Chapter 15

Question 1

When was Lenin’s decree on land?

Answer 1

October 1917

Question 2

What was established in December 1917 to supervise and control economic development?

Answer 2

Veshenka (the Council of the National Economy)

Question 3

Why did state capitalism fail?

Answer 3

Workers failed to organise their factories. workers awarded themselves substantial pay-rises, lacked the skills for successful management

Question 4

What were the rations for citizens of Petrograd in February 1918?

Answer 4

50g of bread a day

Question 5

What economic policy was introduced in May 1918?

Answer 5

A food supplies policy which organised soldiers and workers from large towns to ensure that grain was delivered to the state

Question 6

What categories were the peasants divided into?

Answer 6

Poor, moderately poor (allies of the urban proletariat) and kulaks (enemies of the people)

Question 7

What industries were nationalised in May 1918?

Answer 7

Railways, banks, merchant fleet, power companies and the Putilov Iron Works

Question 8

What was the first industry to be fully nationalised?

Answer 8

Sugar in May 1918

Question 9

How were urban workers affected by War Communism?

Answer 9

Working hours were extended, ration-card workbooks were issued , internal passports were introduced

Question 10

What was the primary reason for War Communism?

Answer 10

To ensure that the Red Army was supplied with munitions and food by the towns

Question 11

What were the most significant problems of War Communism?

Answer 11

Transport systems were disrupted, management struggled to increase output, a typhus epidemic claimed the lives of 3 million, workers striked

Question 12

What was the population decrease in Petrograd?

Answer 12

The population was 57.5% lower than 1917

Question 13

What were the effects of the countryside during War Communism?

Answer 13

An acute food shortage in 1920, a third of land had been abandoned to grass and cattle, horses had been slaughtered in their thousands, famine in 1921

Question 14

What was the Tambov revolt?

Answer 14

A 70,000 peasant army revolting against the famine which continued until June 1921

Question 15

What was the Kronstadt revolt?

Answer 15

30,000 once loyal sailors sent a manifesto to Lenin demanding an end to one-party communist rule - 15,000 rebels were taken prisoner and the leaders were shot

Question 16

How did Lenin refer to the Kronstadt sailors?

Answer 16

White Traitors

Question 17

What was the Workers’ Opposition group?

Answer 17

A divided faction within the Bolshevik party led by Alexandra Kollantai that argued for greater workers’ control and the removal of management

Question 18

What was Gosplan?

Answer 18

The State General Planning Commission which helped coordinate economic development and drafted economic plans from 1925. Lasted from 1921-91.

Question 19

What did the New Economic Policy (NEP) allow?

Answer 19

The private ownership of smaller businesses and permitted private trade

Question 20

What was the ‘scissors crisis’?

Answer 20

What Trotsky called a huge increase in grain supplies brought down food prices in towns, but a lack of industrial goods in exchange encouraged peasants to hold back.

Question 21

What were Nepmen?

Answer 21

Speculative traders who bought up produce from peasants to sell in the towns and consumer items - making a profit on both transactions

Question 22

What did the 14th Party Congress call for in 1925?

Answer 22

‘The transformation of our country from an industrial one, capable by its own efforts of producing the necessary means.’

Question 23

What was Stalin’s ‘Great Turn’?

Answer 23

The move from the NEP to the five years plans and the collectivisation of agriculture

Question 24

What were the aims of the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 24

To increase production by 300 per cent by setting targets, develop heavy industry, boost electricity output by 600 per cent and double the output from light industry

Question 25

What were the results of the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 25

None of the major targets were met, major investment led to electricity output trebling and coal and iron output doubling. Targets for light industry were not met and consumer industries were neglected

Question 26

What were the aims of the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 26

Continue the development of heavy industry, put new emphasis on light industries, develop communications between cities and industries, boost engineering and tool-making

Question 27

What were the results of the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 27

Moscow Metro opened in 1935, the Volga Canal in 1937. Electricity production and chemical industries grew rapidly, steel output trebled and coal doubled. No increase in consumer goods

Question 28

What were the aims of the Third Five Year Plan?

Answer 28

Focus on the development of heavy industry, promote rapid rearmament, complete the transition to communism

Question 29

What were the results of the Third Five Year Plan?

Answer 29

Steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet its targets and industries found themselves short of raw materials. Stalin’s purges had removed strong managers and technicians

Question 30

How many ‘kulak’ houses were destroyed during collectivisation?

Answer 30

Around 15% peasant households were destroyed and 150,000 richer peasants were forced to migrate

Question 31

How many peasant households had been collectivised by March 1930?

Answer 31

58% of peasant households had been collectivised

Question 32

What were the most significant problems of collectivisation?

Answer 32

10 million successful farmers were removed, 25-30% of livestock was slaughtered by peasants, famine spread to Ukraine in 1932

Question 33

How did peasants suffer during collectivisation?

Answer 33

Their profits were non-existent and peasants received little to no incentive to work hard