3: Stalin's Three 5-Year Plans Flashcards
1st plan
1928 to 1932
Focused on heavy industry (iron, coal, steel, oil) 80% of investment
1,500 enterprises opened
2nd plan
1933 to 1938
Focused on heavy industry but also more rounded economic growth (chemical + consumer goods) and transport infrastructure
1934 this changed after Kirov’s murder and purges of moderates to focus less on consumer goods and more on military
3rd plan
1938-1941
Same methods as 1st plan but applied to war production
Despite worse diets, harsh labour discipline, and overall worse working conditions, many workers…
Felt that the hardships they endured were essential for building socialism and defending the Revolution from capitalism enemies abroad
1st Plan successes (4)
Social mobility
Transformed Russia
Remarkable industrial output
Met goal for oil
1st Plan failures (4)
Large-scale fraud / didn’t meet all targets
Quantity over quality
Living and working conditions worsened
Black market grew
Magnitogorsk
Aimed to build steelworks and city from scratch
1/4 million workers (Stahkanovites, volunteers, prisoners) transported there
In the end, steelworks were built but not the city, working conditions were awful and ended up with mostly slave labour.
The economic growth per year during the 1st plan
14%
Fact showing how 1st plan outperformed any previous economic plan
Coal production
1913 - 29 million tonnes
1928 - 35 million tonnes
1932 - 64 million tonnes
The goal was 68, but still very impressive
When was the Stakhanovite movement?
1935
Aleksey Stakhanov
Mined 14× his coal quota
Who set the targets?
Gosplan
1/2 million bureaucrats
Little knowledge of industry so plans were unrealistic
Examples of stricter labour discipline
Absenteeism and being late was criminialised
Not meeting quotas risked being arrested as a “wrecker” or “saboteur”
Stalin introduced 7 working day week
Examples of Gigantomania
Dnieper Dam
Moscow Metro
Examples of foreign participation (why?)
Despite aim of self sufficiency
Henry Ford
American engineer led Dnipro Dam
Great Depression led some to believe capitalism had failed
Ideological reasons for 5 year plans
Socialism only possible in a highly industrialised country
To be less reliant on western imports
Economic reasons for 5 year plans
NEP had failed to industrialise Russia
Industry didn’t exceed levels of last years of Tsarism
2nd plan success
Steel output trebled (Magnitogorsk)
Moscow Metro opened 1935
Moscow-Volga Canal 1937
Improved living standards (at first)
How did living standards improve during the 2nd plan?
Bread rationing ended in 1934 followed by other foods
Industrial wages increased in real terms
2nd plan failures
Little coordination and hoarding to meet targets caused scarcity of resources
Fear meant nobody reported problems and lied
Shortages of essential items continued and housing still lacked amenities
Growing inequality (party members luxuries)
Shoe shortage facts
State owned production
Poor quality, fell apart
1934 a queue of 6,000 formed
Housing and amenities fact
In one district in Moscow there was no bathhouse for 650,000 people
Party officials luxuries
Still worse off than average worker in Britain or America
Defence spending during 2nd plan
1933 4% of total government expenditure, 1937 17%
Defence spending in 3rd plan
1940 1/3 government expenditures, which was double 1937 levels
What was resources diverted away from during end of 2nd plan and 3rd plan?
Consumer goods
New military technology in 3rd plan
1939 construction of new aircraft factories
But much was unusable
What did Stalin take personal control in 1941?
Defence industry
What ended the 3rd plan?
The Central Committee declared that all resources should be directed to war preparation. Stalin’s intervention also ended Gosplan’s responsibility.
Coal, oil, and steel during 3rd plan
Coal increased 30%
Crude oil increased marginally
Steel stagnated
From 1937 to 1941 levels
What did the plans do to society?
Formed a quicksand society.
Rapid social advancement, regularly switching jobs
How did Stalin combat the quicksand society?
1940 internal passports
What complicated the 3rd plan?
Stalin’s purges
Created chaos in Gosplan and general industry (many experienced managers purged)
Overall, the first three 5 year plans transformed Russia from a _____ to a _____ from ______ to ______.
Semi-capitalist rural society
Highly industrialised, urbanised society
1928 to 1941
However, Stalin failed to _____, which meant the Russian economy as a whole remained hopelessly _____
Increase labour productivity
Inefficient
Increase in labour force due to collectivisation
+ 20 million overall
Overall doubled
Housing plan problems
50% shortfall
How many women entered the workforce?
10 million
(2 incomes were now needed to sustain a family)
