canal completed?

A

1937

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6
Q

When was the third 5YP launched?

A

1938

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7
Q

What doubled in 1940?

A

Armaments spending

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8
Q

What/who organised the Five Year Plans?

A

Gosplan (the State Planning Agency)

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9
Q

What did Gosplan do?

A

Drew up plans and set output targets for each economic enterprise in accordance with Party directives

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10
Q

Why were Gosplan’s targets usually very ambitious?

A

If Party leaders didn’t consider them ambitious enough, they would be revised upwards

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11
Q

Why was the process of setting targets for the 5YP’s difficult?

A

Gosplan did not have reliable statistics about the economy (especially imports and possible exports) to base them on

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12
Q

Why did enterprises falsify their production figures?

A

There were severe punishments for missing targets
Overambitious planning assumptions never got corrected

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13
Q

What did Regional Party bosses compete for?

A

For their regions to be given the most resources and assigned the most prestigious new projects

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14
Q

Aims of the first 5YP

A
  • Develop heavy industry
  • Boost electricity production
  • Double the output from light industry e.g. chemicals
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15
Q

Successes of the first 5YP

A
  • Electricity output tripled
  • Coal and iron output doubled
  • Steel production increased by 1/3
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16
Q

Limitations of the first 5YP

A
  • None of the extremely ambitious targets were met
  • Improvements in the chemical industry lagged behind
  • Consumer industries were badly neglected
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17
Q

Aims of the second 5YP

A
  • Continue the growth of heavy industry
  • Boost light industry: chemicals, electricals, consumer goods
  • Develop communications
  • Foster engineering
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18
Q

Successes of the second 5YP

A
  • Some large-scale communication projects
  • Rapid growth in electricity production and chemicals
  • New metals (e.g. copper and tin) mined for the first time
  • Steel output tripled
  • Coal production doubled
  • The USSR was self-sufficient in metal goods and machine tools by 1937
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19
Q

Limitations of the second 5YP

A
  • Oil production failed to meet its targets
  • Consumers were still very short of some products
  • Quantity increased but quality still tended to be very low
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20
Q

Aims of the third 5YP

A
  • Renewed emphasis on heavy industry
  • Promote rapid rearmament
  • Complete the transition to communism
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21
Q

Successes of the third 5YP

A
  • Some strong growth in machinery and engineering
  • Defence industries developed exceptional models e.g. the T-34 tank
  • Spending on rearmament doubled 1938-40
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22
Q

Limitations of the third 5YP

A
  • Other areas stagnated after defense was prioritised
  • Oil production failed to meet targets, causing a fuel crisis
  • Lack of specialists due to Stalin’s purges
  • The German invasion of 1941 disrupted the Plan, causing it to end early
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23
Q

What was a fundamental problem with the plans?

A

Stalin’s increasingly authoritarian and repressive regime, where any criticism of the system was likely to be viewed as treason

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24
Q

What happened during the first 5YP?

A

The 1929 Wall Street Crash

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25
Q

What world event impacted all of the 5YP’s?

A

The Great Depression
1929-39

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26
Q

The Dnieprostroi Dam

A

A dam generating hydro-electric power, built on the Dnieper river in Ukraine

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27
Q

When was the Dnieprostroi Dam constructed?

A

Between 1927 and 1932

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28
Q

Why was the Dnieprostroi Dam significant?

A

One of the largest power stations in the world at the time

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29
Q

How did the Dam impact Soviet electricity?

A

Increased Soviet electric power by 500% after 5 extra generators were installed in the second 5YP

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30
Q

What did the Dam power?

A

Aluminium and steel production in new nearby industrial cities

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31
Q

When was the Moscow Metro constructed?

A

1932-1937
A project of the second 5YP

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32
Q

What was the significance of the Metro?

A

The first underground railway system in the USSR
Aimed to showcase the achievements of the socialist state, with chandeliers, marble walls and intricate mosaics

33
Q

What was the purpose of the Metro?

A

Designed to help Moscow deal with rapid industrialisation as peasants moved from the countryside to the city

34
Q

When was the Moscow-Volga Canal constructed?

A

1932-37

35
Q

The Moscow-Volga Canal

A

A 128km canal connecting the Moskva River to the Volga River

36
Q

Who built the Moscow-Volga canal?

A

~200,000 prisoners from the Dmitlag labour camp
~22,000 died

37
Q

What was Magnitogorsk?

A

A gigantic steel plant and town of 150,000 people, purpose-built in the Urals, away from the USSR’s western borders

38
Q

What was Komsomolsk?

A

A heavy plant and several shipyards in east Russia, built to open up this area to development

39
Q

How was Komsomolsk built?

A

Constructed by volunteer labour from the Komsomol and prison camp labour

40
Q

What was the Komsomol?

A

The Communist youth organisation

41
Q

Why were foreign companies recruited to help with industrial development?

A

To provide the expertise needed to develop new industries, and to plan and construct the new industrial centres and showpiece projects

42
Q

How were foreign companies involved in the construction of the Moscow Metro?

A

The Metro was designed by British specialists recruited from the London Underground

43
Q

How were foreign companies involved in the car industry?

