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Economic Policies Under Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Mao 1924-1980s

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When Stalin came to power in 1924 Russia was facing several economic problems. Firstly the industrial production was still very low after the hardships of WW1. Secondly a lot of food was needed for the growing industrial population and the export of food would also give an extra raise in economic growth. Stalin’s main policies to face these problems were the five year plans to increase industrial productivity and the collectivization of farms to increase agricultural productivity. In a speech 1931 he made the goals of his policies very clear, “We are 50 or 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it or we will be crushed”. The first five year plans were a great success, and by 1940 …show more content…

At first The Great Leap Forward seemed to be a terrible mistake and failure, estimations have been made that up to 20 million people lost their life’s as a result of it in 1959-63. However, if we look at the results of the Great Leap over a longer time-period, you can argue that The Great Leap Forward and Mao’s policies turned out successful and that it has enabled the development of an economic world power which is China today. Mao always followed a Russian model of communism to some extent, although he changed some of the ways the economic policies were directed, in a way that he thought it would fit Chinas

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