tema 10

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the economic history of the Soviet Union from the pre-revolutionary period to its stagnation and collapse.

Soviet Satellite Countries

The six countries identified in the lecture as Bulgaria, RDA, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

USSR Composition

A union of $15$ republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Standard Model of Industrialization (Allen, 2011)

A model based on creating an integrated internal market, implementing tariffs to avoid English competition, improving the banking system, and fostering human capital.

Zollverein

The customs union created in $1834$ in Germany as part of their standard industrialization model.

Successful Late Industrializers (1870-1914)

Japan (Meiji Revolution, $1868$), Russia (after defeat in Crimea, $1856$), and Mexico (Porfiriato), all of which grew at $2\%$ annually.

Mir

The system of communal management for agrarian life in Russia where $90\%$ of peasants were self-sufficient.

Abolition of Servidumbre

The abolition of serfdom in Russia which occurred in $1861$.

Russian Industrial Sectors (1914)

Consisted of capital goods ($8\%$ of GDP), consumption/textiles ($7\%$ of GDP), and small-scale artisans ($6.5\%$ of GDP).

Soviet Great Push

A period of industrialization between $1928$ and $1970$ where the Soviet economy became a model for poor countries.

Gosplán

The state planning agency responsible for designing five-year plans to set production, investment, and distribution targets.

State Socialism

A system where the State owns most means of production, including factories, land, and natural resources, with severely restricted private enterprise.

Kolkhozes

Collective farms implemented to increase production and distribute it equitably through communal village operation.

Sovkhozes

State-owned farms established as part of the agricultural collectivization process.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The March $1918$ treaty where Russia ceded territories to Germany and its allies to withdraw from World War I.

Peace, Bread, and Land

The Bolshevik slogan for the October Revolution of $1917$, representing withdrawal from WWI, food security, and agrarian redistribution.

War Communism (1918-1921)

An emergency system during the Civil War characterized by forced grain seizures, militarization of the economy, and partial demonetization.

Economic Collapse (1921)

Post-war state where agricultural production fell by $60\%$ relative to $1914$ and industrial production was reduced to $15\%$.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

A mixed economy system implemented by Lenin from $1921$ to $1928$ as a "forced step back" to stimulate reconstruction through limited capitalism.

NEP Agricultural Quota

A mandatory delivery of $10\%$ of the harvest to the State, after which farmers could sell surpluses on the free market.

Bujarin (Bukharin)

An advocate for the continuity of the NEP who proposed driving growth through better prices for peasant products.

Preobrazhensky

A theorist who proposed extracting resources from the agricultural sector via taxes and price manipulation to finance industrialization.

The Scissors Crisis

An economic phenomenon where peasants withheld grain because industrial prices were too high compared to agricultural prices.

Stalin's Industrial Strategy

A policy of convergence with the West at any cost through state-planned resource allocation and First Five-Year Plans ($1928-1933$).

Kulaks

Property-owning peasants who were the target of violent repression and mass deportation during accelerated collectivization starting in $1929$.

1932-1933 Famine

A period of mass hunger caused by state repression and confiscation, resulting in approximately $5$ million deaths, particularly in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Bienes de equipo (Capital Goods)

Boods used to produce other goods and services that are not consumed directly, which were the priority of Stalin's industrial revolution.

1936 Collectivization Level

By this year, approximately $90\%$ of Soviet agriculture was collectivized.

Autarchy (Autarquía)

Economic self-sufficiency that only functioned effectively in large countries with abundant resources, like the URSS and China.

Stakhanovism (Estajanovismo)

A movement to increase labor productivity, named after the model worker Alexéi Stajánov.

Quasi-market (1930-1935)

A period where limited incentive mechanisms, such as personal plots for livestock and some labor mobility, were introduced to improve efficiency.

Doctor Density (1964)

According to CIA statistics, the USSR had $20.5$ doctors per $10,000$ persons, compared to $14.7$ in the US.

Consumer Durables Gap (1964)

Comparison showing the USSR had $56$ TV sets and $27$ refrigerators per $1,000$ persons, while the US had $318$ and $288$ respectively.

GNP Growth (1928-1940)

The annual growth rate of the Soviet Gross National Product during the initial industrialization drive was $5.8\%$.

TFP Growth (1980-1985)

The Total Factor Productivity growth rate during the final years of stagnation, which fell to $-0.5\%$.

1968 Trade and Navigation Agreement

An accord signed between the URSS and the European Economic Community (CEE) to establish a framework for commercial cooperation.

Energy Exports (1985)

The percentage of Soviet exports consisting of oil and gas, which reached $53\%$ of the total.

Soviet Imports (1985)

Nearly $60\%$ of imports at this time consisted of machinery, metals, and consumer industry items.

Allen's Critique of Planning (2003)

The argument that the problem was not a lack of execution, but that the plans themselves "did not make sense" and assigned resources to low-profit projects.

Nomenklatura

A privileged elite that maintained control over society and enjoyed special benefits like high-quality medical care and scarce consumer goods.

Gerontocracy

The wide generational gap in the USSR between elderly leaders and the younger population, which hindered the system's ability to adapt.

Soviet Medical Successes

Achievements in the $1970s$ that made the URSS a world leader in fields such as cardiac surgery and ophthalmology.

First Human in Space

A major technological achievement for the Soviet economy occurring in the year $1961$.

Clientelist System

A political and economic structural issue in the later USSR characterized by nepotism and bribes.

Urban Transition (1928-1939)

The period during the "Great Push" characterized by an accelerated rural exodus and massive growth in urban inhabitants.

Five-Year Plan for Machinery

The priority given to heavy industry to modernize the economy and reduce dependence on foreign powers.

Mao Zedong

Leader of China who adopted a system similar to the Soviet model in $1949$.

Siberia Development

An example cited of central planning assigning large resources to projects with low profitability.

Vanguard Technologies

Areas where the USSR maintained leadership, including nuclear energy, aviation, and electronics.

Internal Barriers to Innovation

Excessive bureaucracy and lack of business autonomy that limited the capacity of firms to adapt to rapid changes.

Soviet Social Balance

A period in the $1950s$ and $1960s$ characterized by high employment, reduced poverty, and improved quality of life.