Group+9-+Stalin's+Economic+Plans

Stalin’s Economic Plan After World War One, the USSR found itself on a downfall and losing its position as one of the largest powers in the world. Russia lost over 6 million soldiers and was forced to pull out of “the Great War” early. With more potential threats from the West, leader Joseph Stalin was trying to find any way to catch Russia up with the rest of the world. He found this answer through Russia’s struggles in industry and production. Many felt that Russia was over 50 years behind the production of the other countries. With few resources and materials, the USSR had a very strong Achilles heel. As Joseph Stalin said, //“We are 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in ten years. Either we do it, or they crush us!”// One of the USSR’s most influential leaders, Stalin needed to devise a way to catch up with the rest of Europe, the United States and the world.

Stalin’s solution came in 1928 when he first created what he called “A Five Year Plan.” This plan was established in an attempt to industrialize Russia and catch up with the other superpowers. Coming off of World War One, Stalin felt that the USSR was way too far behind other countries technologically. This plan was set out in an attempt to industrialize Russia and really concrete its position as one of the strongest empires in the world. The main focus of the plan was to increase the production of coal, steel and iron. By doing this, Stalin had hoped the USSR would gain the resources and material it needed for the strength that it required. Dams across the country were created along with roads, railways and canals. Whole cities were built in remote areas across the land where the resources were. Workers from the countryside were brought into these factories in an attempt to gain the edge they desperately desired. Stalin had created unrealistic goals for these industries to reach and even though they did not reach them, great improvement was achieved in industry. And even though everything was improving for the Soviets, there were other problems arising as well, in the agricultural sector.

Stalin set two goals for the USSR in order to boost the economy: rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture. His plan is concisely summarized in the following quote: //“What is the way out? The way out is to turn the small and scattered peasant farms into large united farms based on collective cultivation of the land on the basis of a new higher technique”// –Stalin (Dec. 1927)

Stalin’s first Five Year Plan was launched in 1928 and called for rapid industrialization. Stalin’s goals were unrealistic (250% increase in industrial development and a 330% expansion in heavy industry.), but Stalin’s iron will and way with intimidation helped set his plans in motion. All industry and services were nationalized and new industrial centers were developed in the Ural Mountains. Insistent on unrealistic production targets, Stalin soon discovered serious problems with his plans. The government had invested the majority of its income into heavy industry, and consequently a shortage of goods occurred.

During the winter of 1927-28, before the industrial drive was serious, it became obvious that grain procurements would fall. Stalin’s answer, The ‘Ural-Siberian Method’, suggested the return to compulsory procurement (//drazterstka//). With the end of that winter came the end of the country-town alliance of NEP. //(NOTE: If Stalin has wished to recreate the NEP it would have taken him at least a decade)//

Stalin did not show any signs that he intended to introduce collectivization until his autumn campaign in 1929. The public were first introduced to that idea on the 7th of November that same year. The decision for collectivization was abrupt, and called for immediate action. Stalin wished to free the government from its dependency on farmers, as clearly expressed by Stalin’s speech: //“In order to put grain procurements on a satisfactory basis other measurements are required…I have in mind the formation of collective farms and state farms.”// Mass collectivization was tied with Stalin’s strategy of industrial development for Russia and was really a way of killing two birds with one stone. It addressed the short term issue of supplying food to towns and the long term issue of ensure a source of finance for the Five Year Plans.

In April the decision to create a grain trust, or //zernotrest,// was brought into being with the intention of developing new state farms, which would cover fourteen million hectors of land. This lead the Communist Regime to believe that collectivization would improve productivity in the agricultural sector, producing grain reserves large enough to feed the urban labour force, which was constantly growing. Collectivization was expected enable the party to extend its political dominance over the peasants who were not freed from the industrial work of the cities and transform agricultural work into a half co-operative, and half factory organization.

However, there was another motive behind collectivization. On a whole, the Bolsheviks were, ideologically suspicious of peasants. Stalin was particularly hostile toward the Kulaks, who were wealthy Ukrainian peasants. According to his propaganda, the Kulaks were exploiting other peasants, which was a Marxist myth which had fist been spread by Lenin during the Revolution. At this time the Soviet government could not separate the peasants who were being exploited from the ones which were doing the exploiting. The Kulaks were called the “enemy of the people” and treated as subhuman. They were demonized by Stalin’s propaganda and thought of as vermin with no souls. Stalin declared that the Soviet Union needed to achieve “the liquidation of kulaks as a class” in December of 1929. Fifteen million peasants were forced from their homes and sent across the country to inhospitable regions, where they were left to die. The remaining peasants were forced into collectivization, though it was forcefully resisted. Collectivization was desperately opposed by peasantry on a whole. This resulted in a disruption of agricultural productivity and a deadly famine (1932-33). Stalin viewed the famine optimistically, due to its effectiveness in killing Kulaks. In the Ukraine alone four to five million people died. Throughout the rest of Russia approximately another two to three million were killed. The campaign against Kulaks was the greatest and most persuasive of Stalin’s terror. One could compare it to Hitler’s genocide of the Jews. The death toll was just as high.

Though the Five Year Plan only called for 20% of peasant households to be collectivized, by 1940 near 97% of all peasant household had been forced into collectivization, almost entirely eliminating private farm ownership. This greatly helped achieve Stalin’s goal of mass industrialization, but the human costs were incalculable. Furthermore, the majority of the population, approximately 65%, still earned their living from agriculture. The Kolkhozes, which were consolidations of individual farms, were the dominating economic organization. By the end of the first Five Year Plan the majority of peasants had been forced into Kolkhozes and by the end of the third Five Year Plan only 3 or 4 percent of peasants remained independent. This is how the individual peasant of pre-Revolution and Revolution Russia ceased to exist.

