The Soviet economy Flashcards
Collectivisation
Stalin & Tenacity of Soviet People
- ensured soldiers were fed before peasants
- peasants worked hard, endured hardship to keep town & soldiers fed
Nominal Budget Spending on Defence…
Stalin
had almost doubled from 1937 to 1940!
from 17% to 33% of total budget
How many workers in total?
Soviet People
9 million in agriculture / industry / transport directly supplied the Red Army
Gulags
Stalin / Soviet People
Main supplier of defence workers.
During the 3 years of war, the production of all types of ammunition by gulags ammounted to over 70 million units e.g. hand grenades / mines
Stakhanovite movement
Stalin / Soviet People
Motivated workers to produce more than was required
e.g.
June 1941 - gov announced…
Stalin
Increase in working hours / mobilisation of civilian workers
July 22nd 1941 - gov announced…
stalin
a decree on new Martial law introduced labour service. Severe punishments for lateness / absenteeism
June 24th
Council of Evacuation created. Evacuation to Volga region, Siberia, Central Asia.
12 million people / 2.4 million livestock / Over 1200 enterprises begin operating east of the Urals
Food reserves / agricultural machinery
Gov also introduced…
Overtime work, on holidays / weekends. 66 hour week minimum?
Evidence of industrial output success?
1940 / 1942
Electricity output doubled / coal production 2.3x higher / steel production 2.4 x higher
Lend-Lease supplies
14 thousand aircraft / 7 thousand tanks / 8 thousand anti-tank guns / 15 million pairs of boots / spam
initially 5% of soviet gdp - later 10%
How much money was willingly donated by the Soviet people to the war effort?
Over 90 billion roubles!
1942 / 1943?
USSR outproduced the Germans in military hardware
Mass-production methods…
Products had fewer modifications than German’s. Panzer tanks vs T-34 tanks.
More than halved the time it took to produce a T34 tank during the course of the war.
NEGATIVES: Germans occupied land that had previously contributed
60% of pig iron / coal / aluminium production
