6) First Five Year Plan 1928-1932

Question 1

What did the first five year plan focus on?

Answer 1

Heavy industry, in attempts to lay foundations for future industrial development. Allowed peasants to gain skills necessary to work in more sophisticated industries eg textiles.

Question 2

Successes of the first five year plan:

Answer 2

• economy grew at around 14% per year.
• this was especially impressive because America and Europe were in a state of depression following the wall street crash.
• iron almost doubled from 1928-1932 from 3.3 million tonnes to 6.2
• tremendous social mobility: urban population trebled
• education was reformed-encouraged to attend technical classes and universities.

Question 3

Failures of the first five year plan:

Answer 3

• very ambitious targets: these were never met
• eg iron was targeted 8 million tonnes but only 6 million tonnes was produced.
• local administrators lied about the amount
• quantity over quality meant most material was effectively useless

Question 4

What is the Magnitogorsk case study?

Answer 4

• represents the best and worst of the first five year plan
• 1/4 of a million workers
• mud huts, no heating -> by 1932 construction of workers housing was still pending
• still, they miraculously turned deserted grassland into one of Russia’s major industrial centres.

Question 5

Why did Stalin initiate the first five year plan?

Answer 5

• he thought Russia was “100 years behind the west” and thought that this distance must be achieved in “ten years”
• Russia wouldn’t be able to defend itself against capitalist nations
• iron, steel and coal were vital industries for war. The NEP had failed to industrialise these: iron, steel and copper produced never exceeded the amount produced in the last years of tsarism.