National economy of the USSR development of production capacities. "national economy of the USSR. Economic construction in the USSR

Development of the USSR economy in the pre-war period

Note 1

At the beginning of the Second World War, the national economy of the Soviet Union had a thriving agriculture, strong industrial capacities, and large labor resources. The USSR ranked first in reserves of oil, coal and other natural resources, which gave it enormous advantages for industrial development. One of the leading tasks of the party was the development of the country's fuel and energy complex. The USSR was 2-3 times faster than other countries in terms of production growth in this industry; such production volumes gave impetus to the development of other industries.

Another industry to which the party assigned a special role was mechanical engineering, since it played a decisive role in the technical re-equipment of the country. Agriculture in the country developed at a rapid pace; throughout the country there were about 240 thousand collective farms and 4 thousand state farms. The transport industry grew rapidly, primarily railways, which accounted for 85% of all freight turnover. Communications was an important industry in the pre-war years. By 1940, the Soviet Union had established telephone communication with all states, increased the number of post offices to 50 thousand.

Budget expenditures on the defense industry in last years pre-war period increased six times compared to 1930. Are common capital investments into the economy of the USSR in pre-war years(1938-1941) amounted to more than 17 billion rubles, which is more than twice as much as in the first five-year plan.

During the Great Patriotic War, about 27 million people died, and the famine that lasted until 1947 claimed the lives of another 0.8 million people. In a short time, many sectors of the national economy and destroyed cities and villages were restored. After the war, the restructuring of the national economy began from a military-industrial to a civilian one. During the Fourth Five-Year Plan, about 6 thousand were built. large industrial enterprises, labor productivity increased by 25%. The technical re-equipment of enterprises took place mainly due to equipment received from Germany.

The pre-war level of agricultural production was achieved only 10 years later; the main emphasis was on industrial development. The state helped collective farmers only by supplying agricultural machinery, for which they had to pay the state in agricultural products, which were also subject to high taxes. The transport industry was also slowly recovering. However, the construction of major railways was suspended until 1950.

The standard of living of the urban population increased slightly - industrial and food products were no longer distributed through the card system, students began to receive scholarships, socially vulnerable segments of the population received benefits, all this was achieved at the expense of rural population.

Features of the national economy of the USSR during the Cold War

The confrontation between socialism and capitalism began immediately after the end of the Second World War. The two superpowers of the USA and the USSR entered into disputes on almost all issues arising on the world stage.

Industry. As before, in the USSR the dominant role was assigned to industry, and in 1953 G.M. Malenkov proposed industrial management reforms, the essence of which was priority support for the light and food industries, which caused violent discontent among the leaders of heavy industry enterprises and became the reason for Malenkov’s removal. In those years, N.S. was at the helm. Khrushchev. He attempted to transform ministries into economic councils to move from a sectoral type of control to a territorial one; over time, this led to difficulties in communication and management.

In the 1960s, the pace of industrial development and economic development states as a whole began to decline. In 1965, ministries were again formed. From 1966 to 1970 (Eighth Five-Year Plan) volume industrial production increased by 1.5 times, and by the beginning of the 70s it began to decline again, which was caused by the lack of introduction of new technologies and the extensive growth of production in recent years. In the early 80s, the emphasis was placed on the extraction of minerals and the USSR brought about 10% of world oil and gas production, so the government hooked the country on the “oil needle.”

Agriculture. This industry also experienced reforms under Khrushchev's rule. Taxes collected from peasants were reduced, and the state continued to increase the supply of agricultural equipment to villages. In the early 50s, all efforts were devoted to the development of virgin lands in western Siberia and Kazakhstan - about 300 thousand people and a lot of new agricultural equipment were sent. At first, the virgin lands brought a good harvest, but by the end of the 50s, due to soil erosion and climatic conditions, the harvest began to fall. In order to increase the yield, the area under corn was expanded. In the early 60s, the food problem reappeared. The government tried to solve it by increasing prices for livestock products, which caused violent discontent among urban citizens.

Social sphere. By the mid-50s, the party began to pay more attention to the social sphere: tuition fees at universities and schools were abolished, pensions were doubled, and the stage of widespread housing construction began.

The science. Science developed rapidly during the Cold War. Competition with the West led to the emergence of nuclear energy; in 1953, the first hydrogen bomb was tested. Later, the first nuclear power plants, an icebreaker, submarines, and the first passenger jet appeared.

Note 2

The national economy of the USSR throughout its existence Soviet state experienced ups and downs. This was due, first of all, to the heterogeneity of the country’s development in different political periods. Directives and reforms did not always have an effect, and the country's government was often guided by its own interests when making decisions (especially during the Cold War).

The restructuring of the entire life of the country on a military basis began from the first days of the war; on June 23, 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command was formed, designed to exercise the highest strategic leadership of the Armed Forces.

On June 29, 1941, a Directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was adopted to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions, which clearly spoke of the danger looming over our country and outlined a number of priority tasks for restructuring the economy on a war footing. To mobilize all the forces and resources of the country to fight the Nazi aggressor, it was necessary to create other bodies government controlled. This form of organization of power in military conditions was found in the person of the State Defense Committee, created on June 30, 1941 under the chairmanship of I.V. Stalin. It also included V. M. Molotov, L. P. Beria, K. E. Voroshilov, G. M. Malenkov and others. All power in the state was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee: all citizens, party and Soviet, Komsomol and military authorities were obliged to unquestioningly carry out the decisions and orders of the State Defense Committee. In order to further concentrate power, the State Defense Committee of the USSR in the fall of 1941 established local emergency authorities - city defense committees - in more than 60 cities along the front line. They were headed by the first secretaries of regional or city party committees. City defense committees quickly supervised the mobilization of the population and material resources for the construction of defensive lines, the creation of a people's militia, and organized the repurposing of local enterprises for the production of weapons and military equipment.

Speaking about the State Defense Committee, it should be emphasized that a similar form of organization of power already existed in the Soviet state. A kind of prototype of the State Defense Committee was the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense created during the Civil War and foreign intervention.

However, emergency authorities during the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War differed significantly. The main feature of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was that it did not replace party, government and military bodies. Fundamental issues of conducting an armed war were considered at the same time at the Politburo and the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee, at meetings of the Council of People's Commissars.

During the Great Patriotic War, no plenums, much less party congresses, were held; all cardinal issues were resolved by the State Defense Committee (GKO).

Operational issues, as a rule, were considered solely by its chairman or individual members. A characteristic feature of the work of the State Defense Committee was the fact that even the most important problems of state life and military development were often resolved by means of a survey. This approach often led to subjectivity, but in the current situation it turned out to be inevitable. It is known that during the war, Stalin occupied a number of important party, state and military posts. He was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, and headed the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.

In the emergency conditions of war, the result of strict centralization was the prompt and specific solution of practical issues. Every day they arose in dozens, hundreds, requiring coordination and clarification. The scale of the activities of the State Defense Committee can be judged by the fact that during its existence (from June 30, 1941 to September 4, 1945) it adopted about 10 thousand resolutions and decisions. About 2/3 of them related in one way or another to the economy and organization of military production.

