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iGCSE: USSR 1924-53 > Topic 2: The Five Year Plans and Collectivisation > Flashcards

Topic 2: The Five Year Plans and Collectivisation Flashcards

1
Q

Why did Stalin make the Great Turn?

A

Increase military strength

Achieve self-sufficiency

End the backwards agricultural system

Move towards a socialist society

Establish his credentials

Improve standards of living

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2
Q

What percentage of the population were workers in 1928?

A

20%

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3
Q

How much were factories making between 1913 and 1926?

A

1913: 10,251m roubles
1921: 2,004m roubles
1926: 11,083m roubles

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4
Q

How many millions of tonnes of coal was being produced between 1913 and 1926?

A

1913: 29m tonnes
1921: 8.9m tonnes
1926: 27.9m tonnes

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5
Q

How many thousands of tonnes of steel was being produced between 1913 and 1926?

A

1913: 4,231 thousands tonnes
1921: 183 thousand tonnes
1926: 3,141 thousand tonnes

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6
Q

Which country was the USSR behind that wasn’t even a great economic power?

A

France

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7
Q

What were there high rates of before 1928?

A

Unemployment

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8
Q

What had Churchill said about Bolshevism

A

‘Strangling Bolshevism in its cradle’

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9
Q

What events made the USSR concerned about invasion?

A

1927
- The British government accused the USSR of spreading propaganda

  • In China, the Communists were attacked leading to a civil war.
  • Pytor Voykov, Soviet diplomat, was assassinated in Poland
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10
Q

What ideological reasons were there for the Five Year Plans?

A
  • Communism needed to appeal to the workers (if peasants became workers it would be easier to appeal to them)
  • It would rid the USSR of Nepmen
  • Industry could provide luxury consumer goods that would keep workers loyal
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11
Q

What political reasons were there for the Five Year Plans?

A
  • It would divide political opponents
  • It would increase Stalin’s standing in the party
  • Stalin called it a ‘second revolution’ placing himself beside Lenin
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12
Q

What improvements were needed in the USSR?

A

Fuel (coal, oil, and electricity)

Raw materials (Iron, steel, chemicals, and textiles)

Machinery (Transport and farming)

Agriculture (Needed to feed the workers and selling off the excess would finance the changes)

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13
Q

When were the Five Year Plans introduced and what did they focus on?

A

Plan 1: 1928 - 1932 - aimed to expand heavy industry.

Plan 2: 1933 - 1937 - concentrated on making machines e.g. tractors.

Plan 3: 1938 - 1941 - aimed to produce goods like cameras and radios.

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14
Q

When was the first Five Year Plan and what did it focus on?

A

1928 - 1932 - aimed to expand heavy industry.

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15
Q

When was the second Five Year Plan and what did it focus on?

A

1933 - 1937 - concentrated on making machines e.g. tractors.

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16
Q

When was the third Five Year Plan and what did it focus on?

A

1938 - 1941 - aimed to produce goods like cameras and radios.

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17
Q

Why was the third Five Year Plan abandoned?

A

The invasion of the USSR by Germany

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18
Q

Which group was responsible for the central planning of the Soviet economy?

A

Gosplan

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19
Q

What were the positives of the First Five Year Plan?

A

Number of industrial workers doubled.

Whole cities were built around new industrial complexes.

New roads, railways, and canals were built.

Stalin brought advisors from other countries to help develop industry.

Ford Motor Company helped the Soviet car industry produce 140,000 cars in 1932.

Stalin introduced single managers to run state enterprises and factories.

They were rewarded with large houses and cars if they did well.

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20
Q

What were the negatives of the First Five Year Plan?

A

Many targets were unrealistic and not met.

Factories struggled to obtain the necessary raw materials.

There was a lack of skilled workers.

There was a decline in living and working conditions.

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21
Q

What were the positives of the Second Five Year Plan?

A

Railways developed to link cities and industrial centres.

Industries like chemicals and metallurgy grew enormously.

Some consumer goods were produced.

Big advances in heavy industry and chemicals.
New transport schemes e.g. Moscow Metro and Moscow Canal.

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22
Q

What were the negatives of the Second Five Year Plan?

A

Little investment in consumer industries.

No improvements in living standards.

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23
Q

What was the focus of the Third Five Year Plan?

