Industrial and social developments in towns and cities Flashcards
How did Stalin choose to advance his economic programme for industry?
Through a series of five year plans which set attainment targets for industrial enterprises
What was the role of Gosplan?
The state planning agency was given responsibility for drawing up the plans and establishing output targets for every economic enterprise in accordance with party directives
Why was Gosplans job so difficult?
The communist government made the overall decision as to what should be produced and when, over a five year period, while regional party leaders competed to put forwards ambitious projects and argue with Gosplan as to why their region should have first call o resources
What did Gosplan also suffer from?
A lack of reliable information (particularly on the price of imports or the price that exports might command)and they faced the difficulty of planning for many variables and changing commodities
Why were the targets set usually so ambitious?
They were intended to force managers and workers to devote their maximum effort to the programme and the launching and fulfilment of these plans was accompanied by much propaganda
Why did all those involved in administering and carrying out the plans grow to great lengths to ensure that the reported statistics showed great improvements - often above the targets initially set?
Failure to achieve a target was deemed a criminal offence
What was the result of this fear to fill the targets?
Corruption and faulty reporting was built into the system from the beginning
What were workers of Gosplan based in the unenviable position of?
Working from deliberately falsified statistics and if things went wrong its officials could be held responsible , once plans got underway thousands of state employees were dismissed including members of Gosplan’s offices on the grounds they weren’t sufficiently class-conscious , enthusiastic or free from corruption
When was the first Five Year Plan approved?
At the Sixteenth Party Congress in April 1929 although the plan was backdated to October 1928
What was the first issue with the first plan?
It wasn’t based on secure data and the targets were extremely over ambitious
What are examples of the over ambitious targets for the first plan? (million tonnes)
Coal production 1927-28 = 35.4 Target production for 1932-33 = 75
Oil production 1927-28 = 11.7 Target production for 1932-33 = 22
Steel production 1927-28 = 4 Target production for 1932-33 = 10.4
Pig iron production 1927-28 = 3.3 Target production for 1932-33 = 10
What should be acknowledged in the flaws of the first plan?
It was an experiment with no obvious example elsewhere from which to learn - particularly at a time of economic collapse in the west following the Wall Street Crash
What was one major problem with the plans regarding Stalin?
The people were afraid to question anything about them as Stalin’s regime became more authoritarian and criticisms might easily be labelled as disloyalty, sabotage or treason
What was the Wall-Street Crash and what was the consequence?
The American stock market collapsed in October 1929 bankrupting many enterprises in both the USA and Europe which had relied on American loan. It caused the Great Depression, a time of low productivity and widespread unemployment in the capitalist west
What did the first plan focus on?
The development of heavy industry such as coal and steel - raw materials that were a means of making other products
What were the aims of the first plan?
To increase production by 300%
Focus on the development of coal, iron, steel, oil and machinery
Boost electricity production by 600%
Double the output from light industry such as chemicals
What did the publicity surrounding the first plans launch provoke?
An enthusiastic response
Were the targets met?
Such was its success that Stalin claimed the targets mad been met in 4 years not 5 but this was probably due to over enthusiastic reporting by local officials keen to show their loyalty and effort
In reality none of the targets were actually met, although investment brought some impressive growth
What were some of the achievements of the first plan?
Electricity output trebled
Coal and iron output doubled
Steel production increased by 1/3
New railways, engineering plants, HEP schemes and industrial complexes sprung up
What were the failings at the end of the first plan?
The targets for the chemical industry were not met and house-building, food-processing and other consumer industries were woefully neglected
There were too few skilled workers and too little effective central coordination for efficient development
Smaller industrial works and workshops lost out in the competition from the bigger factories
What did the second plan do?
Built on the infrastructure provided by the first plan
Gave more attention to consumer goods than the first plan but heavy industry still remained the overall priority
What were the aims of the second plan
To continue the development of heavy industry
Promote the growth of light industries such as chemicals and electricals and consumer goods
Develop communications to provide links between cities and other industrial areas
Foster engineering and tool making
What were the successes of the second plan?
