Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Soviet Command Economy
Under the shadow of the great industrial powers of the west, the Soviet Union was forced to rush the process of industrialization in order to catch up with it’s advanced neighboring states. Japan was in a similar position during the 20th century, though Japan’s reaction to the pressure was much more successful than Soviet industrialization. Japan’s industrialization was more prosperous and smooth than Russia’s because of the differences in treatment of factory workers, and adaptations to the developed foreign trade market, which ultimately diminished the efficiency of Russian industrialization. Russia was well aware that the state was in need of great change, even more specifically, the russian finance minister, Sergey Witte, had been writing
From 1928, when the plan started, to 1932 to its end, many factories, dams, power stations and even cities were being built. Despite there being harsh penalties implemented to workers for failure to meet their targets, there was still a significant increase in Russia’s industrial growth in a very short period of time. Just like the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, under Tsar Alexander II, in protest of Stalin’s policies, the peasants, in protest, refused to work harder than they needed too, causing them to destroy livestock and crops, which eventually lead to their unnecessary death. Stalin, just like the Tsarist autocratic regime, was not committed to collectivism but preferred capitalism in his ruling of the Soviet Union. This caused a lot of rebellion from the Kulaks who opposed collectivism.
Before its collapse, Russia struggled with weak industrialization, which hindered its economic development and competitiveness on the global stage. This weak industrial base refers to the limited development and modernization of industries in the Russian Empire.
This was similar to the United States of America, as the US was also trying to industrialize with a purpose of factories and people working in them. A big factor of the industrialization that both America and Russia shared was that both of these countries had a very unfair system for workers. The pay was not great, and people who were poor had it even worse. There is even an old saying that fits this very well, “The rich get richer”. This is true because the people who were already poor, who were working for the money so they could afford things like homes, food, water, and clothing, were staying poor, because their pay was so low that at the rate of them using their money for necessities, they were earning barely enough to afford them.
However, this then led to the government taking away and
He thought up two plans, known as the first and second five year plans, to catch Russia up to the rest of the world in ten years. To do this, Russia’s economy would turn into a command economy. Each industry had a target goal to reach and all government money was invested into industry, energy, and transportation. This had both positive and negative consequences. The production of consumer goods decreased but amazing progress was made.
The USSR’s GNP (Gross National Product) was significantly lower than the United States, but the USSR still spent over thirty billion more dollars on their military program. The Soviet Union had more of everything, besides money. The military was known as the “Red Army,” and they had more troops, tanks, artillery guns, and nuclear weapons than any other nation on the planet. In Document E, Time Magazine compares the USSR’s Nuclear Arsenal to that of the United States, and its more than double the size. The USSR went to extreme lengths to have the most powerful army in the world, yet it greatly damaged their economy years before it collapsed.
Stalin obtained a significant focus on heavy industry, for he knew it would only bring benefits to those who follow him; however, his viewpoint of what could be accomplished opposed to what people in the USSR believed can be achievable. The first plan adopted by the party in 1928 “set goals that were unrealtic- a 250 percent increase in overall industrial development and a 330 percent expansion in heavy industry alone” (Document 1). People believed that the USSR was still in its developing stage; therefore, a demand in increasing industrial production by a large amount will not happen in a short period of time. Problems began to evolve due to the unrealistic demands Stalin put into place. Managers and company owners believed that the quote they had to achieve was unreasonable leading to conflict.
What they did was okay but it also affected a lot of `` people by putting them out of jobs and income. The government split up the social classes even more than before. They just took everything away
During the 1930s the Soviet Union went through several changes economically and socially. Some historians see what happened in the Soviet Union at this time as a Second Revolution. However, this is an understatement as the Soviet Union actually went through more than one revolution at this time. This period saw rapid political, social, industrial and agricultural change that shaped the future of the Soviet Union and arguably the 20th century as a whole. All four of these changes worked together to form a rapid socioeconomic revolution.
It allowed the government to
‘Women on a Terrace Café’ is a painting by Degas, Edgar on year 1877 in French. It is drawn by pastel on monotype with a size of 54.5cm x 71.5cm. In this painting, there are some women sitting in a terrace café, and there are some waitress serving them. It is the main street outside the café and there are lots of passengers passing by. Atmospheric perspective is used in the painting.
These changes gave citizens of Soviet Russia more power and led them to finally change things. The Soviet Union was spending all of their resources on production of military
(Arndt Pg. 7) In the United States we go to the store and buy what we want, because the company that produces it knows roughly how much of the product to make based on the sales. The Soviet Union displayed the exact problems with a control economy; there is no way to accurately produce the goods that are needed. As with every government they are slow to do anything, nothing can be done in a timely manner. Every decision that had to be made needed to be cleared by someone, and by the time that decision was made the information supplied was no longer accurate.
When asked which gender one belongs to, most people are certain of their answer. They know whether they are a man or a woman. Even though the recognition that one may not identify with being a ‘man’ or ‘woman’ despite having the sexual organs that define them as such now exists, gender tends to still be thought of in terms of two opposite categories. In addition, gender is still seen as an aspect of one’s ‘true’ identity—as an unchangeable part of who an individual is—by many mainstream channels. How immutable, however, is gender?
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