22. Russia in the second half of the XX century

• Post-war restoration of the national economy. The development of the economy of the USSR in the 50-60-ies.

• Socio-economic and political reasons that complicated the country's access to new frontiers

• The collapse of the USSR. Post-Communist Russia. Difficulties of transition to a market economy

The post-war fifty years in the history of the USSR and Russia can be described as a period of unprecedented rise, stagnation and crisis.

The beginning of this upsurge can be considered the October Socialist Revolution, as a result of which the peoples of a huge country, tens of millions of formerly disenfranchised people, having received personal freedom, achieving class and national equality, inspired by the idea of ​​building a new society, began to restore the economy of the country after the world and civil wars, created a new intelligentsia, provided the industrial power of the state.

The revolution, by destroying class, estate and national restrictions, made it possible for the talents of the peoples who inhabited the country to open up. The measures taken by the state in the field of education allowed for a short time to prepare specialists for the sectors of the national economy. Thousands of scientists, designers, tens of thousands of engineers, agronomists, doctors, teachers left the working, peasant and petty-bourgeois environment, all peoples and nationalities of a multinational country.

Despite the difficulties of restoring the national economy, the repression of the 30s, the peoples of the USSR created the economic and industrial potential of the country for two decades, which enabled the state to withstand the deadly fight against German fascism. The joint struggle of all the republics of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War gave them hope for a better life. The rapid recovery of the national economy after the war was to a large extent due to the psychological upsurge of the victorious nations, the intellectual and industrial potential created in the prewar years.

The victory in the Great Patriotic War, obtained at the cost of enormous human sacrifices and material losses, on the one hand, showed the advantages of a centralized planning and distribution system for managing the national economy, making it possible to concentrate the material and labor resources of the country and direct them at the right time to the implementation of measures on which the existence of a nation, a state. On the other hand, this same victory enabled the country's leadership to put into practice ideological slogans about the world revolution, about the victory of communism all over the world. This was reflected in the formation of pro-Soviet governments in countries liberated by the Soviet army from the German and Japanese invaders, in the subsequent creation of a bloc of countries of the socialist camp and countries of socialist orientation.

The development of the first atomic bomb in the USA and its use in the war against Japan contributed to this development of events in the post-war world and the need for the USSR to search for its allies. In turn, this led to the beginning of the race of nuclear and missile weapons, to the beginning of the Cold War, the creation of military blocs of countries opposing each other. All this predetermined the international situation on the planet and the development of Russia in the second half of the 20th century.

22.1. Post-war restoration of the national economy. The development of the economy of the USSR in the 50-60-ies.

As a result of hostilities, the temporary occupation of part of the territory, the barbarity and atrocities of the German fascists, our state suffered unprecedented economic damage and damage to human resources. The Soviet Union lost about 30% of its national wealth and 27 million people. 1,710 cities and towns were destroyed, more than 70 thousand villages and villages. Only in industry were fixed assets worth 42 billion rubles worth. The total economic damage caused to our state amounted to 2.6 trillion. rub. in pre-war prices.

After the end of the war, despite the efforts of the Soviet people to restore the national economy during the war, the destruction was so great that in terms of basic indicators the pre-war level of its development was not reached and amounted (in%): Industrial output is 91 compared to the 1940 level. , coal mining - 90, oil - 62, smelting of pig iron - 59, steel - 67, cloth production - 41, freight turnover of all types of transport - 76, retail turnover - 43, the average annual number of workers and employees - 87. The area under crops decreased by 37 million . ha, and livestock decreases It was for 7 million heads. Under the influence of these factors, in 1945 the national income of the country amounted to 83% of the 1940 level.

The most hard reflected war on the state of the labor force of the country. The number of workers and employees fell by 5.3 million people, including in industry by 2.4 million people. In rural areas, the number of working-age population decreased by 1/3, able-bodied men - by 60%.

To the economic problems of the USSR were added and foreign policy. Already in early 1946, the former allies of the anti-Hitler coalition were in a state of cold war.

Thus, the Soviet Union was deprived of foreign economic assistance and in rebuilding a war-torn economy had to rely on its own strength, seeking resources within the national economy for its revival, as well as for developing and mastering new technology.

Such were the state of the Soviet economy and the foreign policy situation when the Soviet people accepted the first post-war five-year plan.

The five-year plan was aimed at the speediest restoration of areas affected by the Nazi occupation, at incorporating the natural, industrial and human resources they contain into the economic potential of the state.

A distinctive feature of the post-war period was the combination of reconstruction work with new construction of industrial enterprises. Only in the liberated from the fascist republics and regions was the construction of 263 new enterprises started.

The war has caused the hardest damage to agriculture. The Nazis destroyed and looted more than 40% of all collective and state farms. The working-age population in rural areas decreased from 35.4 million to 23.9 million people. The number of tractors in agriculture was 59% of the pre-war level, while the number of horses decreased from 14.5 million to 6.5 million heads. The volume of gross agricultural output decreased by 40%. After World War II, the level of agricultural production in comparison with the pre-war was lower than the level after the First World War and the Civil War.

In the first year of the post-war five-year plan, to the enormous damage inflicted on agriculture by the war, a natural disaster was added. In 1946, Ukraine, Moldavia, the regions of the Central Black-Earth Zone, the Lower and part of the Middle Volga region were affected by drought. It was the most severe drought that hit our country over the past fifty years. This year, the collective and state farms harvested grain 2.6 times less than before the war. The drought also affected livestock. In drought-ridden areas, the number of cattle alone declined by 1.5 million. To the rescue of the areas affected by drought, came the state and workers of other regions of the country, having allocated material and financial resources from their scarce resources.

