Economy and Society 1929-1941

Kolkhoz

(People's farm) a smaller collective farm

Sovkhoz

(state farm) a larger, government run collective farm

Machine Tractor Stations (MTS)

Hired out machinery to collectivised farms
2,500 existed. 1 for every 40 farms by 1940

When was Collectivisation Stage 1

1929-30

What was Collectivisation Stage 1

Local party members, OPGU and Red Army forced collectivisation
Punishment for quotas not being fulfilled
Propaganda to create a rift between poor and Kulaks

How many households Collectivised in 1930

58%

When and why did Stalin stopped forced collectivisation

October because he thought enforcement agencies were being too harsh

What was the estimated percentage of households destroyed during collectivization?

15%

How many peasants were forced to migrate North and East due to collectivization?

150,000

How many farms remained collectivised after October 1930

20%

How many peasants were estimated to be Kulaks (percentage)

4%

When was Collectivisation Stage 2

1930-41

Percentage of collectivised households in 1931

50%

Percentage of collectivised households in 1934

70%

Percentage of collectivised households in 1935

75%

Percentage of collectivised households in 1937

90%

Percentage of collectivised households in 1941

100%

What were Kolkhoz

More common type of collective farm
Families tended to plot their own land while also working on the communal field
On average 75 families
Ran by the community
Must deliver a quota- 40% of crops
Anything produced above the quota could be sold for profit
Peasants had passports and were unable to leave
Under the control of a Communist Party member

What were Sovkhoz

Large-scale production
More peasant resistance
Workers were landless peasants
Created on land confiscated from larger kulak estates
Eventually planned to turn all farms into this type
Less of these
Organised on industrial principles, like a big factory
Farmers were paid a wage and classified as 'labourers'

What modern methods were used to improve collective farms

Machine Tractor Stations (MTS)
Combine Harvesters
Chemical fertilisers

How many lorries transported goods in 1940

196,000

Who were sent into the countryside to advise on machinery and farming methods?

Agronomists, veterinary surgeons, surveyors, and technicians.

What percentage of threshing was mechanical by 1938?

95%

What percentage of ploughing was mechanical by 1938?

72%

What percentage of spring sowing was mechanical by 1938?

57%

What percentage of harvesting was mechanical by 1938?

42%

Stakhanovite

A huge propaganda movement workers to do more

Proletarianization

Turning the mass of the population into ideal urban workers

Zhenotdel

Women's section of the Communist Party, promoted women's rights (closed 1930)

Union of Soviet Writers

Organisation all writers had to be a part of by 1932

Komsomol

The Communist Youth group, aged 10-28

Aleksei Stakhanov

Miner whose remarkable work become a symbol of Soviet propaganda

Andrei Zhdanov

Controlled Soviet culture and propaganda until purged

What year were peasants allowed to sell from private plots

1935

What percentage of vegetables, meat and milk were produced on private plots

52% vegetables, 70% meat, 71% milk

When was the First Five Year Plan

1928-1932

When was the Third Five Year Plan?

1938-1942

When was the Second Five Year Plan

1933-1937

Successes of the First Five Year Plan

Electricity tripled
Coal and iron doubled
Steel increased by a third

Successes of the Second Five Year Plan

Moscow Metro 1935
Dnieprostroi Dam 1931
New metals such as copper, tin, zinc mined for first time
Steel output triples
Coal output doubled

Successes of the Third Five Year Plan

Growth in machinery and engineering

Failure of the First Five Year Plan

Over-enthusiastic reporting
Targets not met
Too few skilled workers

Failure of the Second Five Year Plan

Rearmament 1933- 4% GDP
1936- 17% GDP
Oil didn't meet target
Quantity over quaity

Failure of the Third Five Year Plan

Rearmament doubled
Steel stagnated
Oil failed target
German invasion 1941

When did grain output supersede pre-collectivisation levels

1935

Weakness of collectivisation

Agricultural production fell to 1913 levels
25 to 30% cattle, pigs, sheep were slaughtered 1929-1935
Livestock numers returned in 1953

How many peasants died due to deportation/resistnace

10 million

How many peasants migrated to towns by 1939

19 million

Dnieprostroi Dam

Began construction 1927 opened 1932

Turksib Railway

Built between Turkmenistan and Siberia allowing grain flow and trade

Moscow Metro

11km line- 13 stations
1932

Moscow-Volga Canal

1937

What were the main forms of pressure from above Soviet industrial managers faced

Rising production targets, severe labour shortages, wage tensions due to rationing ending and subsidy cuts, and increased labour norms (10-50%) enforced under threat of NKVD action.

What were the economic pressures felt by industrial managers

Shortages of vital raw materials, a fall in foreign trade, competition from rising military spending, and severe labour shortages.

How did Stalin develop his cult of personality

Portraits, paintings, poems, posters, sculptures, photos- Stalin seen as the mighty leader
History of the All-Union Communist Party (Short Course) 1938 sold 34 million copies by 1948

USSRs economic strength by 1941

100% of farms had been collectivised
33% of the population lived in urban areas
increased grain and electrical power

What percentage of the population lived in urban areas 1926

17%

What percentage of the population lived in urban areas 1940

33%

What was Soviets monthly production of tanks, military aircraft and rifles

230 tanks, 700 aircraft, 100,000 rifles

Grain production in 1928

73 million tons

Grain production 1940

95 million tonnes

Electrical power by 1928

5 billion kwh

Electrical power by 1940

48 billion

Economic weakness by 1941

The economy was not ready for war
Consumer good were scarce of poor quality
USSR lagged behind Germany and USA in coal, steel and iron
Poor quality military machinery

Social strengths of the USSR in 1941

Collectivisation improved equality
Stalin had greater control of the countryside
New social hierarchy with Party leadership as elite

Social weaknesses of the USSR by 1941

The State had not withered away
Industrialisation led to cramped, polluted cities
Low rations, poor housing, constant pressure to work hard