The Five Year Plan Under Stalin: Goals, Methods, and Outcomes

This essay delves into Joseph Stalin's Five Year Plan, implemented between 1928 and 1932, examining its economic, political, and social objectives within the Soviet Union. The plan aimed to centralize state policies, focusing on industrialization and agricultural collectivization to transform Russia into an economically powerful nation. The essay explores the reasons behind the plan, including economic crises, threats from external sources, and internal dissatisfaction. It analyzes the impact of the plan, highlighting both successes in industrial output and shortcomings such as unrealistic quotas and scarcity of basic goods. Furthermore, the essay investigates Stalin's use of terror, including police repression, forced labor, and purges, to enforce his policies and suppress opposition. It concludes by assessing the positive and negative aspects of the plan, acknowledging its role in securing the Soviet Union's position while condemning the human cost of Stalin's autocratic rule.

Running head: HISTORY
Five year plan by Stalin
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORY
Introduction:
The present essay will depict the application theory of Stalin’s five years plan and the
hidden intention for this reform. Further, in this essay, an attempt has been made to identify the
reason behind use of terror by Stalin for imposing new ideas and systems on the Russian people.
Considering all the relevant sources, it can be stated that Stalin, through the five years plan
wanted to establish certain reforms in the field of economy, politics and social system. The five
years plan has been implemented for the first time in between the years 1928 and 19321. The
main intention of Stalin behind implementing these policies was to make a reform to filter the
domestic policy of the Soviet Union. He wants to centralize the state policies in industrialization
and for collectivization of agriculture2. He wants to make Russia a powerful country
economically and wanted the Soviet Union be united and he believed that he could bring a
revolutionary change in Russia3. It is one of the main reasons Stalin apply terror policies to
create an effective working force. This essay will point out all the relevant provisions regarding
all the policies and outcome of the same.
Thesis:
This essay attempts to identify all the possible reasons for five years plan and terror
policy implementing by Joseph Stalin. A secondary research method has been followed in this
essay to this effect.
1 Stalin, Josef. "The Results of the First Five-Year Plan, via http://www. marx2mao. com/Stalin." RFFYP33. html,
accessed15 (2017).
2 Roberts, Graham HJ. Consumer culture, branding and identity in the new Russia: From five-year plan to 4x4.
Routledge, 2016.
3 Clark, Katerina. "Utopian Anthropology as a Context for Stalinist Literature." Stalinism. Routledge, 2017. 180-
189.

2HISTORY
Discuss:
Joseph Stalin was a revolutionary communist in Soviet Union. He was working for the
general secretary post at communist party, Soviet Union. However, he was de facto dictator and
followed the ideology of Marx and Lenin. Stalin wanted one system for entire Soviet Union and
for that reason; he had propounded the five years plan with an intention to establish one
economic, political and social reformatory system in Soviet Union4. His economic policy had
replaced with command economy that was governed by the central power. He had opposed
Lenin’s New Economic Policy. Through this economic policy, Lenin wanted to establish free
market and capitalism and both were subjected to state control5. However, Stalin wanted to
secure centralize power for the society of Soviet Union. Further, he wanted to make an effective
industrialization. His focus was confined in heavy industrial rise and he has introduced five years
plan for the same. There are certain reasons for implementing five years plan that are stated as
under:
The five years plan was implemented at the time when Soviet Union was facing great
economical crisis and an industrial downturn was processing. The financial framework of the
country was hampered greatly and threats were generated from the external sources. According
to Florinsky, the economic trouble in the part of Soviet Union has been introduced from the era
of Bolshevik rule. Various wars and revolutions were started at various stages of the society and
the financial condition of Soviet was deteriorated with the emerged war took place in the year
19246. Further, it has been observed that the European States like Great Britain started to
4 Stoecker, Sally W. Forging Stalin's Army: Marshal Tukhachevsky and the Politics of Military Innovation.
Routledge, 2018.
5 Fitzpatrick, Sheila. "New perspectives on Stalinism." The Soviet Union. Routledge, 2018. 135-151.
6 Perović, Jeronim. "Highland Rebels: The North Caucasus During the Stalinist Collectivization Campaign." Journal
of Contemporary History 51.2 (2016): 234-260.

