Five Year Plan's Flashcards
When was the First 5 Year Plan?
1928-1932
What effect did the First 5 Year Plan have on iron, coal and steel
Iron and coal output doubled
Steel production increased by 1/3
(Outperformed any previous economic system)
How much did the Russian economy grow due to the First 5 Year Plan?
Around 14% a year
How did the First 5 Year Plan benefit agriculture?
Huge new tractor works were built in Stalingrad, Kharkov and other places to meet the needs of agriculture
How did the First 5 Year Plan benefit the engineering industry?
Industry developed
Increased output of machine-tools, turbines etc.
What effect did the First 5 Year Plan have on consumer industries? What consumer industries were effected?
Very little growth, even a decline.
House-building, fertilisers, food processing and woolen textiles.
What effect did the First 5 Year Plan have on small workshops and why?
Squeezed out.
Partly because of the drive against Nepmen and partly because of shortages of materials and fuels.
What happened to chemical targets?
They weren’t fulfilled
What effect did the First 5 Year Plan have on workers?
There was a lack of skilled workers which created major problems.
Workers were constantly changing jobs which created instability.
Poor working and living conditions.
Overall how was the First 5 Year Plan a failure?
- Many targets weren’t met (many lied about the amount of raw materials produced)
- USSR couldn’t earn enough from exports to pay for all the machinery it needed due to the Great Depression
- Good deal of investment had to go into agriculture due to forced collectivisation
Overall how was the First 5 Year Plan a success?
+ Soviet economy was kick-started: Impressive growth in certain sectors of the economy and there were substantial achievements (all during the Great Depression in America and Europe)
What was the increase in Coal from 1928 to 1932?
35.4 million tonnes (1928) to 64.3 million tonnes (1932)
Why did heavy industries benefit during the Second 5 Year Plan?
Benefited from the plants set up during the First 5 year Plan
How did the First 5 Year Plan help industry?
Huge new industrial complexes were built/in the process of being built
What were the successes of the Second 5 Year Plan?
+ Electricity production grew rapidly
+Transport and communication grew rapidly
+Chemical industries (e.g. fertiliser production) were growing
What effect did the Second 5 Year Plan have on metallurgy?
Metallurgy developed - minerals like copper, zinc and tin were made for the first time
How successful was the Second 5 Year Plan?
By 1937 the USSR was virtually self-sufficient in machine-making and metal working
What were the failures of the Second 5 Year Plan?
-Consumer goods industries still lagging (showing signs of recovery)
-Oil production didn’t make the expected advances
+/- Growth in footwear, food processing, modern bakeries, ice-cream production, meat packing plants - BUT NOT ENOUGH
When was the Second 5 Year Plan?
1933-1937
When was the Third 5 Year Plan?
1938-1941
What were the successes of the Third 5 Year Plan?
+Defence and armaments grew rapidly as resources were diverted to them
+/-Heavy industry continued to grow (e.g. machinery and engineering) BUT THE PICTURE WAS UNEVEN AND SOME AREAS DID POORLY
What were the failures of the Third 5 Year Plan?
- Steel output grew insignificantly
- Oil production failed to meet targets plus led to a fuel crisis
- Consumer industries once again took a back seat
- Many factories ran short of materials
What contributed towards the failures of the Third 5 Year Plan?
- Ran into difficulties in the beginning of 1938 due to an exceptionally hard winter and the diversion of materials to the military
- Gosplan was thrown into chaos when purges created shortages of qualified personnel (important managers, engineers and officials who linked industries and government)
What were the successes of the 5 Year Plans in terms of social mobility?
\+Urban population trebled as peasants moved to cities for unskilled jobs in Soviet industry \+Existing members of the working class were promoted \+Education was reformed (university was accessible to those with minimal academic qualifications)
What was the issue with targets?
- Many targets were never met - lied about amount of raw materials made
- Targets only related to quantity - quality was neglected so a large proportion of materials were useless
- Focus on production not consumption - often raw materials were never used and allowed to decay
What were the issues with living and working conditions?
- They were never an objective of the plan.
- Rations = poor diet (worse than NEP)
- Consumer goods disappeared
- 7 day working week
- Working conditions deteriorated (Miners worked unsafe conditions trying to reach targets)
- Many peasants died in the hastily constructed factories
