Stalin's Five Year Plan

After Lenin’s death in 1924 and rivalry amongst the Communist Party to take his place , only two candidates stood out from the others . Trotsky and Stalin both wanted supreme power but Stalin’s ability and determination to undermine his opponents led him to become in 1929 the undisputed party leader . To continue , Stalin once in power was about to set new policies , especially economical and social in order to modernize the USSR . Knowing that Russia was as backward in certain area as it used to be one hundred years earlier . It was indeed going to be a huge challenge for Stalin , who was willing to do anything to accomplish his ideas . Furthermore , this essay will focus on factors such as collectivization , industrialisation , women , religion

The first Five-Year Plan was approved by the Communist Party in 1928 and the plans were drawn up by the Gosplan which was the state planning organization set up by Lenin in 1921 . Furthermore , the Gosplan created overall targets for a vital industry such as coal , iron and electricity . The plans were very complex and consisted of each region being told their targets leading to the manager of the industry to also set targets for each foremen and finally the foremen also had to set up targets for each shift and for any individual workers .For Stalin , this was a ‘revolution from above’ and huge step towards the modernization of the USSR . However , the first-five year plan ( 1929- 1932 ) , results were to a limited extent successful , knowing that it indeed produced incredible achievements in a short period of time , increased production and industrial output .Conversely the targets were not met. In addition , a proletariat was created and peasants were moving to cities in order to work . Consequently , the foundation for the second five-year plan ( 1933-37 ) were built . Stalin’s main problem was that the USSR was rich in natural ressources but were concentrated in Siberia so cities had to be built from nothing . Basically , heavy industry remained the priority and Stalin developed other areas such as mining , zinc and minerals exploited in Siberia . Major changes occurred such as communications with the construction of new railways and canals but the most impressive one was the Moscow underground railway . Industrialization was also to going to help agriculture by developing tractor or other farm machinery however those changes were now focused on Russia’s rearmament with the outbreak of World War 2 . Moreover , Stalin’s method to achieve a rapid industrialization were ruthless such as with slave labours where many gulags