Chapter 2.1 - The extent of and reasons for Economic change Flashcards
Chapter 2.1 - the extent and reasons for economic change
chapter 2.1
Industrialisation: Alexander II
How did Alexander II think that peasant unrest could be prevented?
By moving rural workers into industry
What was A2 committed to?
State involvement in industry
What did A2 appoint as minister of finance in 1862?
Mikhail Reutern
How did Reutern believe Russia could industrialise?
By attracting foreign investment capital
What did Manchester businessman Ludwig Loop help develop?
The Russian textile industry
What were the Nobel brothers responsible for?
The growth of the modern oil industry around Baku in the Caucuses
What was the name of JJ Hughes’ business in Russia?
The New Russian Coal, Iron and Railmaking Company
What % of steel production in Russia was JJ Hughes’ company responsible for by 1900?
50%
How many miles of railway were built in 1862 and 1878?
1862 - 2194 miles built
1878 - 13979 miles built
How much did industrial output increase during Reutern’s term in office?
It doubled
What was the average annual growth rate under Reutern?
6%
What % of railways were in private hands by 1880?
94%
What did not affect Russia in the 1870s?`
The economic depression in Europe
Industrialisation: Alexander III
Who were the two finance ministers under Alexander III?
- Nikolay Bunge (1882-86)
- Ivan Vyshnegradskii (1887-1892)
What unfair taxes were abolished in 1881 and 1886 respectively?
- Salt tax abolished in 1881
- Poll tax abolished in 1886
When was the Peasant Land Bank set up to lend money to peasants to buy land cheaply?
1883
How much of the railways had been bought back by 1911?
69%
Why was Nikolay Bunge sacked in 1886?
The rouble collapsed
Who was appointed finance minister in 1887?
Ivan Vyshnegradskii
What was introduced in 1891 which raised lots of revenue?
The Medele’ev tariff
What did this tariff do?
Export grain out of Russia
How many people died in the 1891 famine caused by this tariff?
500,000
Industrialisation: Nicholas II
What happened to the rouble in 1897?
It was placed on the gold standard
What did Witte insist that most investment go towards?
Heavy industry
What was the effect of increased industrial action called?
The ‘Great Spurt’
How much did coal production increase?
Production doubled
How much did steel production increase?
Increased 7 fold
How many miles of railway track were opened in 1891 and 1901?
1891 - 17,264 miles opened
1901 - 31,135 miles opened
What was the average growth in capital from abroad per year from 1893 to 1898?
120%
How much did income from industry increase from 1893 to 1897?
1893 - 42 million roubles
1897 - 161 million roubles
How much did Russian GDP grow on average per year?
7.5%
When was Witte sacked as Minister for Finance?
1903
Why did Nicholas II sack Witte?
He opposed Nicholas II’s aggressive foreign policy
What happened which led to Witte being appointed Prime Minister in 1905?
The disastrous Russo-Japanese war
How much did GNP grow every year from 1909 to 1913?
3.5%
What was Russia’s GDP as a % of Britain’s in 1911?
20%
What happened to the Russian economy in WW1?
The economy collapsed
How much did the government spend in 1913?
1.5 billion roubles
How much did the war cost in 1916?
3 billion roubles
How much did prices rise from 1914 to 1917?
400%
Industralisation: Lenin
When was state capitalism introduced?
November 1917
What were the 2 decrees issued by the Bolsheviks in 1917 and 1918?
- November 1917 Decree on Land
- November 1918 Decree on Worker’s Control
When did the government say the economy could be handed from the state to the workers?
When it was ‘safe’
What did the November 1917 Decree on Land do?
It divided private landholdings that were handed over to the peasants
What did the November 1918 Decree on Workers’ Control do?
It gave Workers’ Committees extra power to run factories
What was formed in December 1917?
The Supreme Economic Council (SEC)
What was the role of the Supreme Economic Council?
To manage key industries that had been nationalised
How many employees had to be in a business for it to be nationalised?
10 employees
How many businesses had been nationalised by 1920?
30,000
What nullified any positive impact state capitalism may have had?
The Russian Civil War
What was coal production in 1921 in comparison to 1913?
1913 - 29 million tonnes
1921 - 8.9 million tonnes
What was the value of the rouble in October 1920 in comparison to 1917?
1%
How much of all wages were paid in ‘kind’?
90%
What was war communism?
State capitalism with grain requisitioning
Why did war communism cause unrest?
Individuals lost freedom to produce and sell goods they wanted
What did Lenin replace war communism with?
The New Economic Policy (NEP)
What did the NEP do?
The NEP de-nationalised small-scale enterprise and returned private ownership
What did the state still control after the NEP?
Heavy industry
What ended in the NEP?
Grain requisitioning
What was the new class of entrepreneur as a result of the NEP called?
