Lesson 3-How Successful Was Stalin's First Five-Year Plan?

Question 1

When was the First Five-Plan?

Answer 1

1928-1932

Question 2

What Was this first five-year plan a set of targets for?

Answer 2

Industrialisation

Question 3

What is crash industrialisation?

Answer 3

Industrialisation as quick as possible

Question 4

Who were the Gosplan?

Answer 4

State planning committee

Question 5

Define the term commodities

Answer 5

A raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee

Question 6

What were foundational industries?

Answer 6

Heavy industries that would lay the foundation for future industrial development

Question 7

What Was the proletarian advancement?

Answer 7

The removal of existing ‘bourgeois specialists’ and replacing them with newly trained working-class ‘red specialists.’

Question 8

What is the free market?

Answer 8

An economic organisation where citizens are free to compete against each other as purchasers and providers of goods and services.

Question 9

Who has a very limited role in the free market?

Answer 9

The government

Question 10

In a free market, what are consumption and prices determined by?

Answer 10

The needs of the consumers

Question 11

What is the black market?

Answer 11

Similar to free market but trading of the goods and services on the black market is illegal.
Subsequently, trading of this kind is kept secret.

Question 12

What is a speculator?

Answer 12

Someone who makes money buying and selling, rather than producing goods.

Question 13

What did Communists believe about speculators?

Answer 13

Speculation is an extremely Capitalist activity which exploited those who produced goods.

Question 14

What are show trials?

Answer 14

An event in which people are publicly shamed for allegedly criminal acts.

Question 15

What is the purpose of show trials?

Answer 15

To make an ‘example’ of the ‘criminals’.
To persuade the public that similar activity should be avoided.

Question 16

Who are shock workers?

Answer 16

Volunteers who are sent to work on projects for short periods of time in order to speed up their completion.

Question 17

Define gigantomania.

Answer 17

The worship of size for its own sake
the creation of abnormally large works.

Question 18

What is Magnitogorsk?

Answer 18

A place that went from being a small village in 1928 to a town of 25,000 people in 1932

Question 19

What were the FYPs designed to break away from?

Answer 19

NEP and its Capitalist elements

Question 20

What were the main targets of the FYPs?

Answer 20

Bring about rapid industrialisation
Modernise the economy
Move towards Socialism

Question 21

What did Stalin hope the expansion of industry would increase?

Answer 21

The size of the proletariat

Question 22

Who are the proletariat?

Answer 22

Working class.
Someone who sells their labour in order to earn a living.

Question 23

Why did Stalin want to increase the proletariat?

Answer 23

It would create more loyal party members

Question 24

Why did Stalin think his enemies would do?

Answer 24

Crush the only Communist state

Question 25

What did Stalin feel could only defend the USSR?

Answer 25

Only an economically and militarily strong USSR could defend itself

Question 26

Why was NEP becoming increasingly unpopular?

Answer 26

Party members who were recruited under the Lenin Enrolment believed it wasn't helping to create an equal society.

Question 27

Why did the party members under the Lenin Enrolment believe that the NEP was not helping to create and equal society?

Answer 27

They believed it encouraged the growth of Nepmen and Kulaks.

Question 28

Who were Nepmen?

Answer 28

businesspeople in the early Soviet Union, who took advantage of the opportunities for private trade and small-scale manufacturing provided under the New Economic Policy

Question 29

When was NEP?

Answer 29

1921-28

Question 30

What was economic progress like by 1928 and why?

Answer 30

It was slowing The NEP was not delivering the industrialisation the USSR needed.

Question 31

What did Stalin say in regards to Russia being behind other countries (a quote)?

Answer 31

'We are 50 to 100 years behind advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it or we shall be crushed.'

Question 32

What was this rapid industrialisation and important part of?

Answer 32

Stalin's cry of 'Socialism in one country.'

Question 33

What type of economy did the FYPs call for?

Answer 33

Command Economy

Question 34

At what Party Congress was the decision to abandon NEP made?

Answer 34

Fifteenth Party Congress in 1927

Question 35

What did the plans aim to use to make the USSR self-sufficient?

