Did the soviet gov fail to modernise soviet government

Created by

jessica payne

Cards (18)

INTRO
-agriculture under stalin struggled to thrive and his economic policies would end in famine but did modernise agriculture into a communist economy
Judgement Criteria
whether or not the policies managed to increase agricultural output
PARA ONE: agree
POINT: Collectivisation failed to modernise soviet agriculture as it destroyed soviet agriculture. it had a disastrous impact on food production + livestock levels + famine

EVIDENCE:
-peasants hated it so much they began destroying crops, animals and machinery
-26 million cattle destroyed
-60 million sheep and goats
-grain production decreased from 73.3 million in 1928 to 68.4 million tons in 1933
-created Holodomor in ukraine- 5 million dead

EXPLAIN
-peasants destroying shit shows how gov failed to modernise as the peasants were even more unhappy than they had originally been- step backwards
-famine should've been a thing of the past as collectivisation had originally meant to increase food production yet did the opposite. agriculture struggles to produce enough to feed the people and is not advancing

LINK
-judging on whether or not agricultural production improved- fairly accurate to say that collectivisation failed to modernise agriculture
PARA TWO: DISAGREE
POINT
-Collectivisation modernised Soviet agriculture in the sense that the farming sector was made part of the centralised command economy and party control was imposed over the rural population
-Also modernised it from capitalist to communist

EVIDENCE
-gov put in MTS and provided 75,000 tractors to farms - also had a member of NKVD with then to ensure gov control
-dekulakisation: removed kulaks (remnants of capitalism from NEP)
PARA THREE: AGREE
POINT
-Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Scheme (1954) was not nearly as successful as the gov had hoped it to be. and other agricultural policies (corn campaign) ended in failure.

EVIDENCE:
-VLS required complex irrigation systems and thus cost of production was high
-corn campaign: soviet farms only able to produce 50% of the corn per hectare that US farms did bc of diff climate and the inferiority of soviet tractors and fertilisers
- soviet growth rates declined to an average of 5.3% between 1958- 64
PARA FOUR: DISAGREE
POINT
Khrushchev's agricultural policies helped to modernise soviet agriculture after the disaster that was Stalin's agriculture

EVIDENCE
-Over the 1953-58 period, Soviet food production increased by 51 per cent
-Under Khrushchev, investment in agriculture increased from 3 per cent to almost 13 per cent of the Soviet budget, leading to a 40 per cent rise in artificial fertiliser production and a 30 per cent rise in tractor production.
How many cattle destroyed?
26 million
How many sheep and goats destroyed?
60 million
what did grain production decrease from in 1928 and to in 1933
grain production decreased from 73.3 million in 1928 to 68.4 million tons in 1933
How many died in Holodomor?
around 5 million
how many tractors did MTS provide
gov put in MTS and provided 75,000 tractors to farms
during the corn campaign, what percentage of corn per hectare could the Soviet farms produce
soviet farms only able to produce 50% of the corn per hectare that US farms did bc of diff climate and the inferiority of soviet tractors and fertilisers
when was the VLS
1954
what percentage did soviet growth rates decline to between 1958-64
soviet growth rates declined to an average of 5.3% between 1958- 64
between 1953-858 by what % did food production increase?
-Over the 1953-58 period, Soviet food production increased by 51 per cent
Under Khrushchev, how much did soviet investment increase from and to?
-Under Khrushchev, investment in agriculture increased from 3 per cent to almost 13 per cent of the Soviet budget
How much percentage rise was there in artificial fertiliser production?
40%
How much percentage rise was there in tractor production?
30%