A

Henry Ford advised the USSR, trained Soviet engineers in the USA, and helped to design the car-plant at Gorky

44
Q

How were foreign companies involved in the construction of the Dnieprostroi Dam?

A

The project used experience from Canadian and US engineers
6 American engineers were awarded the ‘Order of the Red Banner of Labour’ in recognition of their ‘outstanding work’

45
Q

What attracted Westerners to work in the USSR?

A

The relatively high wages and prestige of working on the mega-projects (especially during the Great Depression)

46
Q

What are two examples of the dangers of working in the USSR as a Westerner?

A
  1. The secret police arrested several British engineers working on the Moscow Metro on suspicions of spying; the OGPU was concerned about their detailed knowledge of Moscow’s geography
  2. Engineers for the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company were given a show trial and deported in 1933 (end of the role of British business in the USSR)
47
Q

Who were Stakhanovites?

A

Workers who exceeded their targets and were held up as examples for others to follow

48
Q

Who were the Stakanovites named after?

A

Aleksei Stakhanov, a coal miner who exceeded his mining target by a huge amount
He was declared a Soviet hero and rewarded with a bonus and awards

49
Q

Why were Stakhanovites not always popular with managers?

A

Their efforts meant production targets were raised

50
Q

What was the Stakhanovite movement?

A

A propaganda campaign based on improving worker productivity for the good of the USSR, not individual gain

51
Q

Why were Stakhanovites not always popular with other workers?

A

They made them look bad and meant higher targets

52
Q

How did the Party react to Stakhanov?

A

It promoted the Stakhanovite movement and introduced Stakhanovite competitions in different industries
Stakhanovites recieved material benefits from their employers

53
Q

What was revealed about Stakhanov in 1988?

A

His original heroic effort had been stage-managed and several others had helped him achieve his target

54
Q

What could happen if managers tried to reduce the pressure on their workers?

A

They could be accused of wrecking (sabotage)

55
Q

What happened if managers exceeded their targets?

A

They received a bonus

56
Q

What happened if managers failed to meet their targets?

A

They could be put on trial, imprisoned or executed

57
Q

What changed for managers in 1936?

A

Factories had to pay for their own materials, labour and fuel out of profits from sales
Led to careful (creative) accounting
Bribery and corruption widespread within the system

58
Q

What were managers responsible for applying in the workplace?

A

State regulation, e.g. regarding work norms and absenteeism
These weren’t popular with workers and led to protests

59
Q

What percentage of the workforce was female by 1940?

A

43%

60
Q

What allowed mothers to work?

A

State provision of nurseries, creches and child clinics

61
Q

What caused women to enter the workforce

A

Price increases meant they needed to help earn the income needed to sustain their families

62
Q

What effect did the second 5YP have on female employment?

A

The Party ordered managers to employ more women in heavy industry
Managers continued to give the best-paid, highest-skilled jobs to men and were reluctant to allow women to get training to improve their skills

63
Q

How much did women earn in comparison to men in 1940?

A

Around 40% less

64
Q

What were the working hours brought in to achieve the first 5YP?

A

long working hours, 6+ days a week

65
Q

What were labour books?

A

Books that, from 1938, recorded workers’ employment, skills and any disciplinary issues

66
Q

When did absenteeism become a crime?

A

1940

67
Q

What could absenteeism result in?

A

Dismissal, eviction from housing and loss of benefits

68
Q

When did measures to toughen up on absenteeism appear?

A

1930-33

69
Q

What was illegal/a criminal offence in the workplace?

A

ILLEGAL:
Strikes

CRIMINAL OFFENCE:
Damaging machinery
Leaving work without permission

70
Q

Where did most city workers live?

A

Crowded communal appartments with few amenities and little privacy

71
Q

What effect did Stalin’s purges have on workers?

A

The purges removed white-collar workers and intellectuals, creating opportunities for workers to advance their careers

72
Q

How did wages change in 1931?

A

Wage differentials were introduced that meant that those who worked hard over long hours were rewarded for their efforts

73
Q

Four ways some workers benefitted

A
  • Far more opportunities for progression than under tsarism
  • Training programmes widely available to improve skills
  • Wage differentials
  • Wage increases after the second 5YP
74
Q

How did the Soviet economy grow between 1928 and 1940?

A

5-6% per year
An impressive result, especially in the context of a global recession

75
Q

5 successes of the 5YP’s

A
  • The growth of the economy
  • The USSR became a major industrial power
  • Heavy industry showed impressive growth and light industry started to deliver more consumer goods
  • They created opportunities for ordinary workers to develop new skills and progress in their careers, increasingly for women as well as men
  • They fostered a sense of pride in the communist system and what it could achieve
76
Q

What were the social downsides of the 5YP’s?

A
  • Deteriorating living conditions
  • Working conditions that were dominated by strict labour discipline
77
Q

What was the effect of fear of missing targets?

A

It created an environment of bribery and corruption, and a focus on quantity rather than quality

78
Q

What were the downsides of the labour used to achieve the 5YP’s?

A
  • Used prison camp labour
  • Collective farms were paid very low prices for very high quotas of grain (even in times of food shortage and famine)