Industrial and agricultural change in the USSR, 1917–1985 (Edexcel A Level History: Route E: Communist states in the twentieth century): Flashcards

The creation of Vesenkha symbolised the move from decentralised workers' control to central state planning.

The Bolsheviks introduced War Communism mainly to supply the Red Army with food and weapons in order to win the Civil War.

War Communism was the economic policy introduced in June 1918 during the Civil War, involving state control of industry, grain requisitioning, rationing and a ban on private trade.

False.

The Cheka seized grain from peasants and they received no money for it, creating widespread hostility.

Food was rationed according to class, with workers and soldiers receiving the largest rations and the bourgeoisie the smallest.

Grain requisitioning was the policy under which the Cheka seized grain from peasants, without payment, to feed the cities and the Red Army.

By 1921, industrial output had fallen to only 20% of its 1913 level.

By 1921, famine, particularly in the Volga region, killed an estimated 6 million people.

The Tambov Rebellion (1920–21) was a major peasant uprising against grain requisitioning, led by Alexander Antonov, which was suppressed with extreme brutality including poison gas.

It revealed that even loyal Bolshevik supporters had turned against the regime.

False.

Historians debate the issue: some see it as essential to Bolshevik survival, while others view it as a premature and damaging push towards socialism.

The Kronstadt Rebellion (1921) was an uprising by naval sailors demanding 'Soviets without Communists', which was crushed by the Red Army under Trotsky.

Around 60% of people's food came from the black market.

Lenin introduced the NEP to recover from the economic collapse and political unrest caused by War Communism and the Civil War.

The NEP was the policy introduced in 1921 that reintroduced private trade and small-scale capitalism while keeping state control of large-scale industry.

False.

Only small businesses with fewer than 20 workers were privatised; larger industry, banking and transport remained under state control.

Money was reintroduced under the NEP, and people once again had to pay for public transport.

The tax in kind replaced grain requisitioning, requiring peasants to give the state a portion of their produce while keeping the rest to sell for profit.

By 1926, production levels had almost returned to those of 1913.

Lenin funded a mass electrification programme using money raised by taxing the peasants under the NEP.

Nepmen were the new class of private traders and entrepreneurs who profited under the NEP and were condemned by the government as 'parasites' and 'class enemies'.

Richer peasants, known as kulaks, benefited most, which increased inequality.

False.

Historians debate the issue: some see the NEP as a pragmatic 'breathing space', while others argue it was a retreat from socialist principles.

The Scissors Crisis (1923) was the widening gap between falling agricultural prices and high, scarce industrial prices caused by uneven recovery under the NEP.

Trotsky created the nickname to describe the widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices on the graph.

The Left argued for rapid, state-led industrialisation and forced collectivisation, accepting that this would anger the peasants.

Vesenkha, the Supreme Council of the National Economy, was established in December 1917 to manage industry and finance and to set production targets.

True.

The Left, backed by Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev, wanted rapid industrialisation and forced collectivisation.

The Right was supported by Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky, who wanted to continue the NEP.

The Great Industrialisation Debate was the 1920s Party dispute over the pace and method of industrialisation, which divided the Party into Left, Right and Centre.

The Centre, led by Stalin, took a pragmatic 'whatever works' approach before shifting towards the Left position.

The Great Industrialisation Debate laid the groundwork for the First Five-Year Plan of 1928.

The grain procurement crisis of 1927–28 occurred when peasants hoarded grain rather than sell it at low state prices, causing shortages in the towns.

Vesenkha reorganised industry, nationalised banks, transport and large-scale industry, and coordinated long-term economic planning.

True.

Self-sufficiency through industrialisation was seen as essential to defend the USSR from capitalist powers.

A command economy is one in which the state directs all major economic decisions, including production targets and the distribution of resources.

Stalin used the failures of the NEP to discredit the Right, win over the Left and Centre, and consolidate his own authority.

Stalin introduced the Five-Year Plans in 1928 to rapidly industrialise the USSR.

Gosplan, the State Committee for Planning, set the ambitious and usually unachievable production targets for each region, factory, manager and worker.

