USSR: Economy under Stalin

Question 1

What were the main economic aims from 1928-41?

Answer 1

• Consolidating Stalin’s power
• Industrial Planning: Increasing the productivity and output of Soviet Industry
• Catch up with the West: Carry out 100 years of growth within 15 years
• Rearmament

Question 2

What was the nature of the FYPs?

Answer 2

Simply a list of targets, and nothing to do with HOW the economy would function and create a strong economy, merely a propaganda campaign used to try and achieve the targets set by Stalin.

Question 3

How did heavy industry fair under the FYPs?

Answer 3

Heavy industry grew during the course of the FYPs:

• In raw material based sectors, the average growth was 30-40%
• The amount of coal produced in 1927 was 35.40 million tons. By 1940 it was 165.90 million tons
• The amount of electricity produced in million tons went from 5.05 million tons in 1927 to 48.30 million tons in 1940.
• This was achieved by building new factories to exploit the USSR’s natural resources

Question 4

What happened to the transport industry and the process of rearmament during the first 2 FYPs?

Answer 4

The transport industry improved, particularly in urban areas. For example, the Moscow Metro first opened in 1935 and an extensive canal route was constructed.

By 1940, a third of the government’s budget was being spent on the military. As war approached and tensions heightened, economic planners focused their attention on military production. However, rearmament was slowed by shortages of quality goods like steel.

Question 5

How did the government seek to improve labour productivity under the FYPs?

Answer 5

• Through the means of incentivisation. The 1st FYP involved long hours and low pay and so gradually Stalin introduced new incentives such as housing or financial benefits.
• The cult of Stakhanovites; began in 1935 during the second FYP signalling the emergence of socialist competition. It referred to those who worked extremely hard and produced high amounts of produce, named after Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, who had mined 102 tons of coal in less than 6 hours.
• The electricity industry saw a 51% rise in production levels during the second FYP for example.

Question 6

What were the problems with the plans?

Answer 6

• Quantity was far more important than quality and so goods were often poor quality and often broke
• The command economy and lack of an overall plan meant there was a lack of communication between industries and sectors.
• This lead to substantial waste as materials were either stored for too long and decayed or were manufactured and then wasted. This was the case for 40% of materials.
• Stalin purged the economic planners and industrial managers, the ones who made the economy work.
• There was no realistic sense of criticizing the plans when things did go wrong. Many falsified production figures to avoid being purged and so Stalin believed, to some extent, the plans worked which meant no improvements could be made.
• Plan production was also slow: for example the first FYP was announced in October 1928 but nothing was done until 6 months later.

Question 7

Were consumer goods available under the FYPs?

Answer 7

No; Stalin was disinterested in light industry and from 1928 to 1941 rationing and queues were the norm for Soviet citizens. There were also significant issues with municipal services and poor planning, planners did not anticipate the needs of general consumers.
Also, poor production techniques. By the mid 1930’s, the soviet economy was good at producing large quantities of raw materials such as iron and steel. But consumer goods required more complex techniques which the economy still didn’t have.

Question 8

How were housing and living conditions?

Answer 8

Significant issue from 1928-41. The plans required a huge increase in the urban workforce. However necessary housing never built.
Poor living conditions from 1928-1941
A better living standard was not a priority for Stalin.
Consumer goods rationing was a constant feature under Stalin’s economy.
Working conditions were very harsh.
Workers forced to work seven days a week.

Question 9

Black Market?

Answer 9

Five Year Plans failed to end the free market and therefore the shortage of goods led to a growth of a black market where consumers could buy goods stolen by workers, who justified it by covering up falsifying paperwork.

Question 10

Who was in charge of implementing the FYPs and what structure did they follow?

Answer 10

Gosplan- The Central Planning Agency of the Soviet Union which functioned as a target-setting body in charge of a command economy, a series of targets that were to be met at any cost.

Question 11

Why were farms collectivized? (5)

Answer 11

• To achieve Socialism in the countryside: for members of the party Socialist farming meant collective farms; they represented the peasant’s version of the worker’s experience in towns and cities in Kommunalkas and large factories.
• To control the backward peasantry: there was only 1 communist for every 125 peasants. According to the Party, peasant’s backwardness made them more susceptible to religious superstition and Kulak propaganda and so, unless controlled and educated to the communist ideals, they would always be a potential enemy of the Party.
• To solve problems of food supply: In 1927 and 1928 the gov. had problems accessing food despite requisitioning and they blamed Kulaks for hoarding grain. Collectivization meant the state would control agriculture and therefore secure better food distribution in the future
• To raise revenue for industrialization: New, larger collective farms, bringing larger economies and modern technology would produce more and surpluses would be sold abroad to pay for the import of machinery and technology.
• To destroy political rivals: In 1928, Stalin shared power with the right (Bukharin, Rykov, and Tomsky)- a move towards collectivization would isolate them and allow Stalin to emerge as the dominant victor.
• Also would prove to Russia and the rest of the world, the successes of the Communist regime

Question 12

How many farmers were in collective farms by 1928?

