How Soviet Union escaped from the Great economic depression
Answers
The Great Economic Depression (1929-1932) hit the German economy very badly. By 1932, industrial production was reduced to 40 per cent of the 1929 level. Workers lost their jobs or were paid reduced wages. The number of unemployed touched an unprecedented 6 million.
Unemployed youths played cards or simply sat at street corners, or desperately queued up at the local employment exchange. In dearth of jobs, the youth took to criminal activities.
There were deep anxieties and fears in people. The middle classes, especially salaried employees and pensioners, saw their savings diminish when the currency lost its value. Small businessmen, the self-employed and retailers suffered as their businesses got ruined. These sections of society were filled with the fear of being reduced to the ranks of the working class or worse still, the unemployed.
The large mass of peasantry was badly affected by a sharp fall in agricultural prices and women, unable to fill their children's stomachs, were filled with a sense of deep despair.
Answer:
Because the USSR was the only communist state at the time, it had minimal trade contact with the rest of the world. Because of this the Soviet economy did not take a hit like that of the capitalist countries who's economies were closely interlinked.
The Soviet economy arguably actually benefited from the Great Depression. The USSR hired specialized labor particularly from the USA to help fuel their industrialization. Farmers, engineers and industrialists were brought in to help develop the relatively backward and agrarian economy into one that was Urbanized and Industrialized. Many of Stalin's collective farmers were developed by American farmers, due to their experience on large scale farms in the USA.