3HISTORY
introduce their diplomatic relations with the contents of Soviet Union. This incident gave birth to
threat as the power of the western countries was shown during the Russian Civil War and the
western powers had occupied several contents of Soviet Union. Therefore, the Russians were
afraid off the possibility of western invasion. This fear had given birth of necessity for
industrialization in the Soviet Union. Further, the war scare concocted dissatisfaction among the
peasantry class and they were became annoyed about the indifferent behavior of the state
regarding their condition. Further, the government mistreated them. All these incidents had given
rise to hidden dissatisfaction among the people of Soviet Union and a necessity for overall
reform was become inevitable. The rise of Stalin was taken place at this time and he introduced
heavy industrialization policies for the continents of Russia so that all the threats could be
addressed properly and they could be prevented appropriately.
The time when the first five years plan has been introduced are known as the most crucial
period for the Russian7. According to Lenin, “Modern industry is the key to this transformation;
the time has come to construct our fatherland anew with the hands of machines.” Therefore, it
can be stated that the mentality of Stalin was engraved in the heavy industrial rapport. He had
facilitated the rapid industrial growth from the time of 1928 and accelerated continuously with an
intention to build the powerful society8. Further, the living standard of peasantry has been
increased and impedes the threat of war in the continents of Soviet Union. In addition to this,
according to the soviet leader, rapid industrialization can make the financial structure of the
7 Brandenberger, David. Propaganda state in crisis: Soviet ideology, indoctrination, and terror under Stalin, 1927-
1941. Yale University Press, 2014.
8 Bernstein, Seth. Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism. Cornell University Press,
2017.

4HISTORY
country and Soviet Union could be powerful with the economic powers that could be earned
from industrialization.
However, there were certain weak points of the five-year plan and those loopholes had
made the policy implementation ineffective and unrealistic. The first point is Stalin wanted to
make his entire dream on industrializations come true within a short time span. He never thought
about the proper strategies. It has been observed that the Soviet Leaders were tried to introduce
certain unrealistic quotas with a view to increase the production. Further, it can be stated that
rapid unrealistic needs were necessary to meet all the requirements. It was impossible within a
short time and it could be stated that money were required to make the dream come true.
However, it can be stated that the financial condition of Soviet Union at that time was not good
and therefore, it was impossible to bring a societal and economical reform within a short period.
Further, it has been observed that Stalin was fully concentrated over the heavy industrialization
growth and for this, the rate of outsources had increased a lot. It is a fact that during this era,
Russia was witnessed a good industrial achievement, but the rate of basic things such as foods
had to face great scarcity. Further, huge labor forces were required by the country to meet all the
necessities regarding the industrialization. In Soviet Union, forced labor was become normal
tradition and great depression has been observed in the agricultural section and price of the grain
has become high9.
Certain societal changes have been observed at that period. Before the era of Stalin, the
society of Russia had faith on the capitalism and not on the socialism. However, changes have
been made during the period of Stalin who focused on the social character of the peasantry class.
9 Roberts, Graham HJ. Consumer culture, branding and identity in the new Russia: From five-year plan to 4x4.
Routledge, 2016.

5HISTORY
Further, according to his policy, the land of the well-known peasants was distributed among the
middle-class farmers so that they could meet the huge demands of grain in the society. This
change is known as collectivization. However, there was a lack observed in the foundation of the
theory and a minimum growth of production has been observed to this effect. This tendency
proved the failure of agricultural collectivization in Soviet Union.
However, apart from the above noted failure, Russia had witnessed a success story
regarding the industrial reformation. Areas like capital goods, consumer goods and industrial
outputs have been raised significantly. According to Dobb, Maurice (2007), the capital goods
were increased by 158% and industrial output has been raised up to 118%. Further, rapid
appointment of youth in the industries and farms had been observed during the period. The main
intention of Stalin behind the rapid industrialization was to represent Soviet Union as a super
power and it can be stated that this intention has been succeed to such extent.
Further, it has been observed that Stalin had applied terror policy to impose his ideas
upon the Soviet society. The main intention of Stalin was to make the Soviet Union powerful
through industrialization and he had proposed five-year plan to the effect10. It has been observed
that he had introduced certain policies so that he can continue his dreams to make Soviet as
powerful nation. According to the sources, Stalin had generated two policies such as
industrialization and collectivization. Through industrialization, he wanted to build a strong
financial background and through collectivization, he wanted to bring a societal change so that
the demand of grains across the society could be met. According to Stalin, Russia need to be
united to mitigate all the risks and threat generated by the Western countries11. Further, he
10 Ramer, Samuel C. "The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence under Stalin." (2014): 594-596.
11 Kuromiya, Hiroaki. "Inventing the Enemy: Denunciation and Terror in Stalin's Russia." (2014): 596-598.