A

Armaments

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24
Q

What were the positives of the Third Five Year Plan?

A

Gave more attention to producing weapons.

One-third of government investment was spent on defence.

Meaning a powerful defence industry.

Nine new aircraft factories were established.

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25
Q

What were the negatives of the Third Five Year Plan?

A

The purges led to arrests of experienced factory managers and Gosplan officials.

Nazi invasion of the USSR in June 1941 cut the plan short.

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26
Q

Who inspired the Stakhanovite movement?

A

Alexis Stakhanov

A miner that was supposed to have moved 102 tonnes of coal in one shift (14x more than the average)

He was hailed as a national hero

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27
Q

How as Alexis Stakhanov actually able to mine 102 tonnes of coal?

A

He had the most modern equipment, two helpers, and worked the best part of the mine.

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28
Q

What were workers that exceeded their targets entitled to?

A

Better housing, free holidays, and medals with ‘Heroes of Socialist Labour’ on.

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29
Q

Why did workers not like the Stakhanovite movement?

A

Workers did not like the pressures placed on them to achieve more.

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30
Q

What are the strengths of the First Five Year Plan?

A

Focus on heavy industry

1,5000 enterprises opened

Production of electricity trebled

Output of coal and iron doubled

Steep production increased by a third

Production of machine tools increased

Huge industrial complex like Magnitogorsk built

Huge tractors works in Stalingrad and Kharkov

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31
Q

What were the weaknesses of the First Five Year Plan?

A

Decline in consumer industries like house building.

Small workshops squeezed out.

Chemical targets not fulfilled.

Many targets were not met.

Lack of skilled workers.

Great Depression had driven down prices so not enough money was coming in from exports.

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32
Q

What are the strengths of the Second Five Year Plan?

A

Three Good Years (1934-6).

Greater emphasis on consumer industries (food processing).

Heavy industry grew because of complexes set up during the first plan.

Dnieper Dam produced electricity.

By 1937, USSR was basically self-sufficient.

Transport and communications grew.
Chemical industries grew.

Metallurgy grew (mining minerals).

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33
Q

What are the weaknesses of the Second Five Year Plan?

A

Consumer goods were still lagging.

Limited growth of oil production.

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34
Q

What are the strengths of the Third Five Year Plan?

A

Emphasis on heavy industry (machinery and engineering in particular)

Defence and armaments grew rapidly.

35
Q

What are the weaknesses of the Third Five Year Plan?

A

Poor growth in steel output.

Oil production failed to meet targets.

Consumer industries lagged.

Shortages in factories.
Hampered by the purges.

36
Q

What were the strengths of the Five Year Plans for the workers?

A

There was enthusiasm at first.

There was support for the attack on bourgeoisie specialists.

Growth of the proletarian intelligentsia with highly developed technical skills.

Loyal workers could do well through courses, pay, and prospects.

Those who exceeded targets were rewarded.

37
Q

What were the weaknesses of the Five Year Plans for the workers?

A

By the end of the First Five Year Plan, half the labour force were peasants who often moved if they could find a better deal.

In the coal industry, workers moved three times a year on average.

Managers competed for skilled workers.

Skill shortages.

1931 - less than 17% of the workforce was skilled.

In Elektrozavod, a $25k machine went unused because it needed a minor repair.

Untrained and clumsy workers damaged machinery.

38
Q

What were the strengths of the Five Year Plans for women in the USSR?

A

10m women entered the workforce.

Women dominated some professions - medicine and teaching.

39
Q

What were the weaknesses of the Five Year Plans for women in the USSR?

A

Women were paid less and less likely to be promoted.

Sarah Davies’ survey of Leningrad showed that women made up 44% of the workforce but paid less, less literacy, and less involved in politics.

Of 328 factory directors, only 20 were women.

40
Q

What were the incentives for the Five Year Plans?

A

Wage differentials were introduced to reward those who stayed in their jobs.

Managers were allowed to pay bonuses.

Egalitarianism in wages was abandoned as early as 1931.

Honours were given to outstanding workers.

Training programmes were introduced

Propaganda campaign to encourage productivity e.g. Stakhanovite.

41
Q

What were the punishments during the Five Year Plans?

A

Absenteeism was punished with dismissal.

Leaving a job without permission could lead to prison.

