Economic Recovery After the Second World War (Edexcel A Level History): Revision Note
Exam code: 9HI0
Summary
This note will examine if and how the Soviet state recovered after the Second World War
The USSR emerged from the Second World War devastated but determined to rebuild
The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946–50) focused on restoring heavy industry and infrastructure
The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951–55) continued growing Soviet industry, with some limited investment in consumer goods
Historians disagree whether the USSR achieved full recovery or simply prioritised heavy industry at the expense of ordinary people’s living standards
Economic impacts of the Second World War
The USSR lost around 27 million people, devastating its labour force
Over 1,700 towns and 70,000 villages were destroyed
This is because Stalin adopted a scorched-earth policy
25 million people were homeless
Industrial production fell by about 50-75% compared to pre-war levels
Agriculture was particularly hard hit:
Around 100,000 collective farms had been destroyed
Food shortages were severe
The government had relied on US imports to feed the army
Bread rations fell by 40%, potato rations by 80%
Famine hit some regions in 1946 to 1947
The Fourth and Fifth Plans, 1946-1950
Dates | Targets | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Fourth Plan: 1946-1950 Fifth Plan: 1951-1955 | To recover after the war, focusing on heavy industry | Industrial output increased by around 80% in these years. The USSR was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Workers' wages were low |
Increase military spending | By 1952, the military accounted for a quarter of the government's budget. There was less money to invest in other areas of the economy | |
Increase consumer goods | Production of consumer goods doubled. Only received 12% of the government's money and goods were still shortages |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
When revising, it can be helpful to group the Fourth (1946–50) and Fifth (1951–55) Five-Year Plans together. They shared the same aims, weaknesses and achievements.
If a question asks about post-war economic recovery, linking these two plans shows that the government prioritised industry consistently throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Agriculture after the Second World War
Positives
There was a gradual recovery of agriculture
Some destroyed collective farms were rebuilt during the late 1940s
Numbers of tractors and machinery began to rise again, although slowly
Output improved by the early 1950s
By 1952–53, grain harvests were beginning to approach pre-war levels, though uneven across regions
Negatives
Agriculture was not prioritised in the Fourth and Fifth Plans
Heavy industry remained the focus, leaving agriculture underfunded and inefficient
Low productivity
During the war, Stalin allowed private farming
After the war, Stalin imposed collective farming and strict discipline
Collectivised farming remained inefficient, with low yields per hectare compared to Western Europe
Rural poverty
Peasants continued to face:
Poor living standards
Food shortages
Little access to consumer goods
Did the USSR economically recover from the Second World War?
Historians debate whether the USSR’s post-war recovery was a remarkable achievement or a flawed, uneven process
The USSR did recover from the Second World War
Despite devastation, the USSR rapidly restored industrial capacity and became a global superpower
Heavy industry and military production exceeded pre-war levels by the early 1950s
Key historians
"But while one has to take with a pinch of salt certain of the indices, a glance at the reliable output data shows that very rapid progress was made... After 1946 industrial output increased by very high percentages... The revival of consumers’ goods industries from the exceedingly low levels of 1945 was rapid in all parts of the USSR. By 1948 the wool industry surpassed its 1940 levels; cotton fabrics and sugar achieved this in 1950, and footwear in 1951... In 1950 planners had every ground for satisfaction. Errors and difficulties there were in plenty, but achievements could be said to be great. The USSR could face the arms race, which in 1950 was again beginning, with a stronger industrial structure than before the war." - Alec Nove, An Economic History of the USSR: 1917-1991 (1992)
"After these initial difficulties, recovery, as in the case of some other industrial economies devastated by war, was rapid. By the end of the fourth five-year plan, 1946-50, industrial production considerably exceeded, and agricultural production slightly exceeded the pre-war level... According to the official Soviet index, the production of capital goods (including armaments) in 1950 was as much as 105 per cent above the 1940 level; but even according to a conservative Western estimate, the increase amounted to 82 per cent." - R.W. Davies, Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev (1998)
The USSR did not recover from the Second World War
Recovery was unbalanced
Heavy industry flourished, but agriculture and consumer goods lagged behind
Ordinary people endured food shortages, poor housing, and low living standards into the 1950s
Key historians
"I have labelled the period from 1948 to 1953 as one of attenuated recovery. By this I mean that the main determinants of the quality of life improved slowly yet palpably, but in the end still could not cover more than the most essential needs of most urban citizens. On the eve of Stalin's death the average worker, even outside Moscow and Leningrad, lived not nearly as precariously as he or she had between 1945 and 1948. Having said this, there is equally no question that life was still basically a struggle to survive. People had food, but shortages, rather than abundance, were the general rule, and the quality of nutrition remained poor. People were housed, but for most this meant living in cramped and barely habitable quarters. People did not die of starvation or hunger-related diseases, but the diseases of poverty were still endemic, and medical treatment was highly variable in quality, and for most of the urban population inadequate to deal with all but the simplest illnesses or injuries." - Donald Filtzer, Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II (2002)
"Yet enormous problems had been bequeathed by [Stalin], and not the least of them was agricultural. Malenkov had asserted at the Nineteenth Party Congress that wheat production had recovered to the level of 1940 and that the country's grain problem had been solved 'definitively and forever'. This was nonsense. The statistics were a wild exaggeration of reality since they were based upon what was known as the 'biological yield'. This was a calculation derived from observations of the crop before it was harvested. Subsequent loss of grain, in fact, often occurred through bad weather, and it always took place because the harvest was stored so badly. Furthermore, whole regions of Russia had fallen out over cultivation. The kolkhozniki were underpaid and overtaxed, and the demographic structure of countless villages were distorted by the exodus of most able-bodied men and the young of both sexes. The neglect of rural problems could not be allowed to persist." - Robert Service, A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin (2005)
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember that historians often reach different conclusions because of the focus of their work.
For example, historians like Alec Nove emphasise economic data. Since they mainly measure things like industrial output and production figures, they often argue that the USSR recovered quickly after the war. However, other historians, who look more at social or political impacts, highlight the famine, poor living standards, and repression.
When writing essays, always think about what factors you think are the most important and highlight these in your main paragraphs and, most importantly, in your conclusion.
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