GKO - Stalin

• It was the State committee of defence
• It was given the power and authority to make quick decisions
• It could maker quicker decisions than the Council of people's commissars which was necessary during war time
• Also it made the people feel that the government was taking special measures to organise for war

Brezhnev - Economy

Agriculture

• March 1965 CC Plenum
• -Described past failures
• -Grain production down and barely prewar levels - e.g. only 573 kg  per head compared to 540 kg in 1913
• Virgin land scheme ended

Industry 1960s

• Gosplan collated targets and plans that factories made and then put together the overall plans and targets
• Coal making loss of 16%
• Defence highly profitable 
• Milk and fish broke even
• 1965 CC plenum - Kosygin announced abolition

1970s

• 9th Five Year Plan - 1971-75 - focus on consumer goods
• Goals not met but improvement
• 1980 85% of families had TVs

1973 - 'alliance of the working class with science' - failure

1974 - new targets on cost and profits

-Didn't take into account supply and demand

-Failure

Economy fact sheet -

• Brezhnev focused on re-establishing the economy
• Government was more centralised
• Aimed to improve living standards and focused on light industry
• He put the majority of the money into the military
• Lack of investment in agriculture
• Virgin Land Scheme continued over 10 billion rubbles invested in irrigation in central Asia
• There was still lots of corruption caused by targets set by Gosplan that were unrealistic
• Soviet Union signed a deal with the US in order to have access to better technology
• 1980s - Stagnation led to the decline of the USSR
• Grain production from 1914 to 1963 only went up by 30kg per heaf

Brezhnev - Society

1970s shops for members of the party KGB, MVD government and party

• vouchers for first class produce
• 200 rubles could feed a family of five - the equivalent elsewhere would cost 500-600

Social Contract

Social benefits in return for obedience

Five main beliefs - 

• Social mobility
• Employment
• Low prices for essentials
• Free healthcare
• Interference free second economy (black market)
• Extended subsidies to holidays

Social Stability - Lack of opposition

• Failing to tackle underlying problems
• Hidden unemployment of about 20% - being paid but not doing a useful job
• Infants mortality rates increasing in the 1970s
• Life expectancy falling too (alcohol a major problem)
• Female unemployment rising

Conclusion

The 'social contract' lead to a lot of stability but it also gave rise to old problems remerging and stagnation. So stability was very successfully established but it wasn't necessarily the best thing for Russia.

Khrushchev - Society

Conclusion

Although there were set back and failures overall lives were improved. Living Standards , healthcare and housing all improved under Khrushchev. There was economic optimism because of the space race and the then apparent success of the Virgin Lands scheme (in the 1950s).

Women

• Motherly portrayal continued
• Promiscuity punished - world youth festival
• 'Style hunters' - looked down on

Living Conditions

• More focus on it - budget doubled
• Improvements to healthcare
• 2 times more houses in urban areas - poor quality
• 10 times bigger than the kommunalka under Stalin
• Prefabricated
• Own kitchens, more private
• More consumer goods
• Harsh labour laws from Stalinist era repealed

Education

• Khrushchev tried to get schools in the countryside to group together and share resources - however most stayed badly equipped
• Doubled number of schools in towns and cities
• Number of teachers rose - 1.5 million in 1953 to 2.2 million in 1964
• Levels of education of teachers also improved - 1953 19% had university degrees 1964 40%
• 1956 fees for secondary education and universities were abolished
• 1959 - Special funds for poor secondary school students
• Result was the proportion of 17 year olds attending secondary education that had been 20% in 1953 rose to 75% in 1959

December 1959 education law

• Education compulsory for 7-15 year olds
• More vocational courses up to 19
• New lesson on the fundamentals of politics

The 1956 reforms

• From 1931 - 1955 the curriculum pretty much stayed the same
• 1959 reform introduced polytechnic education - reflected need for more skilled workers - focus on the physical
• More trips and work placements

The 1959 Reforms

• Even more polytechnic - because Khrushchev believed that an education made people feel that they were 'too good' to work in factories or farms

1960 - More relaxed code of conduct

1961 - Foreign languages taught - no more exams homework

1962 - Teachers can't expel students

Healthcare

• Budget doubled
• Death rates and infant mortality rates fell
• Available not always good quality

New laws

• Free lunches in schools, offices and factories
• Free public transport
• Full healthcare and pension rights for farmers

Novocherkask tragedy

• 1 June 1962 starts as 10 people and by the end of the day 20 people were on strike
• 2 June 1962 marches demanding higher wages - military 20 people and injured 40

