Five year plans and industrial change - Stalin

Question 1

The nature of Stalin’s plans

Answer 1

Industrialisation was achieved through a series of five year plans.
The plans were formulated by Gosplan, and set targets for every factory, mine and workshop in the Soviet Union.
The plans were accompanied by massive propaganda campaigns designed to inspire workers to support the new system.

Question 2

Reasons for the plans

Answer 2

Ideology: wanted to abolish the capitalist market, and lay the economic foundation for socialism.
Economics: the NEP had failed to lead to further industrialisation.
Military: Russia had to industrialise in order to prepare for war in capitalist nations.
Political: by abolishing capitalism, Stalin won the support of the Party’s left-wing.

Question 3

The aims of the plans

Answer 3

Stalin’s primary economic aim was to build up heavy industry.
The government invested heavily in building new iron and steel factories and establishing new coal mines and oil wells.
From 1936, Stalin also prioritised rearmament.
His plan did not focus on consumer goods in order to maximise resources for heavy industry and the military.

Question 4

Transport

Answer 4

Led to the growth of the transport infrastructure:
- The Moscow Metro’s first train lines opened in 1935.
- The Moscow-Volga Canal opened in 1937.

Question 4

Heavy industry

Answer 4

This was the biggest success of the first Five-Year plans:
- Electricity output increased.
- Coal and steel production went up almost five times.
- There was an increase in oil production.

Question 5

Labour productivity

Answer 5

During the first Five-Year plan labour productivity was extremely low.
The government initiated the Stakhanovite movement:
- A propaganda campaign praised the work of coal miner Alexei Stakhanov, who mined 14 times his quota in a single shift.
- Stalin authorised a system of higher payments to reward the most productive workers.
As a result, productivity rose between 25% and 50% in Russia’s major industries.

Question 6

Rearmament

Answer 6

This was a success.
By 1940, one-third of government spending was devoted to the military.
The plans led to the successful construction of nine military aircraft factories between 1939 and 1941.

Question 7

Quality

Answer 7

Production quality was often low because factory managers were rewarded for producing large quantities of material, regardless of the quality.

Question 8

Efficiency

Answer 8

Stalin’s economy was very inefficient.
Around 40% of what was produced was wasted.
The plans were undermined by Gosplan’s unrealistic targets:
- Gosplan officials often had no idea how big the factories they controlled were or how much they could produce.
- Industrial managers lied about production levels to avoid punishment.
- Falsified data made economic management even harder, as effective planning relies on accurate data.