USSR economics - Khrushchev

what were the problems with the command economy?

the administration in Moscow lacked initiative

the system was clumsy and wasteful

why lack of initiative was a problem

because due to fearing harsh consequences like a fine or workers did little under Stalin to encourage something new. this led to workers being demoralized leading to not full productivity and it also weakened the economy as no one could suggest new ideas and increase demand

why the wasteful system was a problem

it was inflexible towards changes in the demand leading to a very limited profit meaning that the economy couldn’t boost.

what did Khrushchev do in 1957 to take more account of local circumstances?

in 1957 Khrushchev set 105 regional economic councils (sovnarkhoszy) to supervise the enterprises . it was an attempt to move some decision making to the regional levels leading to more decentralized economy.

how much did K reduce the working hours per week?

K reduced them from 48h to 41 by 1960, removing harsh labour laws set by Stalin

why did K give more give more influence to managers?

he disliked the idea of them being robots of Moscow and tried to encourage the initiative and allowed to keep 40% of profit for investment

why and how did he improve education?

he pursued a great emphasis on vocational education and special technical schools were opened in order to supply more skilled labour

what was the Libernaman plan

1962 - this was an idea of giving more autonomy to the workers and replace state as the prices maker by the market. in result his ideas were watered down by the conservatives in the politburo who preferred to follow Stalins principles.

7th year plan

1959-65

60% increase in consumer goods, 5% below K target

quantity of goods increased but quality was often poor

workers were getting more independence and insensitive — still there was a poor labour productivity

Sovnarlhozy were helping with current demand and boost the economy — it was confusing to the people and the party division made everything worse

housing wasn’t really improved

targets were not met — still impressive results which boosted the economy

when and why the individual collectives were given more power

in 1955 they were given more power to make decisions at the local level — it became easier to access current regional issues

what happened to the MTs

they were supplies machinery and supervisors to the local kolkhozy and peasants didn’t like them. k abolished MTs and replaced it with a system were peasant shad to buy their own machinery

what were agro-villages and why they benefited the economy? (agrogoroda)

since the collectives increased the size many became agro villages which specified in in food production and processions. these units created an economies of scale due to higher productivity and as a result enables a higher investment in agriculture leading to a high increase in mechanization fertilizers and irrigation

what was one drawback of them?

peasants didn’t really like these large farms as they felt separated from the land they were working on.

why the prices for state procurement were increased and the seizure of food was replaced by the planned state purchased?

to increase productivity

why the state started giving greater concessions

led to them being able to use it on the private plots and was meant to lead to higher productivity as workers would be more motivated to work so they would produced more food. productivity was higher there — nearly all eggs were produced from there

what was the Virgin Land Scheme

in was introduced in 1954 and encouraged to open new areas for agricultural production. Volunteers often member of Komsomol were put into works in Kazakhstan and Siberia.

how many acres of land was brought under cultivation?

6 million

how many tractors were provided for the scheme?

over 120,000 tractors

why legacy of stalinist system was one of the reasons for the economic decline?

this principle was a focus on rather quantity than quality and buoractars were resisted towards the change as it would be hard in a highly centralized system. poor quality - o one wants to buy - bad economy

problems inherent in a command economy

it was highly centralized and didn’t encourage any new ideas or initiative - leads to the economy to be inflexible towards changes in price — cannot boost it.

the social contact

govt had to guarantee good living standards for the workers — didn’t — workers weren’t productive in doing their work

lack of investment

despite K and B investing more in agriculture it wasn’t enough to cover the issues caused by Stalins lack of investment in the past

outdated technology

even tho they were doing well in getting raw resources their methods and technology was too outdated to move on on computers or microchips and they were behind the west. B investements in science in 1970s helped but wasn’t enough. USSR also signed document with west for a supply of technologies for car making as the majority of their technology was worn out and outdated by 1980.

dominances of the military industrial complex

they were spending too much on military when they could invest in agriculture or consumer goods

how much

18% of all reassures and 30 out 150 million workers

what did Brezhnev do to the regional economc councils

he abolished them in 1965

what happened to economy and the gosplan

Econ - more centralised

gos - more power

what happened in October 1965

Kosygin replaced krushchev as a chairman of the council of ministers

what did he introduce and when

in 1965 he inroduces reforms to modernize the soviet economy

what did his reforms focus on?

increasing labour productivity , decisions making and creativity

he also wanted to use cost and profit as am indicator of success

why they didn’t work

workers didn’t like a reduction of power

focus on bonus led to smaller but more expensive things rather than a mass production with lower prices Andropov was aiming at

who was Andropov and what did he do

general secretary between 1882-84

more discipline

remove corruption

no black market

no one liked him obviously