A Historical Analysis of Stalin's Economic Policies in Soviet Russia

This essay delves into the economic policies of Joseph Stalin in Soviet Russia, examining his approach to industrial development and the implementation of the Five Year Plan. It analyzes Stalin's motivations, comparing the Soviet Union's economic conditions with those of capitalist countries, and explores the rationale behind his rapid industrialization drive. The essay discusses the initial goals of the Five Year Plan, including the transformation of the country into a self-reliant and powerful state, and the collectivization of agriculture. It also touches on the justifications for Stalin's repressive agricultural policies and the goals of the second Five Year Plan. Furthermore, the essay briefly touches upon the consequences of Stalin's leadership, including the impact on workers and the eventual fall of the Soviet Union as viewed by Gorbachev and the economic struggles faced after the fall under Boris Yeltsin's rule. The essay references key primary sources and scholarly works to support its arguments.

Running head: HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA
HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

Running head: HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA
Part II
1. The objective conditions mentioned in “the tasks of economic executives” are:
possibilities towards the completion of the plan, ability to control production and the
ability to control or manage factories and mills.
2. In his speech called “the tasks of economic executives, Stalin compared the economic c
condition of the Soviet Union with other capitalist countries. He stated during his speech
that the in the early 1930s, no country was achieved its production as Soviet Union did.
He mentioned that Soviet Union increased its production 25% despite having the lack of
objective conditions.
3. The major problem identified by Stalin was the ignorance of the business techniques
which had been undermining the business activities of new industrial development in the
country.
4. In the point of Stalin, slowing down the pace of industrial development means lagging
behind. He stated that his state cannot afford to fall behind and to be beaten. He stated
example of the Old Russia as it was suffered due to its backwardness. He said that Russia
was beaten but other capitalism countries as it because of its cultural backwardness,
industrial backwardness, military backwardness, agricultural backwardness and most
importantly due to its political backwardness. Thus he rejected the idea of slowing down
the pace of industrial growth.
5. In my view, Stalin’s motive behind imposing the rapid pace of industrial development
was to compete with the capitalist countries. He was highly sensitive to criticism and
after he became the leader of Soviet Union, he wanted to showcase him as the most

Running head: HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA
powerful leader in the world and he knew that it was possible if he will be able to trigger
the industrialization in his country (Marxists.org. 2018).
Part III
1. The some of the initial reasons that were pointed by Stalin when he introduced the First
Five year plan included the purpose to elevate the country from its backwardness, the make
the country into a self reliant independent country and most importantly to transform the
country into a powerful country.
2. According to Stalin, the main goal of the Five Year Plan was to create a reorganisable
industry in the country along with the socialism aspect. Another goal of the Five Year plan
was to create transforms the small agricultural sector into a large collective sector of
farming. The final goal of the five year plan was to create the all the essential technical as
well as economic provisions for the industrial development.
3. Stalin justified his repressive agricultural policy by stating that he or the Communist party
used some repressive measures in order to make a socialist country and to strengthen the
autocracy of the working class people. In addition to that he stated that his repressive
measures will elevate the agriculture with modern techniques and machineries.
4. As per Stalin’s punt of view, Soviet Union could industrialize by adopting the strictest
economy regime so that it can collect adequate resources for the development of the heavy
industry.
5. He skated in his speech that as a result of five-year plan, Soviet Union was eliminate
unemployment, elevate agriculture and trigger the industrialization which capitalist
countries could not even think of.

Running head: HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA
6. Stalin justified his statement by quoting the directives of Lenin which states the need of the
creating heavy industries in the country as the country is not manufacturing adequate
consumer goods for its citizen.
7. Stalin stated that the primary goal of the second five-year plan would be the learning the
mistakes from the first five year plan. The second plan will be primarily focus on improving
the standards of the worker’s living (Marxists.org. 2018).
Part VI
1. He was highly sensitive to criticism and after he became the leader of Soviet Union, he
wanted to showcase him as the most powerful leader in the world. He was a person of
excessively rude nature.
2. Many workers became enemies in Stalin’s eye. As a result, chaos was created among the
workers. Along with that workers were influenced to stage protests against the state
(Sourcebooks.fordham.edu. 2018).
Part-V
1. According to Gorbachev, the fall of Soviet Union occurred because the state started
assuming everything as success.
2. After the fall of Soviet Union, Russia economic problem became acute as its struggle of
capitalization and westernization was unsuccessful under the rule of Boris Yeltsin (The
Nation. 2018).

Running head: HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA
References
Marxists.org. 2018. The Results of the First Five-Year Plan. [online] Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1933/01/07.htm [Accessed 15
May 2018].
Marxists.org. 2018. The Tasks of Business Executives. [online] Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1931/02/04.htm [Accessed 15
May 2018].
Sourcebooks.fordham.edu. 2018. Internet History Sourcebooks. [online] Available at:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1956khrushchev-secret1.asp [Accessed 15 May
2018].
The Nation. 2018. Gorbachev on 1989. [online] Available at:
https://www.thenation.com/article/gorbachev-1989/ [Accessed 15 May 2018].