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Summary The Five-Year-Plans of Stalin
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This document covers the economic policy put in place by Stalin throughout his dictatorship over Russia
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The First 5 years plan 1928-32 Increase production by 300% by setting targets for growth.
Develop heavy industry.
Boost electricity production by 600%.
Double the output from light industry such as chemicals and production.
Roughly 250,000 tractors needed with developed oil fields – all will cost money.
Met with ‘over-enthusiasm’ and so goals were met in 4 years, not 5. In reality, none of the major
targets were met but there was impressive growth. Electricity output trebled, coal and iron output
doubled, and steel production increased by a third. New railways, engineering plants, hydro-electric
power schemes and industrial complexes such as Magnitogorsk spang up. Plans were drawn up by
GOSPLAN (the state planning organisation)
Housebuilding, food-processing and other consumer industries were woefully neglected; there were
few skilled workers and too little effective central coordination for efficient development. As well as
this, smaller industrial works and workshops lost out in the competition for the bigger factories. !
WAR FOOTING WITH THE ECONOMY!
The Second 5 years plan 1933-37
Continue the development of heavy industry.
Put new emphasis on the light industry, such as chemicals, electrical and consumer goods.
Develop communication to provide links between cities and areas of industry.
Boost engineering and toolmaking.
The plan had some success, particularly during the ‘three good years’, 1934–36. The Moscow Metro
was opened in 1935, the Volga Canal in 1937 and the Dnieprostroi Dam producing hydro-electric
power, that had just been completed in 1932, was extended with four more generators to make it
the largest dam in Europe. Electricity production and the chemical industries grew rapidly and new
metals such as copper, zinc and tin were mined for the first time. Steel output trebled, coal
production doubled and by 1937, the Soviet Union was virtually self-sufficient in metal goods and
machine tools. In 1936, the focus of the plan changed slightly as a greater emphasis was placed on
rearmament, which rose from 4 per cent of GDP in 1933 to 17 per cent by 1937.
Nevertheless, oil production failed to meet its targets and despite some expansion in footwear and
food-processing, there was still no appreciable increase in consumer goods. Furthermore, an
emphasis on quantity, rather than quality, which had also marred the First Five Year Plan, continued.
The Third 5 years plan 1938-42
focus on the development of heavy industry (given a renewed impetus because of fear of
war)
promote rapid rearmament.
complete the transition to communism.
Again, heavy industry was the main beneficiary, with some strong growth in machinery and
engineering, although the picture varied across the country and resources were increasingly diverted
to rearmament, on which spending doubled between 1938 and 1940. This had an adverse effect on
other areas. Steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet targets, causing a fuel crisis, and many
industries found themselves short of raw materials. Consumer goods were also relegated, once
again, to the lowest priority.
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