Chapter fourteen - Industrial and social developments in towns and cities

Question 1

Who was responsible for drawing up the five year plans?

Answer 1

Gosplan

Question 2

What was difficult about drawing up the five year plans?

Answer 2

Regional party members would argue with Gosplan as to why their region should have the first call on resources
Gosplan suffered from a lack of reliable information on the cost of imports
They worked from deliberately falsified statistics

Question 3

Was there corruption within the five year plans?

Answer 3

Failure to achieve a target was a criminal offence so many went to great lengths to ensure that the reported statistics showed great improvements

Question 4

What were the aims of the first Five Year plan?

Answer 4

1928 - 32
Increase production by 300%
Focus on the development of coal, iron, steel, oil and machinery
Boost electricity production by 600%
Double the output from light industry such as chemicals

Question 5

What were the successes of the first Five Year Plan?

Answer 5

Electricity output tripled. coal and iron output doubled and steel production increased by a third.

Question 6

What were the aims of the second five year plan?

Answer 6

1933 - 37
Continue the development of heavy industry
Promote the growth of light industries
Develop the communications to provide links between cities and other industrial areas
Foster engineering and tool making

Question 7

What were the successes of the second five year plan?

Answer 7

Three good years - 1934 - 36
Moscow metro opened in 1935, Volga canal in 1937 and the Dnieprostroi dam in 1932 was extended with four more generators.
Electricity production and chemical industries grew rapidly.
Metals such as copper, zinc and tin were mined for the first time
Steel output tripled, coal production doubled and by 1937, the Soviet Union was virtually self sufficient in metal goods and machine tools

Question 8

What was the role of rearmament in the second five year plan?

Answer 8

4% GDP in 1933 to 17% GDP by 1937
Output rose by 300% between 1933 and 38

Question 9

What were the failures of the second five year plan?

Answer 9

Oil production failed to meet its targets
There was no appreciable increase in consumer goods
There was an emphasis on quantity over quality

Question 10

What were the aims of the third 5 year plan?

Answer 10

1938 - 42
Renewed emphasis on the development of heavy industry
Promote rapid rearmament
Complete the transition to communism

Question 11

What were the successes of the third five year plan?

Answer 11

Strong growth in machinery and engineering
Spending on rearmament doubled between 1938 - 40

Question 12

What were the failures of the third five year plan?

Answer 12

Steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet targets causing a fuel crisis and many found themselves short of raw materials
Death of good managers, specialists and technicians following Stalin’s purges

Question 13

What was the Dnieprostroi dam?

Answer 13

Opened October 1932 - largest hydroelectric power station for the Soviets and increased Soviet electric power fivefold in 1932

Question 14

What was the Moscow metro?

Answer 14

11 km line opened in 1935 - first underground railway system in the USSR

Question 15

What was the Volga Canal?

Answer 15

Contains 25m statue of Lenin
Construction by 200,000 prisoners, of which 22,000 died

Question 16

How were foreigners used in industrial production?

Answer 16

Dnieprostroi dam used experience gained from construction of hydroelectric power stations in Canada
Moscow metro relied on construction engineers from Britain - engineering designs, routes and construction plans were handled by specialists recruited from the London underground
Secret police arrested numerous British engineers due to their knowledge of the city’s geographical layout

Question 17

What was the Stakhanovite movement?

Answer 17

Stakhanov cut 102 tonnes of coal with his pneumatic pick in 5 hours 45 minutes in August 1935 - this was usually expected in 14x that length of time

Question 18

Stakhanovite propaganda stunt?

Answer 18

He had a team of several workers who had done everything possible to support him and carried out a range of other tasks so he could focus exclusively on cutting coal

Question 19

How were managers controlled?

Answer 19

Manager received his bonus that could be as much as 40% of his income if he did better than expected
Could be put on trial, imprisoned or executed if he failed to meet targets
1936 - factories had to pay for raw materials
Work norms on how much worker was expected to do was raised in 1936 by between 10 and 50%
Stakhanovites led to raised targets and labour shortages

Question 20

How were workers controlled?

Answer 20

Arriving late or missing work could result in dismissal and leaving a job without permission was a criminal offence
1931 - wage differentials introduced to reward those who stayed on jobs and worked hard
Lived in extremely cramped conditions with inadequate sanitation and erratic water supplies.
Real wages were still lower in 1937 than they had been in 1928

Question 21

How were prison camp inmates treated?

Answer 21

Labour force for Belomor Canal reached 300,000 at its peak. Death rate was 700 per day and survival time was just two years

Question 22

How were women treated?

Answer 22

Made up 42% of industrial workers by 1935
Many factory owner continued to hire women for jobs requiring the fewest skills
1936 - party made an effort to enrol women in technical training programs
Earned on average 40% less than men
43% of industrial workforce by 1940

Question 23

How did the Soviet economy grow each year?

Answer 23

5 to 6% each year between 1928 and 40
Industrial workforce doubled between 28 and 32
Urban population increased from 26 to 56 million people between 26 and 39