Impact of economy and society (Economy and Agriculture)

What would the 5 factors of an economy essay be? (excluding agriculture)

• Heavy Industry

• Transport

• Finance

• Infrastructure

• Foreign Investment

Why did economic change occur?

• To create a wealthier country- especially focused on heavy industry (iron, coal, engineering)

• To “catch up” with the west - Britain, France and Germany had built their economic power on industry

• To increase Russia’s military status and power

Who were the 4 Tsarist Finance ministers under the Tsars and their years in service, and which tsar they were under?

• Reutin (1862-1878) (Alexander II)

• Bunge (1881-1886) (Alexander III)

• Vyshnegradsky (1887-1892) (Alexander III)

• Witte (1892-1906) (Alexander III / Nicholas II)

What did Alexander II do to reform Heavy Industry?

Expansion of heavy industry under Reutin

• Ludwig Loop from Manchester developed the Textile industry (Also an example of foreign investment)

What did Alexander II do to reform Transport?

Railroads extended under Reutin, 20k miles by 1878 

What did Alexander II do to reform Finance?

• Treasury reformed

• New system for collecting taxes 

• Budgets and auditing established under Reutin 

• Lower tariffs 

What did Alexander II do to reform Infastructure?

• Hughes created New Russian Coal, Iron and Railway company for a new “work discipline in factories” 

What did Alexander III do to reform Infastructure?

 Peasant land banks introduced under Bunge

What did Alexander III do to reform Transport?

• Greater state ownership of railways under Bunge, (69%)

• Trans-Siberian railway created

What did Alexander III do to reform Finance?

• Bunge abolished the salt tax in 1881 , Abolishment of Poll tax in 1886 

• Vysnogradski Mendeleev Tariff 1891- large exports of grain

Why was Vyshnegradsky removed from his position?

His policy on the large exports of grain caused the famine of 1891 → 500k died

What did Nicholas II do to reform Heavy Industry?

• Witte’s Great spurt → (Rapid industrial growth)

  • Coal production doubled 

  • Iron and Steel increased 7X 

  • 5^th largest industrial power by 1914

  • New industries created such as oil and chemicals

What did Nicholas II do to reform Finance?

• Higher taxes and loans to invest into industry

• Investments into heavy industry managed by the State

• New rouble introduced in 1897 (on gold standard) 

What did Nicholas II do to reform Transport and Foreign investment?

• Increased foreign exports

• 11 million roubles in foreign investment

• Expansion of railways

What were the economic problems faced by Nicholas II?

• World War One- industry could not keep up with military demands

• Not enough investment in textiles and engineering, or policies for agriculture

List some economic issues faced by the Provisional government overall?

• Fuel Shortages

• Railway locomotive production halved between 1913 and 1916

• High Inflation (Black bread 500%)

• Food shortages and starvation

• Foreign loans received from Britain and France (fighting in the war was the condition)

What did Lenin do to reform heavy industry?

• State Capitalism - State control of heavy industry through the Supreme Economic Council (All businesses with over 10 employees were nationalised)

• War Communism- grain requisitioning, rationing, state control of industry, private trade banned

  New Economic Policy 1921- Grain requisitioning abolished ,Small businesses re-opened, State control of heavy industry

What did Lenin do to reform Transport?

• Full state ownership of transport under War Communism 

What did Lenin do to reform Finance?

• Gosplan 1921- a group of people planning for economic and industrial growth... (members were political party members and not economists) 

• Less direct state involvement under NEP 

What did Lenin do to reform Infrastructure and Foreign Investment?

• 30,000 nationalised entities by 1920

• New type of Entrepreneur- Nepmen- responsible for 60% of retail trade

• Foreign investment encouraged under NEP

What economic problems did Lenin face?

Focus on World War 1 meant that the economy was at a near collapse

What did Stalin do to reform Heavy Industry?

• 5-year plans (Centralised planning of industry)

  • 2^nd 5YP- Coal went to 130 million tonnes 

  • Achieved self-sufficiency from 2^nd and 3^rd 5YPs

• Increase in electricity, iron and steel

What did Stalin do to reform Infastructure?

New towns such as Magnitogorsk built, which specialised in iron and steel production → 428,000 employees

What did Stalin do to reform transport?