NEPMEN
How much of retail trade were NEPMEN responsible for?
60%
When did Stalin scrap the NEP and what was introduced?
Scrapped in 1929 and ‘The Great Turn’ was introduced
Industrialisation: Stalin
What were Stalin’s two main economic goals?
- Make Russian an economic force to compete with the West
- Prepare Russia for potential conflict with its capitalist enemies
What is economic autarky?
When a nation can operate in a state of self-reliance
Who set the targets for the five year plans?
The State Planning Department (GOSPLAN)
What were the four initial commissariats?
- Heavy industry
- Light industry
- Timber
- Food
How many commissariats were there by the 3rd five year plan?
20
When was the first five year plan introduced and when was it scrapped?
Spring 1929, scrapped in December 1932
How much did oil production rise from 1928 to 1940?
1928 - 11.6 million tonnes
1940 - 31.1 million tonnes
How much did electricity increase from 1928 to 1940?
1928 - 5 million kilowatt-hours
1940 - 48.3 million kilowatt-hours
How many tractors were produced in 1928 and 1940?
1928 - 1300 tractors
1940 - 31,660 tractors
Industralisation: Khrushchev
What did Khrushchev focus on?
New industries and consumer goods
How many Russian owned a washing machine by 1964?
1 in 77 (1 in 1000 in 1955)
What did the 5th five year plan waste lots of money on?
Hydroelectric schemes that failed
Agriculture: Alexander II
When were serfs owned by the state freed?
1866
What were the conditions on redemption payments?
49 years at 6% per annum interest rate
What event suggested that the Emancipation Edict was not a success?
The Bezdna Revolt
Agriculture: Alexander III
What was introduced in 1889 to help control the peasants?
Land Captains
What did Alexander III blame the 1891 famine on?
Poor farming techniques by the peasants
What were the peasants considered to be?
‘Resentful, indolent, disrespectful, unruly and intoxicated’
Agriculture: Nicholas II
When did rural unrest peak under Nicholas II?
1905 to 1907
Who was appointed Prime Minister in 1906 to revamp government policy over land distribution?
Stolypin
What did Stolypin aim to use land redistribution to do?
To strengthen the class of the ‘best’ peasants
What was unused land made available to?
The Peasant Land Bank
What were peasants given the right to do with their land?
Consolidate it into smallholdings
How many peasants had left their village communes for cities by 1914?
About 2 million
Agriculture: Provisional Government
When was there widespread unrest under the Prov govt?
October 1917
What happened in the October Revolution regarding peasants?
- Many houses looted and burnt down
- Land owners attacked and killed
- Peasants occupied private land and claimed it
Agriculture: Lenin
What did the Bolsheviks promise?
‘Peace, Bread and Land’
What did the Bolsheviks claim about themselves?
That they were the party representing the interests of workers and peasants
What was issued by the Bolsheviks which abolished private property?
November 1917 Decree on Land
Who did land belong to rather than the peasants?
The state
What did the Cheka enforce and who did they execute?
Enforced grain requisitioning, executed those considered ‘kulaks’
Who was blamed for food shortages?
Kulaks
What were the Cheka used to unleash?
‘Class war’
What happened to peasants during the Civil War?
Peasants were forcibly conscripted into the Red Army
Agriculture: Stalin
What would happen to kulaks under Stalin?
Their houses would be stripped bare and their personal belongings would be confiscated and sold
How many kulaks families were deported to Siberia from 1928 to 1930?
1 to 3 million families (6-18 million people)
Roughly how many kulaks were shot?
30,000
What did Stalinists see de-kulakisation as?
‘Class war in the countryside’
What did collectivisation under Stalin involve?
Bringing a number of small farm units together to form bigger farms
What prompted Stalin to push for mass collectivisation?
The famine of 1927-28
What was Stalin motivated to create?
‘Socialism in the countryside’
What did Stalin view kulaks as?
Bourgeois and anti-revolutionary
What % of households did Stalin claim had been collectivised? (March 1930)
58% (exaggeration)
How much did the population of Kazakhstan drop as a result of collectivisation?
75%
What % of peasants lived on a collectivised farm by 1937?
93%
What % of peasants lived on a collectivised farm by 1941?
98%
When was the mir abolished?
1930
How many people were killed in the famine of 1932-34?
7 million people
Agriculture: Khrushchev
What was Khrushchev focused on in regards to agriculture?
The improvement of organisation of agricultural production
Where was there a riot over food shortages?
Novocherkassk
How many Novocherkassk protestors were executed by the KGB?
23
When was the Virgin Land Campaign introduced?
1954
How many acres were given over for the production of wheat in 1950?
96 million acres
How many acres were given over for the production of wheat in 1964?
165 million acres
How much did grain production fall as a result of the disastrous harvest of 1963?
140 million tonnes to 107 million tonnes