Answer 35

The most advanced technology applied with an emphasis on heavy industry.

Question 36

What did the plans rely on?

Answer 36

The mass mobilisation of people and resources.

Question 37

What is mass mobilisation?

Answer 37

Growing the movement a process that engages and motivates a wide range of partners and allies at national and local levels to raise awareness of and demand for a particular development objective through face-to-face dialogue.

Question 38

What did Stalin have to introduce to make sure the FYPs worked?

Answer 38

a Command Economy

Question 39

What is a command economy?

Answer 39

Where production levels and prices are set by the government

Question 40

Who did Stalin turn to when he needed to introduce a Command Economy?

Answer 40

Gosplan

Question 41

Who were Gosplan?

Answer 41

The State Planning Committee

Question 42

What did Gosplan set targets for?

Answer 42

Industry

Question 43

Where were targets set by Gosplan sent to?

Answer 43

Each region of the country

Question 44

Where were the targets set for each region of the country sent to?

Answer 44

Each factory, mine etc

Question 45

Who did factory managers set targets for?

Answer 45

Every worker

Question 46

What did Gosplan fail to do in regards to targets?

Answer 46

Say how they should be achieved

Question 47

Who was figuring out how the targets should be achieved left to?

Answer 47

Individual managers

Question 48

What specific dates was the First FYP?

Answer 48

October 1928-December 1932

Question 49

What are some examples of heavy industries the First FYP aimed at developing?

Answer 49

Coal Iron Steel Oil Heavy machinery

Question 50

What did Stalin believe about heavy industry?

Answer 50

He believed they were the building blocks for an advanced industrial economy.

Question 51

Which countries were being developed economically for the first time during the First FYP?

Answer 51

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Question 52

Where were new industrial plants built?

Answer 52

To the East of the Ural Mountains.

Question 53

Why were new industrial plants built to the East of the Ural Mountains?

Answer 53

So they would be safe if the USSR was invaded from the West.

Question 54

Which is the most important city which was built from scratch?

Answer 54

Magnitogorsk

Question 55

Despite being a significant advancement, what were the negatives of Magnitogorsk?

Answer 55

People lived and worked in terrible conditions.

Question 56

What other aspect was vital to the First FYP?

Answer 56

Electricity

Question 57

Which project was built in regards to electricity?

Answer 57

Dnieprotroi Dam

Question 58

What was the Dnieprotroi Dam?

Answer 58

A massive hydroelectric dam

Question 59

What type of factories were built in Stalingrad?

Answer 59

Tractor

Question 60

What type of factories were built in Moscow?

Answer 60

Car

Question 61

What did canals help to do?

Answer 61

Connected Moscow with the River Volga Connected Leningrad with the White Sea

Question 62

Who built the canals?

Answer 62

Prisoners

Question 63

In what ways was the USSR economically behind Europe?

Answer 63

Technology was outdated Could not keep up with the needs of the growing Soviet population

Question 64

Give an example of an objective of the First FYP regarding certain groups of people.

Answer 64

To abolish detested Nepmen, private business owners and traders

Question 65

Why did Stalin say the quote about being 50 to 100 years behind advanced countries?

Answer 65

He feared foreign invasion.

Question 66

What were people encouraged to do?

Answer 66

'Storm' and 'conquer' on many 'fronts'

Question 67

Which industries were only targeted by the government?

Answer 67

Those who the government saw as a priority. Resources were allocated accordingly.

Question 68

What did the FYPs see an extension over?

Answer 68

The state and economy

Question 69

Why were People's Commissariats set up?

Answer 69

To co-ordinate the differing branches of industry

Question 70

What were Party Officials used for?

Answer 70

Used at the factory level to ensure orders from the centre were carried out

Question 71

What were small businesses and shopkeepers forced to join?

Answer 71

State co-operatives

Question 72

Who were there concerted campaign against?

Answer 72

So-called 'bourgeois experts'

Question 73

Who were these so-called 'bourgeois experts'?

Answer 73

Those who kept their jobs because of skills Opening their jobs to the more loyal (even if less trained)

Question 74

Who were the 1928, series of show trials against?

Answer 74

The bourgeois experts who were accused of 'wrecking' and deliberate sabotage.