Railways rebuilt in the 4th 5YP

What did Stalin do to reform Finance?

• Abandonment of NEP 

• Controlled by the State 

• 5 Year plans 

• 4 main commissariats (departments of economy)

What economic problems did Stalin face?

• Consumer industries neglected

• Targets were high and difficult, low pay, long hours and poor working conditions → led to deaths

What did Khrushchev do to reform Heavy Industry?

Consumerism was the main focus (7YP)

• 7-year plan → Malenkov reduced expenditure on heavy industry 

• All targets met apart from grain and meat 

• Bad harvest in 1963

• Overall rate of production fell as targets were too high

What did Khrushchev do to reform Transport?

• Aeroflot – the national airline of the Soviet Union

What did Khrushchev do to reform Finance?

• 7 Year plans

What did Khrushchev do to reform Infrastructure?

• 105 economic regions created through decentralisation

• Less than 20 Agro-cities

What would be the 3 factors of an Agriculture essay?

• Land/ Grain

• Social/Economic reform

• Attitude to reform/ Treatment from government

What was the main agricultural reform under Alexander II?

The emancipation of the serfs in 1861

What reform did Alexander III create for the peasants in terms of economic change?

Peasant Lands Banks were introduced

• Peasants able to buy land at low rates

What problem did Alexander III face in terms of agriculture?

Alexander III exported large amount of grain (Mendelev Tariff under Vyshnegradskii), led to the famine of 1891

What were Stolypin’s agrarian reforms under Nicholas II and what was his attitude to the Kulaks?

• Peasants encouraged to buy more land through Land banks and to consolidate strips into larger small holdings of land

• Redemption payments abolished in 1905 

• Led to the rise of Kulaks

• Stolypin liked the Kulaks

What problem did Nicholas II face in terms of agriculture?

• 1914-18 Famine, because Russia lost Ukraine

• By 1914, 2 million peasants had moved to towns and cities, decreasing the amount of farmers

The provisional government made no agricultural reforms, but what did they promise?

Land would be distributed after the war (World War One)

What reform did Lenin do to agriculture in 1917 in terms of land distrubution?

• Decree on Land → peasants able to seize land and then redistributed by soviets → 15 million peasants did this

War Communism (grain requisition) under Lenin was not efficient, which new policy under Lenin meant that peasants could sell their surpluses?

New Economic Policy

What was defined as a Kulak under the NEP and what was Lenin’s attitude to them?

• Kulak was “someone who owned at least 3 cows” defined in 1925 under NEP 

• Lenin targeted the Kulaks and demonised them 

  • Kulaks suffered higher taxes, disenfranchised and their children were refused entry to state schools 

What agricultural problems did Lenin face?

• Harvest in 1921 under half than the one in 1913 

• Food shortages and Famine in 1921 due to Civil War- 5 million dead 

What was Stalin’s policy for agriculture and was it successful?

Collectivisation (Farms became collectives, grain taken by the state and exported- High quotas)

by 1937- 97% farms were collectivised

(NEP abolished)

What were the 2 types of farms under Stalin?

• Kolkhozy farms→ State owned, worked on by peasants

• Sovkhozy farms→ Stated owned, worked on by state employees

What was Stalin’s attitude to Kulaks?

• Dekulakisation to blame Kulaks for the famine in 1927-8 

  • Persecuted for grain hoarding

    Kulaks shot, reallocated land and some robbed or sent to concentration camps (6-18 million deported) 

    30K shot

What agricultural problems did Stalin face?

• 1932-4 famine was worsened by grain requisition

• Peasants disliked the strong state control and removal of Mir in 1930

What was the Special Charter 1935?

Stalin increased payments and gave more legal security for peasants (some concession)

What were Khrushchev's general policies and reform for agriculture?

• Increased payments for what the state took

• lower quotas

• less taxes

• more electricity and machines (1.2 million tractors by 1964)

What was Khrushchev’’s main scheme in terms of agriculture in 1954 and was it successful?

• Virgin Lands Scheme- Large lands in Siberia to be cultivated (35.9 million hectares)

• The land was overused and there was not enough crop rotation (mainly corn was used)

• Bad Harvest in 1963 was seen as a major failure → Khrushchev blamed for this