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Discovery of League of Nations
Discovery 1: Stalin a man of rust or a man of steel?
Discovery 2: Rise of Hitler
Discovery 3: The weakness of Weimar
Economic Factor: Was the economy stable under Weimar government?
The use of propaganda in Nazi Germany
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Stalin's Economic Policies
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In this section we are looking at the economic impact of Stalin's policies on Soviet Union.
Upon taking over control, he sought to modernise Soviet Union by undertaking two policies:
a) Collectivisation
b) Industrialisation (5 Year plan)
In this section, we will be evaluating the economic policies that Stalin has imposed on Soviet Union.
Reasons why Stalin wanted to carry out the economic policies:
1. To turn the Soviet Union into a modern world power. (Self-sufficient and militarily strong socialist state)
2. To demonstrate the superiority of communism over capitalism (Western powers) by proving that a modern USSR could out produce the leading capitalist nations.
3. To improve the living standards of all Soviet citizens. In order to feed the population, Stalin required the soviet agricultural sector of the economy to be more efficient. He hoped to achieve this through the introduction of new methods of production especially through the increased use of machinery, mainly tractors.
Economic Policy 1: Collectivisation
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By 1928, the USSR was 20 million tons of grain short to feed the towns. Industrialisation was creating even more towns, increasing this problem.
So in order to feed his industrial workforce Stalin needed to revolutionise agriculture.
Although Collectivisation is sometimes discussed as a separate policy in Stalin’s Russia, it really is a fundamental part of his programme of industrialization set out in the 5-year plans:
Stalin needed to:
Raise revenue to fund industrial revolution. The best way of doing this was by exporting grain abroad.
Feed workers in the towns
To do both of these he needed to :
Maximize the production of grain by revolutionizing the METHODS of agriculture. Traditional Russian farming techniques were poor. Small plots of land meant that innovations such as fertilizer and tractors could not be used. Many peasants were still using horse drawn ploughs.
He also needed to
Control the production. Since the NEP ,the Kulaks (wealthier peasants) had controlled prices of grain, and had hoarded their surplus to ensure that prices stayed high (because high demand and low supply = high prices!).
Stalin needed to ensure that the price of grain was cheap, so workers in the town could afford to buy grain without Stalin having to increase wages. So he needed to destroy the power of the Kulaks to control grain prices. Stalin may also have wanted to destroy the Kulaks for ideological reasons – having a class of ‘agricultural capitalists’ didn’t really fit with Communist ideas!