The fourth five-year plan of 1946-1951 has not been canceled. The goals were set in it the most ambitious - not only to reach the pre-war level, but also to surpass it - both in industry (46%) and in agriculture.
The United States, according to the Marshall Plan, helped to restore Europe (at the same time creating the European Union), significant funds and efforts were spent on this. At the same time, few people believed that the USSR would not only fulfill, but also overfulfill its plan. However, this is what happened.
And we are talking not only about the growth of industry, calculated by statistics, but also about life itself: infant mortality has decreased by more than 2 times, the number of medical personnel has increased by one and a half times, the number of scientific institutions has increased by 40%, the number of students - by 50%. ... It has become prestigious to be a scientist.
At the same time, the foundations of the Soviet space program were laid. Yes, Khrushchev eventually got the laurels, but in February 1953 Joseph Stalin approved a plan to create an intercontinental ballistic missile. The government decree signed by Georgy Malenkov on the creation of the R-7 rocket came out after the death of the secretary general - on May 20, 1953.
The victory gave rise to hopes among the people for a better life, a weakening of the pressure of the totalitarian state on the individual, the elimination of its most odious costs. The potential for changes in the political regime, economy, and culture was opening up.
The "democratic impulse" of the war, however, was opposed by the full might of the System created by Stalin. Its positions were not only not weakened during the war years, but, it seemed, were even stronger in the post-war period. Even the victory in the war itself was identified in the mass consciousness with the victory of the totalitarian regime.
The struggle between democratic and totalitarian tendencies became, in these conditions, the leitmotif of social development.
The state of the USSR economy after the end of the war. The war turned into huge human and material losses for the USSR. It claimed nearly 27 million lives. 1710 cities and urban-type settlements were destroyed, 70 thousand villages and villages were destroyed, 31 850 factories and factories, 1135 mines, 65 thousand km of railways were blown up and put out of action. The sown area decreased by 36.8 million hectares. The country has lost approximately one third of its national wealth.
The country began to restore the economy during the war years, when in 1943 a special party-government decree "On urgent measures to restore the economy in the regions liberated from the German occupation" was adopted. The colossal efforts of the Soviet people by the end of the war in these regions managed to restore industrial production by a third of the 1940 level. The liberated regions in 1944 provided more than half of the state grain procurement, a quarter of cattle and poultry, and about a third of dairy products.
However, only after the end of the war, the country faced the central task of reconstruction.
Industry development... The industrial recovery took place in very difficult conditions. In the first post-war years, the work of Soviet people differed little from the military emergency. The constant shortage of food (the rationing system was canceled only in 1947), the most difficult working and living conditions, a high level of morbidity and mortality were explained to the population by the fact that the long-awaited peace had just come and life was about to get better. However, this did not happen.
However, some wartime restrictions were lifted: the 8-hour working day and annual leave were reintroduced, and forced overtime was abolished. The restoration took place in the context of a sharp increase in migration processes caused by the demobilization of the army (its number decreased from 11.4 million people in 1945 to 2.9 million in 1948), the repatriation of Soviet citizens from Europe, the return of refugees and evacuees from eastern regions of the country. Another difficulty in the development of industry was its conversion, which was completed mainly by 1947. Considerable funds were also spent on supporting the allied Eastern European countries.
The huge losses in the war turned into a shortage of labor, which, in turn, led to an increase in the turnover of personnel looking for more favorable working conditions.
Compensation for these costs, as before, was to increase the transfer of funds from the countryside to the city and the development of labor activity of workers.
For the first time in many years after the war, there was a tendency towards a wider use of scientific and technical developments in production. However, it manifested itself mainly only at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex (MIC), where, under the conditions of the outbreak of the Cold War, there was a process of developing nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, new missile systems, new models of tank and aviation equipment.
Along with the priority development of the military-industrial complex, priority was also given to mechanical engineering, metallurgy, fuel, energy industries, the development of which took 88% of capital investments in industry. The light and food industries, as before, were financed on a leftover basis (12%) and, naturally, did not satisfy even the minimum needs of the population.
