Chapter 15 (3) Flashcards
State Capitalism
1917-1918
Lenin’s response to the poor state of the economy in 1917 was pragmatic
It is not possible to transform a bourgeois economy to a proletarian one overnight, therefore State Capitalism was the transitional stage
But it lead to:
-Uncontrollable inflation
-Shortages of raw materials
-A decrease in investment in capital to 2/3 of the 1914 level
-Grain supplies being 13million tons below the need
Overall it led to many decrees
Decrees under State Capitalism
-Abolition of private ownership of land (October 1917)
-Workers’ control of factories (November 1917) however this was already happening as 4 times as many factories were taken over before hand than after
-Veshenka (December 1917) were responsible for state industry as the Council of the National economy
-Nationalised industry (March 1918)
Problems for Lenin regarding the economy
-Civil War (1917-1922)
-Factory workers had poor production due to lack of self management especially as the majority of workers weren’t Bolsheviks
-Inflation as peasants were seen to hoard their food
-Rationing
War Communism
1918-1921
Change from State Capitalism to a series of restrictive and rigorously-applied economic measures
Came under two formats: Industry and Agriculture
War Communism: Industry
-Started in June 1918 when Lenin began to embark on centralisation through the Cheka and the Red Army
-There was already an increase in Bolshevik influence in the factories by this point
-In the following 2 years of the Decree of Nationalisation almost all major industrial enterprises in Russia were under central government control
-However the factories did not become more productive under the centralised regime
-Military needs were given priority at this point due to the civil war
-There was a flight from the cities to the towns and countryside
-The populations of Petrograd and Moscow dropped by a half between 1918 and 1921
First Five Year Plan
1928-1932
Emphasis on heavy industry which accounted for 80% of total investment
1500 enterprises were opened
Electricity production increased from 5 billion kWh to 13.5
Huge industrial complexes were built
Tractor works were built in Stalingrad and Kharkov
Coal increased from 35.5 million tons to 64.4 million
-A decline in consumer industries
-Small workshops squeezed out
-Chemical targets not fulfilled
-Lack of skilled workers and an increase in job fluidity meant no real structure could be preserved
-Great depression played a significant role in problems
But overall an impressive growth in certain sectors
Second Five Year Plan
1933-1937
Electricity production expanded rapidly
By 1937, the USSR was virtually self sufficient
Transportation and communications grew
Chemical industries grew like fertilisers
Metallurgy developed like copper, zinc, and tin
-Consumer goods industries were still far behind where they needed to be. But a growth in footwear and food processing
-Moscow metro created 1935 and a dam
-Created biggest HEP generator in Europe
-Oil production did not make the expected advances
The second plan was seen more as a consolidation of the first plan which was too ambitious.
1934-1936 were known as the ‘three good years’ as families had more disposable income
Third Five Year Plan
Heavy industry continued to grow but the picture was uneven and some areas did poorly
Defence and armaments grew rapidly as resources were diverted to them
-Steel output had a poor growth rate
- Oil production failed to meet targets and led to a fuel crisis
- Consumber industries took a back seat
- Many factories ran short of materials
Stalin’s Great Turn
A form of cooperative farming where all the agricultural workers were employed on large factory farms delivering quotas of grain
Aimed to socialise the peasants and stop them from being petit-bourgeois through collectives. Would also help make grain collections more effecient
Timeline of 1926-1930
1926- Grain only produced 50% of what was expected (suspicions that grain was being hoarded)
1927- Grain procurement crisis (State collections are low and food crisis is expanding)
December 1927- 15th Party Congress (Stalin argued in favour of strengthening cooperative forms)
1928- Rationing in cities (‘Ural-Siberian method’ of grain requisition which involved forcible seizure of grain
1929- NEP a rough to an end due to Ural-Siberian method
January 1930- Stalin announced that 25% of grain farming areas were to be collectivised. About 150,000 richer peasants were forced to move north
Ways in which collectivisation was economically successful for government
Establishment of 2500 machine tractor stations (Stage 2)
Only took 10 years for grain to meet the precollectivisation target (Stage 2)
Grain exports increased from 30,000 tons in 1928 to 1.69 million tons in 1933. It reached a peak of 5.06 million before the famine
Vast numbers of peasants fled the countryside to become industrial workers to create booming industries
Ways in which collectivisation was politically successful for the government
Lots of support for the programme amongst the urban working classes
Helped with the party’s modernisation drive (industrialisation)
Party gained control of the villages and didn’t bargain with peasants any longer
Achieved their ‘command economy’ by 1941
Ways in which collectivisation was an economic failure
About 10 million kulaks removed (Stage 2)
Grain and livestock destroyed: 25-30% of cattle, pigs, and sheep were slaughtered by peasants between 1929 and 1933 (Stage 2)
Livestock numbers did not exceed pre collectivisation rate until 1952 (Stage 2)
Grain harvest didn’t actually increase over the 7 years as in 1928 it was 73.3million and by 1935 it was 75 million
