stalin Flashcards
what were the 3 main rewsons for developing industry quickly?
- to provide machinery like trctors needed to produce more food - grain
to catch up with the Western world and make Russia less dependant on the West for industrial goods - keep up with other pwoerful countries - to havestrong industry to be able to produce armaments and so russia could defend itself form attack - military strength
- sell sufficiency
- to establish himself and encourage socialism
- to improve living standards
how did Stalin argue to the central commitee that thye should industrialise?
they needed to catch up with other powerrful countries and heavyindursty was key.
They needed to achieve socialsim ehich requires industrialisatoin
how did the Communists decide how to develop indutsry?
thye decided it shoudl be through state planning. they would determine how much, when and where it woudl be produced. 5 year plans werr made. the detailed planning was done by gosplan, the state planning agency
when was the first 5 year plan?
1928-1932
when was the second 5 year plan?
1933-1937
when was the third 5 year plan?
1938-1941 (interuspted by WW2)
what is gosplan?
state planning agency?
how did Stalin appyl pressure to industrial planners?
he publically trialed them to make others work harder
how much coal did they aim to produce by 1932?
75 million tons of coal
what were the aims of the first 5 year plan?/ did they succeed? how?
- emphasis on heavy industries like coal, iron, oil, steel, electricity which laid the fgoundation down for future growth.
- the target that were set were unbelievably high and unrealistic but htye managed to achieve some of their goals
- electric power production almost trebled
1500 new poer plants werre built
100 new towns built / started to be built - coal and iron output doubled
- steel production increased by 1 third
- little growth and small decline in consumer industries
- oil productions didnt make expected growths\
HOW:
- developed and increased output of machinery and tools
- built specialist places
- engineering industry
how successful was the first 5 year plan?
very.
- electric power production almost trebled
1500 new poer plants werre built
100 new towns built / started to be built
- coal and iron output doubled
- steel production increased by 1 third
but - little growth and small decline in consumer industries
- oil productions didnt make expected growths\
what were the aims of the second five year plan? what did thye manager to do
greater emphasis on communication e.g., railways to link cities
- new industried opened up and communications grew rapidly
- metallurgy developed
- by 1937 USSR was self sufficient in machine making and metal working
- however consumer goods were still lacking and oil produiction didn’t make expected advances
- thye did this by developing metallurgy and consolidating the first year plan
give me some stats on the second five year plan! what were the lmitations to these
(1932-1937)
coal increased from 65 million tons to 128
- oil from 21 to 29
- pig iron from 6 to 5
steel from 6 to 18
Limitations - thye didnt achieve many of their targetsd (arguably unrealistic e.g., coal target was 152 but only got to 128, oil was 47 but only got to 29) the other ones werent that major tbh
what were the aims/success’ of the 3rd five year plan?
- heavy industry was emphasised
- heavy idustry continued to grow and defence and armaments also grew rapidly
- steel output gre insignificantly
- many factories ran out of materials
note there was a particularly harsh inter and diversion of materials to the milisaty. gosplan was also therown into chaod when purges created shortages
how did specialists help with the 5 year plans?
it helped develop industry. here were many british and american engineers. The Dneiper dam project was carried out under the supervision of an american and so was the building of the asbestos indutry. The ford motor company als helped the soviet car industry to build 140000 in 1932
how did single managers help the 5 yea rplan
stalin re introduced singl emanagers to urn state enterprises and factories. the icea of workers control was left pehind. Stalin thought he would get Bette control from individual managers who were set targets. Those who did well were rewarded heavily.
what were some spectacular achivemants that came out of the 5 year plans?
the dam on the Dnieper river in Easern Russia.
THe Moscow metro
The Moscow Volga canal
what were the negarive aspects of the 5 year plans?
those who failed to succeed were punished.
There was many ex peasatns or unskilled workers who ruined machines or products but these mistakes lead to severe punishemtn and they were labelled as reckers an sabaeoutours.
Many were accused ot conspiracy to wreck the soviet coal mining industry and e.g., in the DOnbass regions wherre 53 engineers was accused and this lef to show trials.
This created hysteria and far. People covered uup mistaked s and faults and output figures woudl be inflated so as not to be plamed.
- lateness and absences could be punished by sacking, which often meant losing your flat or house
- many products were of poor qwuality due to pressure
- fewer consumer goods due to focus on heavy industry
- overcrowding wwas still a problem
- wages actually fell between 1928-1937
- relgiion snactioned
- you could also be fined or stripped of ration cards
- a bard report could lead to prison time
what proportions of workers recruited between 1932-1937 were women
4/5. this was due to a shortage of labour.
what were the benefits of the five year palns
almost no unemployment
women could work
- good workerscoudl recieve rewards like bonuses
- many workers were inspired to create a better society
- healthcare imporved as in 1940 there were more doctors per head than in Britain
what motivated the people of russia to work so hard?
