Concise notes for Edexcel A Level History, Paper 1, Option 1E, focusing specifically on the Collapse of the USSR. These notes detail the critical events and policies leading to the fall, including leadership transitions from Brezhnev to Yeltsin, economic challenges, political reforms, and the role ...
01) LONG TERM ECONOMIC WEAKNESS
FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMIC WEAKNESSES:
● Soviet economy flawed
● Failed to create incentives for hard work or innovation
● From 1945-1980, egalitarian state
○ Difference between rich and poor much smaller than the difference in the west.
○ Therefore, less incentive to improve
● Labour productivity much lower in the West.
● Decline in economic growth
○ Over 7% (1950) to under 1% by 1980
WASTE IN THE USSR’S ECONOMY:
● Gosplan state planning committee who measured and rewarded production.
● Quality of production was irrelevant
○ As well as the proportion of the goods being used on whether they were even being used.
● Although large amount of goods were produced, they were often wasted.
● For example: Gosplan demanded 400,000 tractors to be produced every year
○ At least 20% went unused due to shortages of tractor drivers.
● Waste was a big issue:
○ Estimated of 12% of machinery went unused
MODERNISATION OF THE ECONOMY
● Never fully modernised
● Soviet agriculture lacked sophisticated machinery.
○ Required a lot more labour than the West.
● 25% of the Soviet population employed in farming compared to the 5% of the US population
● Transportation system was never fully modernised.
○ Therefore transporting food was difficult
● Lack of modern storage system led to crops like grain rotting away due to inadequate storage facilities before it would be used.
● US made x6 more production than the USSR
ARMS RACE:
● Production of expensive missiles, nuclear bombs, tanks and fighter planes.
● Proportion of GDP spent on defence went from 12%(1965) to 17%(1985)
○ Compared to America at 6% average over this period.
● Soviet defence spending starved other areas of the economy that actually needed it.
● Reagan’s SDI Program (also known as the Star Wars programme) put further pressure on Soviet economy
● The Afghanistan War was also draining the Soviet economy
CENTRALISATION
● Economy controlled by Gosplan
● In farming, the government set timetables for planning and harvesting
○ But they did not account for local initiatives.
○ Farmers, who had expertise, could not interfere to adjust the schedule to account for whether.
● Central planners set schedules for delivery of fertilisers.
○ Often delivered late or were the wrong kind for the crop planted.
● This explains why the production of important crops improved very slowly.
● Centralisation caused significant issues because it limited production.
, 02) GORBACHEV’S ECONOMIC REFORMS
Gorbachev came to power in 1985
GORBACHEV’S ECONOMIC POLICIES
Rationalisation 1985-1986:
● Led fully by the Communist party.
● Tried to improve the way the command economy worked
● Designed to stimulate economic modernisation, higher rates of economic growth, and for production levels to increase.
Reform (perestroika)1986-1990:
● Initiated reforms intended to introduce market forces into the Soviet economy.
● At the same time, he initiated Political reform designed to build support for economic change.
● Wanted to create an economy with the best features of capitalism and the best features of communism
Transformation 1990-1991:
● Abandons the command economy completely and tires to introduce a market economy
● As a result, the Communist Party lost control of the process.
● 500 day programme
RATIONALISATION 1985 TO 1986
● Appointed like minded reformers into key positions
○ E.g Yakovlev
● Campaign to attack alcoholism and increase productivity
○ May 1985 Gorbachev limited alcohol production at state run factories by 50%
● Introduced Uskorenie (acceleration)
○ This was a programme of investment to modernise the economy
○ Attempts to increase productivity by 20% in 15 years
○ Complete failure due to:
■ Falling government revenues due to crack down on alcoholism
■ The 1980s oil glut put huge pressure on their economy
■ War in Afghanistan
● Twelfth Five Year Plan
○ Aimed to increase investment and production through central planning
FAILURES
● Alcohol revenue dropped by 9% of GDP
○ Anti alcohol campaign abandoned in 1988
● Investment skewed towards construction and energy increases of high tech machines so didn’t increase growth
● Use of old equipment and technology
● Agriculture swallowed investment
● Oil prices fell from $70 per barrel (1981) to $20 (1985)
○ Soviet oil revenues fell by more than 40%
● Focused on quantity over quality
● Funded by borrowed money from the west → increased debt
○ $18 billion in 1981 to $27 billion in 1988
● Overall, it did not lead to economic growth, instead, an economic crisis.
PERESTROIKA 1986 TO 1990
● Law on Individual Economic Activity, November 1986
○ This made it legal for families to set up small scale work
○ E.g repair jobs, tutoring etc
● Encouragement of Joint Ventures, January 1987
○ 3,000 set up by the end of 1990
● Law in State Enterprises, June 1987
○ Intended to devolve power from central government to factory management.
○ Loosening control over wages, prices and produce
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