Chapter 15 Flashcards
First stage of economic development under Lenin, and the purpose of it
State Capitalism - pragmatic approach to revive economy after WW1
How did Lenin ensure government was involved with economic developments
Established Veshenka in December 1917 to oversee economic growth
Why was State Capitalism a faliure
Workers in control of the factories took unsustainable pay rises, and failed to organise their factories efficiently - led to output rapidly shrinking
Evidence to show that State Capitalism was a faliure
In February 1918, Petrograd citizens were living on 50g bread per day as rations
Events to show hostility under War Communism
- Mass food requisitioning to feed Red Army soilders
- Persecution of kulaks begin, with stocks being siexed
- Peasants hid crops, and murdered members of the requisitioning squads
Evidence for nationalisation under War Communism
- Sugar May 1918
- Oil June 1918
- Later Putilov Iron Works
War Communism industrial and agricultural effects
- By 1921 industrial output 20% lower than pre-war levels
- 1921 harvest only produced 48% of 1913 harvest
Decline in Russia’s population 1913-21
40million
Evidence to show how food was in such shortage during War Communism
Cannibalism and trade in dead bodies was common
Largest economic revolt under Lenin
- Tambov rebellion
- August 1920
- 70,000 led by Alexander Antonov
- Posion gas used on those hiding in the forest
Most threateneing economic revolt under Lenin
- 30,000 Kronsdat soilders in March 1921
- One of most loyal groups in October revolution
Organisation to deal with NEP
Gosplan in February 1921
Why was NEP seen as an ideological betrayal
It allowed private enterprise of small businesses
Short-term succsess of NEP
Production levels of 1913 had been reached by 1926
Name given for Stalin’s aim to establish a command economy
‘Great Turn’
Why did Stalin need strong central control over his economy
- USSR military strength
- Idelogical reasons
- Suited his personal leadership style
Why was corruption and faulty reporting built into Stalin’s economic policy from the beginning
Faliure to achieve targets was a criminal offense, despite being almost impossible to obtain
Extent of success of first five year plan (1928-32)
- Electricity production trebled
- Coal and iron doubled
- Targets not met in chemical industry
- Housing woefully neglected
Why heavy industry targets of first five year plan met in four years
Corruption and faulty reporting as faliure to achieve targets was a criminal offense
Evidence to show how heavy industry prioritised for proleteriat under Stalin
Magnitogorsk became a mass steel plant, with 150,000 inhabitants
Extent of success under second five year plan (1933-37)
- Steel output trebled
- Moscow Metro opened 1935
- Self-sufficient in metal goods by 1937
- Quantity over quality
- Re-arnament grew from 4% of GDP in 1933 to 17% in 1937
Extent of success under third five year plan (1938-42)
- Rearmament funds doubled from 1938-40
- Fuel crisis
- Consumer goods were the lowest priority, and decline contributed to by death of good managers and specialists from Stalin’s purges
Stalin’s economic announcement in December 1929
He would annihalate the kulaks as a class
How did Stalin define a kulak
Those with two horses and four cows or more
Extent and impact of Stalin’s dekulakisation
- Removed c10million of most successful farmers
- 15% peasant households destoryed
How did Stalin’s dekulakisation impact agricultural output
- c10million most successful farmers removed
- Some killed livesock and destoryed crops
- Livestock numbers didn’t exceed pre-collectivisation levels until 1953
What defies Marxism regarding Stalin’s agricultural policy
- Private plots for peasants to sell their own produce of up to 1 acre
Succsess of private plots for peasants under Stalin
- Most succsessful
- 52% vegetables and 70% meat produced in this way
- 10 year sentences for those who didn’t fufuil quotas before selling
