five year plan

first five year plan aims

began on 1st october 1928 and concentrated on heavy industry (80% of investment) - coal, steel, iron, oil, cement, metals, timber and machine production.

• Overall production was planned to increase by 300%!

• Electricity production was planned to increase by 600%!

second five year plan aims

• The First Five-Year Plan had caused many problems. The lack of planning meant that the railway system couldn’t cope with the increase in traffic.

• Forced collectivisation had also led to food shortages, rationing and even famine. Many workers changed jobs regularly and skilled workers were in short supply.

• The Second Five-Year Plan therefore tried to consolidate these problems. There was still a focus on heavy industry but targets were scaled back.

third five year plan aims

Proposals to develop consumer goods and light industry suffered due to the growing threat of war.

• The Third Plan therefore focused on heavy industry and armaments.

• The Plan also only lasted 3 ½ years due to the invasion of the USSR by Germany in 1941.

• Consumer growth remained slow and iron/steel stopped growing.

• There was even a fuel crisis in oil.

five year plan successes

helped to transform the ussr into a modern industrial economy

• the soviet economy grew 5-6% each year between 28-40

• the ussr became a major industrial power in a little over 10 years

• the first five year plan saw gains in several areas of heavy industry eg engineering. the second plan additionally brought a huge growth in construction and transport.

• between 1928-32 the industrial workforce doubled and between 1926-39 the urban population increased from 26-56 million people

• workers enjoyed three ‘good years’ between 34-36 with an increase in consumer goods

• huge growth in the armaments industry with tanks, aircrafts and guns. the ussr’s ability to gear itself for war reflects the plan’s success.

five year plan successes 2

• the plans advanced the proletarianization of the russian people and transformed the basis of the soviet economy

• overall there was a fourfold increase in the production of steel and a sixfold increase in coal production'

• russian gdp doubled between 1929-41

• huge new industrial centres were constructed virtually from nothing eg magnitogorsk

• spectacular projects were conceived to demonstrate the might of the new soviet industrial machine. this has been called gigantomania. the dnieprostol dam increased soviet electric power fivefold when it came online. other projects included the moscow-yolga canal and the moscow metro.

• with a more urban based society the communist party’s position was strengthened. capitalist classes such as the nepmen and the bourgeois experts were removed. the government’s role in the economy was increased through central planning and stalin’s position strengthened as those who opposed the fyp were removed.

five year plan failures

• the soviet economy remained unbalanced with consumer goods being one of the main casualties. there was no overall economic strategy. modern industrial techniques weren’t adopted

• the economic results of the industrialisation programme were achieved at the expense of the social conditions of the workers

• industrialisation drive brought a seven day working week and longer working hours. arriving late or missing work could result in dismissal, eviction and loss of benefits. damaging machinery or leaving without permission was a criminal offence

• govt attitudes became even harsher. discipline was tightened: being 20 minutes late became a criminal offence. a decree of 1940 ended the free labour market: skilled workers could be sent anywhere while others needed permission to change jobs.

five year plan failures 2

• the numbers poured into the industrial cities, particularly in the early 30s left workers in cramped communal apartments where they had to cope with inadequate sanitation and erratic water supplies. public transport was overcroweded, shops often empty and queues and shortages were an accepted feature of life.

• wages were lower in 1937 than they had been in 1928

• some workers were forced to labour for the state. prison camp inmates. the belomor canal was built almost entirely by manual labour between 1931-33. the labour force reached 300k at its peak and many died of overwork, poor treatment, lack of food and disease. the death rate was 700 per day and average survival time was just 2 years

• women were largely concentrated in the lowest paid jobs. they were routinely discriminated against and paid less than men