What this lesson teaches
I can weigh up the reasons the Soviet Union grew weaker in the 1970s and 1980s.
Syllabus K336, End of the Cold War, Learning Outcomes. Assess the reasons that led to the decline of the USSR.
Make a guess
Soviet factory managers were rewarded for meeting output targets. What do you think this did to the goods they made?
- Quality rose, because managers competed for customers.
- Many were poor in quality, and shops often ran short.
- Shops filled with more consumer goods than in the West.
Show the answer
Many were poor in quality, and shops often ran short.
Managers chased quantity, not quality, and most resources went to heavy industry and the military.
Soviet factories were rewarded for meeting targets, not for making good products, so shortages and poor living standards grew.
The USSR had a command economy. The government, not the market, decided what to make, how much to make and what it would cost. This had built big industries. But a huge economy was hard to run by orders from the top.
Factories were rewarded for meeting output targets. So a manager might make many items of poor quality. Or they might ask for an easy target instead of trying new methods.
Most resources went to heavy industry, like steel, and to the military. Few were left for things families needed. Shops often ran short. People heard that life was better in the West, and they lost faith in official promises. This did not make collapse certain. But it created strong pressure for reform, and made costly military commitments harder to keep up.
- Command economy
- The government decides what is made and at what price.
- Output targets
- Rewarded quantity, not quality.
- Result
- Shortages and weak living standards.
Worked example: A factory target and a family's needs
Imagine a shoe factory rewarded mainly for the number of pairs it makes.
- The manager makes lots of cheap shoes in one size to hit the target.
- Families cannot find shoes that fit or last.
- The target is met, but people's needs are not.
Watch out for this
A command economy could never produce anything.
The USSR built major industries and science. Its problem was making enough good everyday goods that people wanted.
Check your understanding
Why did output targets cause problems in Soviet factories?
- Managers focused on quantity rather than quality or what people needed.
- Targets let prices rise and fall freely with what buyers wanted.
- Targets forced factories to make too many costly, high-quality goods.
Show the answer
Managers focused on quantity rather than quality or what people needed.
Yes. Meeting the target mattered more than making useful goods.