- many were inspired to have a beter future and many even voluntered to go on distant projects under arduous contitions. as they believed that what they were doing was a sacrifice
- there were opputrunities of awards e.g., Alexei Stakhanov gave birth to the Stakhanovite movement that was dedicated to hard work. Stakhanovite was a worker in Dobmas who supposedly moved 102 tons of coal on his own in one sift (14x what one ma. was expected to produce) - e.g., better housing, holidays, cash prizes
- some wages
0 propaganda campaigns on cinema, radio , newpapers, posters
what is Magnitogorsk?
- buiilt in 1929
it is one of the largest steel plants in the world .
Peasants were forces to go there and work in harsh conditions.
10,000 people died of starvation
the quality of magnitogorsk was often so poort because of the impossible deadlines aswella s lack of infrastructure, skilled workers , and equipment. cirme was also prevalent there.
However, the bolsheviks amde magnitogorsk into a celebration in media and it was a focal plan into pulling the USSR into the industrial afe. Irt was made with the intention to make metal for profit and to be used all over Russia for social benefit aswell
Ultimately, it shows how stalin prioritised growth and instustrialisation + prfit, ast the expense of innocent people
what policy did stslin use in the countryside?
collectivisation
who were collective farms fromed?
peasants were encouraged to put their indiidual plots of land together to form a Kohlhoz and the idea was that everyone woudl share everything, including what the farm produced. this woudl be sold at a low price to the stater and in return the state woudl provide agricultural machinery such as tractors and help the peasants farm more efficiently
note:
there were also ‘toz’ tpyes where the peasants owned their land and shared mashinary.
there werre also sovkhozes which were owned and run by the state byt bthe colkhoz swas the preferred type
when was collectivisation mainly?
1932-33 after the five year plan in may 1929 announced it woudl be put in place
why did the commnists support collectivisation>
- agriculture was still very backward and famrs were small. strip warming and woodern plourgin were still used which was inefficient
- new methods of famring would produce more food
- more efficient and feweer peasants working on each piece fo land emaning they couldgo and owrk for growing industries
- it was easier for the state to get grain from collective farms than from indiidual peasants
- collectiviasation was the socialist way to farm the land - replaced capitalist attitudes
why was collectivisation so important?
- food crisis of late 1920s
- peasants were still holding back grain in the 20s
- bread and meat were rationed in cities
how did stalin manage to get collectivisation going? like what made him allowed to do it?
stalin balmed the kulaks, rich peasants, for hoarding grain but he was tired of the yearly struggle to get grain which was deperattely needed to feed the workerrs and to help pay for the industrialisation programme. INstead, he broke the peasants and their strangle hold on food supplies.
he replaced old villaged with collective farms. strip farming came to an end
many peasants wrre driven of to fo work in the workforce
what did collectivisation manage to stabilise?
food which went ot the cities
how was collectivisation carried out?
bands of party activists and officials were sent out ot organise peasant into collective famrs. they were backed up by local police. they would ‘ persuade’ them to aign a rwgister demanding to be collectivised.
then animals, buildings, implements werre taken from the kulaks for the new collective farm.
those who refused were shot ot deported to labour camps. sometiems even a whole village was shot.
kulaks were blamed to everything that went wrong even though there were few rich peasant left. stalin used class hatred to whip up hysteria. peasants werre encouraged to denounce each other and children were encourgad to call on their parents. the officials were given set numbers to arrest whether they existed or not
- 25000 men were sent to countryside
- propaganda campaign was made aimed to ectol the pros of collective famrs and inflame class hatred
what was central to collectivisation?
dekulakisation. it was important to have a class enemy. this was used to frighten the poorer and middle class enemies
what was the reaction to collectivisation?
- fierce resistance
- peasant refused to hand over anima;s
- thye burnt crops tools houses rather than hand them over
- riots and armed resitance including one that lasted 5 days
- womens revolts were carfullt organised
- there was also passive reisstance shown in. pretty insubordination, apathy and neglet
- at one poin in marhc 1930 stalin had to call a temporary halt due to threat of no harvest in summer but this was started back up again after they had been collected
what were the results of collectivisation?
- lack of knowledge nad expertise cuased requisitons to decrease aswell as lack of skill and animals to plow fields
- grain was left to rot in dumps and railways
- harsh punsihment for those who hoarded grain
1932 fmaine where 5 million died whilst food was still ebing exported to toher countries - stalin sent out requisition gangs to take any grain there was
- atleast 13 million died as a result of collectivisation
finish collectivisation including benefits and potential problems and leaflet in folder
famine of 1932-24
how successful was talin’s policy of collectivisation bothe economically and politically
was collectivisation a success
purges
industrialisatio summery sheet
daily life