Alcohol

• Population grew by 25% 1940-1980
• Alcohol consumption grew by 600%

Andropov and Chernenko - Arts

• Basically stayed the same

Brezhnev - Arts

• Anti-Alcohol campaign
• 3 days of national morning after death
• Tried to create cult - Vanity was joked about and Nikolai Podgorny warned him of this and Brezhnev replied "If they are poking fun at me, it means they like me".
• Gave himself many medals - including Lenin prize for literature for his memoirs
• Show trials
• Like Stalin in essence
• Knew that it was important tool but was less interested in it than Khrushchev
• Under Brezhnev it was more focused on nostalgic revisions of the past - glory of the revolution
• Ballet was being supported - there was demand for soviet ballet all over the world

On becoming leader he said -

"Under Stalin, people feared persecution. Under Khrushchev, people feared reform. The people of the Soviet Union need a quiet life."

Khrushchev - Arts

• American Showcase
• World Youth Festival 1957
• Style hunters - too into western styles - campaigns against
• Space Race
• "it looks to me like a little boy pissed on the floor" "Dogshit"  - reaction to art
• Celebrating the achievements and life of Lenin not his death
• The Thaw (book) allowed to be published despite being critical of Stalin
• Gershwin allowed on the curriculum
• Solhnitisyn - allowed to publish under Khrushchev and not Brezhnev - truth about gulags
• The secretary - meant to criminalise style hunters people felt sympathy instead - backfired

Stalin - arts

• Socialist-realism - more realistic (easily understood) but still celebrates the glory of the worker and the revolution
• Cult of personality - after WW2 portrayed as hero
• Gender inequality - women were peasants and mothers or farmers whilst men were industrial workers
• Theatres shut, plays  and films censored
• Editing photos

Lenin - art and culture

• Agit-prop - agit-trans
• Proletkult - glory of worker and revoltion
• Cult of Lenin - attempted assassination - Fanny Kaplan August 1918
• Not traditional arts - tsarist, bourgeois
• Decree on press
• Cinema important
• Glavlit - controlling literature
• Rodchenko - cubism, photomontage
• Lunacharsky
• Bukharin - editor of Pravda
• Writers - Yesenin

Lenin - Centres

Communist Party Politburo set up and took over the Sovnarkom

End of elections for key positions in the Soviet 1919
Chosen by central committee instead
Means that the party is controlling the state
Even at local level - chosen by party bosses

Nomeklatura
5,500 (approx) positions
Loyalty over experience
By 1924 over 7 million members

Tenth Party Congress - Ban on Factions
Hoping to increase party loyalty and unity

Russian Soviet Federation Republic - January 1819 (the new name for Russia)

End of free elections for local soviets

Sticks and carrots
Sticks
-Cheka
-Gulags
Carrots
-Decree on land
-Workers in control of factories
-Banning of other parties 1921

State under Lenin

Sovnarkom
Council of People's commissars
Had to be a member of the party to join
Chosen by the Central Executive Committee

Central Executive Committee
Oversaw laws and carried out administration

All-Russian Congress
All laws passed through here
Can raise issues for discussion
By late 1920s all members had to belong to the party

Party under Lenin

Politburo
7-9 members
Precedence over Sovnarkom
Decisions passed onto Sovankom
But often would approve because it consisted largely of the same people

Central Committee
30- 40 members
Elected members to go to Politburo

Party Congress
Representatives from local party branches
Discussed party stuff
Ban on factions limited discussion

Khrushchev - Pressure to produce

• Massive fraud - e.g. dead animals being counted
• "farms met their targets and the state paid for imaginary meat" - Robert Service
• 1936 - harvest failed - Khrushchev was forced to import grain from the US

Corruption a way of life

e.g. All gold and diamond mines were state owned however there was lots on the black market

e.g. Roifman doctor who got patients knitting

Khrushchev - Agriculture

Giving incentive

• Introduced a lower quota for collective farms and higher prices for goods produced outside the quota
• Lead to 250% increase in incomes in 1952-1956

Increase efficiency

• Invest in equipment and fertilisers
• By 1955 there was a 30% increase in the number of tractors

Virgin Land Scheme

• The aim was to increase soviet agricultural production
• They went about this by expanding their farmlands
• 33 million hectares were ploughed
• 1000s komosol members sent 
• Poor living conditions - many ended up leaving

The corn campaign

• Khrushchev believed that corn was the miracle crop that would help beat the USA
• The plan was to produce more than the US in 1960

Successes/failures

• Overall increase by 35.3%
• Led to more food available which improved living conditions
• Needed more money to fully modernise agriculture
• Didn't beat the US which was embarrassing for Khrushchev

