Transcript Were Stalin`s economic policies a success or a failure?

Good Hair
Stalin and
Collectivization
It is 1928. Stalin has now become leader of the USSR.
Despite the efforts of Lenin and the NEP Russia is
still economically backward. Its industry lags behind
other Western countries and farms still produce
insufficient food for the country. Stalin is suspicious of
foreign countries like Britain and France who tried to end
the Communist experiment during the Civil War.
Key aims of Stalin’s economic
policies




Provide machinery, especially tractors to
mechanise farming and produce more food
Catch up with West, and become more
independent especially militarily
Create a strong industry capable of producing
manufactured goods & armaments
Create a vast railway network to transport
materials and goods
Big Picture Question:
Were Stalin’s economic
policies a success or a
failure?
Things to know:
What were the Five Year Plans?
Who were the Stakhanovites?
What was the human cost of the Plans?
How successful were they?
What were the aims of the 5 year plan?





‘Capitalists cannot stop the triumphal march
of the 5 Year Plan’ What is the artist trying
to say?
Targets set by ‘Gosplan’
(govt. body responsible for
economic planning)
Modernisation – catch up
with the West
Growth in heavy industry –
esp. coal, iron & steel
Self-sufficiency
Five plans, from 1928 - 1954
Who were the Stakhanovites?




Ukranian miner, Alexei
Stakhanov
1935, Stakhanov excavated
102 tons during a six-hour
shift (average 7 tons)
Became an overnight
propaganda sensation as the
model soviet worker
Stakhanvoites received better
housing, health care, wages &
free holidays
Why was Stakhanov such a
popular hero for Russians at
this time?
What was the human cost?






Long shifts, low pay
Wages docked for failure to meet
targets which were often
unreasonable
Late workers could lose house &
rations
Labour books – recorded jobs &
comments by employers so abuse
could be a problem
Secret police monitored criticisms
Trials of ‘sabateurs’ – punishment
gulags or execution
How accurate is this poster, made during the first 5
Year Plan?
How successful were they in
industrial output?
Product
Output in 1928-33
1933-37
1937-41
1928
A B C A B C A B C
Coal
36.0
76 65 64 155 130 128 169 - 150
Steel
4.0
11 6
Oil
1.7
Electricity 18
17 18 18 19 -
18
22 21 21
48 29 26 32 -
26
-
-
90
-
6
20
-
80
-
-
Column A = target B= Official Soviet figures C= Western estimate
Big Picture Question:
Why did Communists
support collectivisation?
Key Ideas



What were the economic
aims of collectivisation?
What were the political
aims?
What were the effects?
What were the economic aims of
collectivisation?




Improve efficiency & productivity
in order to feed an increasingly
urban/industrial population.
Small peasant farms merged into
single larger farms (kolkhoz) and
state farms (sovkhoz)
Greater provision of seeds,
tractors & machinery as well as the
infrastructure to maintain them
Produce sold to state at fixed
prices
What is the main message behind this Soviet propaganda poster?
What were the political aims?

‘Kulaks’ benefited from NEP

Govt. launched propaganda
campaign against kulaks
25,000 party workers used to
suppress opposition to
collectivisation
Collectivisation helped Stalin
to extend political influence
to countryside


Why did kulaks, like the one in this poster,
supposedly resist collectivisation so fiercely?
What were the effects?





Pace of collectivisation was
too fast (1929-30, tried to
collectivise 60% of farms)
Peasants killed livestock &
hoarded grain rather than
hand it over to kolkhoz
Food production fell causing
famine
By 1941 almost all land in
USSR collectivised
Kulaks murdered or interned
Faced with such enormous human loss,
how do you think Stalin would have
justified collectivisation?
Stalin used propaganda to promote the policy of
Collectivisation. The following photos were published by
the Soviet Press Agency. What sorts of images do you
think the photographers will have chosen? How useful
are the photos in understanding the aims and impact of
Collectivisation?
Children studying in a Collective school
Tractors on a kolkhoz
Crèche facilities on a kolkhoz
New machinery being used on a Collectivised farm