How successful were the 5-year plans in economic
advancements in Russia – 25 for me – the second 5yp =
best, then 1st then 3rd
FIRST FIVE-YEAR PLAN SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN THIRD FIVE-YEAR PLAN
October 1928 to december January 1933 to December January 1938 to June 1941
1932 1937 The third plan ran for only three
The emphasis was on heavy Heavy industries = focus but and a half years because of the
industries – coal, oil, iron and there was greater emphasis on USSR’s entry into the Second
steel, electricity, cement, metals, communications, especially World War. Once again, heavy
timber. This accounted for 80 per railways to link cities and industry was emphasised as the
cent of total investment; 1500 industrial centres. 4500 need for armaments became
enterprises were opened. enterprises opened. The plan increasingly urgent.
benefited from some big projects,
such as the Moscow
Underground
successful successful successful
Electricity–production trebled. Heavy industries benefited from The heavy industry continued to
Coal and iron – output doubled. plants which had been set up grow, for example, machinery and
The engineering industry during the first plan and now engineering, but the picture was
developed and increased the came on stream. Electricity uneven, and some areas did
output of machine tools, turbines, production expanded rapidly. By poorly.
etc. 1937, the USSR was virtually self-
sufficient in machine-making and Defence and armaments grew
metalworking. rapidly as resources were
Huge new industrial complexes diverted to them.
were built or were in the process Transport and communications
of being built. Huge new tractor grew rapidly. Chemical industries,
works were built in Stalingrad, such as fertiliser production, were
Kharkov and other places to meet growing. Metallurgy developed –
the needs of mechanised minerals such as copper, zinc and
agriculture. tin were mined for the first time.
unsuccessful unsuccessful unsuccessful
There was very little growth, and Consumer goods industries were Steel output grew insignificantly.
even a decline, in consumer still lagging, although they were Oil production failed to meet
industries such as house-building, showing targets and led to a fuel crisis.
fertilisers, food processing and signs of recovery. There was Consumer industries once again
woollen textiles. growth in footwear and food took a back seat. Many factories
processing – modern bakeries, ran short of materials.
Small workshops were squeezed ice-cream production and meat-
out, partly because of the drive packing plants – but not enough.
against Nepmen and partly Oil production did not make the
because of shortages of materials expected advances.
and fuel. Chemicals targets were
not fulfilled. The lack of skilled
workers created major problems.
Workers were constantly
changing jobs, = instability.
OVERALL OVERALL OVERALL
In reality, many targets were not There was a feeling in the party The third plan ran into difficulties
met. The Great Depression – that Stalin had overreached at the beginning of 1938 due to
1929 – 39 had driven down the himself in the First Five-Year Plan, an exceptionally hard winter and
price of grain and raw materials, that targets had been too high. the diversion of materials to the
so the USSR could not earn The second plan was more one of military. Gosplan was thrown into
enough from exports to pay for all consolidation. The years 1934–36 chaos when the purges created
the machinery it needed. Also, a were known as the ‘three good shortages of qualified personnel,
, good deal of investment had to go years’ since the pressure was not such as important managers,
into agriculture because of the so intense, food rationing was engineers and officials, who
forced collectivisation ended and families had more linked industries and government.
programme. However, the Soviet disposable income.
economy was kick-started: there
was impressive growth in certain
sectors
Stalins economic policies were more successful than lenin 19171944
Lenin = war communisim + new ecomic policy
Stalin = 5 year plans + collectivisation
No stalins policies were better Lenins economic policies were They were both as
better and why successful/unsuccessful as eachother.
Stalin = industrialisation was The NEP = grain requisitioning collectivisation = widespread famines
the key. Stalin preferred the abolished, small business swept the countryside – seven million
economic policies of War reopened, ban on private trade, peasants starved in a famine between
Communism. He felt Lenin's state control of heavy industry 1932 and 1933.. dekulakisation clear
New Economic Policy (NEP) the countryside of the most efficient
had diluted socialism, and hardworking peasants,.
driving forces were = to 5year plans =
increase military strength, tp industrialisation had to happen so fast
achieve self-sufficiency and that factories didn’t have time to
increase grain supply. properly train workers But mistakes
had to be covered up = so output
figures were inflated so that
industries could not be accused of
failing to fulfil their targets. Because
lies were told to make it seem like
more was being done than had
actually been achieved
SUCCESS SUCCESS LENINS WAR COMMUNISM = grain
GREAT TURN = NEP to Five- By 1923 = output rose by 200%, requisitioning, labour discipline no
Year Plans was = it marked a economic industry recovery was more private trade + nationalisation.
major shift in the economy well underway by 1924, = DISASTER,
towards central planning – the ‘tax in kind’ peasants gave the people had no incentive to
‘command economy’ much less tax to the state. produce as money had been
75% of Nepmen making double abolished. WAS AN excuse for the civil
Collectivisation = developing profits through the selling of war. In all areas, the economic
agriculture, The individual primary products to cities – the strength of Russia fell below the 1914
plots of land were combined money economy was back level. Peasant farmers only grew for
into one Kolkhoz, a collective (rationing was abolished) themselves, as they knew that any
farm that all peasants worked The flow of goods in and out of extra would be taken by the state
on together. Modern the economy, people could FACTORY WORKERS AND MINERS and
machinery like tractors were make profits and buy food and mines dropped by 50%.
given to each Kolkhoz goods using their own income Emma Goldman = young girls selling
improved efficiency when even though , urban workers themselves for a piece of soup
growing food, = much easier were struggling = SEEMED LIKE
to collect one quota from a big THE NEP MARKED THE END OF
farm than tiny amounts from THE COMMUNIST EXPERIMENT.
each individual peasant. At the
same time, Stalin introduced
dekulakisation, a communist
movement to equalise all
peasants.
Five Year Plans seem to be
