Economic And Social Changes 1924-41 Flashcards
Before collectivisation was introduced, how did farmers farm
Using horse - drawn wooden ploughes
When was collectivisation introduced
1928
When did the NEP end
1928
What was collectivisation
Peasants gave up their land in order to pool their land with other families.
- farms large enough to use modern machinery
Why did Stalin modernise industry/ agriculture
Fear of invasion
- Britain/ France/ USA helped whites
- hoped to deter opponents/ strengthen armies - supplies
Disappointing output
- grain production fell under NEP
- in 1927, levels fell lower then needed to feed cities
Communist principles
- fit in with ideas of shared ownership
- creating/ sharing wealth
Controlling peasants
- close to destroying Lenin in war communism
Industrialisation
- if 5 year plans were to be successful - agriculture had to produce surpluses to be sold abroad
- mechanisation - many peasants were going to work in towns the remaining ones had to produce a sufficient amount
What were the problems of the NEP
- many party members hated the idea that kulaks were benefiting
- goes against communist ideas (private peasant farms for profit instead of collective efforts)
- peasant agriculture was not modernising - yields still low
- grain crisis
When and what was the grain crisis
- 1927-28
- war scare in 1927/ peasants hoarded grain/ Stalin saw as an attempt to sabotage work of bolsheviks/ stated that kulaks had to produce a specific quotas of grain for 1928/ kulaks reduced production because they would not receive as much money
What was the attack on kulaks
1927-28
- grain was forcefully taken - peasants forced to join kolkhozes
1929
- Stalin launched campaign ‘liquidisation of the kulaks’ - peasants shot/ sent to Nigeria
1930
- 30,000 kulaks died
- peasants continued to resist collectivisation - Stalin halted scheme
1932
- revitalised collectivisation campaign
- famine
What is Kolkhoz
Russian word for collective farm
Who was the most important figure in the collective farm
The chairman - a communist party member
How was a collective farm organised
- local communist party officials went into villages and explained how it worked
- the state owned land/ equipment/ all produce
- state told each collective farm what to produce and set it a production target
- when target reached, they would be paid a very low amount
- all workers were organised into brigades and worked set hours
- was set a quota of produce it was allowed to keep to feed workers
How many collective farms were there by 1940
240,000
How many peasant families were in each collective farm
Approx 80
What did the state provide each collective farm with
- machinery - a tractor/ tools/ seeds
What was MTS
Machine tractor Stations
- 1 for each 40 collective farms
How many MTS were there by 1933
2900, which controlled more then 120,000 tractors
What was the sovkhoz
- a type of farm
- created from old large estates
- all land and produce taken by state
- had its own tractors
- peasants worked as paid labourers
- 3600 hectares
- ‘ factory without a roof’
What was the main opposition to collective farms
- peasants (especially from Ukraine) set fire to farms/ slaughtered animals rather then hand it over to the state
How did Stalin react to the peasants opposing collectivisation
- sent in de-kulakisation squads
- party members and OGPU
What was the impact of this opposition
- forced Stalin to slow down collectivisation by 1930
What were the successes of collectivisation
- by 1933, 83% of arable land was collectivised
- MTS and general mechanisation sped up production/ more efficient
- life on collective farms were satisfactory - schools/ hospitals
- more young people from rural areas went to agricultural school and learnt about farming
- rationing of bread/ food ended in 1934
- steep grain fall started to recover not 1935
- USSR increased grain export - earned money to reinvest
- peasants left land to cities - more workers for rapid industrialisation
- Stalin able to control countryside
What were the failures of collectivisation
- famine 1932-33 (6 million dead)
- ‘liquidisation of the kulaks’ policy killed or removed many of the most experienced farmers
- Stalin allowed peasants to keep small private garden plots - made up 30% of food produces
- too few tractors
- farming still inefficient - wasn’t until 1940 that figures for grain production matched those of 1914
- peasant opposition lead to serious decline in production
- rural population starved in order to provide for the needs of the industry
- movement to towns, in search of food, was stopped - Stalin introduced passports for inside country - tied to land - serfs
Economic impacts of collectivisation
From 1929 - 35
- grain - fell from 83 million tonnes to 67 million tonnes
- cattle -fell from 67 million tonnes to 38 million
- pigs - fell from 20 million tonnes to 11 milliom
- sheep/ goats - fell from 147 million tonnes to 50
(Grain/cattle/ pigs worked its way back up by the end of 1935)
When was the famine mainly in Ukraine
1932- 33
- Ukrainian peasants refused to join collective farms - saw it as a form of serfdom
- to crush resistance- state took more and more grain away
- soviet government denied the famine and refused foreign aid
- 3 - 6 million deaths
How was industry modernised
Through the 5 year plan
What were Stalin’s motives for rapid industrialisation
- convinced that surrounding capitalist countries would invade and only a strong industrial economy could produce the wealth and modern weapons
- needed changes in industry to help agriculture - eg. Tractors
- strongly opposed NEP - determined to restore central or state direction of industry
When was the first 5 year plan
1928 - 1932
Who directed the 5 year plans
The gosplan - state planning authority
- set targets for certain industries
What was the gosplan
- state planning authority
- responsible for setting targets for key industries
- involved setting up new factories
How many new factories were set up in the first two 5-year-plans (1928-37)
5000
Where were new factories set up
- eastern areas such as Kazakstan - far away from possible attack from the west
