Lesson 4-How far did the Second and Third Five-Year plan meet Stalin's aims for Russia? Flashcards
When was the Second FYP?
1933-37
What did the Second FYP focus on?
Heavy industries
Communications
Electricity
New industries
Consumer goods
When was the Third FYP?
1938-41
What did the Third FYP focus on?
Heavy industry
Rearmament
Creation of a war economy
What consists of heavy industry?
Coal
Iron
Steel
Oil
Define rearmament
The act of arming again
Creating weapons ready for war
What is a war economy?
contingencies (possibilities) undertaken by the modern state to mobilise its economy for war production
What are incentives?
A thing that motivates or encourages one to do something
Define social equality
Equality in wealth, education, and status
What are amenities?
Useful things
What was the Stakhanovite Movement?
A propaganda campaign which appealed to the heroic instincts of Russian workers.
Whilst at the same time, it offered real incentives for workers who exceeded their production targets.
Who was the Stakhanovite movement named after?
Alexei Stakhanov
Who was Alexei Stakhanov?
A coal miner from the Donbass region.
What did Stakhanov do?
Created 14 times the output of a normal miner
Mined 102 tonnes of coal in a 6-hour shift
14x his allotted quota (assigned limit)
When did Stakhanov achieve mining 102 tonnes of coal?
31 August 1935
Define productivity.
the effectiveness of productive effort
What is worker discipline?
Harsh measure to ensure that workers worked hard.
What lessons did the Second and Third FYP’s draw upon?
Those from the First FYP
What did the Second and Third FYP make more use of?
Technical expertise
From the impressive results from the new industrial centres which started production, which was the one with the most impressive results?
Coal production
Name an industry that made progress.
Chemical industry
Name an industry which remained disappointing.
Oil industry
Why did the Third FYP focus on the defence industry?
In light of growing international tension
Which two traditional industrial centres were developed?
Moscow and Leningrad
Name an area which was considered a remoter area of the USSR to locate new industry.
Kazakhstan
Why were the Ural Mountains chosen to place industry there?
The thought was that industry would be safer and away from the attack of the west
All of it was removed one-by-one from one side of the Ural Mountains to the other.
Despite problems during these plans, what did figures released by the Soviet show?
There was substantial and considerable progress.
What did Alexander Nove dispute regarding production figures?
He said that the production of machinery greatly overfulfilled the plans.
However, there was less success in the production of metal.
Give two examples of where there was rapid growth during these plans.
Engineering industry and transportation
In a phrase, how many industries met the over ambitious targets of the First FYP?
A few
As a whole, during the plans, what was there enormous growth in?
Industrial production
During the period 1928-41, how much was the percentage growth rate?
17 %
Despite there being a 17% growth rate, what was progress?
Unbalanced
How much increase was there in the production of steel during the plans?
4x greater
How much increase was there in the production of coal during the plans?
6x greater
What project was the most important examples of success?
The Dnieper Dam
What suffered, declined and was virtually ignored during the First FYP?
Consumer industries suffered
Textiles declined
The housing industry was virtually ignored
What was the housing industry being virtually ignored made worse by?
Collectivisation
What did the consequences of focusing on heavy industry prove to be?
Far worse
In one word, how many advances were there in consumer goods under the Second FYP?
Some
Name two other factors that made significant increases.
Footwear production
Food processing
By 1930 what was there starting to be an impact on?
Living standards
What did the impact on living standards not solve?
The problem with the consumer goods shortage
What did the Second FYP do to improve agricultural output from collectivisation?
More mechanical equipment, such as tractors and combine harvesters, were built.
What was built between new centres of industry?
Railways and canals
Give an example of a canal that was built during the Second FYP.
The White Sea Canal
How many gulag labourers died in the construction of The White Sea Canal?
10,000
Despite consumer goods having some attempts to increase its supply, what did they remain during the Second FYP?
Low priority
Regarding consumer goods, what became nearly impossible to obtain?
New boots and shoes
What was Stalin interested in building during the Second FYP and why?
‘Showpiece’ developments
For propaganda purposes
Give an example of a ‘showpiece’ development that Stalin wanted to build.
The Moscow Metro
What were some key properties of the Moscow Metro?
Its chandeliers and marble statues of heroic workers
During which of the plans was the Moscow Metro built?
Second
What happened to the new factories that were built during the first plan?
They became fully functioning during the second plan.
What did the factories built during the first plan help to do during the second plan?
They contributed greatly during the second plan’s success as they greatly increased output in these years.
What was introduced to reward those who made greater efforts than others?
A system of wages
When Stakhanov broke his record for coal mining, how much tonnes had he produced?
227 tonnes
Why was the Stakhanovite movement created?
To reward those who exceeded their quotas
In 1998, what did the Soviet newspaper reveal about Stakhanov’s achievements?
They were exaggerated
Why did priorities change from the Second to the Third plan?
A war with Nazi Germany seemed increasingly likely.
What did the third plan begin its focus with?
Consumer goods
E.g., radios and cars
Because Stalin feared that war would break out between Nazi Germany and the USSR, what did the third plan move to being increasingly devoted to?
The production of aircraft, tanks and weapons.
By 1940, how much of the government’s budget was spent on the USSR’s military?
A third
When was the Nazi invasion of the USSR?
June 1941
What did the Nazi invasion of the USSR mean for the third plan?
It only lasted three and a half years
During the third plan, why did output grow very little in many industries?
It was partly due to Stalin’s purges.
Led to imprisonment or execution of many skilled workers
Why were internal passports created?
To control the movement of people in the USSR
What did the internal passports stop workers from doing?
Regularly changing their jobs.
Ensured that factories had a stable workforce.
Name two factors which limited the achievements of Stalin’s economic policies.
Chaotic implementation
Planning
How did the rigid approach of command economy lead to failures?
Planners in Moscow had little understanding of local conditions of far-flung parts of the Soviet union.
What is a command economy?
a system in which a central government makes all economic decisions
What else did the rigid approach of command economy lead to?
Many resources being wasted
What actions of the party led to a slowdown of the economy?
The removal of managers and technical experts through the purges of 1937
Why was the third plan successful?
Between 1941-45 Russia proved to be successful in defending themselves against the Nazis
Proved that Stalin’s plan had been successful
What type of progress was often achieved?
Economic
Why were achievements as a result of human cost?
There was extensive use of slave labour
Around 10,000 labourers died
What did the process of industrialisation lead to?
It dislocated large sectors of the population and led to severe deprivation
Despite the health and well-being of the workers being severely damaged, what kept them going?
The promise of working for a better future
