RUSSIA Agriculture Flashcards
Why did Soviet agriculture need to be far more efficient and productive?
To support industrialisation
How would the improvement of agriculture help the industrialisation of the Soviet Union?
Food surpluses needed for growing population and foreign exchange; mechanisation of agriculture would provide labour for the new industrial centres
What was the political case for collectivisation?
Would help extend socialism to countryside
Since when had support for the Party in the countryside been declining?
Tambov Rising 1921
How much of farmland was collectivised by 1925?
Less than 1%
Kulaks
Richer peasants who seemed to benefit from the NEP; started to be applied to any peasant who refused to join the collectives
What appealing opportunity did collectivisation provide for the Party?
To get rid of the kulaks
When did arguments in the Party over agricultural production come to a head?
1928
When did the Party decide on a programme of voluntary collectivisation?
Fifteenth Party Congress December 1927
When was forced requisitioning of grain carried out as a temporary emergency measure due to food shortages?
1928
‘Ural-Siberian’ method
Forced requisitioning of grain as a temporary emergency measure; used increasingly as the pace of collectivisation accelerated
Russian name for a collective farm
Kolkhoz
Machine and Tractor Stations (MTS)
Government-run centres that supplied farm machinery to the collectives; provided advice on farming techniques and political lectures
What happened once enough peasants had signed up to join the collectives?
Collective could seize animals, grain supplies and buildings in the village as its property
What happened to the kulaks once they had been classed as ‘class enemies’?
Deported to Siberia and the Urals
Which areas of Russia in particular protested violently about the implementation of collectivisation?
Ukraine; Caucasus region
What did many kulaks do rather than hand over their property to the state?
Set fire to their farms; slaughtered their animals
Dekulakisation squads
Sent into the countryside to force the peasants into collectives, eliminating the kulaks in practice
Which organisation was also used to round up the kulaks and other refusers, deporting them to remote regions of the USSR, often labour camps?
OGPU
Which organisation was used occasionally to deal with extreme opposition to collectivisation?
Red Army- some troublesome villages were bombed out of existence
What did the peasant opposition to collectivisation result in temporarily?
A backing down by Stalin, who in March 1930 issued his article, ‘Dizzy with Success’, blaming overzealous local Party officials for ‘excesses’
How long did Stalin’s slowdown in the process of collectivisation last?
Only long enough to ensure that the peasants sowed the new year’s crop
What concessions were offered to the peasantry?
Members of the collectives were allowed to have some animals and a small garden plot for their own use
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1932?
62%
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1937?
93%
Up until when where many collectives without tractors?
Mid-1930s
Why was the removal of the kulaks so damaging?
Often the most productive farmers
How was the number of cattle affected between 1928-33?
Halved; wasn’t fully recovered until 1953- shortage of meat/milk
How much did grain production fall under collectivisation?
From 73.3 million tonnes in 1928 to 67.6 million in 1934
When did widespread famine occur as a result of collectivisation?
1932-33
Which areas did the famine particularly affect?
Ukraine; Kazakhstan; Caucasus region
How did the government prevent the peasants from leaving the countryside in search of food?
Introduced a passport system
When had the peasants supposedly been liberated from serfdom?
1861
How many famine-related deaths were there in 1933?
4 million
When did a slow recovery in agriculture begin after collectivisation?
After a relatively good harvest in 1933, but grain production rose very sluggishly
What helped the 1937 harvest?
Good weather; fall in demand for animal fodder meant more grain could be used for human consumption
What was agricultural recovery hampered by?
Continual government interference and hare-brained schemes
Who was giving the orders to the collectives?
Party officials in Moscow- took little account of conditions on the ground
How many people were estimated to have been kulaks in 1928?
About 15 million
What do historians’ estimates of the number of deaths caused by collectivisation vary between?
5-10 million
Holodomor
Murder by starvation- it’s applied to Stalin’s actions against Ukraine during the process of enforced collectivisation
Which region bore the brunt of the food shortage?
Ukraine- chief grain-growing region of the country
Why do historians today believe that Ukraine suffered the worst of the famine?
Ukrainian nationalism had been a worry to the Soviet government in the civil war
Which nomadic group was forced into the collectives against their will?
Kazakhs
When was the mir abolished and what was it replaced by?
1930; kolkhoz administration- headed by a Party member
How was Party control extended?
By the use of teenagers in Communist youth organisations
When did the German invasion of the USSR begin?
22 June 1941
What proved to be effective in mobilising the resources of the Soviet Union for WW2?
Centralisation of the economy
What was set up at a local level to co-ordinate war production?
Defence Committees
What was a children’s bicycle factory converted to in Moscow during WW2?
Flame-thrower factory
Where were whole factories evacuated to during WW2?
