Five Year Plans- Unit 4

Question 1

Aims:

Answer 1

• War against Russia’s tsarist past.
• Development of heavy industry.
• Abandonment of NEP and strict state control.
• Production targets.

Question 2

Process of FYPs:

Answer 2

• Initial targets set by Gosplan (state planning commission).
• Passed onto regional managers to implement.

Question 3

First FYP:

Answer 3

• Didn’t fully run its course.
• Gov exaggerated its achievements.

But:
- Electricity production trebled.
- Coal and iron doubled.
- Steel production increased by 1/3.

Weakness:
- Decline in consumer industries.
- Chemical targets not met.
- No focus on quality, due to gigantomania, about all about quantity.

Question 4

Impact of first FYP:

Answer 4

• Enthusiasm, people thought they were creating full and better world.
• Show trials scared workers into being productive.
• Managers who didn’t meet targets branded as enemies of the state.

Question 5

Second FYP:

Answer 5

1933-1937.
- Ideological triumph, signing of Non-Aggression pact with Nazi Germany was down to Stalin strengthening SU to prevent German invasion.
- Project, White Sea Canal.

Question 6

Social impact of FYPs:

Answer 6

• Better housing, healthcare and education.
• Some say living under a totalitarian regime instilled fear, freedoms greatly limited.

Question 7

Political impacts of FYPs:

Answer 7

• Centralised planning of economy.

Question 8

Fear due to FYPs:

Answer 8

Public ‘wreckers’ put on show trial for not pulling their weight.
‘Sabotage’= blanket term to denounce anyone not pulling their weight.