Topic 2 - Agriculture and Industry 1917 - 85

Question 1

What is the Economy like in 1921?

Answer 1

Economy in Ruin - Post WW1 and Civil War
(War communism)
NEEDS CHANGE

Question 2

Two Initial Decrees Passed by Lenin and what they did?

Answer 2

The Land Decree (1917): abolishes private ownership; pleases peasants

The Decree on Workers’ Control (1917): Gave control of factories to the industrial Workers

Question 3

By 1921, industrial production was ony ? of 1913

Answer 3

One - Third

Question 4

Three Results of War Communism

Answer 4

1) Rationing and Requistioning of Grain: In order to feed the army and towns - outbreaks of violence - Tambov Uprising (‘21) - 50k Red Army and Kronstadt Mutiny (‘21)
2) Nationalism - All industry but under Vesenkha control; Only workplaces with fewer than 10 workers were exempt
3) Private Trading Banned - State was in control; However, they could not satisfy demands so Black Market was rampant

Question 5

When was the NEP introduced?

Answer 5

March 1921

Question 6

3 Results of the NEP

Answer 6

1) Peasants could now gain profit on goods and sell all surplus with 10% tax
2) Factories with fewer than 20 workers rednered back to private ownership
3) Bonus used to raise production

Question 7

Scissors Crisis on 1923?

Answer 7

Major Imbalance between Industrial and Agricultural goods; Major new supply of grain pushed prices lower + industrial goods rising; State Regulation in Dec ‘23

Question 8

3 reasons for the neccessity of a Command Economy?

Answer 8

1) Would get rid of Nepmen and Kulaks who had gotten richer from the NEP
2) By 1924, Industrial Production was 45% of its 1913 figure
3) Soviet Production figures still far below that of the West

Question 9

What is Socialism in One Country?

Answer 9

To describe the policy of industrialising the USSR and moving toward socialism by only using the USSR’s resources. Argued by Stalin against Trotsky’s idea of promoting world revolution before industrialising at home.

Question 10

The First Five-Year Plan - 1928 -32

Answer 10

Rapid Industrialisation ot catch up with the west

• Output of steel, coal and iron increased
• Large Industrial cities - Magnitogrosk had 25 ppl in 1929 - in ‘32, 250k

Consumer goods neglected
White Sea Canal project - employed 180k prisioners of which 10k died

Question 11

The Second (1933-37) and Third Five Year Plan (1938-WW2)

Answer 11

War forced focus on Heavy Industry:

• Peroid between 1928-41 saw a 17% growth rate
• Successful completion of Projects - Dniper Dam
• Coal (million Tonns) - 1927, 11.7m; 1937, 128m
• Steel (million Tonns) - 1927, 4m; 1937, 17.7

Central planning caused wastage
Housing and Consumer industires suffered

Question 12

Support in the Country side had weakened becasue of…

Answer 12

The Tambov uprising - 1921

Question 13

Machine and Tractor Stations:

Answer 13

Government-run centres that supplied farm machinery to the collectives; provided advice on farming techniques and political lectures

Question 14

What forced the forcible requistioning of Grain

Answer 14

The food shortage in 1928

Question 15

What happened to peasants who refused to join collectives?

Answer 15

They were labelled ‘class enemies’ and deported to Siberia

Question 16

By 1932, ? of peasant households had been collectivised

By 1937 ? of peasatn households had been collectivised

Answer 16

62%

93%

Question 17

3 Results of Collctivisation

Answer 17

Removing Kulaks is dangeorus - most productive class

Slaughtered Animals

WideSpread Famine - Low production mixed with requistioning

Question 18

How many Animals wer slaughtered during the Famine?

Answer 18

Between 1928 - 33, the amount of cattle halved

Question 19

How many overall deaths of Kulaks?

Answer 19

5 - 10 million

Question 20

How many famine related Deaths in 1933 alone

Answer 20

4m

Question 21

Impact of WW2

Positives:

Answer 21

• Centralisation helped mass mobilisation
• Idustrial production rose impressively if, unevenly, after 1941
• Between 1943 - 45, over 73,000 tanks and 94,000 aircraft produced

Question 22

Impacts of WW2:

Negatives:

Answer 22

• Most able-bodied men conscripted an animals requisitoned so food production fell
• Grain Output - 1930, 95m tonnes; 1942, 30m tonnes
  25m ppl homeless
  1,700 towns and over 70k villages destroyed

Question 23

In 1957, Economic Councils are set up. Waht do these do?