In total, over the years of the 4th five-year plan (1946-1950) 6200 large enterprises were restored and rebuilt. In 1950, according to official data, industrial production exceeded pre-war indicators by 73% (and in the new union republics - Estonia and Moldova - by 2-3 times). True, this also included reparations and products of joint Soviet-East German enterprises.
Agriculture. The country's agriculture came out of the war even more weakened, the gross output of which in 1945 did not exceed 60% of the pre-war level. The situation in it worsened even more in connection with the drought of 1946, which caused severe famine.
Nevertheless, the unequal exchange of goods between town and country continued after that. Through state purchases, the collective farms compensated for only one-fifth of the costs of milk production, one-tenth of grain, and one-tenth of meat. The peasants, working on the collective farm, received practically nothing. Saved only subsidiary farming. However, the state also dealt a significant blow to him. For the period 1946-1949. 10.6 million hectares were cut in favor of collective farms. land from peasant household plots. The taxes on income from sales in the market have been significantly increased. Market trade itself was allowed only to those peasants whose collective farms carried out state supplies. Each peasant farm was obliged to surrender meat, milk, eggs, wool to the state as a tax on land. In 1948, collective farmers were "recommended" to sell small livestock to the state (which was allowed to be kept by the collective farm charter), which caused a massive slaughter of pigs, sheep, goats (up to 2 million heads) throughout the country.
The pre-war norms that limited the freedom of movement of collective farmers were retained: they were virtually deprived of the opportunity to have passports, they were not subject to temporary disability payments, and they were deprived of their pension benefits. The monetary reform of 1947 also hit hardest on the peasantry, who kept their savings at home.
states, the transformation of the occupied territories into a colonial-raw material appendage of the Reich, the physical extermination of tens of millions of people. The entire territory up to the Urals was subject to Germanization.
Initially, it was planned to start the war on May 15, 1941, but the overthrow of the pro-German government in Yugoslavia and the failure of the Italian troops in the war with Greece forced Germany to withdraw part of the troops from the Soviet border and transfer them to the Balkans. And only after the occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece at the end of April was the date of the attack on the USSR finally set - June 22. The moment for the attack on the USSR was not chosen by chance: the begun rearmament of the Red Army has not yet been completed; industry has not completely reorganized on a war footing; the new military command cadres were still too inexperienced.
Selected German troops were pulled to the borders of the Soviet Union, who received rich combat experience in waging lightning war, and were armed with first-class equipment at that time. For the implementation of the "Barbarossa plan" was allocated, 153 divisions, including 19 tank and 14 motorized. Germany's European allies (Finland, Romania, Hungary, Italy) deployed 37 divisions against the USSR. Thus, in total, 190 fully mobilized ground divisions with a total strength of 5.5 million people, 4,300 tanks, 5,000 aircraft, 47,000 guns and mortars were concentrated near the Soviet border.
Subjugating the economy of the occupied and allied countries, Germany significantly increased its military-economic potential, which allowed her in 1940 to receive 348 million tons of coal, 43.6 million tons of steel. In the USSR this year 166 million tons of coal were mined, 18.3 million tons of steel were smelted. Accordingly, the output of other products, including military, was much less.
The German command received a huge amount of weapons, military equipment, stocks of military equipment from the occupied countries. All this created a significant superiority in forces and means and strengthened the confidence of the Hitlerite leadership in the successful implementation of the "Barbarossa plan".
The victorious May 1945 meant for the USSR not only the triumphant end of the war. Half of the country lay in ruins, the standard of living of people fell far beyond the pre-war level, and the shadow of a new confrontation loomed on the threshold. It's amazing how the bloodless Union not only revived in just five years, but also became the second most economically powerful world power.
The victory over fascism was given to the Soviet people at a very heavy price. Dry statistics give an obvious answer to the question that the so-called "liberals" love to ask today - what would happen if the USSR were among the defeated? After all, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, etc., have also been under occupation - and nothing, no special consequences, this did not cause. Maybe in the European part of the Union (after all, the Nazis would hardly have gone beyond the Urals), life would have flourished under the canopy of the Reich and good burghers would have sipped Bavarian beer after working in the high-tech industries of Volkswagens and Zeiss optics, and grazed in the fields behind white houses under tiled roofs herds of not Soviet-style obese record-breaking cows?
