Russia (1945-1953) - FYPs, post-war change/development etc Flashcards
Fourth FYP aims and results…
(1946-1950)
Aims:
- Catchup up with U.S
- Rebuild heavy industry + Revive Ukraine
Results:
- USSR became 2nd to U.S in industrial capacity
- Most heavy industry targets met
- Production 2x + (1941-1952) Urban workforce rose from 67m to 77m
4th FYP aims/results…
(1946-1950)
Aims:
- Catch up with the U.S + Rebuild heavy industry and revive Ukraine (particularly wheat fields despite more investment towards industry -> 1/3 of spending went towards Ukraine
- Force kolhozes to deliver agricultural products + ‘Transform nature’
Results:
- USSR 2nd to U.S in industrial capacity + Most industry targets met
- (1941-52) Production 2x + Urban workforce rose from 67m to 77m
- (1947 end) Dniepar Dam power station in action again
- Industrially better than pre-war
- (1946) Worst drought since 1891 + Peasents left with little as State procured 70% of harvest
(‘Grand projects’ + Use of extensive reparations from East Germany)
(Higher taxes - on private plots -> private land absorbed in WW2 returned to kolkhozes after WW2)
5th FYP aims/results…
(1951-1955)
Aims:
- Continual of heavy industry development + 4th FYP
- (From 1953) Khrushchev wanted to develop ‘virgin lands’ + build ‘agrocities’
Results:
- Most growth targets met
- National income rose by 71%
- (1955) Malenkov loses leadership due to his changes
- Agriculture production still behind industry and not 1940 level + (1929-1950) No. of cattle reduced from 67m to 65m
Agriculture under Stalin…
(1945-1953)
- (1945) Harvest produced under 60% of pre-war harvests
- (1946) Worst drought since 1891
- 2/3 of agricultural labour force gone + Many animals destroyed + Little agricultural machinery + few horses left
- (1929-1950) No. horses fell from 34.6m to 15.3m
Social change under Stalin…
(1945-53)
- Peasents lived on income 20% less than industrial workers
- In towns, poor diets + Short supply of housing, services and consumer goods
- Working week remained at wartime lvls of 12 hrs a day
- Party officials had higher rations + Workers could be relocated to wherver they were needed
- Women expxected to make up for the war dead (they represented 1/3 in building trade)
- (By 1950) Real household consumption just 1/10th higher than that of (1928). + (1947) Rouble devalued by 90%, wiping out savings
(4th FYP or 5th FYP did not substantially boost living standards for ordinary Russian people)
Quality of life and cultural change under Stalin, (1945-1953)…
- Zhdanovshchina saw more censorship + ethnic minorities + Freedom of cultural expression non-existent + Stalin’s paranoia would have an impact
Social condition of the Soviet Union by 1964…
- (1950s) Soviet living standards began to rise rapidly -> Consumer goods, industrialisation etc -> Perhaps a ‘better’ society on its way
- However, still massive problems that had not been solved
WW2 conference + Cold War tension things…
- UK, U.S and USSR in Grand Alliance
- (Feb 1945) Yalta Conference saw Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin consult on the management of Germany post-WW2 -> 1st time talks!
- (Jul 1945) Potsdam Conference focused on Berlin -> U.S president Truman informs Allies of atomic bomb + Tight relations in Grand Alliance
- (Mar 1946) Churchill announces ‘Iron Curtain’
- For Soviet Union, sharp division between West and Russian values -> On political values
How Germany was dealt with post-WW2…
(Other things)
- Germany sliced up into 4 zones + USSR occupy East Germany -> UK occupy West Germany -> U.S occupy central zone -> France occupy Mainz
- Korean War would have boosted tensions between EAST-WEST
- Churchill spoke about EAST-WEST tensions in his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech (Mar 1946)
- (1947) Marshall Aid saw U.S loan £30bn to Europe, UK received 10% + USSR receive 4%
- (1949) NATO est. + Soviet Union test 1st atomic bomb
(Soviets retrieve lost land from Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
(West occupy 185sq mi and East occupy 156sq mi)
Points on Political High Stalinism (1945-1953)
(This period saw Stalin’s overall authority rise)
- Throughout war, Party membership rose + Party became more unreliable
- (4th Sep 1945) GKO dissolved + Stalin took Minister of Defence
- Zhukov demoted as Stalin saw him as a rival in adulation
(GKO was the State Defence Committee)
Details on the Zhdanovshchina…
(As well as with Malenkov) - (1946)
- Malenkov lost his post as Party Secretary due to Zhdanov
- Zhdanov became Stalin’s closest adviser
- Zhdanovschina launched + Rift occured with Zhdanov and his supporters favouring 1948 Berlin blockade + Malenkov wanted more moderate path
- Malenkov reappointed to party + Zhdanov’s supporters demoted
- Stalin still Head of govt. and party
(1948) Zhdanov dies
Cultural High Stalinism…
- Zhdanovschina was when Stalin had unparalleled govt. authority + New controls over intellectual life
- (1946) Zhdanov launched cultural purge to combat potential Westernisation
- Zhdanovschina purges involved Akhmatova’s work and Zoshchenko’s journal.
- Shostakovich and Prokofiev criticised
- Reports of ‘Anti-Semitism’ + (1952) Stalin published views on economic theory which no one challenged
- Western influence totally blocked + non-communist foreign papers unobtainable
(1948 - Zhdanov died)
Dealing with ‘opposition’ post-WW2
(1952) Doctor’s Plot
- (1948) Part-time MGB informer and female doctor Lydia Timashuk wrote to Stalin two days before Zhdanov’s death -> In which 9 highly-placed doctors accused to diagnose and treat Zhdanov professionally
- Stalin said how the jewish doctors were using their positions to harm the USSR + Stalin threatened his minister of State Security Ignatiev with executions if he didnt obtain confessions + Thousands of jews deported
- anti-jewish hysteria from press
- Before execution could take place, Stalin died
Quality of life and cultural change under Stalin, (1945-1953)…
- Zhdanovshchina saw more censorship + ethnic minorities + Freedom of cultural expression non-existent + Stalin’s paranoia would have an impact
