Industrial and social developments in towns and cities

what was the role of gosplan in the 5 year plans?

Gosplan drew up plans and established output targets for the 5 year plans.

what issues did gosplan face with the 5 year plans?

-regional party leaders competed to put forward ambitious projects and grab resources

-Gosplan suffered from a lack of reliable information such as cost of imports

-1000s of state employees were fired on ideological grounds.

First five year plan 1928-32
when was the plan approved? who approed it?
what were the initial issues of the plan ?

-the plan was approved by the 16th party congress in april 1929.
-it was not based on secure data and was extremley over ambitious

First five year plan 1928-32
-what were the focuses of the plan?
-what were its targets?

-the plan focused on teh development of heavy industries such as coal and steel.

-increase production by 300%
-focus on development of coal, iron , steel, oil and machinery
-boost elecrtcity production by 600%
-double hte output from light industry such as chemicals

First five year plan 1928-32
-what werethe initila social reactions to the plan?

-propoganda surrounding its launch provoked an enthusiastic response

-party leaders hoped the country would be transformed in 2 or 3 years

-it could be argued that hte first plan was more of a propoganda device to create urgency and enthusiasm.

First five year plan 1928-32
-what is the SHPs judgement on the planning of the first plan?

-lack of detailed planning and coordination

First five year plan 1928-32
-what issues did over ambitious targets create?

-materials were in short supply, and there was competition to gain them.

-managers made illegal trades, workers hijacked lorries and robbed trains to get supplies.

First five year plan 1928-32
- what was the impact of the issues that overambition created?

-managers attempted to “show” that they had acheived targets, rather than actually attempt to reach them.

First five year plan 1928-32
-in replacement of the kulaks, what was the new class enemy during the first plan?

the “bourgeise specialist”

-pre 1917 maangers, engineers and technical staff who survived the NEP due to expertise.

they were accused of being sabateous. many were imprisoned, and show trials were used to terrorise managers.

First five year plan 1928-32
-what was the effect of the attack onf “bourgeious specialists”

.

-loss of valuable personell caused major problems and the attack stoped in 1931.

Second five year plan 1933-37
what catergogrised the second five year plan?

built on the infrastructure of the first plan.

-gave more attention to consumer goods, but heavy industry remained the priority.

Second five year plan 1933-37
-what were the aims of the second plan?

-continue to develop heavy industry

-promote light industry such as chemicals, electricals and consumer goods.

-develop communicatoins between cities

First five year plan 1928-32
what were the success of the first plan?

electricty trebled

-coal and iron doubled

-engineering industry increased output of machine tools such as turbines

-huge new tractor factories in stalingrad and kharkiv were built.

First five year plan 1928-32
-what were hte weaknesses of the first plan?

-little growth, even a decline in light industry such as housing, fertilisers and woollen textiles.

-small workshops were squeezed out due to shortages of materials and fuel.

-lack of skilled workers created major problems, and developed a quicksand society.

First five year plan 1928-32
-what is hte ship judgement on the first plan?

overall targets were not met, issues exacerbated by the great depression.

-USSR did not earn enough from exports to mechanise.

-however, the economy was kickstarted.

Second five year plan 1933-37
-when and what were the three good years?

plan had some success during the ‘three good years’ between 1934 and 1936.

-moscow metro opened in 1935
-volga canal opened in 1937
-dnieper dam was completed in 1932, and was extended with 4 more genetors making it hte largest dam in europe.

Second five year plan 1933-37
how and why was this plan planned better than the first?

-targets were much more realistic

-more detailed planning for each individual industry and region, and the peoples commissariats were more organsied in 1934.

-investments poured into railway system, along with schemes for workers to tackle skills shortages.

Second five year plan 1933-37
-what were the 5 successes of this plan?

-heavy industry benefitted from plants set up during first plan

-electricty production increased rapidly

-by 1937, the USSR was self sufficient in machinery and metal working

-transport and communication was expanded

-increased fertiliser production.

Second five year plan 1933-37
-what were the weaknesses of this plan?

-consumer goods were still behind

-growth in footwear and food processing, modern bakeries ice cream producton and meat packing plants.

Second five year plan 1933-37
-what is the shp judgemnet on the second plan?

second plan between 1933 and 1937 was more of a consolidation.

three good years were successful, food rationing was ended and families had more disposable income.

third five year plan 1938-42
-what was the nature of this plan?