Intimidation and terror was applied.

300,000 prisoners worked on the Baltic-White Sea Canal.

After April 1930, all criminals sentenced to more than 3 year were sent to labour camps.

42
Q

What were the strengths of living standards under the Five Year Plans?

A

Some workers did become better off.

Some factories set up their own shops.

43
Q

What were the weaknesses of living conditions under the Five Year Plans?

A

Workers suffered badly during the First Five Year Plan

In Leningrad and Moscow, meat, milk, and fruit consumption declined by a third.

Overcrowding was common.

Cities and towns grew by 200k a month - they were not ready to deal with this.

Shops lacked basic commodities and queues were common.

In Magnitogorsk, only 15% of the population lived in brick apartments. 25% lived in mud huts they built for themselves.

44
Q

Where does the name Magnitogorsk come from?

A

The nearby mountain, Magnitaya

45
Q

What was Magnitaya mostly comprised of?

A

Pure iron

46
Q

Magnitogorsk was founded in 1743. When did it become significant?

A

1929

47
Q

What was completed that allowed an influx of workers to Magnitogorsk?

A

The railways

48
Q

How many people are estimated to have gone to Magnitogorsk of their own free will?

A

750,000

49
Q

What did workers in Magnitogorsk live in?

A

15% in brick apartments

25% in mud huts

50
Q

How many political prisoners were used to build Magnitogorsk?

A

40,000

51
Q

In 1937, Magnitogorsk was closed to who?

A

Foreigners - anyone from the west had to leave

52
Q

What were the economic results of the Five Year Plans?

A

Emphasis on heavy industry.

Six-fold increase in coal production.

Four-fold increase in steel production.

Chaotic implementation.
Building large industrial centres.

Neglect of consumer industries.

Decline in textile production.

53
Q

What were the social results of the Five Year Plans?

A

Decline in working conditions.

Low pay.

Worker discontent.
Introduction of the passport system.

Use of slave labour.

Huge growth in the number of industrial workers.

54
Q

What were the political results of the Five Year Plans?

A

Control of the Communist Party strengthened.

Organisation of industrial workers.

Capitalist classes removed e.g. Nepmen.

Expansion of the government’s role in the economy.

Strengthening of Stalin’s position.

55
Q

What was the idea behind collectivisation?

A

The ideas was that small farms and holdings be merged to form large collective farms (Kolkhoz) jointly owned by the peasants.

56
Q

Under collectivisation, what was shared amongst the peasants?

A

Animals, tools, and produce.

57
Q

What economic reasons were there for collectivisation?

A

Agriculture was still backwards.

There was little use of machinery.

Land was largely privately owned by rich peasants (Kulaks)

Land was controlled at a local level by the mir.
It was inefficient.

It was unable to produce enough surplus grain to support further industrial and urban growth.

Collectivisation would make it easier to introduce modern machinery.

Increasing numbers in the industrial sector would need grain produced in a more efficient way.

Grain procurement crisis: The government could not buy surplus grain between 1927-28. The result was rationing in the cities and anger in the Party.

58
Q

What were the ideological reasons were there for collectivisation?

A

Stalin wanted to eliminate the Kulaks and Nepmen.

Stalin wanted to end the NEP as he believed this went against Communist values.

Collectivisation would help extend socialism into the countryside.

Bread and meat had to be rationed in the cities in 1928 and 1929, Stalin believed it would be easier to get grain and meat from collective farms.

59
Q

What were the political reasons were there for collectivisation?

A

Stalin was aware that food shortages were important factors in the downfall of the Tsar and Provisional Government.

Collectivisation would give Stalin the upper hand against Bukharin.

60
Q

When did collectivisation begin?

A

The winter of 1929-30

61
Q

How many peasants did Stalin order should be placed in 240,000 kolkhoz?

A

24 million

62
Q

What was the problem with the peasants and collectivisation?

A

This rarely worked.
Peasants had no wishes to collectivise and the majority of the peasants rebelled.

Rather than hand over property, many peasants set fire to their farms and ate their animals.

The result was nearly civil war in the countryside

63
Q

How many villages had been collectivised by 1929-34?

A

Half

64
Q

How did Stalin attack the kulak class of peasants?

A

They were forbidden from joining collective farms.

They were rounded up by dekulakization squads.

