Stalin and the Soviet Economy Flashcards
What was the political aspect of Stalin’s aims for economy?
Saw in a hard-line policy the best means of confirming his authority over the Party and government
= political expediency
What did Stalin believe the survival of the revolution depended on?
The nation’s ability to turn its self into a modern industrial society within the shortest time possible
What did Stalin’s speech in 1931 contain?
The claim of Russia pervious backwardness leading to its constant defeat, to prevent this Russia must modernise
What were kolkhoz?
Collective farms:
- run as co-operative in which the peasants pooled their resources and share the labour and wages
What were sovkhoz?
State farms:
- farms containing peasants working directly for the state, paid a fixed wage
What were the two vital results Stalin wanted from efficient farming?
- create surplus food supplies to sell abroad to raise capital for industry
- decrease the number of rural workers needed to create workers for the new factories
What did Stalin insist food shortages were the result of?
Grain-hoarding by the richer peasants
= provided moral grounds for the onslaught on the Kulaks
What succeeded the Cheka?
OGPU, then the NKVD, later KGB
Why did poorer peasants often take part in ‘de-kulakisation’?
Proved them with an excuse to settle old cores and to give vent to local jealousies
How did ‘de-kulakisation’ benefit Collectivisation?
Served as a warning to the mass of the peasants of the likely consequences of resisting the state
How many farms were collectivised between December 1929 and March 1930?
Nearly half
What disturbances occurred in resistance to Collectivisation 1929-30?
- 30,000 arson attacks
- organised rural mass disturbances increase 1/3rd
When had virtually the whole peasantry been collectivised?
End of 1930s
How much did livestock decrease during 1928-1932?
By half
How many peasants had died in the famine 1932-33?
10-15m
How did collectivisation achieve what Stalin wanted?
Conversion from an agricultural society to an industrial one
What did Stalin describe his industrial plans for the USSR as?
An attempt to establish a war economy
What were the dates for the 1st FYP?
1928-1932
What did the 1st FYP include?
Not so much of a plan but laid down what was to be achieved, but did no say how this was to be done
What did local officials and managers do during the 1st FYP?
Falsified their production figures to give the impression they had met targets when they had fallen short
How were the FYP huge propaganda projects?
Aimed at convincing the Soviet people that they were personally engaged in a vast individual enterprise
- by their own effort they were changing the character of society
Between 1928-1932 how many people travelled to Magnitogorsk?
250,000
How was industrialisation also a cultural revolution?
There was an attempt being made to create a new type of individual, ‘the soviet man’
What happened to living conditions during the 1st FYP?
They deteriorated
- accommodation in the towns and cities remained sub-standard