The resolutions and orders of the State Defense Committee had the force of wartime law and were subject to unquestioning implementation. The State Defense Committee directly supervised the creation of the military economy, its development, the strengthening of the Armed Forces, and coordinated the needs of the active armies and navy with the capabilities of industry. This contributed to the most complete and expedient use of the military industry in the interests of victory. To quickly resolve issues, special committees and commissions were formed under the State Defense Committee.

The formation of the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters made corresponding changes to the practice of work of party and Soviet bodies that had developed in peaceful conditions. From the subordination of the Council of People's Commissars, everything that was directly related to the conduct of the war was allocated: the military economy, and above all military production, strengthening and supplying the Armed Forces and, finally, the leadership of military operations. The People's Commissariats of Defense, the Navy, the People's Commissariats of the Defense Industry and many other departments and departments that were directly related to the conduct of the war came under the jurisdiction of the State Defense Committee and Headquarters. Under these conditions, the Council of People's Commissars focused its attention on those sectors that were not directly related to military production, in particular on the management of agricultural production.

An emergency form of party leadership was also introduced in the Armed Forces. It became the Institute of Military Commissars. Simultaneously with the creation of the institution of military commissars, the Party Central Committee reorganized the army and navy bodies of political propaganda into political departments, which supervised both organizational-party and political-mass work. With the beginning of the war, the importance of military councils among the troops increased. In the first six months, 10 military councils of the fronts and about 30 military councils of the armies were created. They included a large number of experienced workers, major party and government figures.

From the first days of the war, another emergency institution was expanded - the institution of party organizers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, as well as party organizers of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the union republics, regional committees, regional committees at the most important enterprises. Party organizers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were appointed to all military factories and defense industry enterprises, and party organizers of the Central Committee of parties of the union republics, regional committees, and regional committees were appointed to smaller ones. Party organizers were also secretaries of factory party organizations and maintained their direct connection with the Party Central Committee and local organizations. This system of emergency bodies of the party leadership of the economy was supplemented by the political departments of machine and tractor stations and state farms created in November 1941. Thanks to all these measures, the national economy of our country was able to overcome the difficulties of military restructuring and, in general, provided the front with everything necessary. At the same time, the parallel existence of people's commissariats, local Soviet bodies and party structures for managing the national economy sometimes led to mistakes and incompetent decisions.

An important part of perestroika was the redistribution of party forces from rear organizations to the military, as a result of which a significant number of communists switched to military work. Prominent party workers with extensive experience in organizational and mass political work were sent to lead military work in the active army. As a result, in the initial period of the war, more than 500 secretaries of the Central Committee of parties of the union republics, regional and regional committees, city committees, and district committees were sent to the army and navy. In total, during the Great Patriotic War, about 14 thousand senior personnel were mobilized into the Armed Forces.

One of the main tasks that had to be solved from the first days of the war was fastest translation the national economy, the entire economy of the country on a war footing. The main line of this restructuring was determined in the Directive of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated June 29, 1941. Specific measures to restructure the national economy began to be implemented from the first days of the war. On the second day of the war, a mobilization plan for the production of ammunition and cartridges was introduced. And on June 30, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR approved the mobilization national economic plan for the third quarter of 1941. However, events at the front developed so unsuccessfully for us that this plan was not fulfilled. Taking into account the current situation, on July 4, 1941, a decision was made to urgently develop a new plan for the development of military production. The commission, headed by First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR N.A. Voznesensky, was tasked with developing “a military-economic plan for ensuring the country’s defense, bearing in mind the use of resources and enterprises located on the Volga, Western Siberia and the Urals.” In two weeks, this commission developed a new plan for the fourth quarter of 1941 and for 1942 for the regions of the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

For the speedy deployment of a production base in the regions of the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, it was considered necessary to transfer the industrial enterprises of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, the People's Commissariat of Armaments, the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry, etc. to these areas.

Members of the Politburo, who were at the same time members of the State Defense Committee, exercised general management of the main branches of the military economy. The production of weapons and ammunition was dealt with by N.A. Voznesensky, aircraft and aircraft engines - G.M. Malenkov, tanks - V.M. Molotov, food, fuel and clothing - A.I. Mikoyan and others. The industrial people's commissariats were headed by: A. I. Shakhurin - aviation industry, B. L. Vannikov - ammunition, I. F. Tevosyan - ferrous metallurgy, A. I. Efremov - machine tool industry, V. V. Vakhrushev - coal, I. I. Sedin - oil .

The main link in the transition of the national economy to a war footing was the restructuring of industry. The transfer of industry to a military footing meant a radical restructuring of the entire process of social production, a change in its direction and proportions. Almost all mechanical engineering was transferred to a war footing. In November 1941, the People's Commissariat of General Engineering was transformed into the People's Commissariat of Mortar Weapons. In addition to the People's Commissariats of the aviation industry, shipbuilding, weapons and ammunition created before the war, two People's Commissariats were formed at the beginning of the war - for the tank and mortar industries. Thanks to this, all decisive branches of the military industry received specialized centralized control. The production of rocket launchers began, which existed before the war only in prototypes. Their production was organized at the Moscow Kompressor plant. The first missile combat installation was given the name "Katyusha" by front-line soldiers.

At the beginning of the war, a change was made in the distribution of food resources. Significant food supplies were lost during the hostilities. The available resources were directed primarily to supply the Red Army and provide for the population of industrial areas. A card system was introduced in the country.

Military restructuring required centralized redistribution labor resources countries. If at the beginning of 1941 there were more than 31 million workers and employees in the country, then by the end of 1941 their number had decreased to 18.5 million people. In order to provide personnel for the military industry and related industries, it was necessary to rationally distribute the remaining labor resources and involve new layers of the population in production. For these purposes, already on June 30, 1941, the Committee for the Distribution of Labor was formed under the Council of People's Commissars.

At the same time, mandatory overtime was introduced and vacations were cancelled. This made it possible to increase production capacity utilization by approximately a third without increasing the number of workers and employees. In July 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR granted the right to the union and autonomous republics, executive committees of regional and regional Soviets, if necessary, to transfer workers and employees to work at other enterprises, regardless of their departmental affiliation and territorial location. This allowed local authorities to more quickly maneuver personnel in the interests of strengthening defense industries.

Thanks to this, by the second half of 1941 it was possible to do a lot of work on the redistribution of personnel. As a result, by January 1942, more than 120 thousand additional people were sent to the defense industry.

At the same time, the process of training workers through the system of labor reserves was actively carried out. In just two years, about 1,100 thousand people were trained through this system to work in industry.

For the same purposes, in February 1942, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the mobilization of the able-bodied urban population to work in production and construction during wartime” was adopted, which provided for appropriate mobilization. In the very first days of the war, a decision was made to reorganize the work of scientific institutions of the USSR Academy of Sciences, subordinating their activities to the interests of strengthening the defense capability of the state. During perestroika, the Academy of Sciences solved three interrelated tasks: 1) development of scientific problems of defense significance; 2) scientific assistance to industry in improving and mastering production and 3) mobilizing the country’s raw materials resources, replacing scarce materials with local raw materials, organizing scientific research on the most pressing issues for wartime.

Thus, the redistribution of the country's material, financial and labor resources carried out from the very beginning of the war played a decisive role in the restructuring of the entire national economy on a war footing. The change in national economic proportions and the transfer of all forces and means to serving the front laid a solid foundation for the creation of a coherent economy in war conditions. During the restructuring of the national economy, the eastern industrial base became the main center of the military economy of the USSR, which was significantly expanded and strengthened at the beginning of the war.

