Economic Developments of 1949-61 Flashcards
What were the issues of socialist economics
Emphasis on quantity not quality - less innovation and risk
Inefficient - 5 Year Plans over a long period of time, difficult to predict
Central planning resulted in cuts to benefits, increased price of food and then shortages by 1953
What were the ideas behind socialist economics
Ideological - government can harness the needs of the state, personal needs less emphasised than social (hence decreased consumer goods)
Based on the Soviet model - 1950 State Planning Commission established, made 5 Year Plans
What were the aims of the First Five Year Plan
Develop heavy industry, overtake FRG in living standards
What was the process of the First Five Year Plan
Unrealistic but genuine targets, used central planning, copy of USSR Stakhanovite movement - Hennecke celebrated for 380% increased daily output
What were the results of the First Five Year Plan
Increase in heavy industry but decreased living standards, steel production 250% increase 1950-55
What were the aims of agricultural collectivisation
Create large-scale economies to increase efficiency and produce more
How was agricultural collectivisation promoted and was this successful
Tax relief and essentials such as equipment and seeds given to those who participated - essentially compulsory
Unpopular - 1968 SED Institute of Research survey: 5.5% farmers preferred collectivisation over private farming
What were the results of agricultural collectivisation
Number of collectives/LPGs increased - 1999 in 1952, 6000 in 1955
What was the Socialist Spring
Process of collectivisation 1959-60, aimed to make GDR self-sufficient in food production by bringing all farmers under collectivisation - orders of Grotewohl
What were the results of the Socialist Spring
By 1960 there were 19,000 collective farms
The process led to widespread disruption of farming, and resentment