False.

Vesenkha managed nationalised industries, while Gosplan drew up the targets and quotas for the Five-Year Plans.

The First Five-Year Plan focused on developing heavy industry such as coal, iron, steel and electricity.

The Stakhanovite movement, begun in 1935, celebrated 'shock workers' who massively exceeded their quotas in order to inspire higher productivity.

The Second Plan completed the Moscow Metro (1935) and the Moscow-Volga Canal (1937).

The First Five-Year Plan built the huge steelworks at Magnitogorsk, a new industrial city in the Urals.

Magnitogorsk was a new industrial city built in the Urals from 1929 that became one of the USSR's largest steel-producing centres and a propaganda symbol.

The Third Plan was abandoned because the Second World War forced the USSR to switch to war production.

True.

Everyday needs like clothing, housing and food were neglected because heavy industry always came first.

'Socialism in One Country' was the aim of building a self-sufficient socialist USSR through rapid industrialisation, removing the need for foreign goods.

Stakhanov reportedly mined 102 tons of coal in less than six hours, fourteen times his quota, becoming the model 'shock worker'.

Stalin launched collectivisation to modernise farming, secure grain supplies and strengthen state control over the countryside.

Collectivisation was Stalin's policy, launched in 1928, of merging small peasant farms into large collective farms to modernise agriculture and increase state control.

False.

Collective farms produced only 320 kilos of grain per hectare, compared with 410 kilos on private farms.

A kolkhoz was a collective-owned farm whose members shared its profit, while a sovkhoz was a state-owned farm where peasants were paid a wage.

Dekulakisation was Stalin's 'liquidation' campaign against the kulaks as a class, executing thousands and deporting around 1.5 million to Siberia or labour camps.

Grain exports rose from under 1 million tons in 1928 to 5 million tons by 1931, helping to finance industrialisation.

During dekulakisation, around 1.5 million kulaks were deported to Siberia or to labour camps.

The Holodomor (1932–33) was the man-made famine in Ukraine, meaning 'death by hunger', caused by the state seizing all food from peasants who could not meet their quotas.

By 1939, 99% of peasant households had been collectivised.

False.

Historians disagree: some see it as necessary modernisation, while others view it as a catastrophic policy causing famine and millions of deaths.

Machine Tractor Stations provided shared machinery to collective farms and, along with Party officials, were used to monitor the villages.

Many peasants resisted by attacking officials, destroying or hiding crops and killing their livestock.

The USSR lost around 27 million people, which devastated its labour force.

The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946–50) focused on restoring heavy industry and infrastructure after the devastation of the Second World War.

True.

Stalin allowed private farming during the war, but afterwards he reimposed collective farming and strict discipline.

They prioritised the recovery of heavy industry, together with increased military spending.

The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951–55) continued growing Soviet industry, with some limited investment in consumer goods.

By 1952, the military accounted for around a quarter of the government's budget.

During the Second World War, over 1,700 towns and 70,000 villages were destroyed.

Agriculture recovered slowly because it was not prioritised in the Plans, leaving it underfunded and inefficient.

False.

Historians debate this: some stress rapid industrial recovery, while others point to lagging agriculture and low living standards.

A scorched-earth policy involved destroying towns, villages and resources so the enemy could not use them, a policy Stalin adopted during the war.

Consumer goods production doubled, but it received only 12% of government money, so shortages continued.

He wanted to raise living standards and increase loyalty to the regime, moving away from Stalin's focus on heavy industry.

The Seven-Year Plan, launched in January 1959, set out Khrushchev's economic vision to develop light industry, chemicals and consumer goods.

False.

Many products were low quality, breaking down or lacking spare parts, because production met targets rather than consumer needs.

By 1965, the USSR was producing about 800 million pairs of shoes per year.

He invested in chemicals to modernise agriculture and industry, especially through fertiliser production to boost crop yields.

The sovnarkhoz reforms (February 1957) decentralised economic planning by creating 105 regional economic councils to replace central ministries.

True.

Officials joked that the Seven-Year Plan was 'three plans a year', making industrial targets hard to meet.

