Stalin - Economy

Question 1

how did Stalin use the economy during the power struggle?

Answer 1

• he initially allied himself with Bukharin and the others who believed the NEP was the way forward.
• he was against Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky who were expelled from the party.
• once Stalin had gotten his way he went against the NEP and Bukharin and was able to defeat him in favour of more radical views like collectivisation and industrialisation.

Question 2

what was the first five year plan?

Answer 2

Oct 1928 - Dec 1932
- aimed to increase heavy industry - 80% of total investment went on this. and eliminate problems of the NEP and aid military development.

Question 3

what were the successes and failures of the first five year plan?

Answer 3

• electricity production trebled, coal and iron doubled. new towns were built around industrial complexes like magnitogorsk. huge tractor works were built
• consumer goods were in decline. small workshops were shut down due to material shortages and chemical targets were not met due to a lack of skilled workers.

Question 4

what was the second five year plan?

Answer 4

Jan 1933 - Dec 1937

- aimed to again increase heavy industry with some emphasis on communications and transport in the form of railways.

Question 5

what were the successes and failures of the second five year plan?

Answer 5

• electricity continued to expand. USSR became self sufficient in machine making and metal work. transport and communications grew rapidly, as did the chemical industry. metal mining began.
• consumer goods still lagged behind and oil production targets were not met.

Question 6

what was the third five year plan?

Answer 6

Jan 1938 - June 1941 - cut short by WWII

- focused on heavy industry and armament

Question 7

what were the successes and failures of the third five year plan?

Answer 7

• heavy industry continued to grow. defense and armament increased rapidly as resources were diverted to them.
• steel output did not grow significantly and oil production failed to meet targets. consumer industries were essentially ignored and factories ran short on materials.

Question 8

when were there shortages of consumer goods?

Answer 8

1928-41 all through the 5 year plan period. they were low on Stalin’s list of priorities.

Question 9

in the 1930’s how long were shoe shop queues?

Answer 9

up to 1000 people in Moscow

Question 10

what were living conditions like?

Answer 10

worse than under the NEP, rationing continued and people worked a 7 day week.

Question 11

what was the black market situation?

Answer 11

it began to grow and provide a new economy. workers stole from their workshops and falsified data.

Question 12

what was Gosplan and what was Stalin’s aim with it?

Answer 12

Gosplan was the central planning commission of the 5 year plans. Stalin aimed to industrialise to the level where they were on par with the USA and UK within 15 years. despite him claiming they were 100 years behind.

Question 13

what were some successes of industrialisation?

Answer 13

• coal production went from 35.4m tons in 1927 to 165.9m tons in 1940
• the Moscow metro was built in 1935 and the Volga canal in 1937
• in 1935 Stalin introduced awards for effective workers
• gains from 1936 to 1940 included 34% chemicals and 51% electricity
• by 1940 1/3 of government spending was on rearmament.

Question 14

what were some failures of industrialisation?

Answer 14

• quality was low as managers met quantity targets not quality
• failures in the planning system meant some industries wasted 40% of their product
• targets were unrealistic and managers often falsified data out of terror
• consumer goods and housing were both lacking.

Question 15

what was collectivisation?

Answer 15

the movement towards communal farming. small farms were merged into larger ones with 50 to 120 families working together

Question 16

why was collectivisation done?

Answer 16

• communist ideology
• suspicion of peasants individuality
• a need for greater efficiency
• solve food supply problems caused by industrialisation
• Stalin wanted the support of the left who blames Kulaks for the fall in grain production.

Question 17

how did collectivisation begin?

Answer 17

the Politburo votes for emergency measures which allowed them to take grain by force. before collectivisation just 2% of farmers worked on collective farms.

Question 18

what was the Uralsi-Siberian method?

Answer 18

in 1928-9 the army and the Cheka restart grain requisitioning marking the abandonment of the NEP. rationing in cities is introduced.

Question 19

when did the attacks on the Kulaks begin and what did they involve?

Answer 19

Dec 1929
-peasants resist grain requisitioning so Stalin decides he needs to liquidate the Kulak’s as a class.
1.5m peasants are sent to labour camps
Kulaks barely exist as a class but the Cheka had targets to meet of deportations so began randomly choosing peasants.

Question 20

when was collectivisation introduced and what happened?

Answer 20

late 1929

• farms were forcibly merged and equipment was taken from richer peasants.
• the peasants resist collectivisation - production drops due to a lack of good incentives and the skilled farmers being deported for being Kulaks.
• 60% of farms collectivised

Question 21

when was there a famine in the Ukraine?

Answer 21

1932-33 a famine led to 5 million deaths.
the USSR was still exporting 5m tons of grain in 1931
large farms were mechanised as 750000 tractor stations were built, but this had little effect on grain production and did not alleviate the famine.

Question 22

what was the effect of collectivisation?

Answer 22

1934-41 showed some recovery from collectivisation but on the whole problems remained.
private farms produced on average 410kg of grain per hectare whereas collectivised farms produced just 320kg
until 1941 7% of farmers remained outside of the collectivisation initiative.

Question 23

what happened to food production in WWII?

Answer 23

it was low and the USSR had to import grain from the USA. bread rations went down 40% and potato rations 80%
millions of people starved to death.

Question 24

what was the effect of WWII?

Answer 24

in 1945 there were 25m homeless people
industry was devastated and was at less than 2/3 output compared to 1940
Stalin responds with a fourth fiver year plan:
- 88% of investment into industry
- 80% increase in industrial output

Question 25

what effect did the cold war have on the economy?

Answer 25

• vast increase in military spending: 25% of budget by 1952
• consumer goods still scarce
• 1946-1949 agriculture suffers due to labour shortages but production grows between 1947 and 1953
  -grain harvest in million tons - 1940 = 95.6
  1943 = 30
  1953 = 92.2