Safer areas of the USSR in the east, away from the invading Germans
What happened to industry in the immediate aftermath of the German invasion?
Initial collapse in industrial output- after 1941, Soviet production rose impressively, if unevenly
How many tanks and aircraft were were produced between 1943-45?
Over 73,000 tanks; 94,000 aircraft
What is an example of a product the Russian economy found beyond its capability during WW2?
Tinned meat was imported from Britain under the Lend-Lease scheme, whereby supplies were provided with payment deferred
What was the production of consumer goods like during WW2?
Virtually non-existent
By the end of the war, what had Nazi-occupied areas done to the country’s overall production?
Steel production had fallen to 12 million tonnes in 1945 compared with 18 million tonnes produced in 1940; oil production was less than 2/3; wool production less than 1/2 of that produced in 1940
Why was the impact of WW2 on food production so devastating?
Most able-bodied men from collectives were conscripted; farm machinery and draft animals requisitioned by Red Army
What did grain output fall by during WW2?
From 95 million tonnes in 1940 to 30 million tonnes in 1942
What did the government do during WW2 to provide an incentive for peasants to keep up production?
Lifted restrictions on cultivation of private plots
What effect did WW2 have on the USSR?
Much of its western part was devastated
What was another concession the government had given to the peasants to sustain food production during WW2?
A ‘Link system’ was promoted
What did the Party leadership do as soon as WW2 was over?
Moved quickly to reimpose control; link system was abolished; taxes raised on private plots in a bid to reduce their importance
What was supervision of agricultural resources concentrated into?
Hands of the Party through the Machine and Tractor Stations
Up until when was it still possible to find villages entirely populated by women and children?
1950
What natural disaster made the agricultural situation worse in 1946?
Drought
When was there a second famine?
1947, in parts of Ukraine
Up until when was the figure for grain production still below that of 1940?
1952- productivity was lower than it had been in 1913
When did Stalin give Khrushchev some power within the Party?
Appointed him Party Secretary in the Moscow province in 1949
What did Khrushchev do in an attempt to improve productivity as Party Secretary in Moscow?
Promoted idea of creating larger collectives, which would make it easier to use large-scale machinery; would also make the collectives easier to control
How many larger collectives had been created by 1952?
Over 100,000- although they remained unpopular with the peasants
What was one of Stalin’s grandiose ideas post-WW2?
Utilising large areas of semi-desert regions by planting them with trees- the trees died
When were individual collectives given greater powers to make decisions at a local level?
1955
What did Khrushchev do to the MTS?
Abolished them- the peasants hated them as instruments of central and political interference
What were the MTS replaced with?
A system that expected a collective to buy its own machinery- naive
Russian word for large agro-industrial villages
Agrogoroda
What changes were made by Khrushchev to the economy to increase productivity?
Prices given for state procurement were increased; system of compulsory seizure of food was replaced by planned state purchases
What greater concessions were given to the peasants by Khrushchev?
They could use the produce from their own private plots- encouraged peasants to grow more food and played an important role in ensuring more regular food supplies
Which food product came almost entirely from private plots under Khrushchev?
Eggs
When was the Virgin Lands Scheme introduced?
1954
Virgin Lands Scheme
Encouraged the opening up of new areas to agricultural production
How many tractors were provided for the Virgin Lands Scheme?
Over 120,000
Which areas were the focus of the Virgin Lands Scheme?
Siberia; Kazakhstan
How many acres of land were brought under cultivation with considerable investment during the Virgin Lands Scheme?
6 million
How did the incomes of farmers change between 1952-58?
Doubled- still remained far below those of industrial workers
How did food production change between 1953-58?
Increased by 51%
What was the first sign that the Virgin Lands Scheme was failing?
Target for grain production in Kazakhstan failed to be met in 1959
What also didn’t help many areas cope with the poor harvest of 1963?
Poor roads; inadequate storage facilities
What did the shortage from crop harvests under Khrushchev also have an impact on?
Supplies of animal fodder- millions of livestock were slaughtered as a consequence
What was the ultimate sign of failure of Khrushchev’s agricultural policies?
USSR had to import grain from North America and Australia
What happened to Khrushchev’s economic policies when he was dismissed as General Secretary?
His most contentious policies were abandoned, but otherwise economic policy remained much the same
What did the new leadership do in 1965?
Abolished Regional Economic Councils set up by Khrushchev; placed more power back into the centre of the planning apparatus
What happened to Gosplan under the new leadership of 1965?
Given greater powers of co-ordination- this system echoed Stalin’s and showed that influence lay with conservatives like Brezhnev
Who was the Prime Minister in 1965?
Alexei Kosygin
What did Alexei Kosygin launch in 1965?
Series of reforms that aimed to unleash creativity within the decision-making process and improve productivity
Who did the ‘Kosygin reforms’ give incentives to?
