The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia 3: The Soviet Economy in Turmoil 1929-1930

626 Pages·1989·17.115 MB·English

by  R. W. Davies

THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN TURMOIL, 1929-1930
By the same author
THE INDUSTRIALISATION OF SOVIET RUSSIA
i: THE SOCIALIST OFFENSIVE: The Collectivisation of Soviet
Agriculture, 1929-1930
2: THE SOVIET COLLECTIVE FARM, 1929-1930
3: THE SOVIET ECONOMY IN TURMOIL, 1929-1930
4: CRISIS AND PROGRESS IN THE SOVIET ECONOMY,
1931-1933
5: THE YEARS OF HUNGER: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933
{with S. G. Wheatcroft, forthcoming)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET BUDGETARY SYSTEM
FOUNDATIONS OF A PLANNED ECONOMY, 1926-1929,
VOLUME 1 (with E. H. Carr)
SCIENCE POLICY IN THE USSR (with E. Zaleski and others)
THE SOVIET UNION (editor)
THE TECHNOLOGICAL LEVEL OF SOVIET INDUSTRY
(editor with R. Amann and J. M. Cooper)
FROM TSARISM TO THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY:
Continuity and Change in the Economy of the USSR (editor)
SOVIET HISTORY IN THE GORBACHEV REVOLUTION
SOVIET HISTORY IN THE YELTSIN ERA
THE ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOVIET
UNION, 1913-1945 (editor with M. Harrison and S. G. Wheatcroft)
THE INDUSTRIALISATION OF SOVIET RUSSIA
3
THE SOVIET ECONOMY
IN TURMOIL, 1929-1930
R. W. DAVIES
Emeritus Professor of Soviet Economic Studies
Centrefor Russian and East European Studies
University of Birmingham
© R. W. Davies 1989, 1998
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of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
Published by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
First edition 1989
Reprinted with additional preface 1998
ISBN 978-0-333-74515-1 ISBN 978-1-349-14942-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14942-1
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
10 987654321
07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98
In memory of my mother
GLADYS HILDA DAVIES
1899- *984
CONTENTS
List of Tables xi
Preface xiii
Additional Preface to the 1998 Reprint xxi
1 The Industrial Economy in the MID-1920S 1
(a) The Social Transformation 1
(b) Continuity and Change in the Industrial
Economy 13
(i) The changing shape of industry 16
(ii) Productivity and the length of the
working day 28
(iii) Internal trade 30
(iv) Foreign trade and foreign technology 32
(v) The comparative perspective 37
(c) Instruments Of Planned Industrialisation 42
(d) First Steps to Industrialisation, 1924-7 46
2 The Triumph of Rapid Industrialisation,
October i 927"" September 1929 55
(a) The Expansion of Industry 55
(b) The Breakdown of the New Economic Policy 60
(c) The Socialist Offensive 75
(d) The Industrial Economy, Summer 1929 80
3 The Social Context, 1929-30 95
(a) The Socialist Offensive Renewed 95
(b) The Specialists 1 10
(c) The Workers 125
(d) The Party 134
4 The Intellectual Framework, 1 929-30 139
vii
viii Contents
5 Economic Doctrines in Transition,
I 9 2 9_3° 154
(a) Political Economy and Economic Theory 155
(b) The Transition from NEP to Socialism 162
(c) Money and Socialism 1 73
6 Plans for a Heroic Age, 1929-30 179
(a) The Control Figures for 1929/30 179
(b) The Transformation of the Five-Year Plan 187
(i) The plan as a whole 187
(ii) The fuel industries 195
(iii) Iron and steel 197
(iv) The engineering industries 208
(v) Major projects under stress 212
(vi) ‘Giants and dwarfs’: the scale of
production 220
(vii) Specialisation by product and com-
ponent 222
(c) The General Plan 225
7 Progress and Turmoil in the Industrial
Economy, October 1929-MAY 1930 232
(a) The Impact of the World Economic Crisis 232
(b) The Framework of Central Power 234
(c) The Advance of Industrialisation 244
(d) The Management of Labour 251
(i) The nepreryvka and multi-shift working 252
(ii) Socialist emulation 256
(iii) Production collectives and production
communes 261
(iv) Output norms and wages 267
(v) Workers’ participation 272
(vi) Control over labour 278
(e) Internal Trade and Rationing 283
(i) Retail trade 283
(ii) Rationing 289
(iii) Retail prices 300
(iv) The peasant market 303
(v) Real wages and living standards 304
(f) Financial Controls 310
(i) Finance and planning 310
Contents
(ii) Cost reduction under strain
(iii) Khozraschet under threat
(iv) The decline of financial controls
(v) The unified financial plan
(vi) The credit reform
8 The xvi Party Congress, June 26-July 13,
1930
9 The Industrial Economy in Disorder,
June-September 1930
(a) Five Sectors in Crisis
(i) Industry
(ii) Railway transport
(iii) Construction
(iv) Finance
(v) Internal trade
(b) Deficits and Bottlenecks
(i) The labour shortage
(ii) The problem of full capacity
(iii) Raw materials in deficit
(c) Causes of Economic Disorder
10 The Economic Year 1929/30 in Retrospect
(a) Capital Investment
(b) Industrial Production
(c) Finance and Internal Trade
(d) Foreign Trade
11 The Special Quarter: October-December
1930
(a) Two Roads to Socialism
(b) Wreckers on Trial
(c) The Syrtsov-Lominadze Affair
(d) The Upheaval in Economic Administration
(e) Workers Under Pressure
(f) Tightening the Financial Screw
(g) Results
(h) The December Plenum
12 The Armaments Industries, 1929-30
Contents
X
13 Conclusions 456
(a) Effects of the Revolution 456
(b) The Industrialisation Drive, 1927—9 458
(c) Accelerated Industrialisation, 1929-30 467
(d) Industrialisation and the Economic System,
1929-30 477
Tables 487
Glossary of Russian Terms and Abbreviations used in Text 541
Abbreviations of Titles of Books and Periodical Publications,
etc., used in Footnotes 549
Bibliography 55 1
Name Index 571
Subject Index 579