Lesson 1 & 2-Government control of the economy: what were state capitalism and war communism and why were they abandoned? What was the New Economic Policy and how did it impact Russia?

Question 1

When was the Land Decree on Worker’s control?

Answer 1

1917

Question 2

When was War Communism introduced?

Answer 2

1918

Question 3

When was the New Economic Policy introduced?

Answer 3

1921

Question 4

When were the grain shortages?

Answer 4

1927

Question 5

When was the First Five-Year Plan launched which led to collectivisation and grain requisitioning beginning?

Answer 5

1928

Question 6

What is War Communism?

Answer 6

War communism was the economic and political system that existed in the Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921.

Question 7

During War Communism what was the economy totally directed towards?

Answer 7

Equipping and maintaining the Red Army

Question 8

Define Totalitarianism.

Answer 8

A dictatorship
Ruled by an absolute dictator
Dictator no restricted by constitution/law/opposition etc

Question 9

What is a Communist State?

Answer 9

an unrestricted state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state

Question 10

Define capitalism

Answer 10

An economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

Question 11

Define communism

Answer 11

A political theory derived from Karl Marx
Supports class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Question 12

What was the Vesenkha?

Answer 12

the Supreme Council of National Economy
Was a superior state institution for management of the economy

Question 13

What is state capitalism?

Answer 13

A political system in which the state has control of production and the use of capital.

Question 14

Define nationalisation

Answer 14

the action of forming or becoming a nation.

Question 15

What was the Decree on Nationalisation?

Answer 15

In June 1918 this brought industry under central control within 2 years.

Question 16

What is rationing?

Answer 16

Allow each person to have only a fixed amount of (a particular commodity)

Question 17

Define terror

Answer 17

To remove any form of political opposition

Question 18

Give one way in which terror was used in Russia

Answer 18

Lenin established the Cheka

Question 19

What was the Cheka?

Answer 19

A political police force that engaged in terror tactics against anyone who resisted the Communists

Question 20

What are Political Commissars?

Answer 20

an official of the Communist Party who was assigned to teach party principles to a military unit.

Question 21

What is the free market?

Answer 21

An economic system

prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses.

based on supply and demand with little or no government control.

Question 22

What is the black market?

Answer 22

An illegal traffic or trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities

Question 23

What is Narkomprod?

Answer 23

Commissariat of Supplies

State Committee in charge of food supplies and industrial goods

Question 24

Define the ‘Ural-Siberian method’.

Answer 24

Approach used for the collection of grain from the countryside.

It was introduced in Urals and Siberia

Question 25

Define famine

Answer 25

Extreme scarcity of food

Question 26

What is grain requisitioning?

Answer 26

The seizing of grain mainly from the Kulaks

Question 27

Who was Tomsky?

Answer 27

A factory worker
Trade unionist
Bolshevik leader

Question 28

Who was Rykov?

Answer 28

Russia Bolshevik revolutionary
A Soviet politician

Question 29

What state was the Bolshevik Russian Economy as a result of the First World War?

Answer 29

In chaos

Question 30

What was the agricultural and industrial system as a result of the First World War?

Answer 30

It was outdated and inefficient

Question 31

Who did the Bolsheviks believe the economy should be in the hands of?

Answer 31

Workers and peasants

Question 32

What did believing the economy should be in the hands of the workers and the peasants cause?

Answer 32

It was ineffective in ensuring progress

Question 33

What did Stalin introduce as he was frustrated at the chaos in the Bolshevik economy?

Answer 33

A series Five-Year Plans
The collectivisation of agriculture (beginning 1928/29)

Question 34

What happened as a result of the introduction of Stalin’s Five-Year Plans and his collectivisation of agriculture?

Answer 34

It transformed the Soviet Union but at an enormous cost

Question 35

When did the pace of economic policies change?

Answer 35

After Stalin’s death in 1953