Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
STALIN'S ECONOMY - Coggle Diagram
STALIN'S ECONOMY
Five Year Plans
aims
- industrialise Russia by combining centralised planning with large-scale investment
- Stalin claimed Soviet Union was 100 years behind Britain and USA but through planning the Soviet Union could catch up in 15 years
- hoped to eliminate the inefficacies of the NEP. wanted to eliminate Nepmen, who made money through trade not production
- Stalin + gov feared that Germany would invade Soviet Union, defending Soviet territory would require modern industry which could produce the weapons necessary to fight a modern war
- Stalin wanted to assert his own authority. FYP more ambitious than any of Lenin's schemes for transofmrin the Soviet Union, would demonstrate that Stalin was initiating a new phase of building socialism
nature of the plans
FYP were a gov initiative designed to increase production. Gosplan (USSR central economic agency) formulated production targets for every factory, mine and workshop in USSR, Soviet workers and managers were responsible for meeting these targets
massive propaganda campaigns designed to inspire workers to fulfil the Plans. campaigns:
- focused on heroic objectives of the plans
- celebrated the successes of the Plans
- claimed that the Plans had led to the destruction of capitalism
- described the modern, industrial future that the Plans would create
successes
heavy industry
- biggest success of the first three FYP. production of iron,s teel, coal, oil, electricity increased massively
transport
- Moscow Metro's first train lines opened 1935, allowed people to travel around Moscow easily
- Moscow-Volga Canal constructed 1932-1937, made transportation of goods more efficient
labour productivity (1936 campaign)
- low productivity due to long hours, low pay, lack of incentives in the system
- Stalin authorised higher payments and a system of rewards for most productive workers
- Stakhanovites (workers who had proved to be exceptionally productive) were able to recognise their workplaces to ensure they were efficient
- but Stakhanovite movement created problems; workers often resented by their colleagues or their management because they got higher pay
rearmament
- as war approached, economic planners increasingly prioritised arms production. 1940 one third of gov spending devoted to rearmament.
- plans led to successful construction of nine military aircraft factories 1939-1941.
- however, shortages of steel held up arms production
problems
production problems
- low production quality. Plans set targets for production not for quality
- Plans did not specify what materials should be used for, little coordination between different factories. Materials produced were often stored at the factory and allowed to decay rather than being used. Problem worsened due to lack of transport in the first years of the Plan. some industries wasted 40% of what was produced
- Plans were disorganised and undermined by Stalin's other policies. First FYP launched in Oct 1928 but Plan itself was only published April 1929.
- Stalin's terror led to the purge of industrial managers and economic planners. Stalin's terror attacked officials at Gosplan to such an extent that the third FYP was never finished. For periods during First and Third FYP, USSR had a planned economy but no plan
- unrealistic targets set by Gosplan. Industrial managers under enourmous pressure to ensure high levels of production and would lie about their production levels and falsify figures. Falsified data made economic management harder as effective planning relies in accurate data
consumer goods
1928-1941 continual shortages of consumer goods (clothes, shoes, furniture). shortages were due to:
- stalin's priorities: he prioritised heavy industry and defence rather than consumer production
- poor planning: planners underestimated the needs of consumers
- production techniques: producing more complex consumer goods (as opposed to raw materials like iron, steel and coal) required more sophisticated techniques, which the economy still lacked
scarcity of goods managed by rationing. Late 1930s there were often such severe shortages that the gov could not even supply the minimum level of rations.
shoe queues in Moscow in early 1930s often exceeded 1000 people. some reports suggest queues for clothes and shoes in Leningrad numbered over 6000 during 1938
-
black market
FYP failed to end the free market. shortages of materials led to the growth of a thriving black market. black market possible due to inefficiencies of the Plan. Workers stole goods and material from their workplaces and sold them to highest bidders. thefts covered up by falsifying paperwork
Collectivisation
communist ideology
communists believed private property was one of the foundations of capitalism and caused inequality. During NEP peasants with large farms had been able to grow rich, while peasants with small farms had done much less well.
communists suspicious of peasant farming. By collectivising farms, communists hoped that peasants would see the superiority of socialist methods and embrace Communism wholeheartedly
failure of the NEP
- agricultural production fell because there was no market for additional farmed goods. Limit to the amount of food that Soviet consumers wanted