In 1942, military production in the Urals increased by more than 6 times compared to 1940, in Western Siberia by 27 times, and in the Volga region by 9 times. In general, during the war, industrial production in these areas increased more than 3 times. This was a great military-economic victory achieved by the Soviet people during difficult war years. It laid solid foundations for the final victory over Nazi Germany.

With the outbreak of the war, in the conditions of unfavorable developments of military events, the rapid evacuation of the population, industrial enterprises, agricultural products, cultural and other state values ​​from the front-line areas to the interior of the country was the most important political, military-economic problem facing the Soviet people. The memoirs of A. I. Mikoyan, who was a member of the State Defense Committee during the war, provide interesting information on this matter: “Two days after the start of the war... the question arose about the need to manage the evacuation from the front line. We have never had the idea of ​​organizing a body with such functions before did not arise... It became clear that the evacuation was taking on a huge scale. It was impossible to evacuate everything, there was not enough time or transport, we had to literally choose on the fly what was in the interests of the state to evacuate...” (Military History Magazine. 1988. No. 3. pp. 31–38). In the complex of these problems, the fastest removal and rescue of millions of Soviet people from physical destruction was one of the top priorities.

Completing such a complex task required enormous effort. The decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated June 27, 1941 “On the procedure for the removal and placement of human contingents and valuable property” defined specific tasks and the order of evacuation. In addition to this, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, on July 5, 1941, made a decision on the procedure for evacuation of the population in wartime and on the removal of workers and employees of evacuated enterprises. Plans were developed for the evacuation of people from the front line, indicating resettlement points, timing, order and priority of removal.

The government decision approved the “Regulations on the evacuation point for the evacuation of civilians from the front line.” Evacuation centers created locally took care of the evacuated population, kept records of arrivals, etc. Departments for evacuation of the population were created under the Councils of People's Commissars of the Union Republics, regional executive committees and regional executive committees. By decision of the government, children's institutions, women with children and elderly people were exported first. By January 1942, 10 million people were transported into the interior of the country by rail alone (World War II. General problems. Book 1, p. 74).

Great difficulties arose with the evacuation of the population in areas caught in the war zone. These included the republics located in the Baltic states, the western regions of Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, and Karelia.

At the beginning of the war, the population was also evacuated from Moscow and Leningrad. The scale of this work is evidenced by the following facts: in the fall of 1941, 1.5 million people were evacuated from Moscow alone, and from Leningrad from January 22, 1942 to April 15, 1942 - more than 55 thousand people. This was the most difficult period of evacuation. In general, during the war, including the period of the siege, about 2 million people were evacuated from Leningrad.

As a result of the successful evacuation, by the spring of 1942, up to 8 million evacuees were located in the eastern regions of the country. By this time, the main wave of evacuation had subsided.

However, this situation did not last long. In the summer of 1942, in connection with the breakthrough of Nazi troops into the North Caucasus, the problem of mass evacuation of the population again became acute. This time the evacuation was carried out mainly from the central and southern regions of the European part of the USSR. In July 1942, the evacuation of the population from the Voronezh, Voroshilovgrad, Oryol, Rostov, and Stalingrad regions and the Stavropol and Krasnodar territories began.

The Soviet government showed great concern for creating material and living conditions for the evacuated population. In the state budget for the fourth quarter of 1941, 200 billion rubles were allocated for housing construction. In wartime conditions, these were large funds. Workers and employees of evacuated enterprises were provided long-term loan for individual housing construction.

During the evacuees' stay in new places, the local population surrounded them with care and attention. Needy families were given benefits, clothing and shoes were provided. Many agricultural associations organized courses to train evacuees in various agricultural professions.

The fraternal friendship of the Soviet peoples manifested itself during the evacuation, in the employment of the evacuated population, and in the adoption of children whose parents had died. In less than a year of war, by May 1, 1942, up to 2 thousand orphaned children were adopted by the working people of Kazakhstan alone. A public movement to help evacuated children has developed widely in Uzbekistan. Thousands of children - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and other nationalities - were taken into Uzbek families for education. The evacuated children felt great in the families that sheltered them. They spoke not only Russian, but also learned to speak Uzbek. At large agricultural artels, orphanages were created, the maintenance of which was taken over entirely by the collective farms.

As a result of the evacuation, millions of Soviet people were saved from physical extermination by the fascist invaders.

The evacuation of the population, industrial enterprises, agricultural products and cultural values ​​in different economic regions took place in different terms, depending on the position on the fronts. The specific conditions of the military situation required evacuation to be carried out twice: the first time - in the summer and autumn of 1941, the second time - in the summer and autumn of 1942. The evacuation of 1941 was the most massive.

Without dwelling in detail on the evacuation of industry, I would only like to note the following. During the war, more than 2 thousand industrial enterprises were evacuated to the eastern regions. Almost 70% of them were located in the Urals, Western Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The transfer of industry to the rear made it possible not only to preserve the main production assets, but also gradually increase them, meeting the growing needs of the front.

The evacuation of the population, industry, food and raw materials carried out by the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War, and the export of cultural values ​​to the rear contributed to the speedy restructuring of the entire national economy of the country on a war footing and the approach of victory. As the outstanding Soviet commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov noted: “It was an incomparable labor epic, without which our victory over the strongest enemy would have been absolutely impossible.”

The Russian Revolution of 1917, both its February and especially its October stages, changed the historical course of the country and led to radical changes in the socio-economic organization with very far-reaching consequences for both the country and the world. The coming to power of the Bolsheviks meant a change in the social system, declared by the new government as the construction of socialism. In accordance with the ideological postulates of socialist transformations, actions of historical significance were adopted and carried out. In the first days Soviet power workers' control was legally established at enterprises, which was the beginning of their subsequent nationalization.

One of the first historical decisions of the Council of People's Commissars was the decree “On Land”, according to which private ownership of land was abolished and the land holdings of landowners were nationalized. The peasants received the land for eternal use. According to the decree, the land was divided according to the communal principle - either by the number of workers in the family, or by the number of eaters. At the same time, measures were taken to create collective farms (communes). But the principles of equalization and the irresponsibility they caused made them unviable.

Socialism is associated with the introduction of centralized management of society and the economy, with the formation of state socio-economic policy. Already in December 1917, the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh), consisting of sectoral committees, was created. The nationalization of large industry and banks began. The first bank transferred to the state administration was the Russian National Bank, renamed People's Bank. A state monopoly on banking activities was introduced.

In 1918 nationalization of transport was carried out - railways, sea and river fleets. In April 1918, nationalization was announced foreign trade, a monopoly on foreign economic activity has been established. In June 1918, large industry (with capital over 1 million rubles) was nationalized by decree.

The main problem of Soviet power in the early years was the fight against devastation and hunger. In order to provide the cities with food, and above all Moscow and Petrograd, armed detachments of workers (food detachments) were sent to the villages in order to confiscate surplus grain from the villagers. In the villages they were helped by the created Committees of the Poor (Committees of the Poor).

