soldiers had been poorly supplied during crimean war, production of arms and unifrom was inadequate. reflection of the way the economy was organised and that Russia was slow to industrialise. led to protomanegement of the economy. Reutern adopted an approach that revolved around conitnued railway construction and investment of forign investment capital.
russo japanese conflct revealed the serious communication and transport weaknesses. transiberian railway which was still unfinished had failed to solve the problem of getting troops and supplies to war zones quickly. further investment in transport and industry
state capitalism involved the state taking complete control of the economy until it could be safely handed over to the prolatariat. through war communism there was a nationalisation of all enterprise that employed over 10 workers. The Supreme Economic Council struggled to coope wih all of this. the civil war led to industrial output falling. inflation in 1920 led to the rouble only being 1% of its value in 1917. NEP involved denationalisation of enterprise and a retun to private ownership. continuation of state control of heavy industry. return to encouragement of foreign trade.
victory against nazi germany seemed to justify stalins approach to economy. revolved around 5 year plans. state controlled and centralised planning.
continued with 5 year plans as he desired to catch up with the west. to compete with american super power. to maintain support of people there wa smore diversfication of whta could be produced. focus on consumer goods eg 1955-66 no of washing machines increased 1-77 per thousand people.
army had been recruited from serfs who were not professionally trained like france and britain. serfs were also inclined to revolt and not be as commited. no longer tied to land after emancipation
stolypin revamped the government policy over land distribution, wager on the strong. could buy land on favurable terms from PLB and consoliate small holdings as a concession after the war.
land distribution issues whihc were a large concern were not addressed. summer 1917 there was widespread take over of landed estates. PG refused to authorise it so the peasants simply took it.
major feature of war communism was grain requositioning. end of civil war led to NEP which denationalised small enterprise. October Rev and Civil war
WW2 no real change. continued focus on economic autarky. policy of collectivisation. supposed to lead to the peasants working together to feed the growing urban prolatariat.
cold war led to an improved focus on food supplies. maintaining support for communism. 1954 introduced Virign Land Campaign. increase land that could be cultivated. use of virgin soil was flawed. nor rotated enough. 1963 there was a significant fall in grain production. new incentives like electricity to rural areas.
'new work discipline' introduced strict rules and regualtions that ensured workers were safe and efficient. this was an attempt to attract more people to industry after the crimean war defeat
focused continued to be on industry. 1914 statutory holidays had been introduced and working hours reduced to 9-10 hours a day. Can be seen as a concession after the revolution
workers demanded an 8 hour day and were ignored. continuation of war resulted in food shortages, inflation and demonstrations. workers commitees clamped down on which contradicts their liberal policy eg July Day protests. rampant inflation, prices rose by 400% by 1917
state took on higher levels of control than under the tsar eg high levels of economic control through war communism. high levels of repression used immediately after the October Rev 1917. as the bolsheviks started to win the civil war, some concessions were made eg introduction of NEP. this had a short term impact as there was continued control of heavy industry. RABKRIN ( peasants and workers inspectorate) was introduced in 1920 but was seen as backwards as it was simply a discussion group rather than enforcing law.
vistry against nazi germany justified his approach to economy which revolved arounf the 5 year plans. a bonus scheme was used and there continued to be fines and purges.
cold war improved working conditions due to a desire to maintain communism adn compete with the west. piece rate paymenst were abandoned and by 1954 wages started to reach the levels of the 1920s again. 1958 the working day was 7 hours.