The ‘three good years’ 1934-1936 during which the Moscow Metro was opened (1935)
The Volga canal was opened in 1937 and the Dnieprostrio Dam producing hydroelectric power which had been completed in 1932 was extended with four more generators to make it the largest dam in Europe
Electricity production and chemical industries grew rapidly and new metals such as copper. zinc and tin were mined for the first time
Steel output trebled, coal production doubled and by 1937 the SU was virtually self-sufficient in metal goods and machine tools
In 1936 how did the focus of the second plan change slightly?
A greater emphasis was placed on rearmament which rose from 4% of GDP in 1933 to 17% by 1937
What were some of the weaknesses of the second plan?
Old production failed to meet targets and despite some expansion in footwear and food-processing there was still no appreciable increase in consumer goods
Emphasis on quantity rather than quality which had also inhibited the first plan continued
When did the three plans take place?
First plan = 1928-1932
Second plan = 1933-1937
Third plan = 1938-1942
What were some key figures of the second plan failing to meet its targets?
Coal 1937 target = 152.5 Actual = 128
Oil 1937 target = 46.8 Actual = 28.5
Tractors (in thousands) 1937 target = 166.7 Actual 66.5
What were some key figures for the success of the second plan in meeting its targets?
Steel 1937 target = 17 Actual = 17.7 Machine tools (thousands) 1937 target= 40 Actual=45.5 Electricity target 1937 = 38,000 Actual = 36,000 KwH (considering ambitious nature of plans this is successful)
Give two examples of the first plan failing to meet its targets?
1932-33 target production Steel = 10.4 Actual = 5.9
1932-33 target production pig iron=10 Actual =6.2
Were there improvements between the first and second plans?
Significant increase in amount produced but also much more ambitious targets - see book for figures
What did the third plan focus on?
The needs of the defensive sector due to the growing threat Nazi Germany posed to the USSR
What was the third plan disrupted by?
The approach of war in 1941
What were the aims of the third plan?
Place a renewed emphasis on development of heavy industry
Promote rapid rearmament
Complete the transition to communism
What were some weaknesses of the third plan?
Steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet targets causing a fuel crisis and many industries found themselves short of raw materials
Consumer goods were once again relegated to the lowest priority
Which areas did benefit during the third plan?
Heavy industry the biggest beneficiary with strong growth in machinery and engineering
Although varied across the country, resources were increasingly diverted to rearmament on which spending doubled between 1938 and 1940
What was the biggest problem with the third plan?
The lack of good managers, specialists and technicians following Stalin’s purges
What else inhibited the success of the third plan?
There was an exceptionally hard winter in 1938 and the needs of defence played a part
The plan was disrupted and finished early because of the German invasion of 1941
What ‘show-piece’ projects did the plans involve?
Designed to show the modernity and capabilities of the soviet state they included The Dnieprostroi Dam The Turksib Railway The Moscow Metro The Moscow-Volga Canal
When was the Dnieprostroi Dam constructed and what was it?
Construction began in 1927 and it was opened October 1932
It was the largest hydro-electric power station on the Dnieper River (In Ukraine)
Generation 560 MW the station became the largest Soviet power plant and at the time one of the largest in the world
What are the additional details of the Dnieprostroi Dam?
The power station was built on deserted land in the countryside
It was planned to provide electricity for several aluminium production plants and a high quality steel production plant that were also to be constructed in the area
It began generation electricity during the first five year plan , after four further generators were installed in the second plan it increased Soviet electric power five-fold in 1932
The industrial centres of Dniepropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih grew from the power provided
When was the Turksib railway constructed and what was it?
Build 1926-1931 (passenger service began in 1929)
Also known as the Central Asiatic Railway it connected central Asia with Siberia
Ran from Tashkent to Novosibirsk where it met the West Siberian portion of the Trans-Siberian railway
What were the additional details of the Turksib railway?
Huge construction project built for political as well as economic reasons
Designed to create a working class in the steppes and semi-desert of central Asia
Built by nearly 50,000 workers
The line also facilitated the transport of cotton from Turkestan to Siberia and cheap Siberian grain from Russia to the Fergana Valley
When was the Moscow Metro opened and what was it?
Opened in 1935
It was one 11km line was 13 stations
The first underground railway station in the USSR
It was extended in a second stage in 1938 but a third stage was delayed due to war
