Industrialisation & Gosplan

Industrialisation and Gosplan

Stalin was the nickname of Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. It meant ‘man of steel’. The NEP was not industrialising Russia fast enough for the Communist leadership. In 1927, the first Five-Year Plan was announced to drive forward the process of industrialisation.

Abandonment of the NEP

The 1927 war scare (between Russia and European powers) caused concerns about industry because Russia would have needed the industrial capacity to produce weapons in order to compete with the capitalist West.
Stalin also believed that if the Soviet Union was going to survive as a major power, it needed to industrialise rapidly.
Stalin saw industrialisation as a way for him to win the power struggle within the party.
- Abandoning the NEP was also popular with the workers.

Gosplan

Gosplan was the committee responsible for delivering the 5 year plans. It had existed since 1920 but now became more important.
It set targets for factory managers and workers and worked to ensure they were achieved. Five thousand new factories were created between 1928 and 1937.

The success of five year plans

The first two Five-Year Plans were completed each within 4 years. This was a great success.
The first focused on heavy industries, whilst the second looked to use resources more efficiently, and to provide consumer goods.

Stakhanovite Movement

Aleksey Stakhanov was the son of peasant from Ukraine. There was a story that in August 1935 he managed to mine 102 tons of coal in under 6 hours. This was 14 times more than his quota.
He was held up as an example to other workers, and became a national hero.
He travelled the country and appeared on the cover of Time magazine in the west.
He received two Orders of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner.

Stakhanov as propaganda

In reality, Stakhanov had assistants to help him in this work, and he had better equipment.
- In practice, those who tried to copy him disrupted the smooth running of their factories in pursuit of personal gain.
He was used by the Soviet Union as an example of a Soviet worker.

The Successes and Failures of Industrialisation

There were both successes and failures of industrialisation and the five year plans.

Successes

Workers gained more power and influence in the communist system, and workplaces became more organised.
Production levels in industry increased dramatically from 1928 to 1939.
Electricity supply and machinery production in particular were key successes.
The Dnieper Dam and the Moscow Metro were built, serving as visual symbols of Russian engineering.

Failures

It became harder to find a place to live, and targets grew higher and higher.
The First Five-Year Plan set entirely unrealistic goals: a 250% increase in overall industrial development and a 330% expansion in heavy industry.

Outcome

Heavy industry grew enormously, and sparked the development of industrial cities like Magnitogorsk.
Unemployment virtually vanished, and the country was able to re-arm.
- As there were more industrial workers the popularity of the regime grew.

1The Leadership Struggle, 1924-1929

1.1Struggle for Power 1924-28

1.1.1Stalin & his Rivals

1.1.2The End of Lenin & Stalin

1.1.3Stalin & the Communist Party

2Five Year Plans & Collectivisation

2.1Changes in Industry

2.1.1Industrialisation & Gosplan

2.2Agriculture & Collectivisation

2.2.1Five Year Plans & Grain Hoarding

2.2.2Collectivisation

2.2.3Kulaks

3Purges, Show Trials & The Cult of Stalin

3.1The Use of Terror in the 1930s

3.1.1Purges

3.1.2NKVD

3.1.3Show Trials

3.1.4Labour Camps

3.2Propaganda & Censorship

3.2.1Art & Religion Under Stalin

3.2.2Media & the Cult of Stalin

3.2.3The Cult of Stalin

3.2.4History

4Life in the Soviet Union, 1924-1941

4.1Life in the Soviet Union

4.1.1Living Conditions & Ethnic Minorities in the USSR

5The Second World War, 1941-1953

5.1USSR in the War

5.1.11941-1942

5.1.21943-1945

5.2Stalin & WW2

5.2.1Stalin's Popularity

5.2.2Post-War Consolidation

5.3Post-War Recovery

5.3.1Economic Recovery

5.3.2The USSR by 1953

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