An extremely dubious assumption. After the liberation of the western regions of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, an inventory was carried out, revealing horrendous numbers: no more than 15-17 percent of the pre-war number remained workers. No more than 13 percent of industrial enterprises survived. In agriculture, there were no more than half of the pre-war fleet of tractors and combines, and most of the machines needed major repairs. The number of livestock in the occupied territories, compared with the pre-war level, has decreased to 20-25 percent of horses, 40 percent of cattle, and only 10 percent of pigs.
During the war, 1710 cities and urban-type settlements were destroyed, 70 thousand villages and villages were destroyed, 65 thousand kilometers of railway lines were blown up and put out of action. Economists estimate that the country has lost about a third of its national wealth. Unlike the occupied European countries, whose citizens were eventually able to adapt to a new life and until the end of the war worked hard for the good of the German Reich (and fought in the ranks of the Waffen-SS), a war was waged on the territory of the USSR to completely destroy everything and everyone.
The figures inexorably testify: it was not so long before the full implementation of such plans. When we say that victory in that war was given to our people by a colossal effort, both at the front and in the rear, this is not an exaggeration and not just a beautiful metaphor. Indeed, by the end of the war, the people were exhausted and exhausted, the standard of living fell catastrophically. Therefore, the top Soviet leadership put forward proposals not to rush to restore the destroyed, "to provide the Soviet people with the opportunity to rest." This decision looked all the more logical because in 1946 the country was struck by famine caused by an unprecedented drought.
However, even before the end of the war, it became clear: the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition did not at all intend to continue good relations after the victory over Germany. Now we know that in the headquarters of the Western armies plans were being drawn up to move the troops concentrated in Western Europe to the East, against, as it seemed to them, the bloodless Red Army. Therefore, the Soviet leaders were forced to make the opposite decision. As the supporters of a vigorous reconstruction pointed out, the confrontation between the capitalist and socialist camps, which had entered the Cold War phase, could escalate at any moment, especially given the US possession of nuclear weapons.
The quintessence of this view was JV Stalin's speech in February 1946, where he, in particular, said: “We need to ensure that our industry can produce annually up to 50 million tons of pig iron, up to 60 million tons of steel, up to 500 million tons of coal, up to 60 million tons of oil. Only under this condition can it be considered that our Motherland will be guaranteed against any accidents. This will take, perhaps, three new five-year plans, if not more. "
History has shown that Joseph Vissarionovich was mistaken. The country's recovery rate has actually been much faster, surprising and deeply thoughtful to its former allies. Suffice it to recall Stalingrad, the ruins of which the leading world experts proposed to preserve as a huge museum of the horrors of war - as not subject to restoration. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. In fact, economic recovery began during the war, as the occupied Soviet lands were liberated.
A striking example is the history of the Moscow region coal basin, at the beginning of the war, completely occupied by German fascist troops. Immediately after the liberation in 1942, mines and settlements were restored, and already in 1943, coal production exceeded the pre-war level by 45 percent. The still belligerent country spent huge amounts of money on the development of industry, not only in the rear, where the evacuees from the western regions of production worked, but also in the recently liberated territories. In 1943 and 1944 alone, about 17 billion rubles were spent for these purposes. Note that in the years of the shock first five-year plan of 1929-1933, when the young USSR was creating its own industry, capital investments amounted to approximately 10 billion rubles a year. What faith in themselves and in their victorious army both the Soviet people and the Soviet leadership must have had in order to go to such costs and efforts when the enemy has not yet been defeated!
The development of the Soviet Union's economy was based on five-year plans, called five-year plans for short. Before the war, three five-year plans were adopted, but the implementation of the third was thwarted by the attack of Nazi Germany. The fourth, post-war, five-year plan was to be the first on the path of restoring and strengthening the country's might. Therefore, the plan fixed rather ambitious tasks: not only to return, but also to surpass the pre-war level of production. In particular, it was supposed to produce 51 percent more coal and 14 percent more oil. But even these goals were eventually blocked: coal production increased by 57.4 percent, and oil by 21.7 percent compared with pre-war production. By the end of the five-year plan, the volume of production of mechanical engineering products was 2.3 times higher than the pre-war level. In the years of the fourth five-year plan - just think about this figure! - 6,500 enterprises were put into operation, including such large and technologically complex ones as the Transcaucasian Metallurgical Plant, the Ust-Kamenogorsk Lead-Zinc Plant, and the Ryazan Machine-Tool Plant.
