A-level
HISTORY
Component 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964
Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/1H.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
IB/M/Jun22/E4 7042/1H
2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
The Russian economy was certainly in need of rescue in 1921, but by 1924 it had
already begun to revive. From 1924, industrial reconstruction proved rapid and recovery
was even more marked in agriculture. Further change from 1928 set new priorities and
by 1932 the regime could boast some real achievements. Gross industrial production
actually surpassed the targets set by the first five-year plan and the value of machinery 5
more than quadrupled. These were impressive results and while the industrialisation
drive continued unrelentingly, agriculture was also transformed as peasants were brought
under administrative control and collectives established. The greatest economic spurt
occurred during the three good years of 1934–36. Thereafter, investments were
channelled into armaments, but although agriculture lagged behind, with a major crop 10
failure in 1936, the Soviet economy was in a strong position on the eve of war. By 1941
the USSR had closed the gap with the West and Stalin’s forced pace of industrialisation
would undoubtedly contribute mightily to Soviet victory.
Adapted from GL Freeze, Russia: A History,1997
Extract B
After the failure of the NEP which had only managed to restore agricultural and industrial
production to its 1913 level by 1928, the first three five-year plans increased industrial
output considerably. This was because they brought many new resources, including the
labour of former peasants, into the industrial system and used the powers of the state to
direct those resources into a few chosen areas. All other aspects of the economy were 5
downplayed or neglected: agriculture, housing, retail trade, services and consumer
industries. This could not last: even industrial workers needed those neglected sectors of
the economy, without which their work and lives suffered. Even some heavy industries –
chemical and electric, for example, were relatively neglected with damaging cumulative
effects. The problem was that the planned economy was not really ‘planned’ at all. 10
Construction projects were launched before anyone knew whether they could be
completed, or if they would be needed when they were. Russia’s seemingly impressive
economic development of the 1930s was lop-sided and unsustainable.
Adapted from G Hosking, Russia and the Russians, 2001
IB/M/Jun22/7042/1H
3
Extract C
The NEP, permitting small-scale capitalism after 1921, proved successful and was
popular with workers and peasants, but it was ideologically unsound. Capitalism had to
be destroyed by a state-led industrialisation drive. However, this could only be achieved
through high levels of economic coercion directed at the ordinary workers and farmers
and it worked far better in theory than in practice. Coordinating planning and meeting 5
targets could only be achieved by imposing harsh penalties. There are numerous
examples of over-optimistic planning which created a constant tension between planners
and producers. The pressure to meet targets meant that every failure was liable to be
interpreted as an act of economic sabotage. What on paper appeared an effortless
statistical picture of growth was, in practice, a constant cycle of crisis and undisguised 10
militaristic coercion. By 1941 Stalin’s Soviet Union had a record of extraordinary violence
against the very men and women, in factories and fields, who struggled to put the
economic plans into reality.
Adapted from R Overy, The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, 2004
0 1 Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the
arguments in these three extracts are in relation to the development of the Soviet
economy in the years 1921 to 1941.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
IB/M/Jun22/7042/1H Turn over ►
4
Section B
Answer two questions.
0 2 ‘By 1881, the emancipation of the serfs had brought profound social change in Russia.’
Assess the validity of this view.
[25 marks]
0 3 How effective was the opposition of radical and liberal groups in challenging the
authority of the Tsar in the years 1894 to 1914?
[25 marks]
0 4 ‘There were more similarities than differences between Stalin and Khrushchev as Soviet
leaders.’
Assess the validity of this view of the years 1941 to 1964.
[25 marks]
END OF QUESTIONS
Copyright information
For confidentiality purposes, all acknowledgements of third-party copyright material are published in a separate booklet. This booklet is published after
each live examination series and is available for free download from www.aqa.org.uk.
Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright-holders may have been unsuccessful and
AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contact the Copyright Team.
Copyright © 2022 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
IB/M/Jun22/7042/1H
*226A7042/1H*
