Joseph Stalin's Five Year Plan

After the First World War, USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) or the Soviet Union was in a state of complete disarray, after being defeated by the Allied Powers in 1919. It needed a leader like Stalin, to cause a Soviet upsurge. So, after Stalin took over the reins of Russia, succeeding Lenin, in 1924, he set on his task of strengthening Russia economically. One of the most significant plans for improving Russia's economy was to introduce the Five Year Plans in 1928.

First Five Year Plan - 1928-1932: Stalin, while formulating the first five year plan cited that the Soviet Union was at least 50 years behind the developed countries. The first five-year plan emphasized on heavy industries. The reason was to lay the foundation of solid industrial growth. It was argued that Soviet Russia could be at a risk from the aggressive capitalist countries on account of its negligible industrialization. The five year plan proved to be a success, with the poor, experiencing an improvement in their economic status. The production of both iron and coal quadrupled. Simultaneously, electric power production increased and 1500 new industrial plants were built.

Gradually, Stalin introduced the policy of 'collectivization' which meant that individual land labour was to be consolidated into collective farms. It was supposed to be a potent solution for the crisis of agricultural distribution. And it was believed that replacing the individual land and labour with collective farms would immediately increase food supply for urban population. The policy, unfortunately resulted in the imprisoning, murdering and torturing of many farmers, which led to famine and abject poverty in a large section of the population. This happened during the time of the Great Depression.

So the consequence was that, the economy was unable to cope up with the disastrous situation, even before collectivization started. Still, it is remarkable that between 1928 and 1940, the number of workers in the transport and construction industries almost tripled in Russia. Factor output increased, and Soviet Russia was catapulted into a leading industrial nation.

Second Five Year Plan - 1933-1937: The second five year plan started in the year 1933, with a focus on heavy industries. This made Soviet Russia, Germany's closest competitor in steel production. The communication network, especially the Railways, was given priority by Stalin. The second plan was uniformly successful, barring a dip in the prescribed production levels of coal and oil. Efforts were made to recuperate the agrarian sector, but to no avail. All in all, the standard of living deteriorated during this period. Interestingly, women were asked to be a part of the plan as well.

Third Five Year Plan - 1938-1941: This was the period when Soviet Russia entered the Second World War. Naturally, all the economic resources contributed to the development of arms, armament and tan weapons. In terms of the fulfillment of proclaimed production goals, initially, this plan was a disappointment. But, the industrial growth rate of the economy during the 1930s was still going strong at 12% to 13%. And this continued even after the Second World War.

Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plan - 1946-1950 and 1951-1955: Following the defeat in the Second World War, Russia's economy was almost destroyed. Stalin's focus, therefore, was mainly on reconstruction. Despite the evident and massive destruction, Stalin promised that Russia would lead the world in industrial development by 1960. Colossal losses were borne by the industrial sector, the manpower, railways, infrastructure and agrarian sector. Stalin's Russia had no alternative but to ask the USA for a reconstruction aid. The disagreement on the terms of reconstruction aid led to the Cold War later. Ukraine got a chunk of one-third of the fourth plan's capital expenditure. Stalin managed to get reparations from Germany. A few East European countries were also asked for aid in exchange for the help that Russia gave them for liberation from Nazi atrocities.

After Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev took up the task of empowering Russia financially, and tried to recoup the economy post Second World War. Whatever the impression of Stalin is, one thing's for sure. Stalin will always be an important part of the history of Russia.