What was Stalin's five year plan?

Answer 1

Joseph Stalin was one of the most heavy handed leaders in the History of Russia. His five year plan was a national economic policy for the country. The human costs in lives was high and the results of Stalin's plans are subject to doubt because there was no free press to examine his claims.

Answer 2

In 1927 Stalin's advisers told him that with the modernization of farming the Soviet Union would require an extra 250,000 tractors. As well as tractors there was also a need to develop the oil fields to provide the necessary petrol to drive the machines. Power stations also had to be built to supply the farms with electricity.

Since the October Revolution industrial progress had been slow. It was not until 1927 that production had reached the levels achieved before the start of the First World War. Stalin decided that he would use his control over the country to increase production.

The first Five Year Plan introduced in 1928, concentrated on the development of iron and steel, machine-tools, electric power and transport. Joseph Stalin set the workers high targets. He demanded a 1115 increase in coal production, 200% increase in iron production and 335% increase in electric power. He justified these demands by claiming that if rapid industrialization did not take place, the Soviet Union would not be able to defend itself against an invasion from capitalist countries in the west.

Every factory had large display boards erected that showed the output of workers. Those that failed to reach the required targets were publicity criticized and humiliated. Some workers could not cope with this pressure and absenteeism increased. This led to even more repressive measures being introduced. Records were kept of workers' lateness, absenteeism and bad workmanship. If the worker's record was poor, he was accused of trying to sabotage the Five Year Plan and if found guilty could be shot or sent to work as forced labour on the Baltic Sea Canal or the Siberian Railway.

With the introduction of the Five Year Plan, Stalin argued that it was necessary to pay higher wages to certain workers in order to encourage increased output. His left-wing opponents claimed that this inequality was a betrayal of socialism and would create a new class system in the Soviet Union. Stalin had his way and during the 1930s, the gap between the wages of the labourers and the skilled workers increased.

Answer 3

Stalin's Five-Year Plan was a road map for a great campaign of forced industrialization. It was a rather ambitious set of goals that Stalin and his followers drew up in 1927. The plan called for unbelievable industrialization efforts. Russian Propaganda posters advocated the saying "We Smite Lazy Workers!" to mobilize workers. New industries were built in entirely new cities (i.e. the factory town of Magnitogorsk). Moscow and Leningard doubled in size as new cities were emerging across the country.

The results of the five-year plan are still looked upon today as one of the most stunning periods of economic growth. The industrial output of the Soviet Union increased by 50% in five years. In 1926, only 1/5 people in the Soviet Union lived in towns. In 1939, roughly 1/3 did.

Yet, this is not to say that this was totally executed without some defects. This industrialization came at enormous human cost. Large-scale projects in the timber and mining industries used prison labor. The labor camp system (named "gulag") actually became a central component of the Stalinist economic system. People were arrested and sent to camps on a very wide variety of charges, including simply having the ill luck of being born to bourgeois or kulak parents. This camp system held around 3.6 million people by the end of the decade. A man-made canal connecting Moscow to the seaports of the north was dug by hand, with human labor used for every part of its construction. Tens of thousands lives were lost. (Yet, the canal was bombed early in World War II).

Answer 4

building heavy industry, improving transportation, and increasing farm output

Answer 5

To industrialize and modernize the USSR.