Industrialisation Flashcards
Describe the organisation of the Five-Year Plans
Party set targets for heavy industries (through Gosplan)
Commissariats would set specific output targets and organise purchases of inputs, prices, wages, costs
Regional administrators were given instructions about activities and resource administrations
Directors of industrial enterprises (factories) had sole responsibility for meeting output targets
Who appointed and dismissed planners and senior managers in the factories?
Senior party officials, acting for political (rather than economic) reasons
Who was head of the Commissariat of Heavy Industry between 1930 and 1937? What did his job involve?
Sergo Ordzhonikidze
Had a direct line to different factories; moved around people and resources as he wished
Which industries were prioritised under the Five-Year Plans?
Which industries were considered less important?
Prioritised: coal, iron, steel and heavy industries
Less important: consumer industries (clothes, shoes)
Why were the Five-Year Plans always completed a year ahead of schedule?
Designed to show the superiority of the Soviet planned economy over Western capitalism (in the context of the Great Depression)
Where were massive new industrial centers built and why?
East of the Ural mountains
Less vulnerable to attack from the West (Germany)
How much electricity was produced (in kWh) in:
1927 (start 1st FYP)
1932 (end 1st FYP)
1937 (end 2nd FYP)
1927: 18 million kWh
1932: 20 million kWh
1937: 80 million kWh
How much coal was produced in:
1927 (start 1st FYP)
1932 (end 1st FYP)
1937 (end 2nd FYP)
1927: 35 million tonnes
1932: 64 million tonnes
1937: 128 million tonnes
How much steel was produced in:
1927 (start 1st FYP)
1932 (end 1st FYP)
1937 (end 2nd FYP)
1927: 3 million tonnes
1932: 6 million tonnes
1937: 18 million tonnes
How much oil was produced in:
1927 (start first FYP)
1932 (end first FYP)
1937 (end second FYP)
1927: 12 million tonnes
1932: 21 million tonnes
1937: 26 million tonnes
What happened to the number of small workshops during the first FYP, and why?
Reduced
Attempt to drive out the Nepmen
In which industry were targets not met in the 1st FYP?
The chemicals industry
What happened to chemical industries in the second FYP?
Grew (especially fertiliser production)
Give three metals that were mined for the first time during the second FYP
Copper, zinc, tin
Give two examples of consumer industries which grew during the second FYP
Footwear
Ice cream
How many commissariats were there in 1928?
How many were there by 1938?
1928: four (heavy industry, light industry, timber, food)
1938: 20
Why did local officials falsify their production figures during the Five-Year Plans?
They wanted to give the impression they had met them (culture of fear/sabotage)
How many “first Five-Year Plans” were there, and why?
Three
Stalin was so impressed by the apparent progress of the early stages of the plan (based on false figures), he reassessed targets upwards, and this repeated
Which city was built from scratch in the Ural mountains by Komsomol brigades, peasants and foreign engineers?
Magnitogorsk
What happened to living standards during the First Five-Year Plan, and why?
They deteriorated
The first FYP was never intended to raise them - workers were supposed to sacrifice standards of living for the greater good of the nation (individual sacrifice)
Why were industrial ‘wreckers’ and ‘saboteurs’ put on show trial?
To show that resistance to industrialisation was futile
What was gigantomania? Give three examples of it in action
The worship of size for its own sake
Canals, bridges, docks, dams
Give two reasons why Stalin pursued gigantomania
Could prove to the outside world that the USSR was advancing to greatness
The untrained peasants flooding the factories could not become skilled workers overnight, so quality was ignored and quantity was stressed
Give three examples of ‘sabotage’ in the factories
Turning up late for work
Mislaying tools
Not meeting production quotas
How did the targets of the Second FYP compare to the first?
They were slightly more realistic
Why was there a lack of co-operation between different parts of the industrial system, particularly during the second FYP?
Regions and sectors competed with one another in an attempt to meet targets, so they hoarded resources
What was claimed about Alexei Stakhanov in August 1935? Was this accurate?
He had cut over 100 tonnes of coal in a five-hour shift (more than 14 times his required quota)
No - in 1988 the USSR admitted that he had worked as part of a team with high-quality coal-cutting machines
How did workers aim to emulate Stakhanov? Why was this a problem?
Worked for intense periods to meet high targets. It was inefficient - led to an overall decrease in production
Why could trade unions not intervene during the Five-Year Plans?
They were under the control of the party since 1920
Why could workers not go on strike during the Five-Year Plans?
Strikes were banned - demands for better pay and conditions were regarded as selfish
Where did most workers live during the Five-Year Plans?
Five-storey apartment blocks, with four or five families sharing a toilet and a kitchen (which would often be just a single gas ring)
What proportion of government spending was on defence/weapons by 1940?
33% (one third)
How many Russians were in secondary technical schools during the Five-Year Plans?
1 million
How many women entered the workforce during the Five-Year Plans? Were they well represented in the top positions?
10 million
No - just 20 of 328 factory directors were women (and 17 of these were in textiles factories where more than 3/4 of workers were women)
In 1930, in the coal industry, how often would the average worker move jobs in a year?
3 times a year
How did factories try to stop the “quicksand society” of workers moving from job to job?
Pay increases for staying in a job; better houses and clothes for outstanding workers
What was the penalty for causing damage at work or leaving a job without permission?
Imprisonment
