Written by a Cambridge Law student with an A* at history A-level.
Outlines the reasons for the collapse of the USSR, going through long term economic issues, short term economic issues, political issues, nationalism, and the roles of Gorbachev and Yeltsin.
Very detailed and full of facts and stat...
Three stats showing long term economic weaknesses
- Declining economic growth
1950-58, economy grew at average of 7% per year (US only 3%)
1958-64, growth slowed to 5%
1970, economy grew by only 2% per year
By 1980 economic growth had almost stopped
- Very inefficient + low quality goods
1980s Soviet industry consuming 2-3 times as much energy + raw materials
per unit of output as developed Western nations, and also producing goods
of substantially lower quality
- High military spending accounted
Accounted for 13% of GDP 1964-1970
Five fundamental weaknesses in soviet economy
- Not designed to produce consumer goods
able to produce large quantities of basic goods such as steel and concrete but
not designed to create sophisticated goods such as cars and radios due to not
only complex production process but also lack of quality checks
o Soviet factories produced thick sheet steel to meet targets (targets set
in weight + thick sheet steel heavier than thin sheet steel) but thin
sheet steel needed in light industry, eg to make cars, lamps and
watches
o Consumer industries set targets for value of goods they made, so
factories produced small number of expensive goods rather than large
number of cheap goods
- Inefficient
Good at extensive growth based on building new factories + workshops,
opening mines etc, but not ‘intensive growth’ based on improving efficiency
in these factories, workshops, mines etc
o Reason is that intensive growth relies on detailed information about
particular factories + also ability to adapt to unique conditions to
improve efficiency, neither of which central command structure could
satisfy
, o Poor efficiency clearly seen by fact that in 1980s Soviet industry
consuming 2-3 times as much energy + raw materials per unit of
output as developed Western nations, and also producing goods of
substantially lower quality
- High military spending
USSR committed to high levels of military spending, limiting funds available
for industrial development
Brezhnev adopted ambitious military spending programme, with spending
rising from 11% to 13% 1964-1970 even though Soviet economy only 1/3
size of US economy, spending greater amount
o Wanted to achieve nuclear missile parity with US (as Khrushchev
forced to back down during Berlin Crisis 1961 + Cuban Missile Crisis
1962 knowing that US had bigger nuclear arsenal + could wipe out
USSR) nuclear parity achieved by 1970 but at huge cost to wider
economy
- Poor efficiency in agricultural sector
Low productivity
o sector unable to efficiently use massive investment it received on
average, productivity decreased by 4% per year 1970-90
o shortages forced state to import increasingly large amounts of grain from
abroad
- Living standards relatively poor + stopped improving
Much poorer standard of living than avrg American
Rise in living standards stopped by early 1980s (due to slow down in
economic growth)
But problems did not pose existential crisis 1985
- 1983, GDP rose by 3% + labour productivity by 3.5% under Andropov
- Steady + large agricultural output
increased steadily throughout Brezhnev’s leadership, with USSR becoming
world’s largest producer of wheat in 1970s
- Able to provide consumers with decent standard of living
Increase in wages
o Peasant wages only slightly below urban workers by 1970s
Increase in consumer goods ownership
o Diet, per capita consumption of meat and fish, and fruits and
vegetables rose by 40% and 35% respectively
o TV ownership increased from 25% to 85%
o Refrigerator ownership increased from 11% to 86%
o Washing Machine ownership increased from 21% to 70%
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