-focused on defence industry due to the Nazi threat
-disrupted by war in 1941.

third five year plan 1938-42
-what were the aims of the third five year plan?

-renewed emphasis on heavy industry
rapid rearmament
-complete the transition to communism

third five year plan 1938-42
-what were the biggest issues to this plan?

-death of good managers, specialists and technicians following stalins piurges

-hard winter in 1938/ switch to focus on defence
-german invasion in1941

third five year plan 1938-42
what were the successes?

-some areas of heavy industry, such as machinery and engineering, grew, while others did not.

-defence and armaments grew rapdily as resources were diverted.

third five year plan 1938-42
-what were the 4 main weaknesse?

-steel output grew insignificantly

-oil production failed to meet targets and led to a fuel crisis.

-consumer industries once again took a back seat.

-many factories ran out of materials.

third five year plan 1938-42
-what is the shp judgement on the plan?

-ran into difficulties by 1938, exacerbated by hard winters, diversion of resources to the military and the purges of gosplan.

when was the turksib built and what was it?

-turksub was built between 1926 and 1931, opened in 1929.

when was the moscow metro opened and what was it?

-opened in 1935
-included beutifal arhcitecture, a sign of the ussrs industrial achievement.

why did htre ussr make use of foreigners?

-due to the lack of high expertise, the USSR was effectively forced into using foreign companies/individuals to aid their vast projects.

-communism was an attraction during the depression, and was presented as a new, innovative idea.

what are examples of fsuccessful oreigner use?

Henry Ford advised the car industry, trained Russian engineeers in the Untied States and aided with the Gorky car plant design.

Dnieper dam. used expierence gained from construction of hydro electric stations in canada

in 1932, 6 american engineers were warded the order of the red banner of labour for aiding with the constructoin of the Dnieper dam.

what are examples of foreigner use failing? why?

-often scapegoated when things went wrong

-secret police arrested many british engineers due to their in depth knowledge of Moscow's geographical layout

Engineeers for the metrovick electric company were arrested and deported in 1933.

initally, did the workers support the plans?

-urban working class/young people were enthusiastic with the plans at the start

-thousands of young people volunteered to work in distant projects in harsh conditions.

on a more practical note, why did workers support the plans?

they believed they would be better off, due to the high rates of unemployment under the NEP.

-many young workers were tired of capitalist features in society.

what was the new proletariat intelligensia? how did it develop?

-new workers intelligensia of “red specialists” emerged

-they possessed high value skills and advanced to supervisory posts.

-greater options for higher technical education for more able proletarians.

-hard workers celebrated in newspapers, and received better housing.

how many women joined hte workforce?

• around 10 million

prior to the five year plans, what was the nature of the female workfroce?

in 1929, only 29% of the workforce was female.

they were in the lowest paid jobs requiring the least skills.

what was zhenotdel? what happened to it?

Zhenotdel was the department of the Russian communist party devoted to womens affairs. it was closed down in January 1930' and there was no drive to increase female labour.

howdid hte womens workfordce suddenly change?

female workers began entering the soviet industry, and by 1935, women constituted 42% of the industry.

-as prices rose, urban women found jobs in educatoin and healthcare.

-managers desperately employed wives and daughters of workers to meet quotas.

why were female workers valuable?

-women were more reliable workers than poorly educated ex peasants from the countryside.

-orders were passed to allow more women to be employed in heavy industry.

-despite orders to hire women, what happened?

-managers continued to give women lower skilled jobs and were reluctant to train women

-female workers were harassed physically and sexually by male workers, with the abolishment of Zhenotdel exacerbating issues.

what was the quicksand society?

in the coal industry in teh 1920’s, the average worker moved job 3 times per year.

whata re the stastics for workerss arriving and leaving magnitogorsk?

-293,000 workers arrived at magnitogrosk
-in total, 265,000 workers left.

what were wage differentials and incentives?

-wage differentials were introduced to stop workers from switching jobs, rewarding those who stayed to aquire skills.

-workers were awarded with access to closed shops, better housing and clothing.

what tough measures were used on workers?

between 1930 and 1933, measures were introduced to deal with absentees.

-dismissal, eviction from factory owned homes and loss of benefits.

intimitdation and terror applied to bourgeise specialists was also appplied to workers.

in 1940, absentism became a prison sentance crime.

what was the stakhanov record?

Aleksei Stakhanov mined 14 times the regular amount of coal in the time given in 1935.