May AGRICULTURE COPY Flashcards
1
Q
Describe Russian industry in 1917.
A
- Contained 5.3% world industry, and production had continued to rise during the war to 216 million rubles in 1917.
- Remained far behind Western nations. The communists would have to grow the economy to defend the revolution.
2
Q
Describe Russian agriculture in 1917.
A
- Agricultural production had fallen, grain down to 81% of 1913 levels.
3
Q
What was Lenin’s view of a socialist economy?
A
- Marx had specified that a communist society would need an advanced economy. Lenin believed the economy had to grow and become more efficient through State Capitalism before starting socialism. In a letter to Trotsky, wrote “within a year socialism will have gained a permanently firm hold”, after the State Capitalism stepping stone had been taken.
4
Q
What was State Capitalism?
A
- Nationalised large industries, run by Vesenkha. Specialists managed factories.
- Was unpopular, rejected by Bukharin and other radicals.
5
Q
What happened during Land Reform? What was it’s significance?
A
- Redistribution of land amongst peasantry, without compensation.
- Popular amongst peasants,.
6
Q
Why was War Communism launched?
A
- To allow high levels of industrial production, and food production to feed soldiers and workers to aid communist victory in the the civil war.
7
Q
What was the ‘Food dictatorship’?
A
- Grain requisitioning by Cheka.
- Rationing by the Supply Commisariat. Largest rations went to workers and soldiers.
8
Q
What measures were taken as part of War Communism?
A
- Food dictatorship.
- Labour discipline : working day extended to 11 hours in 1918, work made compulsory for all between 16 - 50 .
- The abolition of money. Due to hyperinflation, money became worthless, so workers were paid through rations.
- Trade made illegal, complete nationalization, and conscription.
Extreme and unsuccessful emergency measures.
9
Q
Was War Communism an ideological success?
A
- Centrally planned, money abolished. Lenin and Bukharin argued War Communism was a significant revolutionary achievement.
10
Q
What were the consequences of War Communism?
A
- Economic collapse: Heavy industry production fell to 20% of 1913 levels, 70% of locomotives in need of repair..
- loss of Incentive to work as peasants were not paid. Industrial workforce decreased to 1.2 million by 1922. shortage of commodities, buildings in Petrograd torn down for fuel.
- Central planning lead to growth of black market, 60% of food came from black market.
- Famine, 6 million dead.
- Tambov and Kronstadt 1921.
11
Q
Why was the NEP launched?
A
- Economic compromise: increasing grain production to retain political power. Urban workers were key Bolshevik support and were becoming disillusioned - the bread had not arrived.
- Lenin came to believe Russia lacked “the missing material prerequisites” (modernized industry) to build socialism. The NEP was laying a foundation for socialism.
12
Q
What was the NEP?
A
- Agricultural production became a free market.
- Small factories of fewer than 20 people denationalized.
- Chervonets, a stable currency reintroduced.
- Private landholdings, as collectivisation was met with strong opposition.
- Lenin: : “The NEP is earnest and long term”.
13
Q
In what ways was the NEP an economic and thus political success?
A
- Grain production increased from 37 million tonnes in 1921 to 76.8 million in 1926, with personal economic incentive returned. The breakup of quasi-feudal estates also helped increase production beyond prewar levels.
- Electrification.
- All industrial production, except for pig iron, recovered to 1913 levels. However, production plateaued in 1926 due to a lack of investment.
14
Q
What problems were there with the NEP?
A
- The Scissors Crisis: agricultural production increasing much faster than industrial production leading to the graph which Trotsky nicknamed. Failed price controls to counteract this. Peasants withheld surpluses, or sold them to NEPmen.
- The Party viewed NEPmen as profiteering parasites, by 1922 NEPmen accounted for almost 75% of retail trade..
- Corruption, drugs, gambling.
15
Q
How did the left of the Party react to Lenin’s economic policies?
A
- To Trotsky, the Scissors Crisis was clear proof that the NEP would not be able to industrialize the economy. To close the scissors, intensive planning would have to be used.
- Dictatorship of industry, ending private property and the market and a return to a policy like War Communism. He understood this would cause discontent amongst peasants.
16
Q
How did the Stalin and the right of the Party react to Lenin’s economic policies?
A
- Bukharin became a key supporter of the NEP arguing it would allow industrialization eventually, created economic growth and satisfied the peasants.
- Stalin supported Lenin against Trotsky’s faction, but was non committal and would of course switch.
17
Q
What were the aims of the Five Year Plans?
A
- Large scale investment and central planning: Stalin believed the USSR could catch up with the USA in 15 years.
- Attempt to address the failure of the NEP to develop new factories.
- Eliminate NEPmen.
18
Q
What dates were the Five Year Plans?
A
- 1928-1932
- 1933-1937
- 1938-1941
19
Q
Describe the nature of the Five Year Plans.
A
- A grandiose plan to protect the Party from external and internal threats through rapid growth of industry.
- Lists of targets acoompanied by propaganda campaigns that celebrated successes and heroic ideological objectives of the plans.
20
Q
What successes in the Five Year Plans were there for industry?
A
- Industrial production: coal 35.4 million tonnes 1927 to 165.9 million tonnes by 1940, partly due to Magnitogorsk, Lipetsk, and Tula.
- Oil 11.7 million tonnes to 31.1 million tonnes 1940.
- Productivity gains due to the Stakhanovite movement, rewards for most efficient: 34% increase in productivity in chemical industries between 1936-40.
21
Q
What successes in the Five Year Plans were there for transport?
A
- Moscow Metro’s first tram lines opened 1935.
