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History of the world economy - Polyak GB

30. The experience of building socialism in the countries of Eastern Europe, Asia and Cuba.

As a result of the Second World War, new political regimes were established in several countries of Europe (Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, the GDR), as well as Vietnam, Korea, China and Cuba, and a course towards socialism was proclaimed. The choice of the political system determined the nature and direction of economic transformations. Countries were invited to use the experience of building the foundations of socialism in the USSR.

The plan for the construction of the foundations of socialism envisaged the conduct of a proletarian revolution and the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat in one form or another; The concentration in the hands of the government of key positions in the economy (nationalization of industry, transport and communications, the depths of the earth, forests and waters, the financial and credit system, external and wholesale domestic trade, and most of the retail trade); industrialization; Transformation of small peasant property into a cooperative one, i.e., the creation of large-scale socialized production; Cultural revolution.

In the development of the economy of most countries, there are usually several stages.

30.1. Economic development

In these years in the countries of Eastern Europe, there have been changes in the political regimes that led to a change in socio-economic orientation. Simultaneously with the reconstruction of the war-affected economy, the restructuring of the economic structure began with the active political and material assistance of the USSR.

Albania

Albania was completely liberated on November 29, 1944, and a system of people's democracy was established in the country. However, during the war, decisions were made to annul all economic and political agreements concluded by the government of King Zogu. The nationalization of foreign concessions, oilfields, mines and mines, as well as the abolition of feudal landlordism, was proclaimed. In 1945, the agrarian reform began (the laws of August 25, 1945 and May 27, 1946). Landlord landownership was abolished and replaced by peasant landownership. The landlords confiscated more than 170 thousand hectares of land (about 70% of the entire arable land in the country), and 16,000 hectares of land received through the peasant committees 70.2 thousand landless and landless peasants.

In 1946-1947 years. Nationalization of industry was carried out, during which all industrial enterprises, except small handicraft workshops, were transferred to the state. In 1946, transport, foreign trade and wholesale domestic trade, communications, the Albanian Bank, which was transformed into the State Bank, were nationalized.

In 1946, the prewar level of industrial production and agriculture was actually reached (the sown areas in the country were 19% more pre-war, and the livestock - 14%). The first annual plan for the development of the national economy was drawn up for 1947-1948. In fact, the country began industrialization with the expansion of supplies of complete equipment from the USSR (officially the policy of industrialization was proclaimed in 1948). The construction of the socialist countries began in the first stage (1945-1949) of the hydroelectric power station. VI Lenin near Tirana. In these years, the first agricultural production cooperatives appeared in agriculture. In 1948 there were 56 cooperatives, which had 10 thousand hectares of land.

In July 1949, a two-year plan was approved for the development of the national economy in 1949-1950, according to which the construction of a textile combine, a sugar factory, several hydroelectric power stations, three railways, oil and coal industry enterprises began; Reconstruction of the main ports of the country began. As a result, the gross output of the country grew almost twofold by 1950 compared to 1947, and the share of industry in the gross output of the national economy rose to 40.6%.

The co-operation of peasant farms continued to develop. In 1950, there were 90 cooperatives and 14 state farms, which together accounted for about 9% of the acreage. Agricultural equipment was supplied mainly from the USSR.

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, the change of political regime took place on September 9, 1944. September 15, 1946 Bulgaria was proclaimed a people's republic. All railways, mail, radio, telegraph, telephone, almost all banks, power stations and mines, enterprises that were formerly owned by the bourgeois state, as well as enterprises that were confiscated from war criminals or acquired after 1935 illegally, became the property of the state. At all private enterprises, workers' control was introduced.

On March 12, 1946, the People's Assembly passed a law on labor landed property, limiting private land ownership in the whole of Bulgaria with an area of ​​20 hectares, and in South Dobruja - 30 hectares. As a result, about 130,000 landless and landless peasant farms received 140,000 hectares of land.

The prewar level of industrial production was achieved in 1946. Nationalization of industry was carried out in December 1947. On the basis of the law on nationalization, about 6,000 enterprises, with the exception of artisanal and cooperative enterprises, transferred to state ownership. Almost simultaneously, the nationalization of banking was carried out, and in March 1947 a monetary reform was carried out. It is believed that the reconstruction period in Bulgaria ended by the end of 1948.

Industrial production more than 71% exceeded the level of 1939. In agriculture, the simplest forms of cooperation of peasant farms-consumer, supply-and-marketing, credit-were developed.

The V Congress of the Bulgarian Communist Party (1948) defined the tasks of building the foundations of socialism and adopted the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy for 1949-1953, which provided for the industrialization and electrification of the country, the co-operation of agriculture, and the restriction and ousting of capitalist elements in the city and countryside.