Fridge ownership rose from just 4% of families in 1955 to 44% in 1968.

In 1962, the Party announced that the USSR would reach communism by 1980.

'Socialist abundance' was Khrushchev's promise of plentiful consumer goods intended to rival Western consumer societies.

True.

He cut military spending from 12% of GDP in 1955 to 9% in 1958 to help minimise Cold War tensions.

They caused chaos and duplication of work, as factories were unsure whether to follow regional councils or Gosplan.

He wanted to end food shortages and modernise the countryside, having defeated Malenkov on agricultural issues.

The Virgin Lands Scheme (1954) ploughed previously uncultivated land in Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Volga region to grow grain and raise agricultural output.

False.

The Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) were abolished, causing a lack of modern farming machinery.

Khrushchev promised to raise agricultural investment by over 250% between 1954 and 1959.

By 1956, the Virgin Lands Scheme produced half of the USSR's grain.

The Corn Campaign, from September 1958, aimed to grow maize, especially in Ukraine, to feed livestock and boost meat and dairy supplies.

True.

There was a 400% increase in income for farm workers as output rose in the mid-1950s.

It failed because many farms had an unsuitable climate for maize, and equipment and storage remained inadequate.

Agricultural production in 1964 was only 15% higher than in 1958, well below Khrushchev's target.

Price incentives were Khrushchev's policy of reducing quotas and raising the prices paid for crops in order to motivate farmers to produce more.

False.

Historians debate this: some stress agricultural failure, while others point to his erratic leadership, foreign policy failures and alienation of Party elites.

A disastrous harvest in 1963 caused severe food shortages, forcing the USSR to import grain.

Alexei Kosygin, the new Soviet Premier, introduced the 1965 economic reforms.

The Kosygin reforms (1965) aimed to improve efficiency by shifting the focus from quantity of production to profitability and quality, giving managers more power.

True.

He launched anti-corruption and anti-alcohol campaigns and Operation Trawl, but prioritised efficiency over deeper structural reform.

They were abandoned because Party officials resisted losing control and the focus on profit seemed too much like capitalism.

'Developed socialism' was Brezhnev's claim that the USSR had already achieved a stable socialist society, which encouraged a conservative, risk-averse approach.

Brezhnev prioritised stability over radical change, while massively increasing military spending.

By 1970, military spending accounted for 13% of Soviet GDP under Brezhnev.

The 'second economy' was the widespread black market under Brezhnev, trading scarce goods and providing illegal private services outside state control.

Despite continued investment, inefficiency remained and the USSR was importing huge amounts of grain from the USA and Canada.

False.

The measures had limited impact, and many turned to illegal home-brewing known as 'Andropovka'.

Operation Trawl was Andropov's campaign to reduce absenteeism and alcohol abuse in the workplace, using the KGB to monitor and punish workers.

Nikolai Shchelokov, Minister of Internal Affairs, was prosecuted for corruption and abuse of office.

'Developed socialism' was Brezhnev's approach that favoured stability and resisted major economic reform.

Managers met their quotas but had no incentive to improve efficiency or quality.

False.

High oil revenues masked severe economic issues; when oil prices fell in the early 1980s, the underlying weaknesses were exposed.

Soviet oil production rose from 243 million tons in 1965 to 603 million tons in 1980.

Economic stagnation was the state of the late-Brezhnev economy, marked by slowing growth and falling productivity.

By the early 1980s the USSR spent an estimated 15–17% of GDP on the military, compared with around 6% in the USA.

Private plots were small, privately farmed areas that supplied a disproportionate share of the USSR's food.

Because collective farms underproduced and harvests were often poor, the USSR increasingly imported grain from the USA and Canada.

False.

Historians disagree: some, like Orlando Figes, argue the regime could have 'soldiered on', while others, like Alec Nove, saw the structural problems as fatal.

Economic growth fell from around 5–6% a year in the 1950s to less than 1% by the early 1980s.

The arms race with the USA diverted massive Soviet resources into defence, starving consumer goods and infrastructure of investment.

When global oil prices fell in the early 1980s, Soviet income collapsed, exposing the weakness of its wider economy.