HIST363 Study Guide

Unit 8: Alternative Models of Industrialization

8a. Describe different industrialization efforts in the early days of the Soviet Union

  • What was war communism?
  • Why did Lenin replace it with his New Economic Policy, NEP?
  • What did Lenin mean by the "Commanding Heights" of the Soviet economy?
  • Why did Stalin end the NEP? What did he replace it with?

The Russian Revolution of 1917 offers an example of alternative forms of industrialization. After he had helped create the Soviet state in Russia, Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) introduced a state-controlled economy that was characterized by the expropriation of private businesses, the nationalization of industry, and the forced state requisition of surplus grain and other food products.
 
These policies led to food shortages, a decline in agricultural and industrial production, and civil unrest, which convinced Lenin to introduce his New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921. The NEP meant a temporary retreat from the doctrinaire centralization of the economy and the reintroduction of capitalism to the economy. While the government retained control of the Commanding Heights of the economy (banking, foreign trade, and large industries), it fostered a mixed economy that allowed private ownership of small businesses and enterprises. The NEP continued until 1928, after Lenin's death in 1924.
 
After his rise to power, Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) abandoned the NEP in 1928 when he introduced his first Five Year Plan to dramatically increase Soviet industrial production and force the collectivization of agriculture. While his industrial goals were unrealistic, Stalin managed to dramatically increase industrialization in the new Soviet Union. However, when he forced the collectivization of agriculture, millions of farmers and agricultural workers starved to death when they were left with too little of their crop to live. Agricultural collectivization was a failure for the Soviet state.
 
To review, see:

 

8b. Discuss the effects of the Great Leap Forward on China's industrial development

  • What was the Great Leap Forward?
  • What were the objectives of the Great Leap Forward? Why was it a failure? What were its results?

The Chinese Revolution of 1949 introduced a second alternative form of industrialization and a state-controlled economy. After the Communist takeover, its new leader Mao Zedong nationalized most, but not all, of China's industries. The government embarked on an extensive land reform program that redistributed land from more prosperous farmers and landlords to peasants who had little or no land.
 
From 1953–1957, China embarked upon its own five-year plan, which was quite successful. However, in 1958 Mao Zedong decided to change course and speed up economic and industrial development through his Second Five-Year Plan, the so-called Great Leap Forward. Forced collectivization and industrialization, and attempts such as backyard iron furnaces, led to a dramatic agricultural failure and the deaths of an estimated 45 million people.
 
To review, see:

 

8c. Evaluate the Meiji Restoration's relationship to Japanese industrialization

  • What was the Meiji Restoration? Why was it so significant? How did it affect Japan's industrialization efforts?
  • What was the Edo Period? How was it characterized in the context of the history of Japan?
  • Who was Commodore Mathew Perry?

The Edo Period, sometimes referred to as The Seclusion of Japan, was a particularly isolationist era in Japan. It drew to a close as political power was transferred from the shogunate to the Emperor and as the previously isolationist policies subsided, which. Additionally, Commodore Perry visited Japan, opening trade relations with the West. This shift in political power and the end of seclusion characterize the Meiji Restoration.
 
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8d. Compare communist and capitalist industrialization

  • What are some earmarks of communist industrialization? Of capitalist industrialization?
  • How did Soviet and Chinese Communist industrialization differ from industrial development in capitalist countries, such as Britain and the United States? How were they similar?

While the Soviet and Chinese communist models of industrialization were characterized by centralized planning, nationalization of industry, state-mandated agriculture collectivization, and a nationalized push toward lofty goals put forth by leadership, industrialization in Britain was underpinned by an agricultural revolution and multiple favorable conditions, such as coal and water power – with no real centralized plan. Industrialization in the United States was also driven by favorable preconditions, such as natural resources and the knowledge derived from Europe's industrial revolution. Capitalist industrialization was decentralized, with private industry and a great deal of class emergence and conflict.
 
To review, see:

 

8e. Explain the different outcomes of industrialization in China and Japan

  • Western imperialism affected China and Japan during the 19th century in different ways. What were the differences between how each responded to Western economic imperialism?
  • What obstacles to economic development affected China in the 19th century that did not affect England or Japan?

Many believed that China and East Asia failed to industrialize in the 19th century because they were socioeconomically inferior to the West and to England in particular. However, new research indicates that China had the resources to undergo an industrial revolution but failed to modernize due to Western imperialism and colonialism, not economics. Japan, on the other hand, responded to the threat of Western imperialism by undergoing its own industrial revolution. By 1900, Japan had met or exceeded the West in this regard.
 
To review, see:

 

8f. Assess the effects of British rule on India's development and industrialization

  • What effect did British colonial rule have on India from a political, economic, and social standpoint? Did life change significantly for the average Indian? What about the elites?
  • How did British rule in India help or hinder Indian economic and political development? How might it have provided a foundation for Indian national unity in the Post-Colonial period?
  • How did India's mixed economy exemplify positive and negative aspects of central economic planning? Why did central planning ultimately hinder economic development?
  • Define import substitution industrialization. How was it applied in Latin America and Africa? What were its successes and failures?

While post-revolutionary Russia and China fostered economic development and created a state-controlled economy based on central planning and five-year plans, India pursued an economic Third Way, which favored a mixed economy. When it gained political independence from Britain in 1945, the state took control of major industries but encouraged small businesses and enterprises to operate within a typical capitalist framework. The Indian government also retained the foundation of parliamentary democracy, which it had inherited from British colonial rule.
 
Many developing countries in Africa and around the world copied India's mixed economic model. While some argue that their centralized planning helped develop basic industries and foster economic development, others believe it may have delayed greater growth and the bureaucratization of the economy.
 
For example, India and Latin America experienced mixed results when they promoted import substitution industrialization to promote domestic production. Domestic industries were established, but production levels and product quality suffered due to a lack of foreign competition. Nevertheless, the state-sponsored support system provided an economic foundation that allowed businesses to eventually integrate into the global economy. This support likely helped cultivate the robust economic growth many of these countries are experiencing today.
 
To review, see Colonial Rule and Its Effects on India's Rural Economy, The Political Development of the Modern Indian State, and Infrastructure and Railroads.

 

Unit 8 Vocabulary

Be sure you understand these terms as you study for the final exam. Try to think of the reason why each term is included.

  • Chinese Revolution
  • collectivization
  • Edo Period
  • Five Year Plan
  • Great Leap Forward
  • Joseph Stalin
  • land reform
  • Mao Zedong
  • Meiji Restoration
  • mixed economy
  • New Economic Policy (NEP)
  • Russian Revolution
  • Third Way