Stalin rose to power during a time period when the USSR was facing a great deal of difficulties which in turn influenced his main aims while in power. Primarily, in the 1920s the USSR encountered an immense amount of food shortages as the countries industry and agriculture remained incompetent and unproductive. As a result, this economic complication lead to a rise in social/political issues within the Communist Party state and with the emergence of the war scare in 1927, belief that capitalist nations would invade and destroy the communist nation, the USSR was left in an unsettled position. From this chaotic state Stalin’s concrete aims emerged, Stalin sought to modernize and improve the Soviets economy, ensure the security of the nation from …show more content…
Industrially, Stalin aimed to create a more modern industrial economy in order to contend with the western, capitalist, industries. Stalin intended to do so through the implementation and incorporation of the Gosplan and a series of “Five Year Plans’” which aimed to increase productivity and increase the output of coal, steel, and iron. These attempts to improve the economy through industrialization sustain both success and failures. Primarily, Stalin successfully transformed the poor economy of the USSR in the 1920s into a booming economy, decreasing unemployment rates and expanding health care, in 1945 when the USSR had become a global superpower, The Soviet Union’s GDP was higher than that of the U.S. and Germany. Moreover, the treatment of women and children drastically improved, the production of steel and iron increased by 400 percent and coal production by 350 percent, industrialized cities emerged, transportation was greatly improved and, ultimately, through the production of armaments and produce the Soviet Union were able to withstand and aid in the defeat of Nazi Germany. In addition, with the implementation of central planning Stalin was able to increase the communist government’s control of the economy which in turn allowed Stalin to eliminate