6HISTORY
wanted to make Russia as powerful as Western countries and became power mad. This mentality
of Stalin forced him to implement certain terror policies so that the people of Soviet Union could
not make any protestation against his policies. He had appointed certain police forces who were
responsible for arresting, imprisoning and executing many citizens who opposed the policies of
Stalin. He had introduced an autocratic rule and the people were executed if they are imagined to
be engaged in criminal activities. This rules did not meant to apply for good societal change,
rather all the policies were implemented to raise terror among the society. it has been observed
that a huge mass genocide has been observed in the society that time12.
It has been observed that in the year 1920, Stalin had gained the absolute power through
police repression and it has been observed that he had killed those people who opposed his
theory. The main reason for the terror application is that Stalin wanted to make Soviet Union
united and he did not wanted any adverse situation or rise of opposition party to this effect.
Therefore, by late 1934, he had eliminated all the potential opposite parties so that he could
become an unchallenged leader. He had terrorized the country with arrest and execution. Further,
his unwanted madness regarding the rapid industrialization sent many innocent civilians to labor
camps. Further, Stalin had introduced purge camping to execute the persons who are supposed to
work against the policies propounded by Stalin. The terror policy of Stalin was not limited up to
the politicians; it was indiscriminate in nature. Therefore, it has been observed that politicians
along with the artists and common people were executed in his time. The mentality of Stalin had
gone insane and he started to execute the people for normal matters.
12 Apor, Balázs. "Propaganda State in Crisis: Soviet Ideology, Indoctrination, and Terror under Stalin, 1927–1941."
(2015): 208-214.

7HISTORY
There are many negative points cropped up due to the terror mentality and it has been
observed that the gross production of the country was lagged behind. Further, it has been
observed that many killed people had to sacrifice their life at his time. The production capacities
of the factories had gone down and the financial condition of the Union was deteriorated. The
terror theory had failed to boost the idea of collectivization13. However, it can be stated that ideal
communism can be observed in his period. The heroic speeches of Stalin motivated the worker
classes and they worked harder for the betterment of the society.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it has been observed that the policy of industrialization and collectivization
proposed and introduced by Stalin had certain positive and negative elements. Considering the
situation, it can be stated that a societal and financial reform was required at that time in Soviet
Union. There were threats at all aspects and the society had experienced great trouble due to this.
Further, due to weak financial condition, the people of Russia were afraid of the western
invasion. At that moment, the rule of Stalin had secured the position of Soviet Union to certain
extent. The sociological changes made by him had made many profits and a historical growth in
the capital and consumer goods had observed. Further, unity has been observed among the
middle-class and poor farmers and they were motivated by the words of Stalin. However, it can
be stated that the nature of the policies were good, but they were executed in wrong way. His
autocratic tendency and doubtful mind had executed million of innocent people. Apart from this,
it can be stated that Russia was able to push back the Germans from their territory. The policies
of Stalin had made Russia united and powerful country.
13 Davies, R. W. "The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence under Stalin." (2015): 832-833.

8HISTORY
Reference:
Apor, Balázs. "Propaganda State in Crisis: Soviet Ideology, Indoctrination, and Terror under
Stalin, 1927–1941." (2015): 208-214.
Bernstein, Seth. Raised under Stalin: Young Communists and the Defense of Socialism. Cornell
University Press, 2017.
Brandenberger, David. Propaganda state in crisis: Soviet ideology, indoctrination, and terror
under Stalin, 1927-1941. Yale University Press, 2014.
Clark, Katerina. "Utopian Anthropology as a Context for Stalinist Literature." Stalinism.
Routledge, 2017. 180-189.
Davies, R. W. "The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence under Stalin." (2015): 832-833.
Fitzpatrick, Sheila. "New perspectives on Stalinism." The Soviet Union. Routledge, 2018. 135-
151.
Kuromiya, Hiroaki. "Inventing the Enemy: Denunciation and Terror in Stalin's Russia." (2014):
596-598.
Perović, Jeronim. "Highland Rebels: The North Caucasus During the Stalinist Collectivization
Campaign." Journal of Contemporary History 51.2 (2016): 234-260.
Ramer, Samuel C. "The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence under Stalin." (2014): 594-596.
Roberts, Graham HJ. Consumer culture, branding and identity in the new Russia: From five-year
plan to 4x4. Routledge, 2016.

9HISTORY
Stalin, Josef. "The Results of the First Five-Year Plan, via http://www. marx2mao.
com/Stalin." RFFYP33. html, accessed15 (2017).
Stoecker, Sally W. Forging Stalin's Army: Marshal Tukhachevsky and the Politics of Military
Innovation. Routledge, 2018.