Economic stagnation in the 1980s Flashcards

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1
Q

An example of ideology outweighing performance

A

Return to centralised planning

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2
Q

The debt owed by the GDR to capitalist countries from whom it was borrowing at high rates of interest rose to astronomical proportions - provide evidence

A

Debt to capitalist countries:
1970 = DM 2.2 billion
1980 = DM 30 billion
1989 = DM 46 billion

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3
Q

What was the problem with high amounts of debt in the East German state?

A

The GDR could never export enough to finance it because of inefficient production techniques and limited demand for its products outside the Soviet bloc

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4
Q

What per cent of the GDR’s raw materials were bought from the USSR?

A

70%

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5
Q

Brezhnev had complained to Honecker that COMECON members were…

A

exploiting the Soviet Union by buying cheap oil from it and often selling the oil on to Western markets at great profit

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6
Q

What did the USSR announce in 1981?

A

It would reduce oil deliveries

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7
Q

What did Poland announce in 1981?

A

It was cutting coal exports

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8
Q

What was the response by the GDR to Poland cutting coal exports?

A

To develop lignite (a cheap brown coal)

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9
Q

Consequences of using lignite

A

It was inefficient and caused tremendous pollution because of its high sulphur levels (in weather forecasts heavy cloud became a euphemism for industrial smog)

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10
Q

The GDR was in a deep economic crisis by 1982 - how did the FRG help

A

It negotiated two massive loans:
- DM 1 billion in 1983
- DM 950 million in 1984

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11
Q

The aim of the 1981-85 Five-Year Plan

A

To invest more in modernisation and improve production

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12
Q

Regardless of the economic catastrophes what did Honecker maintain?

A

The Social Contract was still sacrosanct

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13
Q

It was still believed that improvements in social welfare would see…

A

commensurate improvements in productivity

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14
Q

Mary Fulbrook referred to the insistence on social benefits as…

A

“sacred cows that could not be slaughtered”

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15
Q

By the 1980s, as consumer expectations rose as a result of increasing awareness of Western quality goods, it became clear that…

A

the GDR was lagging further and further behind

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16
Q

People were aware of the anomalies in the supposedly egalitarian society in regards to consumer goods - provide evidence of this

A

60% of public servants had access to a telephone compared to 25% of working class members

17
Q

After the dismissal of Honecker, average productivity was __ per cent of that of the FRG

A

35