levo

Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–41

Changes in industry, 1924–41

  • 2 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Why Stalin wanted speed, industry under the New Economic Policy, Gosplan, the first Five-Year Plan and Magnitogorsk, the later plans, failing managers, Stakhanov and his movement, and the achievements and failures of industrialisation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What was Gosplan?

Key term

What did the first Five-Year Plan concentrate on?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why did Stalin insist on industrialising at such speed?

    Model answer

    He said the country was fifty years behind the advanced nations and would be crushed unless it caught up, so it needed heavy industry to arm itself.

  2. 2

    What was wrong with industry under the New Economic Policy?

    Model answer

    Most growth had come from small private workshops and trade, heavy industry had barely regained its pre-war level, and there was far too little investment for modern factories.

  3. 3

    What was Gosplan?

    Model answer

    The state planning agency that set production targets for every industry, region and factory and checked whether they had been met.

  4. 4

    What did the first Five-Year Plan concentrate on?

    Model answer

    Heavy industry — coal, iron, steel, oil and electricity — and the building of whole new industrial cities such as Magnitogorsk.

  5. 5

    How did the later Five-Year Plans differ from the first?

    Model answer

    The second turned also to transport, especially railways, and to some consumer goods, while the third was cut short as resources were switched to weapons.

  6. 6

    What happened to managers who fell short of their targets?

    Model answer

    They could be dismissed, put on trial as wreckers or sent to a labour camp, so many of them reported figures that were simply false.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060–88
British America, 1713–83: Empire and Revolution
Conflict in the Middle East, 1945–95
Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000–present

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

£6.6 , fixed in 1921.
billionmillionthousand

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe huge loss of life left England short of workers.
BForeign craftsmen and labourers were wanted.
CCompetition for work also bred resentment.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Strategy means the plan for a whole campaign.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–41, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.