The Economy (1924 - 41): Industrialisation

Question 1

What did Stalin describe as creating a ‘war economy’?

Answer 1

Industrialisation

Question 2

What did Stalin desire a strong industrial economy for?

Answer 2

To modernise itself and defend itself from invasion

Question 3

What was industrialisation to be achieved through?

Answer 3

A series of Five Year Plans

Question 4

How did urban workers initially respond to the Five Year Plans?

Answer 4

Enthusiastically

Question 5

What were the Five Year Plans in theory?

Answer 5

Targets set by Stalin and his government. Officials had to meet these targets.

Question 6

When was the first Five Year Plan?

Answer 6

October 1928 - December 1932

Question 7

When was the first Five Year Plan introduced?

Answer 7

October 1928

Question 8

What did the first Five Year Plan focus on?

Answer 8

The development of the iron, steel and machinery industry.

Question 9

What was the target set in the first 5YP for COAL production?

Answer 9

110% increase in coal production by workers

Question 10

What was the target set in the first 5YP for IRON production?

Answer 10

200% increase in iron production by workers

Question 11

What was the target set in the first 5YP for Electric Power?

Answer 11

335% increase in electric power

Question 12

When peasants fled the collective farms, by how much did urban areas increase in population per week?

Answer 12

50,000

Question 13

Why were peasants fleeing collective farms for urban areas?

Answer 13

Due to the murder, exploitation, destruction and and starvation at the hands of the government under the mass collectivisation scheme.

Question 14

What were the three targets set for workers during the first 5YP?

Answer 14

(1) A 110% increase in coal production
(2) A 200% increase in iron production
(3) A 335% increase in electrical power

Question 15

Between which years did peasants flee the collective farms for urban areas?

Answer 15

1928-1932

Question 16

What were the industrial improvements made to the heavy industry after the first 5YP?

Answer 16

Electricity production had trebled
Iron and coal production had doubled
Steel production increased by a third

Question 17

What were the successes of the first 5YP?

Answer 17

(1) Electricity production had trebled
(2) Iron and coal production had doubled
(3) Steel production increased by a third
(4) Engineering industry developed
(5) New industrial complexes e.g., Kharkov and Magnitogorsk
(6) Self-sufficiency in the production of machine tools

Question 18

What were the weaknesses of the first 5YP?

Answer 18

(1) Lack of central planning/co-ordination.
(2) Overproduction and wastage occurred.
(3) Underproduction. Many targets not met
(4) Pressure to produce enough parts = decline in quality, some products could not be used
(5) Material shortages
(6) Poor transportation. Railway system unable to cope
(7) Living standards worsened

Question 19

When did the second 5YP take place?

Answer 19

January 1934 - December 1937

Question 20

What were the successes of the second 5YP?

Answer 20

(1) Transport improved
(2) Communication improved
(3) Rapid Expansion of electricity production
(4) Recovery in footwear and food processing

Question 21

Which industries benefited from the success of the second 5YP?

Answer 21

Chemical, Copper, Zinc Industries and Tin Mining

Question 22

What were the weaknesses of the second 5YP?

Answer 22

House building, food-processing and woollen textiles continued to be ignored

Question 23

What was different about the targets of the first and second 5YP?

Answer 23

The targets of the second 5YP was more realistic.

Question 24

When was the third 5YP?

Answer 24

1938-1941

Question 25

What were the successes of the third 5YP?

Answer 25

(1) Heavy industry i.e., engineering and machinery, grew
(2) Defence/armaments received more resource

Question 26

What were the weaknesses of the third 5YP?

Answer 26

(1) Money funnelled into armaments rather, caused resource shortages for other industries.
(2) Consumer goods struggled.
(3) Fuel crisis
(4) Purging removed trained officials to deal with crisis

Question 27

What is ‘Gigantomania’?

Answer 27

“Gigantomania is the production of unusually and superfluously large works,” on a large scale.

Question 28

What was the purpose of Gigantomania works?

Answer 28

For Propaganda purposes - to show the superiority of socialism over capitalism

Question 29

What were examples of Gigantomania works?

Answer 29

(1) Large industrial complexes
(2) Hydro-electric plants
(3) Farms
(4) Engineering works

Question 30

What is an example of Gigantomania works?

Answer 30

Magnitogorsk - city which became the largest iron and steel works in the country
Baltic White Sea Canal - a ship canal which opened 1933. Disastrous waste of resources and manpower

Question 31

What was the Stakhanovite movement?

Answer 31

A propaganda initiative. Alexander Stakhanov dug 102 tons of coal within 6hrs. Workers pressured to meet a similar quota.

Question 32

How much did the urban population increase between 1929-1941?

Answer 32

It doubled

Question 33

By the end of 1932, how much did former peasants much up of the industrial workers.

Answer 33

Half of them

Question 34

What was blamed on ‘bourgeois specialists’ early in the first 5YP?

Answer 34

Mistakes, poor quality and underproduction.

Question 35

Who were ‘bourgeois specialists’?

Answer 35

Managers, engineers and skilled technical staff from pre-1917. Also called ‘saboteurs’.

Question 36

Who was blamed for mistakes, poor-quality and underproduction early in the first 5YP?

Answer 36

‘Bourgeois Specialists’

Question 37

What was done to the ‘bourgeois specialists’ during the 5YPs?

Answer 37

They were put on show trials to publicise their betrayal and use them as examples to others. They were then imprisoned.