Causes Of The Soviet Union

One can easily admit that the Party had failed to properly economically plan the needs of each state. The Soviet Union economy was complex and massive, it became an impossible task for the state planners to manage, as they did not want to grant and create more managerial levels that would proceed to the local level resulting in failed timely attempts to the constant changes the economy was going through. Since the Soviet economy was based on state planning, it failed in encouraging innovation and motivating productivity. Managers would also alter numbers in order to produce the quotas that they were required to meet. The growth of the Soviet economy had been in a constant decline since the 1950’s and this progressed to the 1980’s. This was a clear sign that the Soviet economy was in need of a complete economic overhaul. Gorbachev succeeded power in March, 1985 and became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. His main goal was to revive the Soviet economy, and he strongly believed that success was tied to loosening the governments control and creating a system that included less government intervention and more freedom to allow private initiatives. This new market economy would allow for private enterprise, which what Gorbachev believed would create more innovation. For the first time since 1920’s, individuals were able to own and create businesses.

His first five year plan was during 1928-1933 and this was the heavy industry plan which was making industries, transportation, and power supplies. The first of his methods was to use collectivization. Collectivization was the making of small farms into one big farm, and this would help increase the amount of products they make, and that would increase the amount of profit. Afterwards the people who were working on the farms would go into the city and be forced to work in the factories. The money then would be used to buy more more equipment which is industrial products which can help boost their profits yet again. Stalin was shown to be a heavy thinker, and to get his plans through, he made propaganda signs and speeches. He would focuses on telling his people the consequences if they didn’t work hard enough as a country, as they would be “falling behind... and those who fall behind are beaten”(Document 1). The propaganda speeches did work most of the time, but they felt hesitant as the goal for his five year plan was averaging to double the amount of, and “tripling in electricity (milliard kWh) from 5.05 to 17.0 in the end of 1933” (Document 2). Stalin

Stalin’s policy priorities were not building a ‘worker’s paradise’ or a classless society, but protecting Russia from war and invasion. In 1928, Stalin launched the first of two ambitious five-year plans to modernize and industrialize the Soviet economy. These programs brought rapid progress – but also significant death and suffering. Stalin’s decision to nationalize agricultural production dispossessed millions of peasants, forcing them from their land to labor on gigantic state-run collective farms. Grain was sold abroad to finance Soviet industrial projects, leading to food shortages and disastrous famines in the mid-1930s. Soviet Russia was dragged into the 20th century, transforming from a backward agrarian empire into a modern industrial superpower – but this came at extraordinary human cost.

The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 left many Eastern European countries in disarray. One such country was Czechoslovakia. It separated from the Soviet Union December 26, 1991. A few years after Czechoslovakia broke away from the Soviet Union it broke apart, in January 1, 1993. The two countries are now The Czech Republic and Slovakia. When the two countries split, it was done peacefully, without a fight or war. The Soviet Union broke up because Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from being the president of the Soviet Union. This started many conflicts and confusion. The Soviet Union could no longer keep the union together.

In Document 7, The Land of the Soviets published an excerpt in the U.S.S.R (Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics) which stated “the first and second five year Plans strengthened the Soviet Union’s economic position and turned it into a powerful industrial state. In 1937 the industrial output of the USSR was 5.8 times larger than in 1913. This shows the massive improvements in production caused by the first and second five year plan.

which they had experienced in earlier years. In the 1970s, Soviet Prime minister Kosygin had implemented a five years plan to make the economy more dynamic and to increase the production of goods. However, this plan failed to fulfill expectations and industrial and agricultural stagnations persisted. Agriculture played an essential role in the Soviet economy and in the years before detente agricultural development continued to lag. In the 1950s the gross national product(GNP) had grown over 6 per cent. However, by the late 1960s it had fallen to under 4 per cent.The standard of living in the Soviet Union was also declining due to the decrease in food supply caused by the agricultural stagnation. These shortages of consumer goods prompted the growth of the black market in the USSR which also affected the well being of the economy.The arms industry claimed huge quantities of resources for the arms race with the United States. Brezhnev needed to create improvements to living standards and

This worked, as shown by the fact that electricity increased from 5.05 to 17.0 (milliard kWh), coal increased from 35.4 to 68.0 (million tonnes), oil increased from 11.7 to 19.0 (million tonnes), pig-iron increased from 3.3 to 8.0 (million tonnes), and steel increased from 4.0 to 8.3 (million tonnes) (Doc 1). Russia turned from being a backward country into a modern industrialized nation by using the Five Year Plans and communism (O.I.).

