To What Extent Had the Ussr Recovered from the Impact of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) by the Time of Stalin’s Death in 1953
To what extent had the USSR recovered from the impact of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) by the time of Stalin’s death in 1953?
Although VE celebrations started on 24th June 1945, peace was declared on the 9th May in Moscow. There are differing opinions on the amount of deaths that were caused by the Great Patriotic War (for example, Kenez estimates 26-27 million, many of whom were prisoners of war, whereas Hoskings estimated 20-25 million, many of whom were killed indirectly by the war, by means such as famines). It could be suggested that the USSR simply returned to where it had been previously in the 1930s after the war, for example primary focus for industry was put on "heavy" goods such as oil and coal. But to what extent did life for the Russian improve once the war was over? Social conditions after the war were anything but favourable. 1,170 towns, 70,000 villages and 7 million homes had been destroyed leaving 25 million Russians homeless. This issue was not addressed or rectified and no housing schemes of building projects were started, instead the money was redirected to other areas. So Soviets were left restless as they had nowhere to go.
The peasants were essentially bound to their land as they had no access to funds or passports to travel. The two types of farms faced disadvantages, for example the Kolkhozy farms (collective state farms) had to meet state obligations which were 60-70% of their output and only received trivial rewards in return (such as sacks of potatoes). Even though the war had caused so many deaths, the Politburo remained to see the peasants as disposable after the war. Also Stalin did not trust the peasants as he said they were “too individualistic to make good socialists” and therefore increased the taxes on them. So this is not recovery as the lifestyle, especially for peasants, got worse. The agricultural output in 1945 was only 60% of what it had been before the war, and as a result food shortages that had occurred
Although VE celebrations started on 24th June 1945, peace was declared on the 9th May in Moscow. There are differing opinions on the amount of deaths that were caused by the Great Patriotic War (for example, Kenez estimates 26-27 million, many of whom were prisoners of war, whereas Hoskings estimated 20-25 million, many of whom were killed indirectly by the war, by means such as famines). It could be suggested that the USSR simply returned to where it had been previously in the 1930s after the war, for example primary focus for industry was put on "heavy" goods such as oil and coal. But to what extent did life for the Russian improve once the war was over? Social conditions after the war were anything but favourable. 1,170 towns, 70,000 villages and 7 million homes had been destroyed leaving 25 million Russians homeless. This issue was not addressed or rectified and no housing schemes of building projects were started, instead the money was redirected to other areas. So Soviets were left restless as they had nowhere to go.
The peasants were essentially bound to their land as they had no access to funds or passports to travel. The two types of farms faced disadvantages, for example the Kolkhozy farms (collective state farms) had to meet state obligations which were 60-70% of their output and only received trivial rewards in return (such as sacks of potatoes). Even though the war had caused so many deaths, the Politburo remained to see the peasants as disposable after the war. Also Stalin did not trust the peasants as he said they were “too individualistic to make good socialists” and therefore increased the taxes on them. So this is not recovery as the lifestyle, especially for peasants, got worse. The agricultural output in 1945 was only 60% of what it had been before the war, and as a result food shortages that had occurred