Thousands were shot on the spot.

Around 2 million were transported to Siberia and imprisoned in gulags.

65
Q

What was a Sovhkoz?

A

State farm, larger than collective farms and peasants paid a fixed wage by the government.

66
Q

What was a Kolkhoz?

A

The collective farm. By 1940, 240,000 had been created.

67
Q

What did the kolkhozes have?

A

50-100 families.

Run by a chairman who was a member of the Communist Party.

Hours, jobs, crops grown were set by the state.

Produce was taken by the state for a low price. Money was shared so peasants were paid badly.

After 1935, peasants were given a small area of land to farm for themselves and keep a number of farm animals.

68
Q

What was a Motor Tractor Station?

A

It rented heavy machinery to the kolkhozy and supplied skilled personnel to operate and repair the equipment

69
Q

By 1940, there was 1 MTS for each ___

A

40 farms

70
Q

What were the problems with the Motor Tractor Stations?

A

There were never enough tractors to meet demand and they were unreliable and badly built

71
Q

When were Motor Tractor Stations abolished?

A

1953

72
Q

What else did Motor Tractor Stations do apart from rent out machinery?

A

Spread propaganda and spy on the peasants.

73
Q

What were the positive impacts of collectivisation?

A

Stalin had no problem in collectivising landless labourers.
After 1935, Stalin tried to improve matters by letting them have a private plot of land.

By 1937, over 90% of farmland had been collectivised.

Grain output was over 80% higher than it had been in 1913.

Stalin also made sure there was a steady supply of food for towns and workers.

By 1934, rationing of bread and other food ended.

The 19m peasants that moved to towns supplied much needed labour.

The countryside was under total control for the first time.

Stalin’s position was secured.

74
Q

What were the negative impacts of collectivisation?

A

All peasants were hostile to collectivisation.

There was violent opposition, particularly in Ukraine and the Caucasus region.

Many kulaks set fire to their farms.

In the first two months of 1930, 14 million cattle were slaughtered.

During the first three years, the animal population fell by 50%.

It was 1940 before livestock production recovered to the 1928 figure.

Party officials were sometimes murdered on arrival in the villages.

The OGPU (secret police) were used to round up kulaks and other opposers to the scheme.

None of the surplus was given to starving people, it was sold as exports.

The Great Famine of 1932-33.

By 1934, all of the Kulaks had been removed with 3m being sent to die in the Labour camps.
By 1934, 6m had died of starvation.

By the end of 1930s this had increased to an estimated 13m.

75
Q

What was Ukraine known as?

A

The ‘breadbasket of Europe’

76
Q

What did people eat during the Great Famine?

A

Earthworms, tree bark, mice, and human flesh.

77
Q

What did Soviet posters declare during the Great Famine?

A

‘To eat your own children is a barbarian act’

78
Q

How many people were convicted of cannibalism during the Great Famine?

A

Over 2,500

79
Q

How was the Great Famine made worse by the State?

A

Stalin claimed that quotas not being met was because of sabotage.

Communists seized all of the grain they could and left the peasants with nothing.

Publicly, Stalin refused to admit there was a problem and refused foreign aid.

80
Q

What is the Great Famine known as?

A

Holodomor

81
Q

Why do historians debate whether Holodomor was a man made tragedy?

A

Whether Stalin deliberately caused it to punish the peasantry for their resistance to collectivisation.

Ukraine also had its own distinctive culture and push for independence. Famine prevented this.

82
Q

What was the economic impact of collectivisation?

A

Slaughtering of animals by the kulaks had a serious impact on livestock numbers.

Between 1928 and 1933, the number of cattle halved and this loss was not recovered until 1953.

Grain production fell.
1928: 73.3m tonnes
1934: 67.6m tonnes

83
Q

What was the political impact of collectivisation?

A

Poor central planning was highlighted. The push to collectivise was not coordinated with the manufacture of tractors.

The creation of Motor Tractor Stations became despised by the peasants as agents of control.

The aim of getting rid of the kulaks was achieved.

84
Q

What was the social impact of collectivisaion?

A

Removal of the influence of traditional social roles e.g. village priest.

Removal of capitalist classes e.g. kulaks (15m people).

Abolition of peasant-controlled Mir

iGCSE: USSR 1924-53 (12 decks)

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