Economy 1950-61 Flashcards
Who drew up the 5 year plans?
State planning commision
Aim of first 5 year plan?
Develop heavy industry
Achieve economic development that could withstand reparation
Electricity production
Increased by 10 000 kw but did not meet target of 32 000
Cement production
Exceeded target by 400 tons
What % of the industrial sector did peoples’ enterprises cover
75%
Private enterprise in 1960?
Controlled only 9% of total industrial output
Coal production
Fell by 200 tons
Impact of long hrs and lack of CGs
Caused a mass exodus
Failed targets?
Lignite, electricity and steel
- these targets were very ambitious though!
Why did agricultural production fail?
Lack of machinery and beneficiaries lacked experience
Voluntary collectivisation
1952-8: only 1/3 of farmland had been collectivised
Second attempt at collectivisation?
1960: denied reluctant farmers access to machinery, arrested and forcibly took their land
Farmers emigrating?
Disproportionately high rural farmers emigrating due to disarisfaction- 15 000
Crop yields?
Fell by 30% from 1960 to 1961
Expropriation of land
If Junkers had +100 hectares.
A popular reform
1/3 of GDR’s farmland reallocated to +500 000 beneficiaries
State budget in 1952
700 bn osrmarks in debt
What did the first 5 year plan not account for?
Cost of Armed forces and reparations to the USSR
What was sacrificed at the expense of meeting targets? Give an example of this happening?
CGs through gov. cuts in spending. Paper, clothers and basic foodstuffs were hard to come by
What did central planners do to avoid taking blame for economic failures?
They scapegoated emigrants and Junkers for deliberately limiting production and conspiring with the W.
Wages and output?
Wages were cut but workers were expected to increase output each quarter
What happened to the prison pop.?
Grew by +30 000 from 1952-3
What sparked the June revolt?
Poor SoL and working conditions and Stalin’s death created uncertainty about the future of the USSR
Was the revolt popular? What did the rebels call for?
Yes
Free elections and they denounced the gov.
The harsh side of the gov’s dual approach to dealing with the revolt?
Political prisoners executed
Security tightened in fear of another rebellion
Stasi numbers increased and the GDR joimed the Warsaw Pact
The “soft” side to the gov’s dual approach in dealing with the June revolt?
Announced increases in wages, pensions and CGs
Possible because the USSR stopped taking reparations
How much land was farmed by collectives?
83.5%