Answer 12

Less than 2% of farmers were in collective farms by 1928. At the 1927 Party Congress, the Party set a target for 20% of farmers to be in collective farms by 1933.

Question 13

What was the “Kulak Grain Strike”?

Answer 13

Farmers abused the price mechanism in 1926, by increasing production to make more profit which led to a fall in prices, and in 1927, farmer’s decreased production to keep grain prices high.
Left wing communists described this as “Kulak Grain Strike”
Communists claimed that farmers put profits ahead of the USSR’s needs.

Question 14

Why did agricultural production fall under NEP?

Answer 14

Agricultural production fell because there was no market for additional farmed goods, there was a limit to how much food that consumers wanted.

Question 15

What happened in 1928?

Answer 15

Emergency Measures:
In July 1928, Stalin ended the NEP in order to end the Kulak grain strike.
Stalin reintroduced grain requisitioning from the peasants through the Cheka; grain would be used to feed workers and sold abroad to generate more money for industry.
Rationing and requisitioning did not mean collectivisation but did signal an end to the NEP
“Return to War Communism”

Question 16

When was the decision to abandon the NEP and push for industrialization taken?

Answer 16

After the Fifteenth Party Congress in 1927

Question 17

The loss of what group hindered the progression of FYPs?

Answer 17

Within the factories there was a concerted campaign against the so-called “bourgeois experts”, those technical staff who had retained their positions because the state needed their expertise to keep industry running smoothly. In 1928, there had been a series of show trials against these bourgeois experts, accused of “wrecking” and deliberate sabotage, often collaborating with foreign agents. The loss of this group of technical hindered the progress made under the FYPs.

Question 18

Who were “superindustrialisers”?

Answer 18

Those within the Communist Party who believed that agricultural surpluses should be seized by the state in order to invest in industry. They believed that heavy industry should be given priority over other sectors of the economy.

Question 19

What are the dates and the basic aims of the first three FYPs?

Answer 19

• The First FYP, 1928-32: concentrated on rapid growth in heavy industry, such as coal, steel and iron, an approach recommended by “superindustrialisers”
• The Second FYP, 1933-37: initially set higher target for the production of consumer goods but as the 30s progressed and the threat from Hitler continues to grow, focus was directed onto the needs of defense. Heavy industry received more focus as a result.
• The Third FYP, launched in 1938: geared more directly towards arms production to meet the threat of Germany.

Question 20

During the First FYP how did the government primarily achieve industrialisation?

Answer 20

It was largely the result of making more efficient use of existing factories and equipment.
New plants were built were but they did not make a significant impact on production until after 1934.

Question 21

What was the population of Magnitogorsk in 1929 compared to three years later?

Answer 21

In 1929, only 25 people lived in Magnitogorsk, a large industrial town. By 1932, this figure was 250,000.

Question 22

How many people in Moscow were skilled in 1933?

Answer 22

Only 17% of the Moscow population were skilled and in other cities this figure was considerably smaller. The workers therefore had to rely on their revolutionary and socialist spirit for motivation.

Question 23

Give an example of a Gulag.

Answer 23

The White Sea Canal project, which employed 180,000 prisoners by 1932. During the winter of 1931-31, 10,000 prisoners died on this project. The completion of the canal was hailed as a propaganda triumph by the government but, in order to reduce costs and speed up construction, the depth was reduced from 22 feet to 12 feet, rendering the canal useless for all but small barges.

Question 24

Give an example of a factory failure.

Answer 24

The Stalingrad tractor factory was supposed to be producing 500 tractors a month in 1930, but in June it only managed eight. Most of these broke down within three days.

Question 25

Why was new industry located in the remoter areas of the USSR under the Second and Third FYPs?

Answer 25

• To protect industry against an attack from the West
• Also acted as a form of regional development to promote a more even distribution of industrialisation throughout the USSR.

Question 26

What was the overall growth rate of the period 1928-41?

Answer 26

A 17% growth rate. But progress was unbalanced; there was a four-fold increase in the production of steel and a six-fold increase in coal production.

Question 27

What happened to the production of textiles during the First FYP?

Answer 27

It declined.

Question 28

What happened to consumer goods under the Second Five-Year Plan?

Answer 28

There was some advance.
Footwear production and food processing made significant increases. By the late 1930s, these developments were starting to have some impact on living standards. New bakeries, ice-cream and meat-packing factories were established in many towns. Although these did not solve the problems of shortages in essential consumer goods.

Question 29

What were MTS’?

Answer 29

Machine and Tractor Stations.
The MTS were government-run centers that supplied farm machinery, such as tractors, to the collectives. They also provided advice on farming techniques and political lectures to persuade the peasants of the benefits of socialism and collectivisation.

Question 30

How did the government deal with opposition to collectivisation?

Answer 30

With dekulakisation squads: Groups of loyal Party members, often referred to as the “Twenty-five Thousanders”, who were sent into the countryside to force the peasants into collectives. In this way the kulaks would be eliminated. In practice, “dekulakisation” covered a range of methods for eliminating the kulaks, including murder.