Question 75

Who was concentrating on the rapid growth of heavy industry recommended by?

Answer 75

Super Industrialists

Question 76

Whose ideas did Stalin use though he did not acknowledge this?

Answer 76

Economic theorist Evgeny Preobrazhensky

Question 77

What sector was neglected during the First FYP?

Answer 77

Consumer goods/industries

Question 78

Give some example of consumer industries which were neglected.

Answer 78

Textiles and producers of household goods

Question 79

Why did the First FYP not focus on consumer goods?

Answer 79

Wanted to build up an industrial infrastructure of factories, communication networkers and plant before other sectors could flourish

Question 80

How did the targets develop along the course of the First plan?

Answer 80

At start=Ambitious targets As the plan was put into effect=Constantly raised to even more unrealistic heights

Question 81

What did McCauley say in 1993 regarding the targets of the First plan?

Answer 81

'As if mathematics had ceased to function.'

Question 82

The goal became not just fulfilling the plan but what?

Answer 82

Over-fulfilling

Question 83

To not over fulfill the plan would be a sign of what?

Answer 83

Lack of commitment

Question 84

Although targets were not achieved, what were achievements like?

Answer 84

They were impressive.

Question 85

What did the impressive achievements of the First FYP transform the Soviet Union into?

Answer 85

A major industrial power with a modern if unbalanced economy

Question 86

What was industrial expansion only due to?

Answer 86

The efficient use of existing factories and equipment

Question 87

New plants did not have an impact until what year?

Answer 87

1934

Question 88

Apart from Magnitogorsk, what other large industrial centre was built from scratch?

Answer 88

Gorki

Question 89

In 1929 how many people were there living in Magnitogorsk?

Answer 89

Only 25

Question 90

In what year had the population of Magnitogorsk increased to 250,000?

Answer 90

Three years later In 1932

Question 91

What was life like in these large industrial centres?

Answer 91

Centres were primitive (ancient) Work was hard Rewards were limited

Question 92

By 1933, how much of the workforce in Moscow was skilled?

Answer 92

Only 17%

Question 93

What did the government rely on since lots of people were unskilled?

Answer 93

'Shock bridges'

Question 94

What were 'shock bridges' made up of?

Answer 94

The best workers to set an example

Question 95

Who was the most well-known model worker?

Answer 95

Alexei Stakhanov

Question 96

What types of rewards were there for model workers?

Answer 96

E.g., New flat and bigger rations

Question 97

What was done with slackers?

Answer 97

They were ridiculed

Question 98

What did sites have to motivate the workers?

Answer 98

Statues of Lenin

Question 99

What could the government use as a last resort to make sure large building projects were complete?

Answer 99

Slave labour

Question 100

Where did nobody want to collect resources from?

Answer 100

Serbia

Question 101

A lot of the increasing Gulag population were members of?

Answer 101

Serbia

Question 102

Where did labour camp prisoners divert to?

Answer 102

Mines Railway construction Other projects

Question 103

Give an example of a project which labour camp prisoners worked on.

Answer 103

The White Sea Canal

Question 104

How many prisoners were employed to work on the White Sea Canal by 1932?

Answer 104

180,000

Question 105

How many prisoners had died on the White Sea Canal project?

Answer 105

10,000

Question 106

What did the deaths of 10,000 prisoners on the White Sea Canal project signify?

Answer 106

The attitude towards human loss

Question 107

What was the completion of the White Sea Canal hailed as?

Answer 107

A propaganda triumph

Question 108

Why was the White Sea Cana useless for all but small barges?

Answer 108

It had cuts

Question 109

How did factory managers try to meet their unrealistic targets?

Answer 109

Ambushed resources from other factories. Through bribery.

Question 110

What was often sacrificed in order to meet targets?

Answer 110

Quality

Question 111

How much tractors was the Stalingrad factory supposed to produce a month in 1930?

Answer 111

500

Question 112

In June of 1930, how much tractors had the Stalingrad factory managed to built?

Answer 112

8

Question 113

What happened to the 8 tractors which the Stalingrad factory managed to build?

Answer 113

They all broke down