Khrushchev’s economic reforms failed because they were poorly thought through”. Assess the validity of this view (45 marks) “Khrushchev had grasped the nettle. He also exhibited a characteristic recklessness. The road ahead would be rockier than he expected, for he over estimated ordinary people’s gullibility. In a sense the whole of later Soviet history may be seen as a reaction to his revelations.” J. Keep. After emerging victorious in the power struggle following Stalin’s death, Khrushchev was in a very strong position, but not yet an unchallengeable leader. Khrushchev wanted to move away from the Stalinist era and was aware that there was a desire for change in the USSR. He had accepted some of the fundamentals of Stalinism, such as the dominance of the party, however he wanted to shift to blame for past errors onto Stalin. Khrushchev believed that economic reform was necessary and wanted to encourage initiative. He also wanted to avoid opposition and not give his rivals the opportunity to strike against him. He was an ambitious politician, and aimed convince the Soviet people that they no longer had to fear arbitrary terror, while preserving the basic structure and ideology of a socialist state. This was the background to his speech at the 20th The Party Congress in February 1956. Khrushchev's main reforms were to increase agriculture and make it more efficient and in industry he wanted to turn focus from heavy industry to consumer good, making the workers life better. He tried to reform the political party, government and the economy by cutting down bureaucracy, fear and an increasing investment in science and technology. His success in all areas was limited due to the nature of Russia and the government at the time. Kenez says the soviet union had “Impressive industrial growth "despite appalling inefficiencies and irrationalities" this is a fair statement as despite economic growth since 1950’s, there was still major weaknesses in Soviet economy for example Consumer goods such as refrigerators were in high supply but still expensive and poor quality. Military expenditure was draining the economy, much weaker than that of their main rival, USA (Khrushchev had publicly stated he wanted to catch up with West). Russia lagged behind more sophisticated capitalist economies which were less labour intensive and more productive. However foreign trade considerably increased (2/3 with European Communist states). Working conditions improved as there was shorter days, more holidays, longer maternity leave, better pensions, minimum wage decreed 1956 meaning better living standards. 1956 education decree meant an increase in student numbers and there was an improved medical care infant mortality significantly decreased. Women were however banned from manual labour in mines. Scientific and technical education was prioritised, first satellite and man in space soviet space. Technology appeared superior to that of the west. This resulted in other areas of the Soviet Union failing therefore it was the fact that Khrushchev prioritised most things rather than reforming the economy and that is ultimately why it failed. However Kenez suggests that industrial problems "were the consequence of the very nature of the highly Marxist ideology" although Khrushchev "sometimes made it worse by creating confusion". He did this by employing the policy of decentralisation. Decentralization was a major reform across the whole of the economy. He believed that this would reduce bureaucracy and that the economy would be better with the replacement of regular government with self-administration of the population. In trying to do this Khrushchev asked that “every Soviet person must become an active participant in the administration”. This led to many unpaid volunteers in parks, library and cinemas. However his reforms failed as there was an increase in bureaucracy between 1958 and 1964 as central government organizations increased by 60,000. This really led to the opposite of what Khrushchev tried to achieve.
Living conditions were still backwards compared with West, by 1964, only 5/1000 citizens owned a car in 1963, USSR had to import grain from capitalist West to compensate shortages of 15 million poor quality prefab flats built and still housing shortages Weakest sector of economy was agriculture. As it lacked sufficient innovation and investment the production was low and inefficient, with few incentives for peasants. Also the Soviet was a communist country trying to compete with the capitalized super powers, therefore as for mentioned it was going against the Marxist ideologies that had been
Khrushchev's main project to reform agriculture was the 'virgin land' scheme. He tried to cultivate vast amounts of land of north Kazakhstan and western Siberia with the aid of volunteers. This would mean that wheat could be grown in vast quantities and feed the growing cities. It was successful at the beginning as by 1960 41.8million hectares were ploughed, and in 1956 the virgin lands contributed 50.8% of grain harvest. This continued to 1960 with a 46.8% contribution. However the scheme was poorly managed, the crops were unsuitable for the climate and there was not enough fertilizer. There were even warnings from the scientists who said there would be high soil erosion, but they were not listened to. Consequently in 1960 dust storms damaged over 13,000 square hectares of land. The yield in Tselinny Krai was half that in the Ukraine. Over this period grain cost 20% more than the national average to produce in Kazakhstan and in 1961-4 it was twice as high. The virgin land scheme had good intentions, but that was not enough as short-sightedness led to the erosion of soil and early success.
Khrushchev's economy reforms did lead to some success as the rate of growth was higher. In industry, production in the 1950's increased more rapidly in the USA and this was also seen in agriculture with the early success of the Virgin lands scheme. Politically his reforms were a step in a good direction, with a better image. However both the economy and political reforms had limited success. The failing of not only the virgin land scheme but also the 'maize mania' which refused to grow, coupled with simplistic ideas about industry showed his lack of understanding.