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Summary A* essay - success of Five Year Plans
A* level essay - Russia revolution and dictatorship
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How successful were the Five- Year Plans in transforming Russian industry in the years to1941?
Stalin made three five-year plans spanning from 1928 to 1941. He had very different aims
for each of the plans and had some very optimistic targets for the achievements of these
plans. An over riding theme of each of the plans was industry. Stalin wanted to restore
Russia’s hold on industry and make it a great trading power once again.
The five year plans were very successful in helping building up the Russian industry. They did
this through many ways, each contributing in a different manner.
The production of raw materials increased dramatically thought eh five-year plans and
industry on a whole became a lot more efficient. This can be seen through statistics that
show the production in tonnes. Such materials as; coal, iron and steel, all rose in production
quite dramatically. Iron rose from 4.2 million tonnes to 6.2 million tonnes, coal from 29.1
million tonnes to 64.3 million tonnes and steel from 4.0 million tonnes to 5.9 million tonnes.
These were huge increases at that time. For an country that was struggling as much as
Russia was at that time, it was an achievement. Stalin had many initiatives to achieve a
better industry. He put in place a reward scheme for workers if they helped reach the
targets that were set. Workers were encouraged to work for these rewards. This strategy
worked wonders as it increased the turn around in the factories as the workers were all
working for something at the end. One case of this would be the Russian miner,
Stakhanovite. Stalin used this miner as a propaganda opportunity. Stakhanovite had been
claimed to have mined an extreme amount in one shift. Stalin used him into the limelight as
an inspirational man and someone who showed what communism was all about. However,
the targets Stalin had set were not, in reality, met. Even though the production did increase
it was not by the dramatic rates Stalin and the communists had wanted it to and this made
the plans seem like failures. They may have not succeeded to the rate the communists
wanted to but they were still successful. Overall, the five year plans did indeed lead to a
transformation in Russian industry as they helped the production of raw materials increase
dramatically and this boosted the Russian industry dramatically.
In many ways the city of Magnitogorsk represent she best of the five year plans. It was a
huge achievement for both the Russian workers and Stalin himself. Not only was it a marvel
for others to look at it helped strengthen Russia industry. The town was built up from
scratch. Stalin drafted in a quarter of a million workers and instructed them to build Russia
largest steel factory. Stalin planned to make Magnitogorsk a town of strength and unity. He
wanted it to be a place where the workers lived as one and worked as one. It was a very
idealistic look on life and a target that many though couldn’t be achieved. The idea of a
industry based community was one which had not ever existed. Stalin thought that by
making his workers live and work as one in one place not only would he achieve the
‘communist family’ he desperately craved, he thought it would make them work harder and
therefore it would help to make the Russian industry boom. The town was to be built
around Russia largest steel works which were aimed to boost the production of steel
dramatically. To build the town Stalin had drafted in many workers which meant the
building would be efficiently done and should be very quick. However, conditions on the site
were not as expected and many workers left after 80 days to find new work. This was not
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