The devastation caused by the Civil War and sabotage by enemies of Soviet power led to the shutdown of most enterprises, and transport was in a difficult situation. Handicraft small-scale production became the predominant form of farming. Agriculture suffered greatly: by the end of the Civil War, sown areas were halved, and yields were reduced by three times. In the country, since 1919, a regime of “war communism” was forced to be established, when trade exchange was replaced by surplus appropriation - the direct withdrawal of food products, sometimes with compensation for essential goods (soap, kerosene, salt, fabrics). War communism led to complete centralization of control, economic methods did not play a role. One of the decisions of the new regime was the introduction of universal labor service in the spirit of the ideology of the struggle against bourgeois elements. Financial problems were also solved by emergency measures: emergency taxes were introduced on the bourgeoisie, money issue, which led to inflation (the ruble exchange rate by 1920 fell 13,000 times relative to 1913). The naturalization of the economy took place.

After the end of the Civil War, a gradual economic recovery began. In February 1920, the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO) was created. At the insistence of V.I. Lenin adopted a plan for the electrification of the country, designed for 10 years; in fact, it was the first plan for the industrialization of Russia based on electrification; it became one of the epoch-making achievements of Soviet power. According to the GOELRO plan, it was planned to build 30 large power plants with a total capacity of 1.5 million kW over 10 years. The volume of output of heavy industry products was supposed to be doubled, light industry - threefold. The electrification plan was carried out with honor, Russia embarked on the path of accelerated industrialization of its economy.

Another historical action of the Soviet government was the transition from the policy of war communism to the New Economic Policy (NEP): the surplus appropriation system was replaced by a tax in kind, which covered only 20% of agricultural products. In order to overcome the shortage of goods, small private enterprises with up to 20 workers were allowed, leasing and concession of state-owned enterprises were allowed, and mixed joint stock companies with the participation of private capital, commodity-money relations were restored. These measures went against the ideology of socialism and caused the growth of petty-bourgeoisism, as orthodox communists believed. We must pay tribute to Lenin’s foresight, who insisted on introducing the NEP. Today it is already clear that the liquidation of small private enterprise at the end of the 20s became one of the major failures of the economic policy of the Soviet government.

The NEP revived the economic life of the country, made it possible to saturate the market with consumer goods and food, gave impetus to the development of the Russian economy, which made it possible to overcome the economic devastation and famine of 1921; already in 1922 the rationing system of food supply was abolished. By 1926-1927 The Soviet economy reached pre-war levels. There was growth in the private sector, its share in light industry by this time it was 65%. Foreign capital predominated in the mining industry; concessions produced up to 30% of gold, 60% of silver, 85% of manganese ore. American capital played an active role in the development of the country's industry: an autonomous industrial colony - AIK - was created in Kuzbass, and the Russian-American Industrial Corporation was created in Moscow and Petrograd.

Small handicraft production remained the main sector in light industry, employing two-thirds of industrial workers. Trade and the financial sector developed especially rapidly. In 1923-1924. A very successful monetary reform was carried out: the devalued old rubles were replaced by chervonets, backed 25% by gold and 75% by goods and bills. New money was freely exchanged for foreign currency, and the convertibility of the ruble was ensured. Was created banking system: Along with the State Bank, joint-stock and cooperative banks, mutual credit societies, and Sberbank functioned. By 1926, there were 61 independent banks in the country.

At the same time, it developed government sector national economy, the centralization of management was strengthened. Back in 1921, a state planning commission (Gosplan) was organized. Since 1927, five-year plans for the development of the national economy of the USSR began to be developed. The government set a course for accelerated industrialization. Five-year plans have become a very effective form of economic management. In the management structure there was a transition from central administrations to a syndicate, and self-financing developed. By the beginning of the 30s, a centralized system of national economic management had been formed in the USSR. The Supreme Economic Council was transformed into People's Commissariats (People's Commissariats) for the most important industries: first - heavy, light and forestry industries, and then sectoral ministries became the predominant bodies for managing the national economy of the country (in 1939 their number increased to 34) Cost accounting as a system was eliminated housekeeping. In the USSR, the planned administrative system of the economy prevailed.

The strategy for accelerated industrialization of the country in the current conditions was historically justified and was implemented in the form of intense five-year plans. The first five-year plan (1927-1932) laid the foundations of the industrial economy in the country: 1.5 thousand industrial enterprises were built, among them such as Uralmash, Dneproges, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Gorky Automobile Plant, Kharkov and Stalingrad Tractor Plants, etc. Iron smelting reached 6 million tons, 2 times more than in 1913, 13.5 billion kW of electricity was produced. hour. (3 times higher than 1913), 65 million tons of coal were produced. Entire branches of industrial production were created almost anew: automobile, agricultural, and tank construction, the aviation industry, and machine tool manufacturing. The mechanization of the national economy was carried out at a high rate, and the chemical industry grew. Gross industrial output increased in 1932 compared to 1913 by 2.67 times, while heavy industry output increased by 4.24 times, and light industry output by only 1.87 times. The USSR avoided the global economic crisis of 1929-1930, taking advantage of a favorable situation - lower prices for machinery and equipment, and carried out massive purchases of equipment.

During the first five-year plan, widespread collectivization was carried out in the country's agriculture. Essentially, individual farming was eliminated (except for the farmstead), peasants were united into collective farms (collective farms) and state farms. The very idea of ​​cooperation in the countryside, put forward by Lenin, did not contradict peasant interests; it was considered as a form of collective (community) cooperation and mutual assistance; joint ownership of mills, threshers, tractors and combines was envisaged, while individual land holdings were preserved.

However, starting in 1930, collectivization was carried out forcefully, using coercive methods, with the eviction of wealthy peasants (kulaks) to remote areas with the confiscation of their property, and 1.1 million farms were subject to dispossession. Violent methods caused peasant protests, including armed resistance. The result of complete collectivization was a drop in agricultural production by a quarter, livestock farming was undermined: the number of livestock decreased from 60 million heads in 1928 to 33.6 million heads in 1933, horses - from 32 to 14.9 million heads, respectively, pigs - from 22 to 9.9 million heads, sheep and goats - from 97.3 to 32.9 heads. Exorbitant grain procurements caused mass famine in the country (“Holodomor”), especially in the southern, quite fertile regions (North Caucasus, Ukraine, Black Earth Region). Since 1928, the food rationing system was reintroduced in the country, which was abolished only in 1935.

By 1940, collective and state farms had become the dominant form of farming, employing 93% of the country's peasants and owning 99% of the sown area. Together with hem farmsteads, possessing only 1% of arable land, provided 28% of agricultural products, including meat - 26%, milk - 27, eggs and vegetables - 29, fruits and berries - 54, potatoes - 58%.

Collectivization caused enormous damage to the country's economy and, above all, to agriculture, depriving it of the most productive part of the peasantry. Collective farms turned out to be an ineffective form of farming and subsequently self-liquidated in the new Russia.

The widespread mechanization of agricultural work should be recognized as a positive achievement of collectivization. By the end of the first five-year plan, there were 150 thousand tractors, in 1940 - 531 thousand, they became the main draft force in the countryside, combines - 182 thousand, cars - 228 thousand. Machine and tractor stations (MTS) played a major role in the mechanization of labor. The marketability of agricultural production increased to 36%. The negative phenomena of collectivization have been overcome.