Enterprise managers, to use their resources more productively
How did Kosygin’s central planning system differ to Stalin’s?
Attempted to make central planning take more notice of cost and profit; rather than Stalinist focus on quantity
Why were Kosygin’s reforms unsuccessful?
Officials who implemented them were often hostile
Which reforms did central planners dislike?
Those that made them accountable for policies they had less control of
Who was Kosygin sidelined by?
Brezhnev in 1968; given a role in foreign affairs
What did the focus on bonuses for profit under Kosygin encourage?
Some enterprises to make fewer, more expensively-priced items; rather than mass produce cheaper necessities
When was the system of targets further centralised under Brezhnev?
1974- new targets attempted to move away from merely using output figures to focus more on cost and profit
What happened to Khrushchev’s agricultural policies under Brezhnev?
Reversed- power returned to the Ministry of Agriculture; Virgin Lands Scheme was dropped
How much investment was in agriculture by 1976?
26%
Which part of agriculture received particular attention under Brezhnev?
Fertilisers
What were the results of Brezhnev’s economic policy?
Steady rise in overall production; accompanied by a steady decline in workers’ productivity
What was Brezhnev’s agricultual workforce like?
Large; unskilled
What was the result of Brezhnev’s failure of food production to meet demand and how was this gap met?
Shortage of foodstuffs available in state shops; made up by private production, as peasants sold their garden produce at private markets for considerably higher prices
When was the price of food in markets double that of the food in state shops?
1978
Under Brezhnev, how much of cultivated area was made up of private plots?
1%; but they were producing 25% of all produce
What was one of the ways Brezhnev’s government attempted to increase productivity?
Brigade system was introduced- this allowed peasants on collectives to form work brigades that could decide how profit was used and distributed
Why did signs that the brigade system was successful worry Party officials?
Feared a return to family farming- the experiment was abandoned
What was a key sign of failure in Brezhnev’s economy?
Continued import of US wheat
When was Andropov General Secretary?
1982-84
What else did Andropov also wish to improve?
Labour discipline- this approach made him unpopular
When was economic growth in the USSR in steady decline?
1980s
What had growth been like in the 1950s?
7%
What had growth been like in the 1960s?
5%
What had growth been like in the 1970s?
3%
By the 1980s, how much of the workforce was used by agriculture?
Over 25%
Where does the power lie in a command economy?
Largely at the centre of the government apparatus
Which areas of Soviet production had overtaken the USA by the end of the 1970s?
Steel; cement; oil; pig iron
What did Brezhnev’s foreign policy do?
Increased intervention in the developing world
When had the command economy performed well?
When the focus was on improving output of a limited number of products
Why would ripping out the hedgerows and boundaries between farms make agriculture more efficient?
Larger units would make the use of machinery more viable and cost-effective
What would the formation of collective farms create?
Economies of scale
Contributing to collectivisation, when had state procurements been falling since?
1926
What was Khrushchev genuinely committed to?
Raising priority of agriculture in the Soviet economy
How were individual collectives given greater powers to make decisions at a local level under Khrushchev?
Flexibility over how directions from the Ministry of Agriculture were implemented was allowed
What did Khrushchev do with the collectives?
Increased them in size, many becoming Agrogoroda that linked food production with food processing
How effective were Khrushchev’s Agrogoroda?
Enabled much greater investment in agriculture to take place; rapid increase in mechanisation, fertilisers and irrigation
What remained low under Khrushchev’s agricultural policies?
Productivity
What did Brezhnev do to the ‘Kosygin Reforms’?
Sabotaged them, as he sympathised with the conservatives in the Party; reforms watered down to the point where they were ineffective
When could the command economy not cope?
When continued growth depended on gains in quality and efficiency
What were the key features of NEP in agriculture?
End to requisitioning replaced by taxation, allowing peasants to sell remaining food for profit; no forced programme of collectivisation meaning that the Mir would retain control of farming activities
What is an example of one of the government’s hare-brained schemes which hindered the nation’s recovery from collectivisation?
Growing crops of a plant that allegedly produced rubber
How were the Kazakhs affected by collectivisation?
Sheep flocks were virtually wiped out; typhus epidemic reduced the Kazakh population by 40%
How many Soviet people were made homeless by WW2?
25 million
What was the ‘Link system’?
Small groups of peasants were given responsibility for areas within the collective farm- as long as targets were met, peasants could sell the remainder for profit
Who was put to work on the Virgin Lands Scheme?
Komsomol
Why did the Virgin Lands Scheme fail in Kazakhstan?
Land was dry and only suitable for grazing; successful cash crops, such as cotton, were replaced by food crops in a ‘maize mania’- without irrigation the plants died
How many Soviet people did the military-industrial complex employ?
30/150 million
