10.31.1. Kosygin’s Reform

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Del curso dictado por National Research University Higher School of Economics

Stalin and Stalinism in Russian History

62 calificaciones

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Stalin and Stalinism in Russian History

62 calificaciones

The course presents the life and deeds of Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 till 1953. It analyses the reasons for his actions and their results, as well as the causes of his popularity in Russia today. It offers an analysis of the phenomenon of Stalinism and of its significance for Russia and beyond. In the late 1920s – early 1930s Stalin directed the massive and rapid industrialisation of the country and the forced collectivisation of its agriculture. The industrialisation was based on forced labour, and collectivisation on repression, but both helped to create the material base for the Soviet defence industry. In the late 1930s Stalin unleashed mass terror against the Soviet people, in which millions perished. In his view this helped to rid the country of any potential internal enemies on the eve of the coming war. The USSR, together with its allies, won the Second World War, but at the cost of dozens of millions of lives. Stalin was instrumental in creating the post-war order. The system which he created in the 1930s shaped the USSR as it was during his lifetime and for decades after his death. It also influenced the lives of millions of people beyond the Soviet borders. The course will enable those who take it to develop an informed understanding of the Stalin era and of the phenomenon of Stalinism.

De la lección

Stalinism after Stalin

The last lecture describes the long process of de-Stalinisation in Russia. It looks into the phenomenon of Stalinism abroad and analyses the reasons for the revival of the Stalin cult in today’s Russia.

10.31.1. Kosygin’s Reform6:31

Conoce a los instructores

Irina Filatova
Professor
Faculty of Humanities / School of History

Brezhnev, the new party leader,

was not the person to engage in de-Stalinazation or liberal reforms of any sort.

Stalin was never rehabilitated

but the creeping re-Stalinazation went on throughout Brezhnev's era.

More importantly, Stalin's power structures and economic model,

with the exception of prison labor, remained intact.

The Brezhnev era was a time of ideological freeze.

The last attempt to modernize the economy

within the framework of the existing system was made in the late 1960s.

Many at the top echelons of the Soviet power understood that

if the USSR was to have any hope of competing with the West,

politically or militarily, then changes had to be made.

The task of modernizing Soviet industry fell on Alexei Kosygin,

the new chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Kosygin's reforms allowed plants and

factories more independence and some flexibility in disposing of their profits.

Economic incentives were offered to workers.

Procurement prices and agriculture were increased.

Even the planning system was somewhat

liberalized and elements of cost accounting were introduced.

The reforms brought some result.

In the late 1960s,

economic output and productivity

increased and consumption levels of Soviet population did too.

But soon reforms stalled.

Here you can see the figures: 1961-65,

that is still a Khrushchev time;

1966-1970, this is the reforms and you can see

the growth of the percentage of both GDP and national income;

1971-1975, already the percentage of growth is lower;

and 75-79, it is lower still.

The system resisted liberalization.

The leadership was unwilling to take any unpopular steps such as,

for example, closing unprofitable enterprises.

Each director had an acquaintance among

the leadership and he managed to avoid the unpleasant episode.

Technological progress was hampered by the Soviet bureaucracy.

The system was still over-centralized and inflexible.

Prices were strictly regulated.

In the 1970s, the government tightened the planning system again.

Economic incentives stopped to work.

There was no real competition.

With few exceptions kolkhozi remained unproductive.

The government continued to buy the bread abroad.

Military expenses grew exponentially in

the 1970s and the budget was organized around the needs of the Army.

Already in 1970, Kosygin was accused of betraying

socialism and attempting to introduce western ideas and methods on Soviet soil.

The upsurge of oil and gold prices in the 1970s gave the government

enough funds to satisfy the demands of the military and to

buy the grain and cover up the failures of the Soviet economy.

But such good luck could not last.

The 1968 Prague Spring contributed to the watering down of Soviet reforms.

The political and economic liberalization started by

the Czech communist leadership was an attempt to create socialism with a human face.

It was very popular throughout the socialist camp.

The Soviet leadership started to negotiate but finally

decided to stop the slide away from socialism and sent in the troops.

As all protest movements in

the socialist camp this led to a tightening of screws in the USSR.

Thus, the end of the reforms.

Here you can see the tanks,

Soviet tanks, in the streets of Prague.

In December 1979, the Soviet government approved the invasion in Afghanistan.

This finished off the process of the destruction of Soviet economy.

The oil prices boom was over,

food and consumer goods shortages followed them.

There was not enough food,

even in the towns closest to Moscow and Leningrad.

People came to these capitals by trains and by buses. There's a joke:

These trains and buses were called sausage trains because

one of the things that people bought were meat and sausages.

Queues became the norm.

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