Economy and Government

February 1957 - 105 local councils given power over economic planning

Local party bosses got a boost to their power

Khrushchev is stronger, the government is weaker

Politically good but an economic failure

Industry

Aims

• Modernise
• Increase light industry production (high tech stuff)
• improve living conditions by cutting government spending

Policies

• 1955 - Cuts to military expenditure
• =>12.1 in 1955 9.1 in 1958
• =>1958 and 1962 series of standoffs with US - increase 1962 1962 11%
• Seven Year Plan - Jan 1959 - Focused on light industry
• Factory managers given incentive - got 40% of profits

Successes

• Increased production of chemicals and consumer goods (1959-1965) although not as much as hoped
• 60% increase in consumer products produced - although this was 5% under Khrushchev's target

Failures

• Decentralisation - lack of coordination
• Gosplan tried to do stuff but local councils resisted
• Division of party - unpopular - happened in the middle of the Seven Year Plan
• 1962 - new and more ambitious targets
• Production by weight
• Production by value

Kulaks

Kulaks were rich peasants.

Stalin used propaganda to portray the Kulaks as uncommunist which served as justification  for Stalin shooting and deporting them and taking their machinery and animals.

Living Standards and Housing

Living conditions got worse and were generally overcrowded and unhygienic

• Between 1929 and 1940 the urban population trebled
• From 1941 - 1945 half of urban housing was destroyed (as a result of the war)
• Only 22.8% of houses had sewers

Collectivisation

The aim was to merge farms to improve efficiency and share resources

Terror - 25,000ers sent out to enforce collectivisation

• 1930s Stalin realised workers needed incentive
• 1932 Peasants allowed to sell excess produce in markets
• 1940 Markets produce 19% of retail turnover which was embarrassing for the party

The Five Year Plan - the fifth

1951 - 1955

The Aim

Focus on defence after 1950 military spending rose by one quarter of government budget which left less money for other things for example only 12% was for food

The Result

• Wage levels were higher by 1952 than 1940

The Five Year Plan - the fourth

1946 - 1950

The Aim

The aim was to recover after the war because for example

• Industry only produced two thirds of what it used to
• There were 25 million homeless in 1945

So 88% of investment went into heavy industry

The Result

• 80% increase in heavy industry production
• 1945 - 1950 soviet economy grew more than most others
• But farming not so good due to drought and a lack of labourers

The Five Year Plan - the third

1938 - 1941

The Aim

The aim was to prepare for war

• One third of government spending went towards the weapons and the military in 1940
• 1939 - 9 new aircraft factories were set up
• 1941 Stalin took control in preparation for war
• Russia was a super power

The Result

• Highly industrialised and urbanised
• Russia was ready for war
• But living standards were compromised
• Economy didn't improve much

The Five Year Plan - the second

January 1933 - December 1937

The Aim

The aim was to industrialise and improve living standards. The targets were more realistic and the focus shifted to other industries (e.g. communication)

The Result

• Improved living standards
• 1935 bread rationing ended
• But there was little cooperation or organisation

The Five Year Plan - the first

1928 - 1932

The Aim

The aim was to replace the capitalist NEP with a more communist system that would industrialise quicker.

It consisted of a series of targets set by Gosplan (a committee responsible for economic planning)

Results

• Economy grew by 14% a year
• "gigantomania" - quantity not quality
• Failed to reach targets

NEP

• The New Economic Policy
• Aim was to rebuild the economy and keep people on side
• Mixed economy (some free market, some nationalised)
• 1921 ended rationing and people could buy food
• NEP men travelled in and out of cities and the country buying and selling goods
• Goes against communist ideals which caused political division
• Lead to the scissor crisis
• There was industrial growth until it plateaued
• It also resulted in a very wealth NEP men
• It was popular with peasants

NEP men

Bought in Countryside => Sold in the city => Bought in the city => Sold in the Countryside... etc.

Scissor Crisis

• Under the NEP agriculture improved quickly but industry didn't resulting in industrial prices rising as agricultural prices fell
• By 1923 industrial prices were three times bigger than agricultural prices

War Communism

• From 1918-1921
• Was necessary to continue war
• It introduced state ownership, compulsory labour (September 1918), abolished trade and introduced grain requisitioning
• The grain requisitioning along with a bad harvest lead to 5 million deaths in 1921
• Number of factory workers fell by 25%
• People returned to the country side
• Led to economic collapse
• Not enough money to industrialise
• Bolsheviks become less popular as a result
• There were few incentives to work hard
• Lenin compared the communist state to a man 'beaten to within an inch of his life'.