In the early 1930s, which marked the second year of the first Five Year Plan, Stalin had to pull back and let peasants leave collective farms on account of the chaos the policy had caused. However, over the next two years, collectivization was pushed forward again. A mass confiscation of Kulak land began. From 1930-33 the most violent period of collectivization occurred. An enormous chunk of agricultural property, including over 50% of the total livestock, was destroyed by peasants. Thousands of peasants were shot, and millions were exiled.

By the end of the first Five Year Plan the transformation of individual and agricultural economy through collectivization was mainly completed. During the second five year period, the process of collectivization was brought to a momentary conclusion, only to be brought back to life during the third Five Year Plan.



Due to the loss of profits and the slaughtering of millions, many ask why workers and the Kulaks did not rebel in situations such as these. People were being taken out of their homes and sent to other cities to work. Farmers and peasants were forced to work in industry and operate machines that they did not know how to. Kulaks were stripped of their power and lost most of their profits. All the conditions placed upon them were extreme yet workers in industry could not rebel. Workers were paid in food rationing and if they stopped working, they would not be able to eat. The Kulaks tried to rebel but in a different way. Some chose to burn their crops and their animals rather than sell them to the government. This only resulted in more money being lost and more lives taken for their actions. The first 5 year plan set the tone that Stalin was serious about upgrading the USSR. He took lives, eliminated an entire class of people and helped raise the industry throughout the country. You cannot argue in the success that Stalin had in industry during these five years, but the means that he went by it are still in question.

Stalin had three major five year plans during his reign. There was other plans post World War Two, but they were not as effective as what he established before the war. The second 5 year plan was created in 1932 and built around the success of the first one, except this one focused on heavy industries. The focus was placed mainly on steel, but Stalin aimed to triple the production in coal and iron as well. They also started development in communication and transportation, mainly in the building of railways and canals for the latter. This created a way to connect Russia for World War Two. One of their problems in World War One was the transportation of soldiers to and from war fronts and the development of transportation helped link the entire country. By the end of the second 5 year plan, Russia really was a modern industrialized state. Many believe that Russia had transformed into a top industrial power and were only behind the United States by 1937.

The third 5 year plan was created in 1938 but was cut short by World War Two. This plan focused on the USSR’s role in the war and propaganda was used to help increase industry. All the machinery being used for coal, iron and steel helped build up the materials that the USSR needed to go to war. Planes, boats and tanks were easily created while large arms and equipment were also manufactured. An effort was also made in ensuring that they could mobilize troops after the travesty in WW1. The output of army equipment was increased and railways were extended across the empire. People believe that without the industry that Stalin had created, the USSR would have lost World War Two to Germany.

Before these three major plans, Stalin had created another idea that would revolutionize the USSR, his idea of “**Socialism in One Country**.” This plan was to strengthen the USSR internally to ensure that a collapse within would not occur. With communism collapsing in countries all around them, Stalin adapted the original idea presented by Nikolai Bukharin and adopted this state policy to protect Russia. This thesis made Stalin believe that Russia could stand as its own communist state rather than rely on these other socialist countries. His policy created more controversy with Trotsky and countries in Western Europe but helped support other communist countries and the USSR itself. It also led to more deaths as Stalin held things like the Ukraine famine, starving almost 5 million people to protect his new ideas.

The results of Stalin’s three major five year plans completely turned around the empire of the USSR. Joseph Stalin was able to change an agriculture based country into one of the world’s largest industry manufacturers within 10 years. We cannot argue that his plans were successful in catching Russia up with the rest of the industrialized world, but we can question that manner in which he did it in. Was killing all of these people necessary to turn the USSR into what it had become? Stalin believed that //“ Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem.” // Was the elimination of the Kulaks really necessary in reaching the goals of communism? Joseph Stalin will always remain controversial in what he did yet he will remain one of the most influential dictators in history. ** Where Stalin’s ruthless methods of industrializing Russia worth the Price? ** Stalin’s ruthless methods of industrializing Russia were not worth the price. The human losses were incalculable. However, Russia had become an industrial superpower within ten years, the damage of the population and livestock was not worth the price. They were leading in the war because of the industrial growth of the USSR due to Stalin, but the damage on the population was unjustified.

The most benefiting industrial development was the development of steel, because it provided the USSR with materials for the war effort, making boats, tanks, and planes. Many believe that the reason why the USSR did not loose to German in the Second World War is the industry that Stalin put into place. The least beneficial industrial development was the development of collectivization due to the rate of deaths which were equal to that of Nazi Germany. The death toll did not benefit the industry enough for the killing of Kulaks to be justified.
 * Which aspect of rapidly growing Soviet Union industry benefited most/least during this period. **

Bibliography

Five Year Plans and Socialism in One Country
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Collectivization
 * 1928, meanwhile, and Bukharin was sufficiently alarmed. "SparkNotes: Joseph Stalin: Stalin Triumphant//." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides.// N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. .
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 * "Collectivization and Industrialization." //ibiblio.org - Storytelling// . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. .
 * Dyker, David A. (1944-). "The Agricultural Sector." //The Soviet economy / David A. Dyker//. First edition. ed. Boston: London : Crosby Lockwood Staples, 1976. 3, 122-124. Print.
 * Nove, Alec. "The Soviet Great Leap Foward: I. Collectivation." //An Economic History of the USSR//. London: Penguin Press, 1969. 63, 161-186. Print.
 * Yugow, A.. //Russia////'s Economic Front for War and Peace//. Not Stated ed. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942. Print.