Economy and society- Communists Flashcards
what was lenins approach to industry?
state capitalism
what is state capitalism?
-state took complete control of the economy untill it could be safely handed over to the proletariat
3 key dates that initiated state capitalism
1917 decree on land- private land holdings divided and given to peasants by state
1917 formation of supreme economic council, gov managed key industries, soon became un manageable due to volume of nationalized industries.
1918 decree on workers control, extra power to run factories
why was state capitalism introduced? what did lenin believe?
believed centralized control of the nation was the only way to recover from WW1
what did state capitalism lead to? and with the help of what treaty?
-great levels of opposition= civil war and famine 1921
-treaty of brest litovsk meant valuable territory handed back to germany
did he get rid of state capitalism as a result of opposition?
no, it only increased into war communism
why did lenin think war communism was needed?
-maintain a strong army
why was war communism unpopular?
-work was hard and long hours
-to get enough food for soldiers, secret police siezed surplus grain from peasants
-trade unions banned
-inflation
-bad working enviroments
peasants grew less grain, or hid it
- famine of 1921 killed over 4 million
why did lenins war communism come to an end?
the Kronstadt revolt 1921
-discontent amongst peasants
-workers went on strike
-march 1921 sailors at the naval base in kronstadt revolted
-accused lenin of abandoning his promise to help workers
-20,000 causalties
-leaders executed
what was the result of the kronstadt revolt 1921?
-the new economic plan
what was the New economic plan?
-stopped requisitioning food
-peasants happy as they could keep surplus
-new rouble ended inflation
-smaller factories (less than 20 people) privatised
-bigger industries remained nationalised
what was the result of the NEP? was it a success?
no, the scissor crisis
what was the scissor crisis?
-1923
-widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices#
-industrial prices 276% of 1913 level
-agricultural only 89%
peasant income fell, so couldn’t buy industrial goods, began to stop selling produces and reverted to only feeding themselves
what was stalins approach to industry?
5 year plans
what did the 5 year plans under stalin focus on mainly
-preparation for war, control and reconstruction
flaws of stalins 5 year plans?
-shortage of consumer goods
-deportation of kulaks (5 million)
-human costs huge
-catastrophic famine 1932-33
-products poor
-machines poor
what was production like under stalin?
-good preparation for war, rapid growth across all industry
-1927-1940 35 mil tons coal to 150 million tons
-oil, 21 mil- 26 mil
-steel 3 mil- 18 mil
what was production like under Lenin?
NEP levels decreased production hugely
-coal fell from 29 mil in 1913 to 8.9 mil tonnes 1921
what was production like under khrushchev?
-fell, slowed
-shift from old staples to modern proved in sufficient as levels dropped in what stalin succeeded in
what was infrastructure like under stalin?
-1928-1941, 8,000 enterprises built
-transport network superior, linked all major industrial centers
-biggest railway Russia had ever