The second five-year plan (1932-1937) and the third, interrupted by the war, allowed the USSR to become one of the world's economic leaders. The country's economic independence and its defense capability were ensured. The USSR turned from an agrarian-industrial to an industrial-afar country. Its industrial potential has increased significantly: 4,500 industrial enterprises have come into operation. In 1940, 14.9 million tons of iron and 18.3 million tons of steel were smelted, 166 million tons of coal were mined, 31.1 million tons of oil were produced, and 48.3 billion kWh were produced. electricity, 31.6 thousand tractors and 136 thousand trucks were produced, and changes occurred in agriculture (see Tables 1.1. and 1.2).

Economic dynamics of Russia and the USSR for 1913-1940.

Table 1.1.

The national income more than doubled, and the wage fund of workers and employees grew (2.5 times) and the income of collective farms (3 times). The well-being of the country's workers and the commodity supply of the population have increased. In the third five-year plan (1938-1942), the emphasis in the industrialization of the country was placed on the accelerated development of military production - primarily new models of tanks and aircraft. The threat of war forced the relocation of industrial potential to the eastern regions rich in natural resources.

Table 1.2.

Growth of livestock in Russia and the USSR

It should be recognized that the pre-war five-year plans turned the country into a strong world power. The USSR took first place in Europe and second in the world after the SSL. This was a historical feat of our people, which allowed the country to resist the aggression of German imperialism, protecting itself and other peoples from enslavement. This fact cannot be diminished by references to the failure to fulfill the five-year plans and even by the recognition of mass repressions during the reign of Stalin.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 became a huge test for the country's economy, its socio-political system as a whole, and for the national spirit of the Soviet people. From the first days of the war, there was an urgent need to transfer industry to a war footing and to sharply increase the volume of military production, especially new tanks and aircraft. The threat of occupation of a significant territory of the country, on which a third of the industrial potential was located, required the relocation of plants and factories to the eastern regions, which was carried out as soon as possible. In total, 1,523 enterprises and 10 million people were transported to the rear.

Another enormous task was resolved in the shortest possible time - the evacuated enterprises were put into operation and mass production of military equipment and equipment was organized. During the war years, the output of military products increased 2.5 times, and tanks and aircraft - 3 times. In these types of equipment, the USSR surpassed not only Germany, but also the SSL and Great Britain. 125.6 thousand aircraft, 102.5 thousand tanks, 500 thousand were produced. artillery pieces. In addition, the USSR received from the USA but Lend-Lease and other countries 22 thousand aircraft (17.5% of all domestic production), 13 thousand tanks (12.7%), 10 thousand. guns (2%) and a large number of cars - 200 thousand (32.8% of our production volume). In total, the United States provided the USSR with equipment, equipment and food worth $9.8 billion (this is about a quarter of all aid to other countries).

The war brought enormous damage to the country's economy. 1,710 cities and towns, 70 thousand villages, 32 thousand industrial enterprises, 100 thousand were destroyed. collective farms and state farms. 17 million heads of cattle, 7 million horses, 20 million pigs, 27 million sheep and goats were slaughtered or driven to Germany. The total economic damage is estimated at $375 billion. The human losses were also enormous - 27.5 million people and 18.4 million wounded and maimed. National income during the war years decreased by 26%.

Even during the war, the urgent task of restoring the national economy in the liberated territories arose. After the end of the war, a new problem arose - in the conditions of the US nuclear monopoly and the flaring up of the Cold War with the West, the USSR was faced with the need in the shortest possible time not only to restore the destroyed economy, but also to raise its industrial and scientific-technical potential to a new level. high level, eliminate America's nuclear monopoly. These problems were solved by the fourth five-year plan (1946-1950).

In 1947, a monetary reform was carried out, which made it possible to stabilize money circulation and remove counterfeit money from circulation. The food rationing system was abolished. In 1949, a reform of wholesale prices took place, and new wholesale prices for industrial products were introduced. By 1950, the national economy of the USSR was not only restored, but also surpassed its pre-war level. The volume of the national product doubled, the gross industrial output increased by 1.9 times, Agriculture- 1.6 times. The test of the first atomic bomb in the USSR (August 29, 1949) acquired historical significance - the US nuclear monopoly was eliminated.

The fifth five-year plan (1951-1955) and subsequent plans for the socio-economic USSR were also focused on the industrial development of the country, its scientific and technical potential, the rise of agriculture and raising the living standards of the people. In economic policy, there has been a turn towards the use of self-financing and the principle of material interest. Purchase prices for agricultural products were increased, taxes on personal farms were abolished, replaced by a procurement system. Retail prices for consumer goods have been reduced repeatedly.

Since 1954, widespread development of virgin lands began in Kazakhstan and Siberia, which made it possible to significantly increase grain procurement (up to 40%). In 1958, MTS, which played an important role in the life of the village, was liquidated; the equipment was sold to collective and state farms. At the end of the 50s, a management reform was carried out - a transition from a sectoral to a territorial system. Management of the regions was carried out by the Councils of the National Economy (Sovnarkhoz), which played a positive role in the development of local industry, but were liquidated in 1965. In the sixties of the 20th century, the USSR turned into a space power: thanks to the intercontinental ballistic missile created in 1957 (the famous R7 S. Korolev), the world's first satellite was launched (October 4, 1957) and the flight of a spacecraft with a person on board was carried out on April 12, 1961 (the triumphal flight of Yu. Gagarin), which became a national holiday of the country. Going into space and achieving military parity with the United States became another historical feat of our people.

During these years, mass housing construction was observed, industrial construction methods were introduced, which made it possible to reduce the severity of housing problem. Compared to 1950, housing space in cities has increased 17 times, in rural areas - 14 times.

In 1965, an economic reform began to deepen self-supporting principles of economic management, which had a positive effect on the development of the Soviet economy. Decisions were made on urgent measures to help the village: for the five-year period the plan for compulsory purchases of grain and livestock products was reduced, and purchase prices were increased. The mechanization of agricultural production continued, and the production of factors and combines increased sharply.

However, in the 70s, there was a decline in the growth rate of agricultural production, and there was a constant increase in grain imports: in 1970 it amounted to only 2.2 million tons, then in 1980 - 27.8 million tons, and in 1985 - already 44.2 million tons. In order to increase the efficiency of the agricultural sector, a number of important decisions were made: in 1974, the implementation of a long-term and large-scale program for the development of the Non-Black Earth Region began, in 1982, the USSR Food Program was adopted.

The global energy crisis of the 70s had a positive impact on the country's economy. The price of oil and petroleum products increased sharply, and the volume of their exports grew rapidly: over the decade, annual oil exports almost doubled (66.8 million tons in 1970 to 119 million tons in 1980), gas - by 16 times (from 3.3 billion cubic km to 54.2). The foreign trade turnover of the USSR during the 11th Five-Year Plan increased 6 times from 22.1 billion rubles. up to 142 billion, rub. However, negative phenomena continued to grow in the USSR economy: a drop in the growth rate of national income, a chronic shortage of consumer goods, and their low quality, which was clearly inferior to foreign goods. All this was a consequence of the refusal to carry out deep economic reforms, the delay in introducing full cost accounting, and revising prices for goods and services. The administrative-planned economy turned out to be unable to switch to an intensive path of development; the outdated mechanism was immune to innovative progress and poorly adapted to changing conditions. The country slipped into stagnation, despite the continuing growth of the economy, an urgent need arose for its deep reform.

