The period of late 1920’s and early 1930’s saw fundamental changes to the Soviet Union. During this period Stalin consolidated his authority and was allowed to rule with impunity, introducing his “revolution from above” on the Soviet people.
In 1931 as he kicked off the 5 Year Plans Stalin made a seminal speech to the First Conference of Soviet Industrial Managers.
In his patriotic speech, Stalin makes the argument that in order for the Soviet Union to be competitive with the rest of the world, they must not slow down and must be able to respond quickly to the fast developments set by the more developed countries. Stalin argues that slowing down the workers' tempo would result in the slowing down of the Soviet Union. From Stalin's point of
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And those who fall behind get beaten. But we do not want to be beaten. No, we refuse to be beaten!”
Stalin goes on by stating the Russia has suffered beatings from all in the past due to her backwardness, militarily, politically, culturally as well as industrial and agricultural backwardness.
Stalin's argument is that the notion of "slowing down" is something he associates with the past, which would deny the future he envisions so strongly for the Soviet people. In connecting with the past, Stalin aims to make the argument that his party is the only way forward to a bright future for Soviet Union and that he is different from past leaders in that he will not be defeated, as historically, others before him have.
At the same time, Stalin wishes to bring out that the "exceptional" nature of the Soviet Union is one on in which others wish to challenge her. In this fundamental challenge, Stalin points out that to slow down the tempo of the workers gives the opponents of the Soviet Union a chance to catch up and eventually defeat the nation. In striking an "Us against the World" mentality, Stalin's argument of a quick and fast pace becomes a part of his motivation in the