To what extent were Stalins economic policies successful up to 1940?

by beantoad (student)

IB SL World History

To what extent were Stalin’s economic policies successful up to 1940?

During Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Union between 1922 until his death, he went through a number of challenges. Such issues were economical, political and social problems that were left unsolved for Stalin after Lenin’s death. Lenin tried to fix the economic problems of the Soviet Union by applying the NEP (New Economic Policy), but it caused social discontent that resulted in riots and anti-Communist demonstrations.[1] Although such riots and opposition were crushed and shot down by the Red Army, it showed that there were numerous amounts of people who were against the Communist government, even after the number of reforms. The NEP did solve the Soviet Union’s short term problems, but wasn’t able to solve the larger problems of agriculture and industry.[2] The key economic problem that Stalin was forced to resolve from Lenin was the system of industry and agriculture.

Stalin’s idea to solve the economic problems which the Soviet Union had, was to force the country into a “period of rapid industrialization”.[3] In order to start this boom of industrialization, capital was required to buy necessary equipment, such as machinery. Since it was unlikely to make loans from capitalist countries in the west, the “only alternative”[4] was to sell grain. Stalin needed to make reforms in the field of agriculture, because it was inefficient and primitive. He introduced the system of collectivization, which was the aggregation of small farms into mammoth farms.

A number of problems emerged after the initial execution of collectivizing Soviet agriculture. There were the Kulaks, who were rich farmers who already had large farms and were anti-communist because they were going to lose their plot of land.[5] There were also self-sufficient farmers who “enjoyed reasonable living standards” and were not deeply influenced by Bolshevik leadership. The idea of collectivization was to make large scale farms with a larger division of labour so it will lead to an increase in output of grain. Stalin also proposed that the farmers will live in villages, and have modern facilities such as hospitals, schools and clinics near them as well. It was hard to get the peasants agreeing with the Soviets, so in December 1929, the Communist party ordered the “police and Red Army units to ruthlessly confiscated grain and livestock to feed the towns the cities”[6], and so they did, by taking everything the peasants, kulaks, and the self-sufficient farmers had, and slaughtering their livestock.

After getting rid of the Kulaks and the opposing peasants, collectivization went smooth for the Soviet Union. 25 million small peasant holdings were turned into a quarter of a million collective farms, and by 1940, 98% of Russian arable land was collectivized.[7] The introduction of modern machinery, such as tractors were given to the peasants to increase grain production. Although between 1929 and 1934 the amount of grain produced decreased, by 1935, it reached the 1928 level of grain produced, and showed improvement.[8] While it took time, collectivization did increase grain output in Russia. As a result, the creation of 250,000 collective farms was able to support the growing population of the industrial cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg and Magnitogorsk.

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Although the agricultural output such as grain increased sufficiently to support the industrial growth of the Soviet Union, there were a lot of failures that came along with it. One major failure of collectivization was the famine caused between 1932 and 1933. By eliminating the Kulaks, the Soviet Union lost their most productive farmers.[9] The other peasants who were “enforced members of the collectives” showed no mood to work with the Communist government, so they left crops unharvested. These peasants were then accused by the Communist government of “being loafers and still influenced by Kulak spirit”[10] and were sent to exile in Siberia. Although the number of agricultural output decreased enormously, the central government in Moscow ordered the countryside provinces to make more and more grain. The amount demanded was unrealistic, but had to be fulfilled. When provinces were not able to fulfill the requirements sent from Moscow, communist officials from towns and cities went to the countryside, and took all the food away from the peasants. Stalin’s plan was to “starve the peasantry”[11] and to even “sentence them to death by hunger” if they were to oppose the Communist government’s plans of collectivization. The confiscation of crops and the exile of opposing peasants caused no crops to be harvested thus causing a massive famine in the countryside.[12] The confiscated grain was never released to the starving peasants, and were exported to foreign nations to earn foreign currency. Over 10 million people died during the 1932-1933 famine[13], all because of Stalin’s relentless efforts of collectivizing Russian arable land.

After gaining money from selling vast amounts of grain to foreign countries, Stalin moved onto stage 2, which were the Five-Year Plans. All traces of capitalism disappeared[14] in the Soviet Union after the abolishment of the NEP, and all industries were placed under state ownership. The proposed ‘Five Year Plans’ were designed to industrialize the Soviet Union in the shortest possible time, and to quickly catch up to the western nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Stalin’s ultimate goal was to transform the Soviet Union into “an advanced, industrialized socialist state in ten years”[15] by bringing an economic miracle. Factories were given quotas, minimum amounts made for a certain year. Over that, each year the quota was increased to maximize production. Quotas were even set to the human scale, where each man and woman were set a ‘norm’, which was the minimum number produced per week. Workers who worked over the norm were rewarded with additional pay, extra food, and improved housing. All of this was supervised by the Gosplan, the State Planning Committee.

The first Five Year Plan took place in 1928, and ended in 1933. During this rapid industrialization of the country, Stalin focused on the development of heavy industry. It also emphasized coal mining, steel manufacturing, and gas engineering. New steel works, dams to provide hydro-electric power, factories to make tools and tractors, and many other fields were the aim of the plan. It also projected of a significant increase in the production of iron and steel and the generation of electricity. Stalin’s goal were ambitious and he planned to expand production of the heavy industry by 300%.[16]

The proposal and running of the Five Year Plan allowed many workers to gain jobs in certain fields of industry. Since Stalin wanted an increase of 300% in production, the building of new factories, construction of new housing, roads, railroads and canals allowed higher employment rates. Industrial cities such as Dneproges, and Magnitogorsk were built. These were cities that just had factories after factories. The famous Magnitogorsk contained the largest steel plant in the Soviet Union because it was close to rich iron-ore deposits in the Urals, near Siberia. It also became the symbol of the industrial economic growth of the Soviet Union, since it lead the Soviet Union in manufacturing steel.[17] Stalin himself was proud to tell his people that the First Five Year Plan ended in four years.

