Khrushchev belief was that Stalin’s strategies had held the Industrial, and the progress of the economy back, and so, he believed that different strategies needed to be implemented to advance the USSR forward. Despite Khrushchev’s belief in Stain’s strategies it’s important to note that generally the Industrial sector, as before, was considered to perform more than the Agricultural sector. Khrushchev’s analysis in terms of Industry was that the Ministries in Moscow were overly centralized and the decisions made by the bureaucrats in Moscow resulted in them giving irrational directions as they were not aware of the local conditions. Due to this a revolutionary change was made in February 1957 which saw the nullification of the Moscow based Economic Ministries so as to reorganize them. The nullification of the Ministries resulted in the creation of 100 Regional Economic Council, the so-called ‘Sovarkhozy’ which were responsible for industrial plans in specific districts. Though Khrushchev’s desire of decentralizing the Economic Ministries was a sound reason, he also took it as an advantage to maneuver the political battle he was waging.
By nullifying the Ministries he knew, he would be diminishing the influence that his opponents had in the Ministries they were in control of, and doing so his serving his own political interests. However, the introduction of the Sovnarkhozy grew out of a real need, but was insufficiently taken into consideration, inadequately prepared, and ultimately created more troubles than it solved. This was evident because regional leaders were not in a position to make priorities because they could not and did not have the national perspective. The nullification of economic ministries did not end bureaucracy but, rather made important decisions be given to less competent bureaucrats in provinces, who felt they couldn’t cope with the responsibilities.
“Agriculture has always been the weak link in the Soviet economy.” Prior Stalin’s death in 1953, Khrushchev noticed that more needed to be done in terms of reforms to confront the agricultural sector problems. For Agriculture an important step that Khrushchev and his government needed to do was that, income inequality between the peasants was to be reduced. Khrushchev had an understanding of the conditions of the countryside as he was born into a peasant family, achieving this was to be accomplished by increasing of prices on the goods that collective farms had compelled to sale to the state. Cutting taxes that the peasants paid on their profits after selling their produce and domestic animals was part of the strategy. The policy showed improvements, because peasants were to receive incentives so that they increase their livestock holdings and to produce more on their small farms.
Khrushchev had far more ambitious plans for the Agricultural sector though he was not impressed by the relatively slow and steady rise in productivity. His ambition was to increase the availability of food by bringing new lands under cultivation; this is when he introduced the Virgin Lands Program in 1954. This program saw large parts of Central Asia and Siberia being cultivated, but necessary infrastructure was not available to make life more comfortable. So Khrushchev and his government did campaigns to motivate youths to move to these regions and “1954 alone 300,000 young people moved east.” 1954 saw the Virgin Lands Program producing a good harvest which was a good beginning to this policy.
The year 1955 saw the virgin lands being affected by drought and disappointing results were obtained. The disappointing results saw Khrushchev’s position in the Soviet leadership being undermined. In 1956 European Russia was affected by drought but fortunately in the newly cultivated areas weather conditions were favorable which made it possible for Khrushchev to argue that the country was saved from starvation by the virgin lands. Virgin lands produced grain had more expenses than that being grown in the traditional grain areas because of transportation costs making the country pay more for the virgin land program. Soviet factories manufactured agricultural machinery which was then taken to the virgin land regions, rather than improving the already established Russian traditional villages. Despite management errors and weather changes encountered, the newly cultivated lands continued to perform though abandonment of farms in the new lands was experienced as people returned to European Russia.
In 1958 under Khrushchev’s era saw the abolition of the Machine Tractor Stations (MTS). Though the MTS’s were importantly necessary during the time of collectivization due to the fact that they lacked equipment to fully switch to mechanized farming, Khrushchev decided to abolish them. Khrushchev’s move could have been right but the move to introduce the reform was done hurriedly, lacking sufficient planning and preparation. Rather than building up the reform in a couple of years in which farms would have raised enough capital to be able to purchase necessary machinery Khrushchev did it within a year. The speed to which this was done was of great effect to the smaller Kolkhoz as they did not have the money to buy their own equipment meaning they had to assume debts as they lacked capital, which led to the abandonment of building projects.
Abolition of MTS’s had consequences as workers did not want to be members of kolkhoz, resulting in skilled and ambitious workers resorting to cities in search of jobs. Few people were left and could not repair the machinery resulting in lot of machinery that could be fixed be left idle, resulting in increased waste. “In the following years the kolkhozes were in no position to buy new machinery, and the overall output of the Soviet agricultural machine-making industry actually declined.”
Animal husbandry was another area that Khrushchev paid attention to; this is because for him meat, milk, and eggs were a sign of material well-being. He raised the output in meat and meat products as a way to show that Soviet Union was going to the richest country. In 1957 he made a shocking announcement when he said ‘Soviet Union would overtake United States in production.’ The statement he made was an unrealistic one because of the fact that the animal husbandry sector had suffered due to the impact of World War 2 and collectivization
