33 - Economic Developments, 1945-64

Question 1

What did most Russians hope for after the hardship and suffering experienced in wartime? What Plan was returned?

Answer 1

Better quality of life

Five-Year Plans

Question 2

What did Russia want to rebuild after 1945? Why did they want to rearm?

Answer 2

The economy

For the Cold War

Question 3

What 2 areas were given priority in the Five-Year Plans?

Answer 3

Heavy industry

Defence

Question 4

What 2 areas were ignored in the new Five-Year Plan?

Answer 4

Consumer goods

Infrastructure

Question 5

How many towns had the War destroyed? How many villages?

Answer 5

1,710 towns

70,000 villages

Question 6

How many factories had the War destroyed? How many collective farms had stopped working?

Answer 6

30,000 factories

100,000 farms

Question 7

What 2 industries were rebuilt after 1945? What reopened?

Answer 7

Factories
Steel works
Mines

Question 8

What 2 areas of production passed 1940 levels post-war?

Answer 8

Coal

Steel

Question 9

What weapon was tested by Russia in 1949? Who did this show that the Soviet Union was catching up with?

Answer 9

Atomic bomb

US

Question 10

In what 2 factors was the new Five-Year Plan achieved?

Answer 10

Longer hours

Harsh discipline

Question 11

What did the prison camps provide for the workforce? How much did the population rise from 1945 to 1950?

Answer 11

Unpaid labour

500,000 to 1 million

Question 12

Where did peasants continue to be squeezed of their resources?

Answer 12

Countryside

Question 13

How much of peasants’ grain did the state take? Why was this an issue?

Answer 13

70%

They could barely feed themselves

Question 14

Who paid low prices for grain? What 2 things saw grain exports increase so they could be paid for?

Answer 14

Peasants
Industry
Military

Question 15

Where did famine take place again in 1946-47? Approximately how many people died?

Answer 15

Countryside

Over a million

Question 16

What standards did Khrushchev recognise needed to be raised? What did he need to tackle?

Answer 16

Living standards

Poverty

Question 17

What shortage was present in Russia? What advancement did Khrushchev want to bring to Russia that previous leaders promised?

Answer 17

Housing shortage

Material advancement

Question 18

What pay did Khrushchev increase for peasants? What did he cut?

Answer 18

Grain payments

Taxes

Question 19

What was the name of the big house-building programme Khrushchev developed?

Answer 19

The “Virgin Lands” scheme

Question 20

What shortages did the Virgin Lands scheme want to solve? What would be developed to do this?

Answer 20

Chronic food shortages

Developing uncultivated land in Siberia and Kazakhstan

Question 21

How many people were mobilised to go East and and become pioneers of the Virgin Lands scheme? Who were most of these people?

Answer 21

300,000

Young party enthusiasts

Question 22

How did the Virgin Lands scheme appear initially? How much did grain production rise from 1954 to 1958?

Answer 22

Successful

75%

Question 23

What was an issue with most of the uncultivated land in the Virgin Lands scheme? What was it subject to?

Answer 23

It was on the edge of deserts

Drought

Question 24

What was an issue with the soil used in the Virgin Lands scheme?

Answer 24

It wasn’t properly prepared or fertilised

Question 25

What happened to the top soil used in the Virgin Lands scheme? What erosion was it subject to?

Answer 25

It became arid

Wind erosion

Question 26

How could the planning of the Virgin Lands scheme be described? How was it implemented?

Answer 26

Poorly

Too hastily

Question 27

How could the management of the Virgin Lands scheme be described?

Answer 27

Ineffective and inefficient

Question 28

Who suffered with poor housing during the Virgin Lands scheme? What happened as enthusiasm waned?

Answer 28

Volunteers

Many drifted back to the comfortable city life

Question 29

Why did the Soviet Union have to import large amounts of grain from North America in 1963?

Answer 29

To avoid famine

Question 30

What did Khrushchev recognise the need for within Russia’s industry? What development was emphasised?

Answer 30

Modernisation

Technological development

Question 31

Who did Khrushchev want the Soviet Union to “catch up with and overtake” in industry? What ideology did he want to prove worked?

Answer 31

“Catch up with and overtake America”

Communism

Question 32

In what 2 industrial resources did investment increase? What goods production increased?

Answer 32

Oil
Natural gas
Consumer goods

Question 33

Whose economy was Russia’s economy growing faster than by the late 1950s? What did the Soviets launch into orbit in 1957, the first ever?

Answer 33

US

Satellite

Question 34

Why was Soviet prestige increased in 1961? What was the name of this man?

Answer 34

Russia launched the first man to space in history

Yuri Gagarin

Question 35

Who gained more control from Khrushchev’s reorganisation of management? How many factories were transferred from central government to regional government?

Answer 35

Producers

11,000

Question 36

What did regional devolution measures strengthen? What did this come at the expense of?

Answer 36

The Communist Party

Economic ministries in Moscow

Question 37

Whose power and control was strengthened by devolution? What did increasing costs in defence and space cause in the early 1960s?

Answer 37

Khrushchev’s control

Slow growth

Question 38

What does Historian Edward Acton believe the growth in agricultural production leave behind?

Answer 38

“The growth in agricultural production left the stagnation of Stalinism behind”