Perestroika, which began in 1985, and the 12th Five-Year Plan did not bring fundamental changes to the economic mechanism, the country's economy was rolling along the well-worn path, and the previous course of accelerated development of means of production of inadequate quality and weapons continued. During the perestroika years, very important decisions were made: on accelerating scientific and technological progress, on individual labor activity, on cooperation, on the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism, on state enterprise(association) increasing the freedom of their activities. However, all these measures turned out to be late and ineffective. The country's economy required deeper transformations and the use of market mechanisms.

Dynamics of production of the most important types of products in the USSR for 1950-1990.

Table 1.3.

At the same time, it should be noted that during the Soviet period of history (1917-1991), the country turned into a superpower, second only to the United States in its economic and defense power, equal in scientific and technical potential, surpassing them in spiritual culture and the availability of natural resources. A powerful industrial infrastructure was created and agricultural mechanization was carried out. The volume of products produced in the USSR increased significantly (see Table 1.3). The well-being of the population increased, the country's defense capability rose to a new level - military parity with the United States was ensured. All ego allowed a number of scientists to talk about the uniqueness of Soviet civilization. Its experience was successfully used in China, which chose not to destroy the previous planned economy, but to modernize it on the basis of market economic relations, which allowed the PRC to achieve very impressive achievements in the socio-economic sphere.

This is the historically established unity of all sectors of the country’s economy, interconnected by the division of labor.

The national economy of the entire Soviet Union, each union and autonomous republic, each region and territory includes sectors of material production and sectors of the so-called non-production sphere.

The most important sectors of material production are industry, agriculture, freight transport, construction, as well as trade, public catering, procurement of agricultural products, and logistics.

Non-productive sectors - housing, consumer services and utilities (water supply, sewerage, passenger transport, etc.), healthcare, science, education, art.

A young local historian, getting acquainted with the economy of a region or district, must first of all find out what share in the economy is occupied by the sectors of material production and non-production sphere. It should be taken into account that in the sphere of material production there are industries that create means of production, tools of labor, and industries that produce consumer goods.

The national economy under socialism is based on public ownership of the means of production and on the labor of workers free from exploitation. The purpose of production in our country is to ensure the well-being and free all-round development of all members of society. This is the basic law of socialism.

In “Main directions of economic and social development USSR for 1981-1985 and for the period until 1990" it is said: "In the eighties, the Communist Party will consistently continue to implement its economic strategy, the highest goal of which is the steady rise in the material and cultural standard of living of the people, the creation better conditions for the comprehensive development of the individual on the basis of further increasing the efficiency of all social production, increasing labor productivity, and increasing the social and labor activity of Soviet people.”

Socialist competition has become a huge force in the country's economic development, which increases the consciousness of workers and mobilizes them for further development of the economy and improvement of the quality of work. That is why it is so important to identify and disseminate new, effective types of socialist competition, the most successful ways of materially stimulating the best workers.

Article 16 of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics states: “The economy of the USSR constitutes a single national economic complex, covering all levels of social production, distribution and exchange on the territory of the country.” The creation of such a unified complex is the result of long-term work on the rational distribution of productive forces. The most important principles of socialist economics were developed by the founder of the first socialist state, V. I. Lenin. They received a deeply scientific interpretation in his works: “The State and the Revolution”, “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power”, “Outline of a Plan for Scientific and Technical Work”, “On a Unified Economic Plan”, “On the Food Tax”, etc.

The planned nature of economic management is a distinctive feature of socialist management and at the same time the fundamental advantage of socialism over capitalism. The greatest merit of V.I. Lenin is that he developed a scientifically based plan for building socialism and armed the party with the correct principles for managing the national economy.

Already the first unified state plan for the development of the national economy of the Soviet Republic based on electrification, developed in 1920 on the instructions and under the leadership of V.I. Lenin by the State Commission for Electrification of Russia (GOELRO), was a long-term plan for the comprehensive economic development of the country. It reflected Lenin's ideas of electrifying the entire country and creating a large industry. V.I. Lenin called this plan the second program of the party.

Lenin’s principles of economic planning and development were embodied in the very first state five-year plan, where it was written: “The USSR cannot build and develop its national economy otherwise than by taking into full account all the natural, economic and national characteristics of its association and specializing its individual parts. Only in this way can the highest coefficient of efficiency of social labor be achieved.”

Union republics and economic regions are essentially specialized territorial national economic complexes. The rapid growth of the economy of the Union republics has led to the fact that they all now have a diversified industry and highly mechanized agriculture. An interconnected national economic complex, which includes the national economy of all republics of the Soviet Union and is developing according to a unified state plan in the interests of the entire country and each republic separately, is the economic basis of a developed socialist society.

The country's economy as a single national economic complex requires strict proportionality in the development of all its links, both territorial and sectoral.

The national economy of the USSR is a very complex complex of industries and various economic relations. For example, the industrial element of the unified national economic complex of the USSR (in the diagram - the “Industry” block) is now formed by more than 280 industries, about 30 thousand associations and enterprises. Agrarian block (“Agriculture”) - more than 47 thousand collective and state farms and 7 thousand inter-farm organizations. Construction - almost 30 thousand primary contractors.

The diagram of the structure of the national economy of the USSR indicates only the main sectors of the national economy and their most important relationships. There is no other country in the world where such huge, so diverse and planned productive forces are concentrated in the hands of the state.

When planning the development and deployment of productive forces, the fact that the economy of our country is developing in close cooperation with the economies of other socialist countries, especially members of the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) is always taken into account. Based on the principles of friendship, sovereignty and mutual benefit, the economic connections CMEA countries, plans for the development of individual industries and exchange of products are agreed upon. This helps every country to increase the pace of economic development. Today, the CMEA countries together produce about ⅓ of the world's industrial output and more than ¼ of the world's national income.

“Main directions of economic and social development of the USSR for 1981-1985 and for the period until 1990”, approved by the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, provide for the further dynamic and balanced development of the country’s economy as a single national economic complex, the proportional growth of all its sectors and the economies of the union republics, the improvement territorial division of labor. The need was emphasized to concentrate forces and resources on solving the main national economic problems, to ensure the phased implementation of targeted comprehensive programs on the most important socio-economic problems, to expand and improve economic, scientific, technical and cultural ties with foreign countries, and above all with the countries of the socialist community.

EXPLORE YOUR LOCATION

1. Find out the origin of the name of the settlement, the history of its origin and development.
2. Determine the geographical location of the settlement.
3. Describe natural conditions: climatic features, relief, geological structure, minerals, vegetation, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and their economic importance.
4. What kind of population lives in this locality (its size, composition, main occupations).
5. Collect information about people who took an active part in the establishment of Soviet power and in the life of the country during the first five-year plans, about the initiators of the Stakhanov movement, about the participation of your fellow countrymen in the Great Patriotic War, about the life of the locality in the post-war period.
6. Conduct a search on the topic “The streets of our locality are named after them.”
7. Visit the leading enterprises of your locality.

Find out when and why the enterprise arose, the main types of its products, what tasks it faces in the new five-year plan, what performance indicators it is fighting for.

One of the very noticeable events of the new leadership of the country of the USSR, headed by L.I. Brezhnev began to carry out economic reform. Its main ideologist and initiator was the Chairman of the Government A.N. Kosygin.

The first step in the transformation was the liquidation of economic councils and the restoration of the sectoral principle of managing the national economy.

