“WE did not have a big industry for producing agricultural machinery. NOW WE HAVE ONE!”
From my own knowledge I also can see that the soviet economy was hugely improved. While Josef Stalin was in power he had two aims. The first was to make Russia a truly communist country and the other was to make her powerful.
To achieve this Stalin Nationalized factories and appointed managers to run them. This was the first step to the 5-year plan. He also approved the building of many new factories especially in and beyond the Urals. Here they would be safe from enemies invading form the west. Also so organization called GOSPLAN fixed the output of each factories. If it failed to meet its targets the manager was punished as a criminal. The five-year plan was a success and production had doubled as I had stated in the sources above.
DO THE SOURCES PROVIDED SUGGEST THAT STALIN’S FIVE YEAR PLANS WERE A SUCCESS
Some of the sources provided suggest that the 5-year plans were a success, others do not. The sources that do suggest this are source A. In source A oil production in 1927 was 11.7 (million tonnes) and by the end of the 5-year plans it was 28.5 (million tonnes) this was large increase even though it did not meet the target set. Electricity had increased from 5.05 (thousand million kilowatt hours) to 36.2 (thousand million kilowatt hours) in 1937 and coal had increased from 35.5 (million tonnes) in 1927 to 128.0 (million tonnes) in 1937.
Source B states that in 1929 the manufacturing output of Russia was well below the output of the United States, Germany and the UK. However in 1938 after the second 5-year plan Russian output was well above the UK and Germany but was still below the United States.
In source C is Stalin speaking about the successes of the first 5-year plan. “We did not have a modern chemicals industry now we have one. We did not have a iron and steel industry now we have one.”
Also in source F the Dean of Canterbury was visiting Moscow in 1939 he said, “There is no fear of wage reduction in a land were none are unemployed.”
The sources that suggest that Stalin’s five-year plans were not a success are; Source D that suggests “The Tsars had developed a considerable industrial capacity” so in a sence all the hard work had been done before Stalin came into power so he should have no credit in helping Russia. Also sources G & I say that in order for Stalin to make Russia into a industrial power human sacrifices were necessary in order to achieve this, source G states “If a few million people had to perish in the process, history would forgive Comrade Stalin.” Also by looking at source I the poster is accusing Stalin of building huge buildings at great human costs however looking back at that period in time there were was almost a certainty of death when building something as big as a Dam.
DO SOURCES H AND I PROVIDE ANY USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT STALIN
Sources H and I provide information about Stalin, some of which maybe true but also misleading.
IN source H Stalin is standing in the hills surrounding the Dnieprostroi Dam. Beside him there are workers from the Dam. Stalin is standing quiet comfortably talking to them and looks as if he is in deep conversation with them. This is most likely a propaganda photograph, by looking at it you automatically get the idea that Stalin was close to the workers and could relate to them. The photograph also suggests that Stalin was close to the workers, this is also most unlikely.
Source I is a mock travel poster made by Russian exiles in France in the late 1930s. There is a drawing of Stalin looking at mounds of human sculls. Very scarcastly the text on the poster reads, “Visit the USSR’s pyramids.” This poster is accusing Stalin of killing thousands of people. So many that there are pyramids of dead people. This poster can also be interpreted as that Russia may now have great buildings but they were built at a huge human cost.
WAS STALIN A BLOODY TYRANT OR WAS VIOLENCE NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE HIS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC AIMS?
Stalin was a very controversial figure. Some say he was a bloodthirsty tyrant whilst others say that the violence was neseccary to achieve his social and economic aims.
There are a number of sources, which suggest that violence was neseccary in order to archive his aims.
Source I the mock travel poster made by Russian exiles in France. Pictured in this is Stalin looking at huge pyramids of human skulls. In this poster it very scarcastily states, “Visit the USSR’s pyramids.” This suggests that although Russia had great buildings they were built at great human costs.
Anatoli Rybakov, a Russian writer on the points of view on Stalin, wrote source G in 1988. “In order t turn a peasant society into an industrialized country countless material and human scarifies were necessary. The people had to accept this, nut it would not be would not be archived by enthusiasm alone.” Stalin’s resion for being harsh was “the great aim demanded great energy that could be drawn from a backward people only by great harshness.”
Source M Nikita Khrushehev is speaking in 1956 (Stalin died in 1953) “Stalin was convinced that the use of terror and executions was neseccary for the defence of socialism and communism. We cannot say that these were the deeds of a mad despot. He considered this should be done in the interests of the party and of the working masses.
From my own knowledge I believe that the violence was necessary to achieve his social and economic aims, but not on such a magnitude. The people that stood in the way of reform for the good of Russia deserved punishment but not death. Also I believe that Stalin should not have used his power to achive his own personal vendetta against his enemies.
As vast amounts of people were needed to work in the remote inhospitable regions of the USSR where hardily anyone lived, in order to fulfil the demands for industrialisation. The prisoners built railways, roads and canals. In order to achieve his economic goals, Stalin was prepared to make sacrifices but not his own. He arrested thousands of people who questioned his methods and labelled them “wreckers” and accused them of endeavouring to stop the revolution. There were rewards for those who worked hard.
However what made Stalin seem like a bloodthirsty tyrant was that not even the Red Army and the secret police (NKVD) were safe from these purges. Over 3,000 NKVD agents were killed and over 35,000 Army offices were shot or imprisoned. A purge on this scale sent shockwaves thought the whole Soviet Union. Between 1936 and 1953 the year Stalin died over 40,000,000 people were arrested as enemies of the state. About 25,000,000 of these people were executed or died because of overwork. The public were not aware of these deaths until 1988 when President Mikhail Gorbachev confirmed that nearly 20 million citizens had died as a direct result of these purges.
