Stalin made huge changes to Soviet agriculture and industry.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2024). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] A propaganda campaign was used to explain the advantages of collectivisation.
2. [1] The government sent officials to force peasants to agree.
3. [1] Many peasants were driven from the land and even sent to Siberia.
4. [1] Large farms were created by putting the land of many peasants together.
5. [1] Peasants lost their individual plots of land that they had owned.
6. [1] The peasants had to work to government targets.
7. [1] The peasants shared equipment and resources.
8. [1] It allowed more modern machinery to be used.
9. [1] Any profits left after the state had been given what it demanded were shared among the farmers.
10. [1] The kulaks were eliminated as a class.
11. [6] (Level 4) Industrial production increased because far more workers were used. Many of these workers were women and by the late 1930s nearly half of industrial workers were women. Most had not worked before. Centres were set up to look after their children. This added enormous numbers to the workforce so that more could be produced. The number of workers also increased by using prisoners on projects like dams and canals.
12. [5] (Level 3) Industrial production increased due to a massive expansion of the workforce, particularly involving women, who by the late 1930s constituted nearly half of industrial workers, often enabled by state-provided childcare. Additionally, prisoners were extensively used on major infrastructure projects, significantly boosting overall production capacity.
13. [1] (Level 2) The Five-Year Plans.
14. [1] (Level 2) Workers were bombarded with propaganda.
15. [1] (Level 2) Tight government control.
16. [1] (Level 2) Clear targets set.
17. [1] (Level 2) Foreign engineers called in to supervise the work.
18. [1] (Level 2) The example of Stakhanov.
19. [1] (Level 2) More women added to the workforce.
20. [1] (Level 2) Strict discipline with workers having to work very hard.
21. [1] (Level 1) Industrial production increased because this was one of Stalin's main aims. All kinds of goods were produced but mainly heavy industry.
22. [10] (Level 5) Overall, the lives of Russians did not improve. Russia's industrial output went up and more women could work but it is important to remember that Stalin was not interested in making people's lives better; he wanted to make Russia a modern and powerful industrial state that could defend itself. While Russia made tremendous progress in that, the everyday lives of ordinary Russians did not really improve. In fact, they had to make enormous sacrifices and between 1928 and 1937 wages fell.
23. [6] (Level 3) The lives of Russians had not improved. Industrial production may have gone up but most of this was in heavy industry. Consumer goods like clothes and radios that may have improved living standards were not being produced and so people's lives did not improve much. The working conditions in many industrial plants were dreadful with people having to work very hard. Nor had the lives of many peasants improved. There had been a dreadful famine in 1932-3 and millions had starved. The kulaks were also worse off. Many were rounded up and sent to labour camps.
24. [6] (Level 3) The group that did have better lives by the mid-1930s were women. Women were given more freedom to work. Crèches were provided at workplaces so that their children would be looked after, thus allowing mothers to go to work. Free health care was provided as well as paid holidays. By the 1930s women made up most of the doctors and about a third of engineers. So for some women there were new opportunities.
25. [1] (Level 2) Few consumer goods.
26. [1] (Level 2) Quality of new housing for industrial workers was poor.
27. [1] (Level 2) Discipline at work was harsh with severe punishments.
28. [1] (Level 2) Wages fell.
29. [1] (Level 2) The famine of 1932-3.
30. [1] (Level 2) Kulaks suffered badly.
31. [1] (Level 2) Little personal freedom.
32. [1] (Level 2) More women could work.
33. [1] (Level 2) Free health care.
34. [1] (Level 2) Paid holidays.
35. [1] (Level 2) Provision of nurseries so mothers could work.
36. [1] (Level 2) Housing provided for workers.
37. [1] (Level 1) The lives of many Russians were still hard although there were some improvements. Russia was gradually becoming a strong and modern country.