- Moscow-Volga canal competed in 1937, with the Yagoda’s .
22
Q
What successes in the Five Year Plans were there for rearmament?
A
- 1940 one third of government spending was allocated to rearmament.
- ## 9 military aircraft factories completed 1939-1941.
23
Q
What problems were there with production during the Five Year Plans?
A
- Quality of goods: in some industries 40% of what was produced was wasted. - - -Uncoordinated ministries undermined by Stalin’s other policies…
- Terror, the purging of experts and managers.
- Gosplan’s unrealistic targets lead to falsified figures, worsening the inefficiencies of planning.
- Filtzer: Soviet growth self consuming, and so could not improve the lives of Soviet citizens.
24
Q
Describe the shortages of consumer goods during the Five Year Plans.
A
- The limitations of planning, Stalin’s priorities, and production techniques caused shortages in consumer goods.
- Queues for shoes and clothes in Leningrad 6000 in 1938.
25
Q
What problems were there with housing during the Five Year Plans?
A
- The increase in the urban workforce needed for industrialization never had the necessary housing properly provided.
- 650,000 people sharing a bathhouse in Liubertsy district.
- Magnitogorsk was supposed to have modern, socialist housing. Instead shacks, tents and mud huts.
- 7 day working week.
26
Q
Were the Five Year Plans a success for the Party?
A
- Absolutely : ideologically industrialization was achieved, rearmament protected the USSR from international threats.
- Problems with consumer goods were not priorities for the Party.
27
Q
How did the Party’s control of industry change during the Five Year Plans?
A
- “Great Turn”: all aspects
- Peasant property, entire villages incorporated into the state economy.
- Russia transformed from an agrarian society into an industrial superpower, with the Party in complete control.
28
Q
Why was collectivization introduced?
A
- Efficiency: large farms would mean equipment and expertise could be shared. Private property is a foundation of capitalism.
- Suspicion of peasants: historically had wanted to own the land that they worked, and needed to be made to embrace socialism.
- Scissors Crisis: the “Kulak Grain Strike”. What the left of the Party saw as rich peasants becoming a new capitalist class.
- Stalin needed the political support of the United Opposition to gain majority support of the Central Committee.
29
Q
Describe the introduction of collectivization.
A
- Stalin became more confident as his policies gained support. Requisitioning marked the end of NEP in 1928 as Stalin stopped the Kulak Grain Strike through the Cheka and Red Army. Selling grain overseas helped fund industrialization
- Liquidation of the kulaks as a class. 1.5 million sent to labour camps. Peasants resisted by destroying grain.
- By 1941 almost all farms collectivized.
30
Q
Describe the short term failures of collectivization.
A
- 17 million horses and 26 million cattle destroyed.
- Grain production decreased, from 73.3 million tonnes 1928 to 67.6 million 1934: absence of incentive, and dekulakization of most successful farmers.
- 5 million dead 1932-1933, Stalin not accepting international aid. Used to crush Ukrainian opposition.
31
Q
In what ways was collectivization a success?
A
- Mechanisation, 75000 tractor, made up for losses in horses.
- Ideological success of grain procurement. Grain exports rose to 5 million tonnes in 1931.
32
Q
What were the long term consequences of collectivization?
A
- Smaller harvests than the NEP. Collective farms only produced 320 kilos of gain per hectare.
- The failures of collectivization were exemplified during WW2. 1/5 of calories consumed by the Red Army were from US imports. Potato rations fell by 80%
33
Q
Describe the Fourth Five Year Plan.
A
- Soviet industry was producing 2/3 of what it had in 1940, and 25 million were homeless. The Plan was for rapid recovery.
- ## 88% of investment went to heavy industry, and industrial output increased by 80 % from 1945-1950.
34
Q
Was the Fourth Five Year Plan a success?
A
- Military expenditure increased to 476 milliard roubles 1952: less available for consumer goods.
- Construction focused on factories rather than towns.
- Low wages meant women joined the workforce.
- Ultimately highly inefficient, but the Soviet economy was the fastest growing in the world.
35
Q
How did agriculture improve after the war?
A
- Far more slowly than with industry. Shortages of labour meant in 1946 only 39 million tones of grain were harvested in 1946, but this would rebound to 92.2 million by 1953.
36
Q
What was Khrushchev’s view of agriculture?
A
- Better standard of living for agricultural workers, admitting Soviet agriculture had become more inefficient since the NEP.
37
Q
How did Khrushchev change incentives and invest differently in agriculture?
A
- Reduced quotas and raised prices leading to a 250% rise in farm incomes between 1952-1956.
- Equipment and fertilisers. 30% increase in tractors, and 40% increase in fertilizer produced.
38
Q
Describe the Virgin Lands Scheme and the Corn Campaign.
A
- Caucus, Kazakhstan and Western Siberia into new farms to increase agricultural production. Total hectares sown increased to 35.3 million hectares in 1956.
- Investment in agriculture increased to 12.8% of the Soviet budget in 1958.
- The CC aimed to increase the amount of meat available to Soviet consumers by encouraging traditional farms in the Ukraine to grow maize.
39
Q
Describe the successes of Khrushchev in agriculture.
A
- The Virgin Lands Scheme lead to an increase of production by 35% from 1953 to 1958.
- Increases in grain and meat production. Grain rose to 134.7 million tonnes by 1958.
40
Q
Describe the problems with Virgin Lands scheme.
A
- Expensive and inefficient - irrigation systems in dry Kazakhstan. 50% of Soviet population worked on farms, 5% of US but produced twice as much food.
- Slowing growth from 1959-1960 after initial successes.