The monetary reform was an important step in raising the living standards of the Soviet people. Among liberal historians today it is generally accepted that it was of a confiscatory nature and was aimed at siphoning out the savings of the population, primarily workers and peasants. The point of view is rather ridiculous, considering how the same liberal historians are vying with each other to tell us how poor and disenfranchised the workers and peasants were in the "Stalinist Gulag." And now it turns out that they had savings - and rather big ones!
However, the reform really was of a confiscatory nature: savings of up to 3000 rubles were exchanged one to one, from three to ten thousand - two to three, from ten thousand and more - one to three. Those who are used to keeping money in stockings and mattresses received a ruble for a "hard-earned" gold piece. Only now the main victims of the repressions were the spiritual ancestors of today's liberals - the speculators who profited from the war. Needless to say, in many cases these capitals were of criminal origin, and they certainly could not be called justly acquired. At the same time - attention! - workers 'wages and peasants' incomes were calculated at the same rates and issued with new money in the same amounts.
However, the restoration of social justice was only one of the goals of the reform, and far from the main one. The fact is that by the end of the war, an incredible amount of cash had accumulated in the country - according to experts, from more than 43 to almost 74 billion rubles. It is clear that all this mass put pressure on the economy, causing it to overheat. Suffice it to recall that during the war, a three-level system of prices for various goods was formed: ration (when sold using rationing cards), commercial (free state trade) and market. This inconsistency somehow had to be brought to a common denominator. Moreover, since the Soviet ruble did not stop circulating in the occupied territories, the Nazis took advantage of this, throwing a huge amount of counterfeit banknotes into the economy. These high-quality fakes had to be taken out of circulation.
In the course of a lightning-fast reform (a week for an exchange on the main territory of the USSR and two - in remote and hard-to-reach regions of the country), most of the cash was removed. By the end of the reform, its volume in the economy was about 14 billion rubles, four of which were in the hands of the population. At the same time, a pricing reform took place in the direction of lowering prices and goods from the state reserve were released, which made it possible to strengthen the commodity content of new money. As a result, the purchasing power of the ruble has strengthened, which has led to a real (by 34 percent relative to the pre-reform) increase in the standard of living of those very workers and peasants whose "robbery" is now sobbing liberals.
However, during the years of the first post-war five-year plan, there was not only a straightening of the war-distorted economy: the plans of the Soviet leadership went far into the future. The famine of 1946 made people think about how to reduce the dependence of the standard of living on the vagaries of nature. As a result, the so-called Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature was born, which provided for a huge set of measures for afforestation and the development of irrigation systems. Thanks to its implementation, already in 1951, the production of meat and lard increased 1.8 times, milk - 1.65, eggs - 3.4, wool - 1.5 times against the 1948 level. Unfortunately, during the Khrushchev leadership, this global conservation plan was virtually canceled, which ultimately led to a catastrophic decline in agricultural production.
The results of the first post-war five-year plan have surpassed the wildest expectations. It was during these years that the foundations were laid for the leadership of the USSR on the scale of the world economy, second only to the United States that did not suffer from the war. Already on March 1, 1950, the Soviet leadership abandoned the pegging of the ruble to the dollar and set the gold standard for the ruble, which corresponded to 0.222168 g of pure gold. Meanwhile, the USSR was rebuilding not only itself, but also provided significant assistance to the countries of the socialist bloc that emerged after the war.
Looking back, one cannot but pay tribute to the strength of spirit and will of our fathers and grandfathers, who found the strength to show unprecedented tension after the hardest exhausting war, so that in just five years not only restore the practically destroyed economy, but also make an unparalleled breakthrough that made it possible to surpass the economies of the majority. countries of that time. And there is no way to get rid of the question: why are we ourselves unable to show, in completely peaceful conditions, results even slightly close to such a leap, almost a quarter of a century after the abandonment of the "ineffective Soviet economy"?
