Stalin and the Five Year Plans
Stalin’s technique to take Germany forward was using five year plans. Stalin believed there was need for these five- year plans as : First of all many of the regions were behind other countries in growth and that the USSR were backward Stalin believed that to be be backward you are defeated and enslaved but if you are powerful people must beware of you. Stalin also believed (with Lenin) the USSR should overtake and out strip the capitalist countries He believed Socialism in one country and the USSR would be powerful enough to survive then would take over the rest of the world.
Another reason for the 5 year plans was because he believed that Germany would invade and in one of his speechs he said “If we make a good difference in 10 years or so they will crush us. Lastly the 5 year plans included a lot of useful propaganda which helped protray Stalin as a very pleasant and powerful man. In the first five year plan Stalin focused on radip industrialisation. He demanded a 200% increase in iron production and a 335% in electrical power. To do this Stalin used alot of prisoners as they were cheap and in a large supply.
If a worker was found guilty of treason for any reason they would either be shot or sent to forced labor on the Baltic Sea Canal or the Siberian railway.
In Soviet Union workers constructed damns,roads,railways and canals which all helped to expand the industry and manufacturing. Although factory output soared as a result of the first Five year plan the agricultural production was damaged. In 1932, grain production was 32 % below average whic resulted in a widespread famine. Second plan For the Second FIve Year Plan, Stalin expanded the goals of his previous plan and continued to emphasise on heavy industry.
This plan’s aim was to advance the Soviet Unions communication systems especially railways which improved in speed and reliability. The Second Five Year Plan didnt reach the level of success that the First Five Year plan did with the production levels in coal and oil industries.
The First Five year plan encouraged a high status family life and In the Second Five Year Plan initiated a lower standard of living as consumer preferences were disregarded and focus shifted toward military goods and heavy industry Third Plan
The Third Five year plan lasted for only three year, as it was interrupted by Germany’s declaration of war on the Soviet Union During world war II. Stalin continued to implement additional Five Yer Plans in the Years following WWII. By 1952 the industrial production was nearly double 1941 level. Stalin’s Five Year Plans helped transform the Soviet Union from an untrained Society of Peasent to an advanced industrial economy.
