On March 18, 1946, the Law "On the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR for 1946-1950" was signed, which ensured in the shortest possible time the restoration of the war-ravaged economy of our country
The hostilities of 1941-1945 caused serious damage to the economy of our country. According to estimates of military financiers, one day of the Great Patriotic War cost the Soviet state 362 million pre-war rubles. With an approximate conversion to modern prices, this will be almost 3 billion modern dollars per day! And these are only direct costs.
Immediately after 1945, Soviet economists and statisticians calculated the direct damage caused by destruction during the fighting and the actions of the occupiers - 679 billion Soviet rubles, or 128 billion US dollars in pre-war prices. Even if it is approximately and very simplified to recalculate this amount in dollars at the beginning of 2016, we get a figure of 5 trillion dollars.
But this is only direct damage from military destruction. Together with military spending (including spending on the army, the production of weapons and equipment, the evacuation of industry, etc.), this figure will triple - to almost 2 trillion Soviet pre-war rubles, or 357 billion pre-war dollars. In modern dollars, this will already be about 15 trillion.
All these are just direct costs of the war and direct damage caused by it. Attempts to calculate all costs and losses, including deferred and indirect, will give such huge numbers that they will no longer even relate to economic theory, but rather to theoretical mathematics. The price of that great victory is still not measurable by any money.
And all this monstrous damage, all these terrible losses and destruction, our country had to not only survive, but also to restore with their own labor. That is why one of the first laws adopted in the USSR by the first post-war parliament was the law "On the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR for 1946-1950."
The great war that began in 1941 not only destroyed the national economy, but among other things, it pushed back the terms of the re-election of the Soviet parliament formed in 1938 - the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The first post-war elections, held in February 1946, were to become a popular vote of confidence in the Stalinist leadership.
They were carried out in compliance with all the democratic formalities of those years, with pre-election campaigning, etc. They walked throughout the country, including the newly annexed territories, as well as in the places of deployment of Soviet troops outside the USSR. Despite the lack of alternatives to the Stalinist candidates, the authorities took the election campaign more than seriously. Stalin, Zhdanov, Malenkov, and other top leaders of the USSR personally prepared keynote speeches and spoke to voters. These speeches not only emphasized the unconditional successes of Soviet state building, the best proof of which was the victory in the world war, but also for the first time publicly outlined the problems and goals of the USSR in the new post-war world.
Even conventionally democratic elections (note that the overwhelming majority of the world's population did not know such elections in those years) became not only a well-organized electoral triumph for Stalin, but also a rather serious test for the local Soviet and party authorities. Clarification about the possibility to vote against was part of the duties of pre-election agitators, and local authorities had to achieve almost 100 percent turnout of Soviet citizens at the ballot boxes.
And during the pre-election period, the population actively used this, in fact, blackmailing the party bodies, threatening not to vote or to vote against party candidates, if any everyday problems, of which a great many have accumulated after the war, are not resolved. So the 1946 all-union elections provided a good "feedback" between the state authorities and the population.
The first post-war “parliament”, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, at its first meeting on March 19, 1946, approved the law “On the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR for 1946-1950”. The bill was signed the day before, so it went down in history as a law of March 18, 1946.
The Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the first post-war five-year plan, the main goal of which was to rebuild the country after the war. Photo: photo archive of the magazine "Ogonyok"
This law was developed by the best Soviet leaders and economists who ensured the survival and victory of our economy during the Great Patriotic War. Now the goal was to overcome all the consequences of the war devastation.
The law read: “Having successfully begun the restoration of the destroyed economy of the regions subjected to occupation during the Patriotic War, the Soviet Union in the postwar period continues the restoration and further development of the national economy on the basis of state long-term plans … of the national economy of the USSR for 1946-1950. are to restore the affected areas of the country, restore the pre-war level of industry and agriculture and then surpass this level."
The law outlined the main directions of restoration. In particular, the priority was declared to be the restoration and development of railway transport, without which "the rapid and successful restoration and development of the entire national economy is impossible." The most important direction was the rise of agriculture and industry, producing consumer goods to facilitate the difficult post-war life of people.
The law ordered the completion of the post-war reconstruction of the national economy in 1946 and the use of the capacities of the former military industry for peaceful construction. To restore the destroyed cities and villages, it was envisaged to "create a mass factory production of residential buildings" and "to provide state assistance to workers, peasants and intellectuals in individual housing construction."
The law planned to abolish the card system in the near future, "restore and expand the network of primary and secondary schools and higher educational institutions", increase the number of hospitals and doctors, and many other measures. It is important to cancel that the Law "On the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR for 1946-1950" was not an empty declaration - it was a multi-page and very detailed business document, with practical calculations and figures.
Therefore, the law of March 18, 1946 did not remain only on paper, but was successfully implemented. The very next year, despite all the post-war difficulties, the USSR, one of the first among the warring states, abolished the rationing system, carried out a successful financial reform and completed the conversion of military production. By 1950, 6,200 large enterprises were rebuilt and rebuilt, and industrial production surpassed pre-war production.
The law "On the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR", signed on March 18, 1946, is rightfully one of the most important Russian victories in the history of the 20th century.