Answer 23

Move Decision Making to Regional Bases - De-centralisation

Question 24

What was the working week reduced by

Answer 24

From 48 hours to 41 by 1960

Question 25

What replaced Harsh Labour Laws under Khrushchev

Answer 25

Incentives.

Managers now allowed to keep 40% of profit

Question 26

The Seven Year Plan - (1959 - 65)

Positives:

Answer 26

Output of Consumer Goods: 1958, 100m - 1965, 184m

Soviet Pride in Sputnik and First man on the Moon

Question 27

The Seven Year Plan

Negatives:

Answer 27

Quality of goods often poor - shoe factroy put heel on wrong way round

By 1964, economic growth had slowed - spending on consumer goods reduced and housing programme reduced

Problems with poor labour efficiency and waste

Question 28

What was the Virgin Lands Scheme?

Answer 28

Introduced in 1954, the Virgin Lands Scheme encouraged opening up new areas to agricultural production.

Question 29

How many members of the Young Communist League were put to work?

Answer 29

300,000

Question 30

How many Trators were provided for the VLS?

Answer 30

120k

Question 31

Out of 147million hectacres of Lnad, how many were cultivated during the VLS?

Answer 31

6 million

Question 32

Why did the VLS fail?

Answer 32

The 1955 Virgin Lands crop fell far below expectations due to a severe drought in the virgin land regions, especially Kazakhstan, which received only one-tenth of its normal rainfall.

Even though the total sown area in 1955 was almost double that of 1954, the grain harvest went down by 35% from 1954 in Kazakhstan.

• Main point being Khurshchev chose the wrong area to cultivate land as he fancied himself a farmer

Question 33

Positives of Khrushchev’s Economic Policy

Answer 33

The income of Farmers doubles between 1952 -58

Between 1953 - 58, food production went by 51%

Removal of MTS which was very unpopular

De-centralisaiton allowed for more regional and therefore productive control

Question 34

Whta is the Main Issue that Kosigyn has with getting reforms through?

Answer 34

The Right Side of the party are not enthusiastic with change and Brzhnev helps them water down reforms

Question 35

One of the main problems with industry prodution in 1985?

Answer 35

bonuses for output were higher than bonuses for innovation

Question 36

Soviets used over ? of the workforce and ? of investment but produced only ? of US output.

Answer 36

25%

26%

1/6th

Question 37

Growth Rate of the Economy:

1950s = ?

1960s = ?

1970s = ?

Answer 37

7%

5%

3%

Question 38

5 Reasons for Economic Stagnation

Answer 38

1) The Legacy of a Stalinsit System - hard to achive, bureaucrats didn’t want change
2) Comman Economy - too rigid and inflexible
3) The ‘Social Contract’ - Govt didn’t want to close down unproductive factories which would lead to unemployment and unhappy civillians
4) Lack of Investment - Stalin underfunding agriculture means Khrushchev and Brezhnev had too much to do
5) Outdated Technology

Question 39

One ideological/political reason for collectivsation

Answer 39

To spread socialism to countryside after the Tambov Uprising in 1921

Question 40

What was the ‘Ural Siberian’ Method

Answer 40

1928 - forced requisitoning

Question 41

What were the 25-thousanders

Answer 41

akak ‘Dekulakisation Sqauds’ - would kill, bomb and burn kulaks who interferred with collectivisation

Question 42

By 1932, 62% of peasants were in collectives. What had this number risen to in 1937 ?

Answer 42

93%

Question 43

What were the economic impacts of removing kulaks?

Answer 43

Damagin, kulaks were mos tproductive class

Also Kulak protest saw the slaughter of 50% of the cattle between 1928-33
- no.of cattle did not recover until 1953

Question 44

Stalin made it clear he wanted to “liquidate” Kualks, was he successful?

Answer 44

Yes - class eliminated and 5-10million killed

Question 45

3 results of collectivisation

Answer 45

Widepsread famine - 4m die in 1933 alone - ‘Holodomor’, forced genocide to prevent Ukrainian nationalism?

Grain harvest decreases - 83.5m (1930), 68.4m (1933)

Internal Passports to force peasants to laour in countryside - many force dto eat children out of starvation

Question 46

Issues with centralised planning during Collectivisation

Answer 46

Poor planning left many collectives without tools

Trators took too long to get to colectives meaning Humans had to pull , not as effective

Question 47

Stat that showed Russia’s success under 5yp

Answer 47

5.8% annual economic gorwth when rest of world suffer form Wall Street Crash