Nature of Government Flashcards
What was the successes of the second five year plan?
Rapid expansion of electricity/chemicals industry
Engineering industry became self sufficient
What was the failures of the second five year plan?
Oil production was slow to expand
What were the successes of the third five year plan?
Defence and armaments grew rapidly
What were the failures of the third five year plan?
Low oil production-> fuel crisis
Harsh winter in 1938
What was the goal for Magnitogorsk?
Build an entire steel works city from scratch
Why did Magnitogorsk fail?
Workers sent there with the promise of housing, had to live in mud huts and tents instead
On average, most workers left after 8 days
How many workers were sent to Magnitogorsk?
1/4 of a million
Who ended up building Magnitogorsk
40,000 prisoners and the few workers who stayed
How did Stalin purge religion?
Shut churches, mosques and synagogues
Ordered the killing and arrest of thousands of religious leaders to eliminate the idea of God (“anti-revolution”)
When was the new soviet calendar set up and why?
1929
Eliminated religious days such as a Saturday and Sunday
5 day week - eliminated weekends to encourage labour
What were the impact of Stalin’s religious reforms?
• Derelict churches transformed into “museums of atheism”
• Only 16 orthodox churches by 1938 compared to the 224 in 1930
• However his plans failed, as 57% of the population were still religious by 1937
Who were Stalin’s secret police ?
NKVD
Which members were accused of killing Kirov?
• Zimonev and Kamanev - Trial of the sixteen
• Bukharin (and Lenin’s assassination attempt) - Trial of the Twenty One
Threatened to murder Bukharins wife and new born baby in order for him to confess
How did Stalin purge the army?
90% of Russian generals were purged
How many scientists, musicians, artists, writers etc accused of sabotaging the regime?
Arrest list of 250,000
How many prisoners were sent to the Gulag by 1936?
5 million
