DSST Soviet Union case studies
DSST Soviet Union · Put your knowledge to work in context.
History of the Soviet Union is a DSST exam in the Social Sciences subject area, listed by DSST – Get College Credit as a three-credit Baccalaureate examination. It was formerly titled The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, so candidates may still encounter the older name in catalogs and study plans. The DSST Soviet Union case studies are 5 cases and about 2,960 words.
1Grain Exports and Famine Relief in a Volga Province, 1891
You are the special commissioner for a Volga province in July 1891, six weeks after a spring drought destroyed 35 percent of the rye crop. The province has 1.1 million peasants; seed reserves cover only 12 percent of normal autumn sowing.
619 words, about 3 min2Coalition or Coercion after the July Days, 1917
You are a Menshevik member of the Provisional Government in Petrograd in early July 1917, three days after the July Days demonstrations. Bolshevik leaders have been arrested or forced into hiding; Lenin is in Finland.
607 words, about 3 min3The Scissors Crisis and Narkomfin's Choices, 1923
You are a senior official at the People's Commissariat of Finance in Moscow in October 1923. The 'scissors' between industrial and agricultural prices has widened sharply: peasants receive low prices for grain but must pay high prices for textiles, metal goods, and kerosene.
613 words, about 3 min4Evacuating Kharkov's Tank Industry, August 1941
You are the deputy people's commissar for the tank industry in August 1941. German armored spearheads are 200 kilometers from Kharkov, home of the Kharkov Tractor Works and a major tank design bureau.
566 words, about 3 min5Monetary Overhang and the 500-Day Plan, 1990
You are an economic adviser to the Soviet government in August 1990. The state budget deficit is running at 10 percent of GDP, the ruble is inconvertible, and households hold an estimated 80 billion rubles in forced savings-a monetary overhang that fuels shortages.
555 words, about 3 min