Post War reconstruction

Question 1

What happened after the 1945 defeat of the germans?

Answer 1

In 1945 Gosplan was an instructor to prepare a new 5-year plan for economic recovery + the 4th five yar plan set ambitious targets for industry and agriculture.

One-third of the plan’s expenditure was to be spent on Ukraine one of the areas most badly devastated by war and a region vital for agriculture and industry

Question 2

What impact did the great patriotic war have upon soviet Industry?

Answer 2

After the war ended a lot of soviet industrial production had to be switched away from the military and instead move toward the civilian economy.

• The industry struggled to adjust during peacetime conditions (1945-6).
• Mining production was running at less than half of its 1940 levels, electric power stood at 52% and steel at 45% + transport infrastructure was still badly disrupted.
• Many of these problems were then intensified following the sudden end of foreign aid and Lend-Lease in 1945.

Question 3

Explain the recovery of Soviet Industry through the 4th Five Year Plan

Answer 3

• There was a considerable amount of recovery under the 4th 5-year plan with many of its targets being equaled or exceeded. War reparations, central planning + the resilience of the Soviet people reflected a ‘rebound effect’
• Alongside the necessary rebuilding of heavy industry, there was some growth in living standards + improved production of consumer goods with some growth in living standards too + by 1948 average soviet incomes had climbed back up to their 1938 levels and the period of prosperity was a wider trend across Europe

However, not all soviet economic problems were solved:

• The economy was overloaded with military expenditure which went up short due to the intensification of the cold war.
• There continued to be an acute housing shortage + the recovery of agriculture was slow + plagued with difficulties and by 1953 there were growing pressures to reform the Soviet economy.

Question 4

Explain the impact the Great patriotic war had on Soviet Agriculture

Answer 4

• Agriculture in the USSR was devastated by war, officially 9,000 collective farms had been ruined, 137,000 tractors lost and millions upon millions of animals.
• Food production was far less + the prospects of recovery were hindered by a severe labor shortage
• On top of this 1946 was the driest year since 1891 in all harvests were poor leading to famine in many regions - began in Ukraine + central Russia

However, there was some recovery in agriculture it was slow and patchy;

• The 4th FYP brought increases but failed to reach most of its targets. By the time of Stalin’s death in 1953, the agricultural sector was still unsatisfactory.

(A key problem holding back reforms in agriculture was Stalin himself and Stalin wrote a book entitled ‘economic problems of socialism in the USSR in 1952 and his writing was seen as uncontroversial which thus discouraged any tendencies toward innovation or change)