The course of the new reform was aimed at expanding the economic independence of enterprises and strengthening the system of their material incentives; for this purpose, the number of mandatory planned indicators was significantly reduced. Now the leading indicator of enterprise performance was the cost indicator of products sold. This innovation stimulated enterprises to produce high-quality, competitive goods that were used in the market. Enterprises and associations were transferred to a system of economic accounting (khozraschet), which involved leaving part of the profit received at the enterprise. From it, funds for the development of the enterprise were formed, its social sphere and an employee incentive fund. The goal of the reform is to increase the level of intensification of production and, as a result, ensure sustainable growth of the economy as a whole.

Simultaneously with the economic reform in the industrial sector, the new leadership took a number of measures to bring agriculture out of the crisis, where there was a noticeable decrease in gross indicators. For the five years until 1970, a reduced plan for compulsory purchases of grain and livestock products was established while simultaneously increasing purchase prices. And for the sale of grain above the plan, farms received a premium of 50% to the basic purchase price.

Increase in purchase prices during the reforms of 1953-1954 and 1965. large-scale capital investments in the 1970s and early 1980s. ultimately did not contribute to the development of this industry. It did not meet the growing needs of the national economy, but demanded more and more investments from the state, turning into a “black hole” of the Soviet economy. It was agriculture that most clearly reflected the failure of “socialist methods of management.”

By the early 1970s. There have been significant changes in the development priorities of the third scientific and technological revolution, the main direction of which was information Technology. Only 1/5 of the inventions were introduced into the national economy. The lag in the development of scientific and technological progress occurred against the background of the final return of the leadership to previous economic practices as a result of the economic counter-reform of 1979. The strategic directions of economic policy remained traditional industries developing on the basis of a predominantly extensive method, rather than knowledge-intensive production. During these years, the USSR came out on top in the world in the production of oil, gas, steel, iron ore, mineral fertilizers, sulfuric acid, tractors, combine harvesters, etc. Due to the weak implementation of scientific and technical progress, even in traditional industries, the Soviet economy fell further and further behind. Average annual growth rate of industrial production from 8.5% in 1966-1970. decreased to 3.6% in 1981-1985, national income - from 7.2% to 2.9%. By the beginning of the 1980s, the Soviet economy entered a period of stagnation. In physical terms, production volumes in a number of industries not only did not grow, but, on the contrary, decreased. Labor productivity growth has virtually stopped.

The situation in the military-industrial complex was a little better. Despite the establishment of military-strategic parity with the United States, the arms race continued in the 1970-1980s. According to Western estimates, the military expenditures of the USSR amounted to about ½ of GDP, which was many times higher than the corresponding figures for the United States. Up to 80% of domestic mechanical engineering worked for military needs. Huge amounts of money were spent by the state to support anti-imperialist regimes around the world.

Massive exports of oil and gas brought considerable funds to ensure the growth of the standard of living of the Soviet people and maintain the fading pace of development of the national economy. Only for the 1970-1980s. annual oil exports almost doubled from 66.8 million to 119 million. tons, and gas - 16 times (from 3.3 billion to 54.2 billion m3). The expanding cooperation of socialist countries within the framework of CMEA had a positive impact on the development of the consumer goods market. As a result of the expansion of foreign economic relations, the foreign economic turnover of the USSR for 1970-1985. increased more than six times - from 22.1 billion to 142 billion rubles. This contributed to the long-term maintenance of the fading growth rates of the country's national economy during the period of stagnation and in the subsequent era of reforms. One of the formidable manifestations of the systemic crisis was suppressed inflation, which was based on the growing gap from year to year in the rate of increase in monetary incomes of the population and the fading rate of growth of the aggregate supply in the market of consumer goods and services. This problem emerged as the main one during the period of “perestroika” and in the first years of radical reforms of the transition to the market.

Domestic culture in a totalitarian society In 1946-1950, mostly educational institutions destroyed by the war were restored. The system of universal primary education was restored in a short time. Since 1952, education in the amount of 7 grades has become compulsory, and already in the mid-50s, compulsory ten-year education was introduced in capitals and large cities.

Significant changes in the field of education occurred in 1958. Instead of seven years, universal eight-year education was introduced, the transition to which was completed by 1963. During these years, in school education there was a tendency for polytechnic knowledge to predominate over general education, and an excessive increase in teaching hours for vocational training to the detriment of basic sciences. In this regard, in 1964, the period of industrial training was reduced from 3 to 2 years. The secondary school has turned from an eleven-year school into a ten-year school.

In the 60s, the system of vocational and technical education also underwent a radical transformation. FZO schools, craft, railway, construction and agricultural mechanization schools were transformed into urban and rural vocational schools with general education training.

It should be noted that during the Soviet period, successes in public education were mainly associated with collective indicators. An undoubted achievement was the elimination of illiteracy. In 1966, the transition to universal secondary education was carried out. It should be noted that education from primary to higher education was provided free of charge. By the beginning of the 80s, more than 3 million students were studying in 488 universities in Russia, and more than 2.5 million people were studying in 2,500 secondary specialized educational institutions. In terms of the number of specialists with higher and secondary education, the country occupied one of the first places in the world.

Despite all this, the quality of specialist training did not meet the world level and the requirements of scientific and technological progress. Education, especially in the field of humanities, had a truncated, one-sided and clearly ideological character. The transition to secondary general education led to a sharp decline in the level of knowledge. The compulsory nature of education developed among young people a negative attitude towards learning and the beginnings of obscurantism. The pursuit of quantitative indicators expanded the circulation of pseudo-education.

In the post-war years, the field of science, like all culture, was subjected to ideological pressure. Not only in the humanities, but also in the exact and natural sciences, which seemingly have nothing in common with ideology, the principle of loyalty to the Marxist-Leninist method came to the fore. In 1947, pogrom “discussions” on philosophy, biology, linguistics, and political economy unfolded in the country. A number of scientific areas in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology were declared ideologically incorrect, and the scientists who developed these areas were persecuted. Domestic genetics was completely destroyed, and the development of cybernetics was stopped for many years. This marked the beginning of the lag of Russian science in many basic sectors. Moreover, in a number of sciences, as was especially the case in biology, pseudoscientific ideas were propagated.

The party leadership in the post-war years placed the main emphasis in the scientific sphere on strengthening the military power of the state. The physics of the atomic nucleus and elementary particles was primarily considered a priority. The Institute of Atomic Energy and the Institute of Nuclear Problems were created. On August 29, 1949, under the leadership of I. Kurchatov, an atomic weapon was tested.

It should be said that a noticeable rise in domestic science was observed in the 50-60s. Achievements in the field of nuclear physics, rocket science and space exploration are well known. The hydrogen bomb was created, the reaction was carried out thermonuclear fusion, in 1957 the first artificial satellite was launched, and in 1961 the first manned spacecraft was launched. From this time on, active space exploration began. Theoretical developments continued. In 1957, the most powerful particle accelerator at that time, the synchrophasotron, was put into operation. Work related to the atom is concentrated at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. Developments were underway for the peaceful use of atomic energy. The world's first nuclear power plant was opened in 1954 in Obninsk.

