Stalin Plans Notes Flashcards
Why launch the first plan
One of the central aims of the Communist regime in the Soviet
Union was to industrialise the country. The Soviet economy had
made advances under Lenin’s NEP, but the Soviet Union remained
economically behind the rest of Europe. Its technology was outdated
and could not keep up with the needs of the growing Soviet population.
The Five-Year Plans were designed to break away from the NEP,
with its capitalist elements, and bring about rapid industrialisation
to modernise the economy and move towards socialism.
What would get rid of NEPmen
The
move to large-scale nationalisation and state control would get
rid of the detested Nepmen, those private business owners and
traders who had flourished under the NEP. As people who made
a profit from their trade, the Nepmen were seen as capitalists,
class enemies who represented a reminder of the old world and
its values.
Fear of foreign invasion was to lead Stalin to declare,
We are 50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must
make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it or we shall be
crushed.’ Thus, to industrialise was patriotic, and this was to form
an important part of Stalin’s cry of ‘Socialism in one countrv’.
Socialism in one country
This was the slogan used to describe the policy of industrialising the
USSR and moving towards socialism by using the resources of the
Soviet Union. It was put forward by Stalin, who argued against Trotsky’s
idea of promoting world revolution before industrialising at home.
The implementation of the Five-Year Plans
The decision to abandon the NEP and push for rapid industrialisation
was made after the Fifteenth Party Congress in 1927. The Plans
aimed to use the most advanced technology, applied with an
emphasis on heavy industry, to make the USSR self-sufficient. They
would rely on the mass mobilisation of its people and resources. The
language of the Plans reflected a massive military campaign as the
people were encouraged to ‘storm’ and ‘conquer’ on many fronts’
Who was in charge of plans
Industrialisation was placed under the direction of Gosplan, the
State Planning Authority. Targets were set for those industries the
government saw as the priority for modernisation, and resources
were allocated accordingly. The Five-Year Plans saw the rapid
extension of the state over the economy. People’s Commissariats
were set up to co-ordinate the differing branches of industry and
Party officials were used at factory level to ensure orders from the
centre were carried out.
What was good ideologically but hindered the progress of the plans
Within the factories there was a concerted campaign
against the so-called bourgeois experts, those technical staff
who had retained their positions because the state needed
their expertise to keep industry running smoothly. The removal of the bourgeois
experts would open up job opportunities to more loyal, if less
well-trained, communist members. In 1928, there had been a
series of show trials against these bourgeois experts, accused
of wrecking’ and deliberate sabotage, often in collaboration with
foreign agents.
The First Five-Year Plan (1928-32) Summary
• The First Five-Year Plan (1928-32) concentrated on
rapid growth in heavy industry, such as coal, steel and iron. Consumer
industries, such as textiles and producers of household goods
were neglected. The original justification for this focus was
the need to build up an industrial infrastructure of factories,
communication networks and plant before other sectors could
flourish.
The Second Five-Year Plan
1933-37. initially set higher
targets for the production of consumer goods, but as the 1930s
progressed, the rise of Hitler in Germany redirected the focus
onto the needs of defence, which meant that heavy industry
continued to receive priority.
The Third Five-Year Plan
launched in 1938, was geared even
more directly towards arms production to meet the threat of
Germany.
Results of plan targets
The targets of the First Five-Year Plan of 1928-32 were very
ambitious at the start, but as the plan was put into effect they
were constantly raised to ever more unrealistic heights. It was, as
McCauley (1993) puts it, ‘as if mathematics had ceased to function
The goal became not just fulfilling the plan, but over-fulfilling it, not to
do so was a sign of a lack of commitment to the Revolution. Although
targets were rarely reached, the achievements of the first three Five-
Year Plans were impressive and transformed the Soviet Union into a
major industrial power with a modern, if unbalanced, economy.
Magnitogorsk is first plan
Industrial expansion under the first Five-Year Plan was largely
the result of making more efficient use of existing factories
and equipment. New plants were built but they did not make a
significant impact on production until after 1934. Large industrial
centres, such as Magnitogorsk and Gorki, were built from scratch
and became large cities. In 1929, there were only 25 people living
at Magnitogorsk; three years later, this number had increased to
250,000.
Limits to places like Magnitogorsk
Facilities at these centres were primitive, with workers
housed in tents and temporary huts. The material rewards were
limited and work was hard. The workers, who often volunteered
to move to these sites, had to rely on their revolutionary attitudes
and socialist beliefs for motivation. This was particularly
necessary given the fact that, even by 1933, only 17 percent of the
workforce in Moscow was skilled and, in other cities, the figure
was considerably smaller. The government relied on the use of
‘shock brigades’ made up of the best workers, to set an example.
What inspired the workers first plan
The government relied on the use of
‘shock brigades’ made up of the best workers, to set an example.
The most well-known model worker was Stakhanov, a
coal miner from the Donbass region who could mine 15 times the
average amount of coal. There were rewards for model workers,
such as a new flat and bigger rations; slackers were held up to
ridicule. Many sites had statues to Lenin built in order to inspire
the workers to greater revolutionary achievements.
Human cost of first plan
As a last resort, the government could always use slave
labour to complete large building projects. Vast quantities of
precious economic resources were located in cold, remote
regions, such as Siberia, where nobody would go to work.
The answer was to use the burgeoning population in the Gulag. Labour camp prisoners were diverted to mines, railway
construction and other projects.
