Economic Development Flashcards
Why did Lenin understand had to happen before reaching his idea soviet society
He understood that Russia had to modernise
What did the land declaration state
The factories decree ? How was this a failure
Abolished private ownership of land, legitimising the peasants seizure and declared that all land belong to the entire people.
- giving them the rights to supervise management through the establishment of factory committees, committees were established for rural areas.
- this was a failure as workers failed to organise factories efficiently and output shrank at the time it was most needed. Some workers awarded themselves unsustainable pay rises others helped themselves to stocks and equipment - most of all they lacked the skills needed for successful management.
What was Veshenka and when was it established
1917- the council of national economy - responsible for state industry 1917-1932
What was introduced in 1918 as a result of a grain crisis
Food requisitioning - this Involved taking food from the peasants at a fixed rate in order to supply the urban workers and soldiers - the rate took no account of harvest or local conditions. Grain, livestock carts and firewood were brutally confiscated. Peasants barley had enough to survive but the requisitioning detachments kept a share of what they collected as a reward
Collective and cooperative farms - hoping if peasants pooled there resources they would farm more efficiently - but very few households complied.
What 3 category’s were the peasants split into
What did the peasants do as a result of food requisitioning ? What had to enforce the policy ?
- poor
-moderately poor
These two were regarded as allies of the urban proletariat
-kulaks
Enemy of the people and had there entire stocks seized - Peasants hid their crops, grew less and murdered members of the requisition squads.
- the Cheka had to be used to make policy’s work.
What was all nationalised ?
Why did the number of nationalisation multiply
What was the first industry to be nationalised
Railways,banks, merchant fleet, power companies and the pultilov iron works.
- demands of the civil war.
- sugar in may 1918 followed by oil in June.
What happened to the workers and managers as a result of nationalisation
Workers lost there freedom
Managers, Often then very specialist ones who had recent,y been displaced for factory ownership were employed by the state to reimpose discipline and increase outputs.
Working hours were extended and ration card workbooks for food clothing and lodging were issues replacing wages.
Internal passports were also introduced to stop employees going back to the countryside.
What was forbidden during war communism
Who initially opposed war communism
How can it be argued that war communism created more problems than it solved?
Trade and manufacture
- Trotsky - proposed his own measures but when these was rejected he spoke of building communism by force.
- transport systems were disrupted by the fighting and management struggled to get the factories working efficiently
1921-industrial output had fallen to around 20% of its pre- war levels and rations had to be cut.
-cholera, dysentery were rife and typhus epidemic swept through cities causing deaths of more than 3 million - people ignored the passport system and and braved the armed guards stationed on the city boundaries to flee to the country in hope of finding food.
-1920 he population of Petrograd was 57.5% lower than the level in 1917. In Moscow it was 44.5 % lower.
What was the situation in the country side during war communism
Harsh requisitioning
Attacks on kulaks reduced grain supplies to dangerous levels
1920- acute food shortage
1/3 abounded to grass and cattle and horses had be slaughtered in their thousands by hungry peasants
1921 harvest produced 48% of that of 1913
Widespread famine
What had the Russian population fallen to during war communism
What was reported ?
1913- 170 million
1921- 130 million
Reports of cannibalism and trade in dead bodies.
What outbreak did the famine bring
What did all these troubles cause
Tambov province uprising
Red army of 100,000 had to be deployed to deal with the troubles and they were brutally reprisals - particularly against those accused of being kulaks. Poison gas was even used to deal with them hiding in the forest.
Workers protested against factory discipline- marital law was declared in Jan 1921 ( extreme measures involving the use of military force, military leaders are used to enforce the law and normal civil liberties are suspended) the Cheka was used to crush demonstrations.
30,000 sailors stationed in the Kronstadt naval base - they had been the most loyal supports of the October revolution however march 1921- they sent a manifesto to Lenin demanding an end to the one party communists rule. The Cheka was sent fives miles across the ice to crush the rebels. They took 15,000 rebel prisoners and leaders were shot. Lenin denounced them as ‘white traitors’
- all caused division in the communist party. Workers opposition group was set up under Aleksandr Shiyapknikov and Kollontai and argued for greater worker control and the removal of managers and military discipline in factories.
What was gosplan
What did the NEP allow for
Established 1921- The state general planning commission - helped coordinate economic development and from 1925 drafted economic plans.
They created the NEP (10th party congress). Supported by Bukharin and Zinoviev
- the private ownership of smaller businesses and permitted private trade.
What was the scissors crisis
NEP - peasants responded more quickly than the town work shops and industrial cooperatives.
1923- a huge increase in grain supplies brought down food prices In the towns but a lack of industrial goods for peasants to buy in exchange encouraged them to hold back their supplies.
When did Russia come out of the crisis
Who reemerged
In 1926- productions levels were back to them of 1913
Nepmen traders flourished by buying grain and selling industrial goods around the country
- kulaks
What Was the great turn
Move from the NEP to the 5 year plans and collectivisation of agriculture. A move to central planning.
Command economy. It was believed that the new industrial growth would build self sufficiency and lead to a truly socialist state