In the 60-70s, domestic science achieved significant success in its basic sectors. The Nobel Prize for fundamental research in the field of electronics was awarded to academicians N. Basov and A. Prokhorov. Academician L. Landau was awarded the Nobel Prize for developing the theory of liquid helium. Academician A. Logunov has developed a new approach to the problem of multiple particle production at high energies. Under his leadership, the Institute of High Energy Physics was founded and a proton synchrotron was built. A group of scientists led by G. Flerov synthesized new elements of the periodic table. During these years, new branches of science were opened - solid state chemistry, solid state physics. Research in the fields of genetics and cybernetics is being resumed. The development of astronautics in these years was associated with the transition from single flights to the creation of orbital stations and the conduct of long-term near-Earth expeditions. It should be noted that this area of ​​domestic science could not withstand the unofficial competition with the United States, which was the first to land a man on the surface of the Moon and switched to the use of reusable spacecraft. It should be said that successes in science were largely due to the military-political interests of the Soviet Union and its prestige in the international arena. The discoveries and inventions of domestic scientists who did not have access to the military-industrial complex were implemented very slowly or remained in the form of theoretical developments and projects. This attitude led to the fact that in the 70s, in the country that was the first to go into space, 40% of workers and 75 peasants worked manually. Scientific and technological progress was introduced into production very slowly. The same can be said for the everyday life sphere.

Thus, both education and science, like all culture, are Soviet time was under the control of the state machine. Undoubted quantitative successes have been achieved - the network of educational and research institutions has expanded significantly, illiteracy has been eliminated, and the number of people employed in these areas of culture has increased. However, the quality and level of knowledge has noticeably decreased and lagged behind modern requirements. Despite certain successes in science, the result of its development was a general lag behind the world level, especially in those branches of knowledge in which the state and ideology intensively interfered and artificially slowed down.

After the end of the war, totalitarianism takes a number of measures aimed at eradicating the expectations of liberal changes in the life of society that emerged as a result of the victorious completion of the fight against fascism. These measures affected not only political sphere, but also culture, including artistic creativity. In August 1946, on the initiative of Stalin, a resolution was adopted by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the magazines "Zvezda" and "Leningrad", and then a whole series of other "ideological" resolutions: "On the repertoire of drama theaters and measures to improve it", "On the film “Big Life”, “About Muradeli’s opera “Great Friendship” and others.

They gave the signal for the public persecution of many cultural figures: writers A. Akhmatova, M. Zoshchenko, E. Kazakevich, Y. German, composers V. Muradeli, S. Prokofiev, A. Khachaturyan, D. Shostakovich, film directors G. Kozintsev, V. Pudovkin, S. Eisenstein and others. This entire company had the goal of “restraining” the intelligentsia as a whole, squeezing their creativity into the Procrustean bed of partisanship and socialist realism.

Changes in leadership and attempts to liberalize public life in the 50s brought a noticeable revival to artistic creativity. At this time, new literary and artistic magazines were born, which significantly expanded the publication possibilities of poets and writers. The democratic character of the magazine edited by Tvardovsky " New world" determined his enormous popularity. Bold works appeared that exposed the cult of personality: "Terkin in the Next World" by Tvardovsky, "The Heirs of Stalin" by E. Yevtushenko, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by A. Solzhenitsyn. This gave rise to hopes for the free development of literary and artistic life country, however, despite the general warming of the situation in society, the essence of the totalitarian system remained the same, and its attitude towards culture did not change. In response to calls from the public to cancel Stalin’s decrees on cultural issues of 1946-1948, it was categorically stated that they " played a huge role in the development of artistic creativity along the path of socialist realism" and in their "main content retain their current significance."

In the 50s - the first half of the 60s, writers and poets A. Voznesensky, D. Granin, V. Dudintsev were subjected to systematic criticism for “ideological dubiousness”, “underestimation of the leading role of the party”, “formalism” and “revisionist sentiments”. , S. Kirsanov, sculptors and artists E. Neizvestny, R. Falk, director M. Khutsiev and others. N. Khrushchev played a noticeable role in these criticisms as the first person in the state. For the novel "Doctor Zhivago" published abroad, which received Nobel Prize in literature, its author B. Pasternak was openly persecuted and expelled from the Writers' Union.

Perhaps the main content of artistic creativity during this period was the confrontation between the political and cultural forces of Stalinists and anti-Stalinists. The plays of V. Rozov, the books of V. Aksenov and A. Gladilin, the poems of E. Yevtushenko and A. Voznesensky, the films of M. Khutsiev were perceived as a moral and political position that rejected Stalinism. However, this position suffered from a naive belief in the possibility of correcting and overcoming past mistakes. The creativity of the artistic intelligentsia was not yet directed against the totalitarian system.

The development of artistic culture in the 60-80s took place in an atmosphere of neo-Stalinism. The inconsistency of “stagnation” manifested itself in a very unique way in the spiritual life of society. Official culture was increasingly inclined towards ritual, cleared of any content. At the same time, through the elementary denial of this officialdom, the possibility for the formation of an “anti-style” in any artistic variants has significantly expanded. This refers to the inconsistency with the method and tasks of socialist realism as they were understood by the ideological leadership of the country. What led to the “anti-style” was, first of all, the originality and originality of cultural creators, such as I. Glazunov, A. Tarkovsky, E. Neizvestny. But it must be said that the gap between reality and officialdom led to a situation where an artist, objectively reflecting life, willingly or unwillingly came to an anti-style. An example of this is the countryside writers V. Belov, V. Rasputin, V. Astafiev, who with their realism talentedly show the tragedy of the extinction of the basis of national culture - the Russian village. The pinnacle of the unofficial trend in artistic life was the work of V. Shukshin and V. Vysotsky. If the first, with the ideas of Russian freemen and heightened anti-urbanism in literature and cinema, was more understandable to the intelligentsia, then the uniqueness of Vysotsky’s poems and songs lies in their accessibility and popularity in all layers and circles of society.

Speaking about the official culture, it should be said that in addition to the rejection of reality, it was characterized by significant “militarization.” The further into the past the events of the war went, the more war there was in artistic creativity. The plots of Stalin's lawlessness and repression, which appeared in the 50s and 60s, were expelled and replaced by total “glorification”. Subject common man during the war she gradually transformed into a “lyrical figure for scale.” Production themes were also actively included in the rank of heroic.

Exercising total control, the state first of all paid attention to those branches of artistic creativity that have the widest audience - literature, cinema, television. What, in the opinion of officials, did not contribute or harm the cause of communist education should not reach the people. This approach determined the birth of an original phenomenon in Russian culture - samizdat literature. Banned books were distributed in typewritten form. Samizdat was closely connected with the social movement of dissidents and acquired political significance. The state monopoly on all cultural means and the impossibility of realizing creative ideas and promoting their activities led to the fact that in the 60-80s, many figures of national culture were forced to go abroad. Some were forcibly expelled from the country by the authorities. The poet I. Brodsky, writers A. Solzhenitsyn, V. Voinovich, V. Maksimov, V. Nekrasov, directors Y. Lyubimov, A. Tarkovsky and many others continued to work abroad. Thus, despite totalitarianism, Russian literature and art developed, constantly striving to break out from the petty tutelage of the state. The works created in this case demonstrated the preservation and development of the best humanistic and realistic traditions of Russian artistic culture. Only the physical destruction of cultural creators could create the illusion of complete subordination of artistic creativity to ideological canons. The periods of loosening and tightening of the screws in public life in Soviet times equally stimulated creative activity, both generated by hopes and growing moral protest.