The 3 5-year plans focused on heavy industry, as well as an emphasis on electricity, coal, oil and steel. The latter sections of industry greatly increased including coal (million tons) rising to 128 in 1937. Although during this time period, famine and forced labour occured, the 5-year plans were a success. Through the implementation of Collectivization and the 5-year plans, it can be seen how Stalinism impacted upon the economy, and thus the Soviet State.

The many long-term internal causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union centralized around weaknesses in their economy. They had an inflexible central planning system, the inability to modernize, and the inefficiency in their agriculture production. Sometime around the 1970's the computer and automation revolution had emerged. This revolution took over the West, but practically missed the Soviet Union, except in the military sector (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev's goal in economic restructuring was to create a separation between the economic and the political. The major changes began with the legalization of private farming and business co-operatives, and the allowing of foreign company ownership over Soviet enterprises (Baylis &Smith, 2001) All of Gorbachev's ideas on economic restructuring backfired on him since the price levels were inconsistent, and a sense of social confusion about the future of their state was created.

Seriously, the USSR was not communist or socialist. Conversely, the USSR was actually capitalist since bureaucrats privately owned the means of production. When collectivist societies have existed, they fell from external forces.

I have always been fascinated with the Second World War. In fact, it seemed only fitting that I would choose the Soviet Union's role in World War II since I like the Soviets as well. I have divided this paper into several sections to help complete this task. The first section will deal with the causes of World War II and the Soviet Union's role in them. The second section will deal with the battles the Soviet Union was involved in during the war. The soviet union had some physicians but most came after the war. World war 2 was a crazy war that didn't end good or bad.

In addition to creating a communist society, Mao wished to strengthen and develop China’s economy, although his level of success in this area is debatable. Immediately after victory in 1949, Mao began to nationalise and centralise all private industry. In 1953, the first of the Five Year Plans, based on the soviet economic model began. The emphasis was on growth and heavy industrial development, utilising sensible economic policy. In economic terms, the first Five Year Plan was relatively

The Third Five Year Plan lasted for only three years, as it was interrupted by Germany’s declaration of war on the Soviet Union during World War II. As war seemed imminent, this plan focused on the production of weapons and other wartime materials (Trueman). The Soviet Union mainly contributed resources to the development of weapons, and constructed additional military factories as needed. Stalin continued to use additional Five Year Plans in the years following WWII, in an attempt keep his promise in 1945 to make the Soviet Union the leading industrial power by 1960. By 1952, industrial production was nearly double the 1941 level. Stalin’s Five Year Plans helped transform the Soviet Union from an untrained society of peasants to an advanced industrial economy. So through out this plan of hopefully saving Russia that Stalin has created products that could not be used and unintelligent citizens who were only trained to only do only one skill.

The Bolsheviks believed they had to industrialise to achieve national strength and maintain independence. This was a shared view of non-Bolshevik predecessors such as Count Sergei Witte a former Russian minister. The Soviet Union needed a modern industry, especially a heavy industry, as there was the idea that they had to defend the revolution. They believed the Russian revolution was in constant danger from capitalist countries, which were militarily and technically far stronger than them. Then there was the belief that the building of socialism or communism involved industrialisation, and that a proletarian dictatorship was insecure so long as it ruled in an overwhelmingly peasant environment . Industrialisation was introduced to eradicate the backwardness that had plagued the country for so long so they could rise and defeat capitalism. In his speech in 1931 Stalin stated ‘we are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall go under’ and that ‘it is the jungle law of capitalism. You are backward, you are weak - therefore you are wrong; hence you can be beaten and enslaved. You are mighty - therefore you are right; hence we must be wary of you. This is why we must no longer lag behind’ . These show the need for the Soviet Union to advance and become stronger than capitalist countries. Industrialisation also allowed the Soviet

One of the main strengths of the first 5 year plan was a great increase in industrial output across Russia. For example, iron production increased from 3.3 to 6.2 million tonnes, steel production also grew from 4.0 to 5.9 million tonnes, and coal production grew from 35.4 to 64.8 and oil increased from 11.7 to 21.4 million tonnes all in the same period. Across all of these industries, Soviet industrial production was on average 1.8 times higher in 1933 than in 1928, clearly showing an increase in industrial output in four years, which was Stalin’s original plan as he delivered a message to the workforce to ‘fulfil the 5 Year Plan in four!’ . In addition, the Soviet economy rose to 14% per annum , showing that the first 5 year plan was a success