Industrialisation

Question 1

1st FYP (1928-32)

Answer 1

• ambitious: aimed to produce over double coal, oil, steel, pig iron by end
• WSC bankrupted enterprises both in USA and in Europe which had relied on US loans. Russia looked politically strong within the world, not struggling economically like rest of world.
• targets met in 4 not 5 years / possibly falsified stats
• elec 3x, coal and pig iron 2x, steel production +1/3
• targets for chemical industry not met
• house-building food-processing and other consumer industries neglected
• Turksib railway (Turkestan to Siberia) facilitated the transport of cotton and chjeap Siberian grain, designed to create a working classs in the steppes and semi-deserts of Central Asia
• Construction of completely new industrial cities such as Magnitogorsk, gigantic steel plant and a town of 150,000 created from nothing

Question 2

2nd FYP (1933-37)

Answer 2

• aimed to: continue development of heavy industry, promote the growth of light industry, such as chemicals, electrics and consumer goods, develop communications to provide links between cities, foster engineering and tool-making
• Moscow metro 1935, extremely grand, made Russia look well off in world. proved that a socialist metro could surpass capitalist designs, was a boast of USSR’s industrial achievement
• Dnieprostroi Dam producing hydro-electric power, extended with four more generators to make it the largest dam in Europe, increased Soviet electric power fivefold in 1932
• 1936 greater focus on rearmament, output rose by almost 300% for military production, such focus lead to FYP to not reach coal,oil,pig iron, electricity, tractor targets

Question 3

3rd FYP 1938-42

Answer 3

• aims:place a renewed emphasis on the development of heavy industry, promote rapid rearmament, complete the transition to communism
• heavy industry main beneficiary with strong growth in machinery and engineering
• military spending doubled 1938-40, steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet targets causing a fuel crisis, and many industries found them self short of raw materials, consumer goods once again relegated to lowest priority
• purges: lead to death of good managers, specialists, technicians
• plan also disrupted due to German invasion in 1941.

Question 4

Use of foreigners

Answer 4

• to provide necessary expertise for these vast projects the USSR was forced to turn to foreign companies and individuals with both managerial and technical skills. American Henry Ford advised on the car industry, training Russian engineers helping to deign the car-plant at Gorky.
• Moscow metro relied on construction engineers from Britain, engineering designs, routes and construction plans were handled by specialists recruited from the London Underground.

Dnieprostroi Dam project used the experience gained from the construction of hydro-electric power stations in Canada and, in 1932, six American engineers awarded ‘Order of the Red Banner of Labour’ for outstanding work in the construction of of DniproHES

Question 5

Stakhanovites

Answer 5

-emerged after Aleksei Stakhanov cut an extraordinary 102 tonnes of coal in below 6 hours, 14 times the amount expected from a miner in that length of time,
declared a Soviet hero and given a large bonus and honorary awards

• ideal propaganda for a party trying to create a new proletarian culture based on teamwork and selfless sacrifice
• By December 1935 the number of broken records had filled two volumes
• movement became a way of forcing management to support their workers and increase production
• there were records of Stakhanovites being victimised or even attacked by colleagues who were less enthusiastic and resented campaigns to persuade them to work harder

Question 6

Managers

Answer 6

• managers had the task of ensuring that output targets set by regional adminstrators were met. Fulfilling quotas while having limited control over their own resources,prices, wages and other costs was not an easy task
• manager received a bonus that could be as much as 40% of his income if he did better then expected, managers received high salaries and status as part of the industrial elite.
• a manager could be put on trial, imprisoned or even executed if he failed to meet the targets, also had to ensure that books were balanced so not to be accused of wrecking- leading to falsified stats
• managers also expected to apply state regulations in the workplace, national work norms governed how much work a laborer should be expected to do, made it hard for a manger to earn the good will of his workers, became even harder when work norms raised by 10-50% in 1936

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Question 7

Workers

Answer 7

• seven day working week and longer working hours, arriving late or missing work could result in dismissal, eviction from housing and loss of benefits. Damaging machinery or leaving a job without permission was a criminal offence and strikes were illegal.
• 1938 labour books recorded workers’ employment, skills and any disciplinary issues.
• 1931 wage differentials introduced, to reward those who stayed in their jobs and worked hard.
• By allowing managers to vary wages, award bonuses, pay by the piece and often offer better housing to reward skills and devoted application, the proletariat became more diverse in its experience- some thriving whilst others struggled
• numbers that poured into the industrial cities left workers living in extremely cramp[ed communal apartments where they had to cope with inadequate sanitation and erratic water supplies, public transport was overcrowded, shops were often empty and queues and shortages were an accepted feature of life, real wages in 1937 were still lower then what they had been in 1928
• Belamor Canal: 300,000 labourers involved, death rate was 700 per day, many died cos overworked, poor treatment, lack of food and disease

Question 8

Women

Answer 8

• women largely concentrated in the lowest paid jobs requiring the least skills- particularly in textiles and other light industry
• women often paid less then men for fulfilling same work norms, Zhenotdel(department of Russian Communist Party devoted to women’s affairs) shut down in 1930, no drive to increase female labour
• By 1935, women constituted 42% of all industrial workers . Females harrassed physically and sexually on factory floors and no institution to fight the inequality
• increasing number of women found their way into well-paid skilled positions including work in heavy industry such as lumber,metal and machine production. A little over 43% of the industrial workforce was female by 1940