Presentation material
Economy of the USSR after World War II
Economic recovery after World War II
After the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the surrender of Japan on September 3, 1945, a new period began in the life of the Soviet state. The first years after the war, in fact, were a continuation of the "mobilization socialism" of the 1930s, but on a joyful note, with the mood of victors.
The return to a peaceful life presupposed, first of all, the restoration of the economy and its reorientation towards peaceful purposes. The Soviet people could rely only on their own strength. The energy of war was so great and had such inertia that it could only be "switched" to peaceful construction. In 1948, the country reached and surpassed the pre-war level of industrial production. And in 1952 the volume of industrial production exceeded the 1940 level by 2.5 times.
But it was more difficult to make up for the losses of the village, since it suffered great losses in people, 70 thousand villages and villages were burned, 17 million heads of cattle were stolen. At the same time, in 1946, a terrible drought on a large territory of the European part of the USSR led to famine, which led to the death of people, as if "continuing the war." There has not been such a drought in the country for over 50 years. In reality, in the public mind, the transition "to a peaceful track" took place at the end of 1947, with the abolition of cards and monetary reform. Very quickly after the war, the USSR restored a favorable demographic situation, which is an important indicator of the state of society.
The restoration of industry and cities was carried out at the expense of the village, from which resources were withdrawn until the mid-50s. Purchase prices for agricultural products remained at the pre-war level, while prices for goods for the countryside increased many times. Collective farms handed over half of their production to government supplies. The war reduced the number of able-bodied peasants by a third, especially with education. To strengthen leadership in 1949-1950. the consolidation of collective farms was carried out.
Among a number of measures carried out by the Soviet government after the war, one of the largest was the demobilization of a significant contingent of military personnel. An 8-hour working day was restored in industry, vacations for workers and employees were resumed, and overtime work was canceled. The production of metal was at the level of 1934, the production of tractors was at the level of 1930. Quite often in the post-war autumn, winter crops were sown by hand. The equipment of all enterprises needed updating, the production of consumer goods was 3/5 of the pre-war level. The total losses from the direct destruction of socialist property by the enemy reached 679 billion rubles.
Already in August 1945, the State Planning Commission began to develop a draft of the fourth five-year plan - a plan for the restoration and further development of the country's economy. The main goal of the plan is to reach the pre-war level of production, and then significantly exceed it. From a financial point of view, this required huge investments to improve living and working conditions. And capital investments are possible only with large savings, which are also created at high rates. At the same time, it was necessary to strengthen monetary circulation, strengthen credit relations and raise the purchasing power of the ruble. The second group of measures was solved by the 1947 monetary reform, which I will talk about a little later. And the first group of measures was part of the five-year financial support program.
Of course, it was necessary to use the methods of accumulation that had already justified themselves: self-financing, reducing the cost of production, mobilizing reserves, increasing profitability, increasing profits, a strict economy regime, eliminating production losses, and reducing unproductive costs. However, if we limited ourselves to this, the funds would not be enough. Because in connection with the alarming international situation and the beginning of the Cold War, defense spending has not been reduced to the extent that the USSR Government had expected. In addition, the rapid progress of military technology required significant funds. Required huge costs for the restoration of the destroyed. The transition of the economy to a peaceful track was not cheap. The costs for the further development of the economy, for social and cultural events and consumer services also increased. In general, expenses not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, increased significantly from year to year.
Meanwhile, some sources of income have declined since the end of the war. The war tax was abolished. The practice of transferring money to savings banks for unused vacations has been discontinued. Cash and clothing lotteries have ceased to be held. Decreased payments of the population when signing up for a loan. The amount of the agricultural tax has decreased. The interests of Soviet citizens demanded lower prices for all goods in cooperative and state trade.
To sell more, you need to have something to trade. The population was in dire need of clothing, shoes, household items.
