Russia 3 - Economic Policies 1917-53

Question 1

When were the economic decrees?

Answer 1

1917

Question 2

When was State Capitalism?

Answer 2

1918

Question 3

When was War Communism?

Answer 3

Summer 1918

Question 4

When was the NEP?

Answer 4

1921

Question 5

When was the scissor crisis?

Answer 5

1923

Question 6

When was the 1st 5 year plan?

Answer 6

1928-32

Question 7

When was voluntary collectivisation?

Answer 7

1928

Question 8

When was forced collectivisation?

Answer 8

1929

Question 9

When was the 2nd 5 year plan?

Answer 9

1933-37

Question 10

When was ‘Dizzy with Success’?

Answer 10

1930

Question 11

When was the 3rd 5 year plan?

Answer 11

1938-41

Question 12

When was the 4th 5 year plan?

Answer 12

1946-50

Question 13

When was the 5th 5 year plan?

Answer 13

1951-55

Question 14

Who was Commissar for Heavy Industry until 1937?

Answer 14

Ordzhonikidze

Question 15

Who advocated for rapid industrialisation?

Answer 15

Preobrazhensky

Question 16

What were the activists called in Stalin’s ‘Dizzy with Success’ and what did he blame them for?

Answer 16

The Twenty Five Thousanders and Stalin blamed them for excesses of collectivisation

Question 17

When was the Law of 7/8ths?

Answer 17

7 August 1932

Question 18

What was the Law of 7/8ths?

Answer 18

10 year sentence for stealing socialised property (e.g. food)

Question 19

What was Holodomor?

Answer 19

The famine in Ukraine

Question 20

What did Robert Conquest argue about Holodomor?

Answer 20

That the liquidation of Kulaks and the famine was a genocide against the Ukrainian people

Question 21

What was Alexei Stakhanov believed to have done?

Answer 21

Mined 102 tons of coal in 6 hours

Question 22

What was state capitalism?

Answer 22

The nationalisation of large industries and land reform

Question 23

When was Vesenkha created?

Answer 23

1917

Question 24

What was War Communism?

Answer 24

Full nationalisation, rationing, forced grain requisitioning, end of private trading and free access to all services (e.g. trams) was given

Question 25

What were the consequences of War Communism?

Answer 25

6 million died from famine, spread of disease (typhus and smallpox), political crises (Tambov Peasants and Krondtsadt sailors), production fell and growth of the black market

Question 26

Why was the NEP implemented?

Answer 26

To rebuild the economy, build socialism and retain political power

Question 27

What were the measures of the NEP?

Answer 27

Small factories were returned to private control (large ones remained nationalised), agriculture returned to free market forces and money was reintroduced

Question 28

What were the positive consequences of the NEP?

Answer 28

Political stability, was popular with peasants (80% of population), ended famine and initial industrial growth

Question 29

What were the negative consequences of the NEP?

Answer 29

Scissors crisis, plateau of industrial growth, inequality and corruption with NEPmen

Question 30

What were Stalin’s aims with the 1st-3rd 5 year plans?

Answer 30

Industrialise (catch up with USA and GB), solidify political power, remove the inefficiencies of the NEP and prepare for war

Question 31

How much did the population of Magnitogorsk increase?

Answer 31

Grew from 25 to 250,000 in three years

Question 32

What shows the shortage of consumer goods during the 1st 5 year plan?

Answer 32

Queue for shoes in Moscow of over 1000

Question 33

What was the outcome of the 1st 5 year plan?

Answer 33

Creation of new cities (Magnitogorsk), inefficiency/waste (40%), shortage of consumer goods, target mania from Gosplan and heavy industry

Question 34

How were communications improved during the 2nd 5 year plan?

Answer 34

1935 - Moscow Metro
1937 - Moscow-Volga Canal

Question 35

What were the positive consequences of the 2nd 5 year plan?

Answer 35

Dnieprostroi Dam (increased electrical production by x5) and consumer goods (1934-36 = three good years)

Question 36

What were the measures of the 3rd 5 year plan?

Answer 36

Preparation for war, absenteeism and internal passports

Question 37

How many people were sent to labour camps for de-Kulakisation?

Answer 37

1.5 million

Question 38

How did the peasants form resistance to collectivisation?

Answer 38

Slaughtering livestock (did not recover to pre-war levels until 1953)

Question 39

How many Soviet farms were collectivised by 1941?

Answer 39

100% (but still reliant on private plots for food)

Question 40

How did collectivisation impact grain production?

Answer 40

It decreased

Question 41

How was the USSR reliant on the US during WWII?

Answer 41

Relied on US imports for 1/5 calories needed by the Red Army

Question 42

How was agriculture impacted after WWII?

Answer 42

Harvests declined, production was only 2/3 of 1940 level and 25 million people were homeless

Question 43

When was the USSR the fastest growing economy in the world?

Answer 43

1945

Question 44

What were the consequences of the 4th 5 year plan?

Answer 44

Output increased by 80%, slow to rebuild homes and only 12% budget on food and consumer goods

Question 45

What was the focus on military spending in 1952?

Answer 45

1/4 budget

Question 46

What was the focus of the 5th 5 year plan?

Answer 46

Cold War military spending

Question 47

When did grain production return to pre-war levels?

Answer 47

1952