Economic Developments 1924-1929

Question 1

What and when was the Great Turn?

Answer 1

A drastic shift in economic policy between 1927 and 1929.

Question 2

Which problems between 1917 and 1924 had inhibited economic growth/industrialisation? General stuff.
And what was the GREATEST problem?

Answer 2

The War, The Civil War, Poor Management, Strikes

Feeding! Collectivisation was failing, leading to the industrial workforce not getting fed.

Question 3

What were Kolkhozves and Sokhovzes? Were they successful in 1928?

Answer 3

Voluntary collective and state farms. No, by 1928, only 5% of the peasant population was working on collective farms. They weren’t popular.

Question 4

Why was industrial management a key factor in The Great Turn?

Answer 4

It was poor. Quality and quantity of industrial goods were very low. Unemployment and low living standards rife.

Question 5

Why was the speed of the NEP’s progress a key factor in The Great Turn?

Answer 5

USSR’s economy wasn’t growing as quickly as many leading communists had hoped. They wanted the USSR to become more self-sufficient and not have to depend on foreign imports.

Question 6

What was the grain procurement crisis of 1927-1928? Why was this a problem? What caused it?

Answer 6

The amount of grain purchased by the government was 25% down compared to the previous year. Grain prices were low, so peasants produced other things that they wanted to sell for higher prices.

Question 7

What was the ideological driver behind the Great Turn?

Answer 7

Many Bolsheviks wanted to move towards ‘true socialism’, so the government controlled grain production and didn’t have to buy it off peasants.

Question 8

Stalin previously supported the NEP, why did he suddenly change to wanting something different in 1928?

Answer 8

He was becoming more radical due to a combination of USSR’s dire economic circumstances and his grip on power was now strong enough to take action.

Question 9

When was the first Five Year Plan announced?

Answer 9

Fifteenth Party Congress December 1927

Question 10

The First Five Year Plan aimed to do what to Heavy Industry?

Answer 10

Develop it rapidly; boost production.

Question 11

What was the First Five Year Plan’s target for overall production increase?

Answer 11

300% increase in overall production.

Question 12

What was the First Five Year Plan’s aim for transport?

Answer 12

Improve transport and railway systems, especially railways.

Question 13

By how much did Stalin want to improve the electricity production compared to 1928?

Answer 13

He wanted 6 times as much electricity to be produced by 1933 than it had in 1928.

Question 14

What priority was Light Industry?

Answer 14

Low priority, but still expected to double its output.

Question 15

What was Magnitogorsk?

Answer 15

The ‘steel city’ intended to produce shitloads of steel in the Five Year Plans.

Question 16

How did Stalin rally up support for the Five Year Plans among USSR’s workforce?

Answer 16

Propaganda.

Question 17

What did the Party worry about in the Five Year Plans’ reintroduction of collectivisation?

Answer 17

Many saw Kulaks as the backbone of the agricultural economy. They worried that less food would be produced.

Question 18

What did urban workers hope for from the Five Year Plans?

Answer 18

Better working prospects and living conditions.

Question 19

What did peasants hope for from the Five Year Plans?

Answer 19

Further land reform and modern farming methods.

Question 20

Which 3 defining factors triggered the emphasis on collectivisation?

Answer 20

The Grain Procurement Crisis 1927-1928
Need for increased food supply for expanding workforce
Ideologically compliant with Socialism

Question 21

What did Stalin do in Siberia and the Urals to force collectivisation in 1928?

Answer 21

Had officers close down free markets, banned speculation and had police seize the grain by force.

Question 22

How had Bukharin’s position weakened by 1928?

Answer 22

He’d lost his majority of support in Moscow, Stalin accused him of ‘Right Deviation’ and he was continuously outvoted in the Central Committee and the Politburo.

Question 23

Which Party Member was particularly active in issuing Central Directives for Collectivisation during the first Five Year Plan?

Answer 23

Molotov.

Question 24

The Central Committee wanted to speed up collectivisation, how did they try to do this?

Answer 24

In 1929 they sent 25,000 industrial workers into the countryside to work on Collective Farms.

Question 25

What did Stalin want to do to the Kulaks?

Answer 25

‘Smash the Kulaks as a class’