As a result of the early fulfillment of the tasks of the five-year plan, Bulgaria became an industrial-agrarian one, as industry products accounted for 56% of the gross output of the entire national economy.

Hungary

On December 22, 1944, the Provisional National Government was formed in Derbetzen. During the liberation of Hungary from the fascist invaders by the troops of the Soviet Army (completed April 4, 1945) the government on March 15, 1945 passed a law on agrarian reform. According to the law of confiscation, landed property of active fascists and war criminals was subject to land, as well as all lands of more than 100 gold (in the Budapest area - over 50 holdings). As a result, more than one-third of the country's total land area was confiscated. The land was given to 650,000 landless peasants and farm laborers. Part of the confiscated land remained with the state - it was organized by state farms and experienced livestock and crop plants.

The co-operation of the peasantry began in 1945, when co-operatives of various types included about 1 million peasants. In 1948, production cooperation began to develop, and by the end of 1949 production cooperatives processed about 8% of the country's arable land.

The nationalization of industry was carried out in several stages in 1945-1949. Banks and all financial and credit institutions of the country were nationalized in November 1947. In August 1946, a monetary reform was carried out, which helped to limit inflation. External and wholesale domestic trade of Hungary was nationalized in 1948. By the end of 1949, nationalization was basically completed. Simultaneously, the restoration of the economy was completed: the prewar level of industrial production was exceeded by 28%.

GDR

East Germany was proclaimed a democratic republic (GDR) on October 7, 1949. Until then, the transformations in this territory of the country were conducted under the control of the military Soviet administration.

In the autumn of 1945, laws were passed in East Germany on agrarian reform, on the basis of which all lands and agricultural implements of war criminals and active Nazis were confiscated, as well as all landlord-junker landowners over 100 hectares in size. In total from 1945 to 1950 years. About one-third of the entire useful agricultural area of ​​the country received 500 thousand peasant farms. On the part of the confiscated land, state farms- people's estates-were formed.

On the basis of the decisions of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the industrial property of monopolists, military and Nazi criminals was confiscated. In total, 9281 enterprises were confiscated in East Germany, including about 5,000 large enterprises. Later they were nationalized.

In terms of industrial development, the GDR was superior to other countries in Eastern Europe, so the question of industrialization was not there. But after the division of Germany, interdepartmental disproportions intensified, especially with regard to the raw material base.

In the recovery period (1945-1950) individual enterprises or even industries were given production targets containing control figures. Adopted in 1948, the two-year plan for the restoration and development of the economy for 1949-1950. Determined as the most important task the completion of the restoration of the national economy, with special attention to heavy industry. The plan was completed by August 1950. The USSR played a major role in the restoration of German industry.

Poland

On July 22, 1944, the Committee for National Liberation proclaimed the creation of a people's democratic Poland.

The agrarian reform in Poland was carried out on the basis of the decree of the Polish National Liberation Committee (September 6, 1944), according to which landed estates in the country were liquidated and a system of peasant land ownership was introduced. All land holdings with more than 50 hectares of arable land, and on reunited western lands - more than 100 hectares, were subject to confiscation and gratuitous distribution among the poorest peasantry, which received 6.1 million hectares of land. 814 thousand new peasant farms were created.

As in other socialist-oriented states, nationalization was carried out in Poland, which in fact was completed in 1945, but legally formalized by a decree on nationalization adopted on January 3, 1946. State ownership was transferred to all large and medium-sized industrial enterprises, all banks and insurance Companies, transportation and communications. A monopoly of foreign trade was introduced, almost all wholesale domestic trade was nationalized, as was part of the retail trade.

With a view to the speedy restoration of the national economy, a three-year plan was drawn up for 1947-1949, which at the same time became the plan for the initial stage of industrialization, since it paid particular attention to the development of industries that produce means of production.

The plan for the restoration of the national economy was fulfilled ahead of schedule. The prewar level of industrial production was surpassed by almost 70%. Especially significant growth in production was observed in heavy industry.

Large investments were made during the three-year period to restore the industry of the reunited western lands, which was especially badly damaged during the war.

Significant progress in this period was achieved in the field of agriculture. The cost of agricultural products has almost doubled. In the Polish village of these years, cooperatives of the simplest types were intensively created: supply and marketing, credit, consumer, and specialized.

In 1950, the Saeima adopted a law on the six-year plan for the economic development and construction of the foundations of socialism in 1950-1956. The main task of the plan was to build the foundations of socialism on the basis of socialist industrialization and collectivization, limiting and ousting capitalist elements from all branches of the national economy. In the field of industry, the most important task was to ensure the development of metallurgy, mining, energy, chemical industry, and machine building.