With all the urgency, the state faced the task of transforming the nature of arid regions of the country by creating shelter-shelter forest belts in order to reduce the dependence of agricultural production on weather conditions.

In order to give forestation in the steppe and forest-steppe areas organized nature and national scale, a plan of shelter plantations, introduction of grass-growing crop rotations, construction of ponds and reservoirs to ensure high and sustainable yields in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of the European part of the USSR was adopted. In the spring of 1949, planting work began on a broad front. They were especially active in the Krasnodar Territory, in the Stalingrad, Ryazan, Rostov and Tula Regions. The work on land conversion, improvement of conditions for agricultural production, which began in the first post-war five-year period, yielded positive results. The collective and state farms and forestry enterprises laid out before 1951 forest shelter belts on an area of ​​1,852 thousand hectares. State forest belts were created in the country: Kamyshin-Volgograd, Voronezh-Rostov-on-Don, Penza-Kamensk, Belgorod-Don, Chapaevsk-Vladimirovka, etc. Their length was more than 6 thousand km.

Created over 40 years ago, afforestation and today protect about 25 million hectares of agricultural land and are an example of the peaceful application of human power and a wise attitude to the earth and nature.

Thus, over the years of the first postwar five-year period, as a result of the restoration of industrial and agricultural production, the rapid conversion of military production, industrial output increased by 73% compared with 1940, capital investment tripled, labor productivity 37%, and national income generated by 64%.

In the 1950s, the country's economy developed dynamically. For 10 years, the average annual growth rate of gross industrial production was 11.7%, gross agricultural output - 5.0%, basic production assets - 9.9%, produced national income 10.27%, turnover - 11.4%.

This was facilitated by the renewal and modernization of fixed assets in industry, the strengthening of the material and technical base of agriculture, the expansion of the production of consumer goods, the development of virgin lands, and the improvement of the management system.

Of considerable importance in the progress achieved was a change in the internal political situation in the country. Death in 1953 Stalin was the beginning of the end of the totalitarian system created by him and the beginning of the transition to a new course in domestic politics.

Elected to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N.S. Khrushchev (1894-1971) began to pursue a course related to the social orientation of the economy, an increase in capital investments in the “B” industry and agriculture, with the expansion of the rights of managers of enterprises and collective farms. Special attention was paid to the development of agriculture. In this case, the main emphasis was placed on the development of virgin and fallow lands. In Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, hundreds of new state farms, machine and tractor stations were created, roads were laid, settlements were built. Naturally, this was an extensive development path for the industry. But in five years it allowed achieving an increase in agricultural production by 34%, creating new areas of agricultural production in the east of the country.

A major role in the integrated development of the regions and the regional economy was played by the transition in 1957 to territorial principles of management. The overwhelming number of union and republican ministries was abolished, and enterprises were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Councils of National Economy (Sovnarkhozov) created in the republics, territories and regions.

Their education was a definite step in the decentralization of national economy management, in the empowerment of local rights and material possibilities, and in the democratization of the economy. At the same time, this created difficulties in pursuing a unified national scientific and technical policy, scattered resources, reduced the effect of the previously existing advantage of concentration of funds.

During these years, a significant step was made towards raising the standard of living of the population. This is reflected in the Law on Pensions, in tax cuts, in abolition of tuition fees in secondary schools and universities, in the introduction of the minimum guaranteed wage in agricultural production, in wage increases in other sectors, reduction of the working week, etc.

Special success was achieved in solving the housing problem. In the 1950s, concessional loans were granted to developers of individual houses. This has improved the housing situation in small and medium cities and rural areas. In the 60s, when designers and architects provided the organization of typical house-building on an industrial basis, housing construction sharply increased, making it possible to ensure by the end of the 70s. 80% of families in cities are separate apartments.

The level of public education has increased. The created network of schools, technical schools, universities allowed to form a good personnel potential of the country, which had a positive effect on the development of science and culture. This, in turn, made it possible to carry out a new technical revolution, ensured the exploration of space. The electronic, nuclear, chemical, instrument-making industries were developing at a rapid pace. It was during these years that the country created its own nuclear and rocket potential, built the world's first artificial Earth satellite, and then the spacecraft, performed the first manned flight into space, built the first nuclear power plants and nuclear-powered nuclear ships.

The development of new areas and mineral deposits was on a large scale. The country is urbanized. National wealth grew in the form of thousands of new enterprises, hundreds of new cities and towns.

The development of new lands, the construction of cities and enterprises created new jobs, which, in turn, ensured a healthy socio-psychological climate in the state, confidence in obtaining work, housing, minimal household and socio-cultural benefits and services, confidence in the future.

The economic reform of the USSR contributed to the progressive development of the USSR economy in 1965. It expressed itself, on the one hand, in centralizing the management of the national economy through the liquidation of economic councils and the re-establishment of sectoral ministries. On the other hand, the self-supporting principle of housekeeping at enterprises was revived, material incentive funds were created, basic production assets used by enterprises were introduced into the budget, enterprises were granted more extensive planning rights, etc. All these measures were designed to help increase the interest of labor collectives in the final results of production, in increasing the level of intensification of labor and the economy as a whole.

Already the first results of the reforms were positive. In 1966-1970 The country has achieved fairly high growth rates of key economic indicators. The science and industries that determine the scientific and technological progress (engineering, electronics, energy, petrochemical industry, etc.) developed at a rapid pace. In terms of production of a number of types of industrial products, the USSR overtook the United States and ranked first in the world.

With the creation of the camp of the socialist countries, the international importance of the USSR, which was at the head of the world socialist system, sharply increased. A lot of Third World countries adhered to the socialist orientation. For all the more than a thousand-year history of the Russian state, it did not have such a high economic potential, the standard of living of the population, international prestige and influence on the fate of the world.