Theme 2 - Key evidence Flashcards
War Communism
-Grain requisitioned to feed soldiers and urban population at the expense of peasants who resisted. Famine = 6 million soviet deaths.
-In 1919 all able bodied people between 16-50 forced to work 11 hour days
-Currency and private trade abolished as well as complete nationalisation established
-60% of food came from the black market as rations were too small
-By 1920, industrial output was 31% of what it was in 1913
- in 5 years industrial workforce halved from 3M to 1.2M
- around 60 percent of food during the civil war came from the black market, not from rationing
- Vesenkha a group of economic experts, marked the first stage of achieving centralised control of the economy.
NEP
-Small factories of 20 people or less privatised
-Currency reintroduced and agriculture back to free market to avoid counterrevolution
-Ended requisitioning so farmers were happier, grain production increased 33.7% in first year
-Inequality; ‘nepmen’ got rich selling desirable goods and became new middle class
-Scissors crisis caused by agriculture prices dropping due to higher production while industrial prices grew, farmers couldn’t afford industrial goods
- output of almost all industrial goods returned to pre-1914 levels. But industrial growth failed to increase at a rapid rate.
- 1920 electrification campaign led to electrical output increasing X10.
Collectivisation
-Procurement increased 10.8m-22.6m (1928-33)
-5m tons of grain was sold abroad in 1931 compared to 1m in 1928
-Grain production decreased 17% 1930-31 and continued to decreased til after 1934
-Famine in Ukraine killed 5m between 1932-33
-Collectivisation was unsuccessful with 90kg less being produced per hectare than in NEP
- 99% of land was collectives by 1941.
- Kulaks rebelled; 68 million sheep and goats murdered. Stalin sent Kulaks to the Gulags.
- Holmodor = 6 million Ukrainians forcibly starved.
- human toll was overwhelming and the achievements were seemingly meagre.
Modernisation
-Through Machine and Tractor Stations (MTS), 75,000 tractors were provided during the period of collectivisation
-During 7 Year Plan, fertiliser production ended up 3.5m short of target and centralised government with inexperienced officials meant sometimes farmers were given the wrong fertilisers.
- 1921 7 out in 10 locomotives were in need of urgent repair
5 Year Plans
-323% increase in fuel and metal production
-Projects such as the Moscow-Volga canal increased transport efficiency
-Gosplan was inefficient and central planning couldn’t meet consumer needs years in the future. same sheet foil used to make planes was used to make lamps.
-Poor communication between factories meant 40% of produced materials were wasted
-Consumer goods housing neglected
-650 000 people in one area of Moscow had no bath house
- Steel and coal output = 5X what they had been in 1928 in 1941.
Post War Recovery (4th 5 Year Plan)
-Grain production increased 74% and industrial 80% (1945-50)
-Consumer goods doubled during 4th 5 year plan
-Military spending increased 43% 1950-52 taking money away from other industries such as consumer good that were still scarce despite doubling
-Gosplan remained inefficient and harsh labour discipline was re-established.
- industrial growth was resilient.
- 88% of investment was in heavy industry.
- USSR = fastest growing nation in the word 7% GDP growth.
Virgin Lands Scheme
-Agriculture investment increased from 3%-12.8% (1954-59)
-Huge increase in production but this plateaued by 1958
-Khrushchev set goal to surpass US in food Production by 1960, but this required 300% increase
-Between 44-54% of the USSR worked on farms compared to only 5% in the US, yet the US still produced triple the food = inefficiency
7 Year Plan
-Some growth, consumer goods did increase due to investment in light industry
-Thick sheet metal made by soviet factories was too heavy for consumer goods
-Khrushchev kept reorganising, eg: Feb 1957, sovnarkhoz reforms decentralised Gosplan causing problems, didn’t meet targets
-Fertilisers were 3.5m tons short of target
The nationalisation of industry
- L argued once capitalism abolished economy would be organised according to a ‘common plan’.
- Russian economy less developed than the west 1917 and shattered by WW1
- L said oct rev created an society between capitalism and socialism.
- Vesenkha - a group of economic experts
- state capitalism was extremely unpopular
- Land reform 1917
First five-year plan (1928-32)
Emphasis on heavy industry
80% of total investment 1500 enterprises opened
Successes:
electricity production trebled
coal and iron output doubled
huge new tractor works in Stalingrad etc to meet the needs of mechanised agriculture.
Weaknesses:
little growth in consumer industries
chemical targets not fulfilled
lack of skilled workers; constantly changing jobs = instability
Overall comment:
In reality, many targets were not met. Great depression meant that the USSR couldn’t gain enough export revenues to pay for all of the machinery it needed. A great deal of investment had to go to agriculture due to collectivisation. However, Soviet economy was kick-started.
Second 5YP (1933-37)
Greater emphasis on communications, especially railways to link cities and industrial centres. 4500 enterprises opened. Benefitted from big projects such as the Moscow Metro 1935.
Successes:
heavy industry benefitted from plants that had been set up during the first plan and now came on stream.
1937 USSR was virtually self-sufficient
Transport and communications grew rapidly
chemical industries growing
metallurgy developed
Weaknesses:
consumer industries still lagged although there were signs of recovery
oil production didn’t make the expected advances
Comment:
there was a feeling within the party that Stalin had set targets too high in the first five year plan. The second focused more so on consolidation. 1934-6 = ‘three good years’.
Third 5yp (1938-41)
WW2 meant it ended early. heavy industries emphasised, need for armaments became increasingly urgent.
Successes:
Heavy industries continued to grow but the picture was blurry and some areas did poorly
defence and armaments grew rapidly as resources were diverted towards them
Weaknesses:
steel output grew insufficiently
oil production failed to meet targets and led to a fuel crisis
consumer industries took a back seat once again
many factories ran short of materials
Comment:
ran into difficulties by the beginning of 1938 due to an exceptionally hard winter and the diversion of materials to the military. Gosplan thrown into chaos when the purges created shortages of qualified personnel who linked industries and government.