Consumer goods were not enough. Because, for example, the textile industry was provided with raw materials, but there was not enough fuel and labor. The ranks of textile workers have decreased by about 500 thousand. and the coal mines are partially flooded, partially abandoned due to the lack of miners. The Ministry of Finance sent its first post-war proposal to the Council of Ministers: to urgently deploy training for the textile industry; demobilize everyone related to her; to redistribute the labor force, removing surpluses from other industries and transferring them to woolen, cotton, knitted and silk-weaving factories.
The second proposal concerned the mobilization of fuel resources for textile mills and factories. Due to the lack of production capacity, light industry transferred large reserves from heavy. The Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (the central committee of the All-Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks) promptly directed the case, promptly prompted the right decisions, involving all parties, administrative and economic links from top to bottom in their implementation. The country entered peaceful life on a broad front.
They achieved an increase in market funds: the normalized supply of the population improved, a prerequisite arose for lowering prices in "commercial" trade.
The issues of improving the methods of managing industry, raising the attention of business executives to every penny, and strengthening the finances of enterprises again came up on the agenda. Until 1951, it was not allowed to write off from the balance sheet even of the Union-Republican enterprises and organizations, losses and losses amounting to at least 5 thousand rubles.
These examples testify to the notorious brutality of the financial discipline of those years. There was an undoubted disadvantage here, which manifested itself in a certain constraint in actions on the ground. But there was also an undoubted plus, which led to a tangible financial gain. The savings were transferred to the light and food industries.
In order to expand the sources of income, the ministry proposed to increase the volume of production of consumer goods, without which it would not have been possible to carry out a monetary reform and abolish the rationing system of supplying the population. There were enough textile raw materials, but wool had to be bought abroad. There were enough foreign exchange resources, since during the war, gold only accumulated.
At this stage, it was also proposed to further accelerate the restructuring of industry in a peaceful manner. Redistribute labor reserves, especially at the expense of the non-production sphere, and send more people to the light and food industries. Provide for an increasing supply of fuel for it and restore broad specialization. Then it was proposed to establish more accurate, increased targets for the growth of labor productivity and profitability, reducing the cost of production, making a profit in these industries.
The implementation of all these proposals has brought tangible benefits. The country received more revenues than was planned. The financial basis for the 1947 reform was formed faster. By the middle of 1949, the amount of money in circulation exceeded the pre-war level by 1.35 times, and the retail trade turnover exceeded the pre-war level by 1.65 times. This ratio of production and its commodity equivalent was justified. The structure of trade has improved. We managed to achieve lower prices for goods. Such a decrease in 1947-1954 was carried out seven times, and by the end of the fourth five-year period government prices had decreased by 41 percent, and by 1954 they were on average 2.3 times lower than before the reform. The strength of the financial base was also manifested in the fact that the state, relying on additional reserves, was able to increase the planned targets for the second (1947) and fourth (1949) years of the five-year plan. And this, in turn, made it possible in the course of the fourth five-year plan to work in some sectors at the expense of the next, increasing the national income by 64 percent in comparison with 1940, and the planned investment by 22 percent.
In historical science, there are controversial issues on which various, often contradictory, points of view are expressed. Below is one of the controversial points of view that exist in historical science.
"The rapid restoration of the national economy after the Great Patriotic War was ensured by the advantages of the socialist system."
Using historical knowledge, give two arguments that can confirm this assessment, and two arguments that can refute it. Be sure to use historical facts when presenting your arguments.
Write down your answer as follows.
Arguments in support:
Arguments in rebuttal:
Show AnswerAnswer
The correct answer should contain arguments:
1) in confirmation, for example:
- socialist industrialization, carried out on the eve of the war, contributed to the rapid recovery of the economy;
- the planned development of the economy made it possible to clearly coordinate restoration measures;
- a unified ideology and skillful propaganda activities of the party economic leadership ensured the mobilization of forces for the restoration of the economy, contributed to the rise of labor enthusiasm;
2) in refutation, for example:
- the technology and reparations received from Germany became a significant contribution;
- during the restoration of the national economy, the labor of prisoners, repatriated persons and prisoners of war was widely used;
- the priority development of heavy industry, focused on the production of military products.
Other arguments could be given
