Economy and Society

Question 1

Who was Alexander II’s finance minister?

Answer 1

Mikhail von Reutern

Question 2

Who was Alexander III’s finance minister?

Answer 2

Ivan Vyshnegradsky

Question 3

Who was Nicholas II’s finance minister?

Answer 3

Sergei Witte

Question 4

What group of well off peasants emerged from the emancipation ukase?

Answer 4

kulaks

Question 5

What proportion of Russia’s peasants were engaged in subsistence farming following emancipation?

Answer 5

50%

Question 6

What did Alexander II’s government do to try and encourage the growth of railways?

Answer 6

Subsidies for businesses

Question 7

What proportion of government income came from indirect taxation under Alexander II?

Answer 7

66%

Question 8

How far did the number of primary schools grow by under Alexander II?

Answer 8

From 8,000 to 23,000

Question 9

Alexander II took control of education away from the church and gave it to ?

Answer 9

the zemstva

Question 10

How many died in the 1891-92 famine?

Answer 10

350,000

Question 11

Ivan Vyshnegrasky said, “we shall not eat, …..?”

Answer 11

“but we shall export”

Question 12

What caused the famine of 1891-92?

Answer 12

Grain requisitioning for grain to export

Question 13

What did Vyshnegradsky’s Tariff Act do?

Answer 13

Increased tariffs on foreign goods to stimulate internal Russian market

Question 14

The number of workers in Russia expanded how far under Sergei Witte?

Answer 14

1.3 million to 2.6 million

Question 15

How many people died in a cholera outbreak in St Petersburg in 1908?

Answer 15

30,000

Question 16

When did Russia’s industrial revolution happen?

Answer 16

1890s in reign of Nicholas II, under finance minister Witte

Question 17

Which countries did Witte get loans from to help industrial investment?

Answer 17

Britain, France, USA, Germany

Question 18

Why did Witte put Russia on the Gold Standard in 1897?

Answer 18

Sign of economic stability and would increase confidence of foreign powers to invest in Russia.

Question 19

Where was Russia in the league of industrialised nations by 1897?

Answer 19

4th

Question 20

Which minister was responsible for the ending of redemption payments in 1907?

Answer 20

Stolypin

Question 21

What type of farming did Stolypin encourage migrating peasants to start in Siberia?

Answer 21

Dairy farming

Question 22

How many peasants migrated to Siberia in the period 1906-15?

Answer 22

3.5 million

Question 23

What did many Tsars establish to encourage the expansion of the kulaks?

Answer 23

Peasant Land Bank

Question 24

What was the literacy rate in Russia by 1914?

Answer 24

40% of the population

Question 25

What was the maximum working day in 1897?

Answer 25

11 and a half hours

Question 26

What did many peasants do following the February Revolution that caused the "Land Question" for the Provisional Government?

Answer 26

Illegally seize land

Question 27

How many land seizures were there in July 1917?

Answer 27

237

Question 28

How many factories were closed / jobs lost by July 1917 under the Provisional Government?

Answer 28

Over 500 factories / 100,000 jobs

Question 29

What reforms did Lenin introduce in the aftermath of the October Revolution?

Answer 29

- abolition of titles - equality for women - legalised peasant land seizures - Maximum 8 hour working day

Question 30

What economic policy did Lenin introduce to help win the civil war?

Answer 30

War Communism

Question 31

What were the key features of War Communism?

Answer 31

- ban on private trade - decline in use of money - grain requisitioning - nationalisation of entire economy

Question 32

What caused the 1921 famine?

Answer 32

- Grain requisitioning of War Communism - Peasant rebellion - stopped producing grain

Question 33

Which famine was so bad in Russia that cannibalism was reported?

Answer 33

1921 War Communism famine

Question 34

How many people died in the 1921 famine?

Answer 34

5 million

Question 35

What policy did Lenin introduce as a result of the failings of War Communism?

Answer 35

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Question 36

What were the key features of the NEP?

Answer 36

- peasants only gave fixed proportion of their grain to state - industry nationalised - private trade allowed

Question 37

What term did Trotsky use to describe the problem of inflation caused by the NEP?

Answer 37

Scissors crisis

Question 38

How far did Russian industrial output grow by under the NEP?

Answer 38

200%

Question 39

Who were the NEPmen?

Answer 39

Private traders who operated during the NEP

Question 40

What was Stalin's agricultural policy called?

Answer 40

Collectivisation

Question 41

What was the most common type of collective farm called?

Answer 41

Kolkhoz

Question 42

What year did Stalin make collectivisation compulsory?

Answer 42

1929

Question 43

Which nation suffered a "punishment famine" under Stalin's collectivisation policy?

Answer 43

Ukraine

Question 44

Which "ideological enemy" was targeted by Stalin during the collectivisation policy?

Answer 44

Kulaks

Question 45

How many kulaks were murdered by Stalin's regime?

Answer 45

3 million

Question 46

What % of land had been collectivised by 1939?

Answer 46

99%

Question 47

How many peasants moved into the cities during the policy of collectivisation under Stalin?

Answer 47

17 million

Question 48

What economic planning body did Stalin create to set targets for his Five Year Plans?

Answer 48

Gosplan

Question 49

What types of industry were prioritised by Stalin in the first Five Year Plan?

Answer 49

Heavy industry - coal, oil, iron, steel

Question 50

Production of which product outperformed targets in Stalin's first Five Year Plan?

Answer 50

Oil

Question 51

What were the weaknesses of Stalin's Five Year Plans?

Answer 51

- Target-mania - targets set too high - Terror - led to factories managers to falsify production data - Bottlenecks in production - shortages of raw materials

Question 52

Production of what type of goods was ignored by all of Stalin's Five Year Plans?

Answer 52

Consumer goods

Question 53

Which of Stalin's Five Year Plans focused on armament production?

Answer 53

Third - build up to WW2

Question 54

What was Magnitogorsk?

Answer 54

An example of a gargantuan project of Stalin's Five Year Plans

Question 55

What did factory managers fear being accused of during Stalin's Five Year Plans?

Answer 55

Being an saboteur

Question 56

What length was the working day extended to under Stalin's Five Year Plans?

Answer 56

12 hours

Question 57

What was the name of the coal miner used as a propaganda tool during Stalin's Five Year Plans?

Answer 57

Alexei Stakhanov

Question 58

What was the name of Khrushchev's agricultural policy?

Answer 58

Virgin Land Campaign

Question 59

What nickname did Khrushchev receive?

Answer 59

Mr Corn

Question 60

Identify a region associated with the VLC

Answer 60

Kazakhstan

Question 61

What year did the VLC begin?

Answer 61

1954

Question 62

How many motorised tractors did the campaign deliver initially?

Answer 62

120,000

Question 63

Why did established farmers not want to move to the Virgin Lands?

Answer 63

Poor living conditions and infrastructure

Question 64

By 1959 how many hectares of land only had 1 tractor?

Answer 64

200 hectares

Question 65

What year was their a poor harvest?

Answer 65

1963

Question 66

Production of what product in the 6th Five Year Plan helped develop more consumer goods?

Answer 66

Plastics

Question 67

By how much did the housing stock grow by under Khrushchev?

Answer 67

Doubled