Chapter fourteen - Industrial and social developments in towns and cities Flashcards
Who was responsible for drawing up the five year plans?
Gosplan
What was difficult about drawing up the five year plans?
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
Was there corruption within the five year plans?
Failure to achieve a target was a criminal offence so many went to great lengths to ensure that the reported statistics showed great improvements
What were the aims of the first Five Year plan?
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
What were the successes of the first Five Year Plan?
Electricity output tripled. coal and iron output doubled and steel production increased by a third.
What were the aims of the second five year plan?
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
What were the successes of the second five year plan?
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
What was the role of rearmament in the second five year plan?
4% GDP in 1933 to 17% GDP by 1937
Output rose by 300% between 1933 and 38
What were the failures of the second five year plan?
Oil production failed to meet its targets
There was no appreciable increase in consumer goods
There was an emphasis on quantity over quality
What were the aims of the third 5 year plan?
1938 - 42
Renewed emphasis on the development of heavy industry
Promote rapid rearmament
Complete the transition to communism
What were the successes of the third five year plan?
Strong growth in machinery and engineering
Spending on rearmament doubled between 1938 - 40
What were the failures of the third five year plan?
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
What was the Dnieprostroi dam?
Opened October 1932 - largest hydroelectric power station for the Soviets and increased Soviet electric power fivefold in 1932
What was the Moscow metro?
11 km line opened in 1935 - first underground railway system in the USSR
What was the Volga Canal?
Contains 25m statue of Lenin
Construction by 200,000 prisoners, of which 22,000 died
How were foreigners used in industrial production?
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
What was the Stakhanovite movement?
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
Stakhanovite propaganda stunt?
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
How were managers controlled?
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
How were workers controlled?
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
How were prison camp inmates treated?
Labour force for Belomor Canal reached 300,000 at its peak. Death rate was 700 per day and survival time was just two years
How were women treated?
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
How did the Soviet economy grow each year?
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
