Theme 2 - Stagnation of the Economy under Brezhnev Flashcards
Compare Khrushchev’s vs Brezhnev’s thinking
- Khrushchev focused on Grandiose plans
- Brezhnev saw the failures of such grand plans (e.g Virgin Lands Scheme) and chose to focus on small measures (e.g increasing incentives for Peasants)
How did Brezhnev reform procurement prices? How did this impact retail prices? What effect did this have
- Increased procurement prices especially for meat
- But kept Retail prices low
- Created a massive state subsidy system
What was the size of the Soviet procurement subsidy system
- $33 Billion
- By 1981
When & How did Brezhnev reform the workday system?
- 1966
- Replaced with small yet guarentted salary for agricultural workers & gave them a share in bonus’s
What was Brezhnev’s stance of private plots
- Encouraged them - increased size to 1.2 acres per household
What was the output of Private plots? Why is this suprising
- By 1978 provided:
- 1/3 of meat and eggs, 1/4 of all output
- BUT only 1% of cultivated area
What was the focus of Brezhnev’s investment in agriculture?
- Agricultural infrastructure
- Storage, refrigeration, roads etc.
Who was in charge of Agriculural investment? Did they recieve blame for its failure
- Gorbachev
- Didn’t recieve blame for failure
- What % of investment was agricural? What was the problem with this?
- 25%
- 1 rouble investment would only yield 0.39 back
What type of farm did Brezhnev favour?
- Sovkhozy (Larger farm)
- 2x the size of Kolkhozy
Compare Sovkhozy vs Kolkhozy at the start and near the end of Brezhnev’s rule
- Sovkhozy rose form 13k in 1967 to 20,500 in 1978
- Kolkhozy fell 36k in 1967 to 26,700 in 1978
Overview of Brezhnev agriculture
2 decades following Khrushchev only difference was reinstatement of ministry of agriculture
q
Brezhnev feeling towards the peasants
- Wanted to improve the lives of the peasants
- But alligence to Stalinist collectivisation meant little could be done
Poverty stat for collective farms
- Early 1960’s
- 75% of collective farm workers lived below the poverty line
Where there any social security improvements? Did they materialise?
- Collective workers given access to social security
- But law does not alway mean reality
What was China doing during Brezhnev’s reign
- Decollectivising and moving towards and NEP eske system of co-opertatives
- Loyalty to Stalinism and Sino-Soviet split meant Brezhnev couldnt follow
State of Agriculture by late Brezhnev
- By 1980 agriculture had followed industry into stagnation
Diet of Soviet citizens
- Early 1970’s Soviets ate 2x bread and potateos and half the meat of the USA
Brezhnev policy on grain imports
- Continued to import expensive US grain and artifically supressed bread price
Describe disturbances in brezhnev’s reign. What did this demonstrate?
- 1960’s riots over price of bread
- Showed that political stabilty was linked to cheap food
When were Kosygin’s reforms passed
- September 1965
What were Kosygin’s reforms
- Enterprises could keep profits to reinvest
- Workers could share in success of company
When were Khrushchev’s reforms recalled? And what were they
- September 1965
- Sovnarkhozy (De-centralisation) was cancelled and central ministry’s re-established
Compare Overall growth targert 9th vs 10th 5yr plan
- 9th: 43&
- 10th 36%
Compare heavy industry growth 9th vs 10th 5yr plan
- 9th 46%
- 10th 38%
Compare consumer goods growth 9th vs 10th 5yr plan
-9th: 37%
10th: 32%
Compare agriculture growth 9th vs 10th 5yr plan
- 9th 13%
- 10th: 17%
Dates of 9th 5yr plan
-1971 to 1975
Dates of 10th 5yr plan
- 1976 to 1980
What was the growth in the economy throughout the 1970’s? Why was this? Describe consumer goods?
- Growth at 2%
- Due to Crisis in Agricuture; Militarty spending; Bottlenecks in Manufacturing
- Increase in disposable income but no consumer goods to spend the money on
Quote about decay of economy
- The decay of the economy cann be reflected in the bottle
How available was Vodka
- Vodka was readily available
Describe the frequency of drunkenness & response
- Introduction of Sobering up stations
- 1979 15 to 30 million people used them
What does Pravda say in 1982
- Blames Alcholism for deserted building sites on Monday and Friday afternoons
Labour laws and Alcholism
- Workers could not be removed if they smelled of Alchol
- Drunk train drivers had to be given thier job back after a certain time
How did Brezhnev attempt to combat Drunkeness
- Law against parasites
- People grabbed off the street & questioned why they were not in work. An insufficient reason would land you a fine
- Significantly increased resentment
What was the signifiance of Leninst - Marxist theory as a subject
- Leninist Marxist theory was a compulsory subject
- Lead to a generation where it was soley a boring subject they were forced to sit through
Describe soviet standards in healthcare, eduction and unemployment
- Virtually no unemployment
- High healthcare standards
- Education was free
Statistic of US emmigre’s about USSR
- 60% were satisifed with living conditions in USSR
Household consumption in Brezhnev era
- 1965 to 1980
- 40% increase
- But nothing to spend it on - long que’s at the shop