The Second Five Year Plan took place between 1933 and 1938, right after the end of the First Five Year Plan. This time, Stalin and the Communist government took more of a realistic approach, and set less ambitious quotas for factories across the nation.[18] Lower production figures were set, so industrial production went smoother than the previous Five Year Plan. Impressive increases in the manufacture of machinery allowed Stalin to achieve the goal of making the Soviet Union a self-sufficient nation. Although production of oil and textile industry decreased, other fields of industry increased its production.

By 1940, the Soviet Union advanced to a state, to be seen as a rival to western nations, and were able to “overtake Europe’s major industrial powers.”[19] For example, in 1928, only 34 million tons of coal were excavated in the Soviet Union, but by the end of the Second Five Year Plan in 1938, 130 million tons were processed. One other significant number is the amount of electricity generated. In 1928, the Soviet Union only produced one billion watts of electricity, but in 1938, they exceeded 11 billion watts, which was more than 10 times of what they were producing just 10 years before.[20] Such astonishing growth shows how the Five Year Plans were successful.

Despite the success of creating more and more heavy industrial goods for the Soviet Union, there were many downfalls to this. One major downfall was the deterioration of the living standards of workers in the cities.[21] Since the Soviet Union only focused on creating heavy industrial goods, consumer goods were short, so workers couldn’t get essential necessities such as clothing. There was also a massive increase in the population of industrial cities which lead to an overpopulation of cities. This was because a lot of unskilled peasants which came from the countryside to work in the factories of the cities.[22] Despite the low standards of living, they were forced to work a lot. The Communist party introduced the system of paying the workers by the amount they produced, not the amount of hours they worked. On top of that Sunday was not recognized as a holiday anymore, so workers worked as much as they could, with no rest days.[23] Anybody who was opposed to this system of the Five Year Plan was accused of being part of the troublesome Mensheviks, so they were “sent to gulags in Siberia”. Freedom was limited in the Soviet Union at the time, and many workers suffered with strain.[24] 10 to 40 million workers died due to the overload of work,[25] and it clearly shows how much the workers were forced to endure hard labour, reduced living standards and lost of their personal liberties.

Between 1922 and 1940, Stalin changed the Soviet Union a lot by adopting new economic policies, such as the Collectivization of agricultural lands in the countryside, and by running the Five Year Plans that focused on the industrialization of the Soviet Union. Both campaigns were successful by making the Soviet Union a rival to western nations such as the United States and United Kingdom, but along with it came despair, such as the death of millions of people, and the lost of personal liberty. By modernization and mechanization, people were industrialized like a machine, and were worked to their limits, with little regard to any individual concern.

IB SL World History

Stalin Essay

Bibliography

Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

"Five-Year Plan." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.

Field, A. J. "Stalin's Economic Policy - Success or Failure? - Interactive Diagram - ." SchoolHistory.co.uk - Online History Lessons, Revision, Games, Worksheets, Quizzes and Links. UNITEDHOSTING, 2 May 2004. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

Berkshire Publishing Group, LLC. "Stalin's Five-Year Plan." Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History 4.(2005): 1772-1773. History Reference Center. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.

Rayment, W. J. "The Russian Kulaks." InDepthInfo: Information Delivered In-Depth. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[1] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[2] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[3] Field, A. J. "Stalin's Economic Policy - Success or Failure? - Interactive Diagram - ." SchoolHistory.co.uk - Online History Lessons, Revision, Games, Worksheets, Quizzes and Links. UNITEDHOSTING, 2 May 2004. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[4] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[5] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[6] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[7] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[8] Berkshire Publishing Group, LLC. "Stalin's Five-Year Plan." Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History 4.(2005): 1772-1773. History Reference Center. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.

[9] Rayment, W. J. "The Russian Kulaks." InDepthInfo: Information Delivered In-Depth. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[10] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[11] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[12] Field, A. J. "Stalin's Economic Policy - Success or Failure? - Interactive Diagram - ." SchoolHistory.co.uk - Online History Lessons, Revision, Games, Worksheets, Quizzes and Links. UNITEDHOSTING, 2 May 2004. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[13] Field, A. J. "Stalin's Economic Policy - Success or Failure? - Interactive Diagram - ." SchoolHistory.co.uk - Online History Lessons, Revision, Games, Worksheets, Quizzes and Links. UNITEDHOSTING, 2 May 2004. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[14] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[15] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[16] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[17] "Five-Year Plan." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.

[18] "Five-Year Plan." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 4 Dec. 2011.

[19] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[20] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[21] Field, A. J. "Stalin's Economic Policy - Success or Failure? - Interactive Diagram - ." SchoolHistory.co.uk - Online History Lessons, Revision, Games, Worksheets, Quizzes and Links. UNITEDHOSTING, 2 May 2004. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[22] Field, A. J. "Stalin's Economic Policy - Success or Failure? - Interactive Diagram - ." SchoolHistory.co.uk - Online History Lessons, Revision, Games, Worksheets, Quizzes and Links. UNITEDHOSTING, 2 May 2004. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <>.

[23] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[24] Evans, David, David Evans, and Jane Jenkins. Years of Russia, the USSR and the Collapse of Soviet Communism. London: Hodder Murray, 2008. Print.

[25]