Lesson 2

2 Changes in industry Quiz: Pearson Edexcel History, Unit 14

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 2, Changes in industry: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel GCSE History (1HI0), Unit 14: Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–41, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What was the name of the state planning agency in the USSR?

    • Sovnarkom
    • Komsomol
    • NKVD
    • Gosplan

  2. When did the First Five-Year Plan run?

    • 1928–32
    • 1921–25
    • 1945–50
    • 1936–40

  3. Which worker was celebrated in 1935 for an extraordinary coal-mining shift?

    • Nikolai Ostrovsky
    • Pavel Morozov
    • Maxim Gorky
    • Alexei Stakhanov

  4. What was the main economic priority of Stalin's rapid industrialisation?

    • Light manufacturing
    • Agriculture
    • Heavy industry
    • Consumer goods

  5. Which city was a major new industrial centre built in the early 1930s?

    • Vladimir
    • Kharkiv
    • Tula
    • Magnitogorsk

  6. Which government body set and monitored industrial targets?

    • The Politburo
    • The Comintern
    • The Red Army
    • Gosplan

  7. What was a primary motive for Stalin replacing the NEP with rapid industrialisation?

    • Democratic reform
    • Consumer welfare
    • Military strength
    • Foreign trade

  8. What common weakness of the Five-Year Plans did producing high quantity but poor quality items show?

    • Excessive imports
    • Technological advance
    • Labour shortages
    • Quantity over quality

  9. What was a major success of the First Five-Year Plan?

    • Heavy industry growth
    • Consumer abundance
    • Higher living standards
    • Agricultural surplus

  10. What best characterises the overall outcome of Stalin's industrialisation?

    • Total economic failure
    • Universal prosperity
    • Agricultural surplus
    • Growth with hardship

  11. What happened to workers’ living conditions during the early Five-Year Plans?

    • Shorter working days
    • Immediate prosperity
    • Severe shortages
    • Abundant housing

  12. Which method helped finance early Soviet industrialisation?

    • Private investment
    • Grain exports
    • Tax cuts
    • Foreign loans

  13. What did 'socialist competition' encourage among Soviet workers?

    • Striking for pay
    • Job sharing
    • Shorter working hours
    • Exceeding production targets

  14. Which economic sector received the greatest investment in the First Five-Year Plan?

    • Agriculture
    • Heavy industry
    • Light industry
    • Housing

  15. What was the main purpose of the ambitious Five-Year Plan targets?

    • To lower inflation
    • To push workers
    • To reduce taxation
    • To increase wages

  16. What was the Second Five-Year Plan’s period?

    • 1945–50
    • 1928–32
    • 1933–37
    • 1921–25

  17. What happened to consumer goods as the plans focused on heavy industry?

    • Surplus production
    • Better quality
    • Severe shortages
    • Price controls

  18. What feature of central planning caused many Soviet industrial failures?

    • Rigid targets
    • Decentralised control
    • Market forces
    • Excessive democracy

  19. In which coal region did Stakhanov work?

    • Siberia
    • Caucasus
    • Donbass
    • Urals

  20. What were Soviet industrial managers primarily judged on?

    • Product quality
    • Financial profit
    • Meeting plan targets
    • Worker welfare

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