Unit 2E.2 - The German Democratic Republic, 1949-90
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
How accurate is it to say that the GDR experienced a period of economic stability from ? AS History Pearson Edexcel.
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Unit 2E.2 - The German Democratic Republic, 1949-90
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H/W 31st January 2017
How accurate is it to say that the GDR experienced a period of economic
stability from 1961 to 1972?
It is not accurate to a great degree to say that the GDR experienced a period of economic
stability between 1961 and 1972, with evidence including the New Economic System and
the Economic System of Socialism; however to a lesser degree there is evidence to suggest
against this statement, which could also include the NES and ESS.
To a greater degree, it isn’t accurate to say that the GDR experienced a period of economic
stability from 1961 to 1972, for reasons such as the New Economic System, which was
introducing profit-making a key indicator of performance, a chance to focus on the
development of science and technology as well as control over economic planning: although
economic stability was increased through introducing incentves for workers, managers of
industrial buildings and other businesses didn’t possess the appropriate financial skills
needed, and ofen came across frequent difcultes in obtaining necessary resources. This
suggests that due to the managers being unable to fully comprehend the financial issues
they dealt with, and being unable to obtain the resources necessary, the economy would
have not been in a good positon without serious change, or given tme; however the USSR
wanted to recentralise the GDR’s economic planning due to Brezhnev becoming the leader
in 1964, who felt uneasy about Ulbricht’s economic deviaton – partcularly as this could
have created a class of rich elites in the socialist system.
Another failure of the NES, which shows how inaccurate it is to say that the GDR
experienced economic stability, is the oppositon towards this policy. Those who were
against it were commited to the ideological aims of having a communist state, and would
purposefully destroy and sabotage industrial producton; this was due to these people
feeling that the GDR’s ideals were becoming undermined with a lessening of SED control,
along with financial incentves possibly leading to the creaton of diferent social and wealth
classes. This then leads on to the idea that wage diferences and diferent financial classes
being unnecessary, when the lack of consumer goods showed that there was nothing to
purchase. You can infer from these reasons that citzens of the GDR were not happy with
the decisions being made and that due to their lack of support and resistance it became a
lot harder for the government to have a stable economy.
One final reason why it’s inaccurate to say that the GDR had a stable economy during the
years 1961 to 1972, is the Economic System of Socialism: this was a modified version of the
NES, and the reintroducton of centralisaton, with emphasis on the development of
computer technology and chemical plastc industries. This failed to create a stable economy,
because it couldn’t maintain research and development progression, and whilst it placed
emphasis on industries unlike the NES, the EES didn’t focus on consumer goods; this lack of
focus on consumer goods and its inability to maintain progress within certain sectors meant
that it was failing to live up to its expectaton and proved how far behind the FRG’s economy
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