Davison History Department

5 Year Plans

THE FIVE YEAR PLANS: Stalin’s way of modernising industry.

WHY: To bring the USSR into the 20th century – they were behind other countries, to make sure the USSR was strong enough to defend itself against invaders, to use all their resources.

WHEN: 3 plans between 1928-1941

HOW? GOSPLAN (the state planning organisation) set targets for each industry in each region>set targets for each mine/factory etc>manager set target for each foreman (group leader)> set targets for each individual worker. Foreign experts were brought in to advise. There were rewards for meeting or exceeding your target. Alexei Stakhanov became a hero when he claimed to have exceeded his target by 1400% and cut 102 tonnes of coal in 6 hours! People were urged to become “Stakhanovites”! There were strict punishments if you were late, lazy or didn’t meet your target. Endless propaganda urged Russians to work harder. The secret police (NKVD) also used passport restrictions to prevent people moving freely around the country. This made sure workers stayed where they were most useful

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PLAN 1: 1928-1933: Focus: HEAVY INDUSTRY (coal, iron, oil, electricity, steel). New cities and towns were built in remote areas so they could use the natural resources there. Massive news steel mills were built at Magnitogorsk and Sverdlovsk. New dams and hydro electric power stations provide energy. Russians went to areas of Asia creating new industry in undeveloped areas.

PLAN 2: 1933-19137: Heavy industry was still a priority, but also mining for lead, tin, zinc and minerals. Transport and communication were boosted with new railways and canals. The most impressive was the Moscow underground. Production of tractors and farm machinery was also a priority to help agriculture.

PLAN 3: 1938-1941 (interrupted by WW2 - Hitler invaded). Some factories started producing consumer goods such as cars, refrigerators, washing machines etc.

SUCCESSES: Hard to know because statistics released by the Soviet government were completely unreliable. Lying about production figures was common in order to look better, for propaganda purposes and to avoid punishment. If targets were met, Stalin raised them and then they were “met” again, but how reliable the figures are is hard to tell. There is no doubt that the USSR transformed itself into an industrial superpower by 1945 rivalling America and defeating Hitler’s Germany in WW2. Throughout the 1930s the USSR did not experience the depression the rest of the world was struggling through. New factories, power stations, dams, canals, railways and towns were built. The USSR tapped into its previously unused resources. Skilled workers were in short supply so they received better pay and a higher standard of living. There was more education, training and more doctors per head than in the UK. Women had equality with men at work (although not in important political jobs), but were still expected to do the domestic work. Crèches were available.

FAILURES: for most ordinary workers life was hard. Discipline was strict and there were fines or even the threat of losing your house if you were late or absent. People lived in very overcrowded conditions and there was little to buy in the shops. Factory managers were more concerned with quantity than quality and in the rush to boost production safety standards were ignored and there were many accidents. The purges also undermined progress with workers and managers disappearing and destroying continuity. People were often accused of “sabotage” if they made a mistake and were sent to the gulag camps

HUMAN COST: many of the big building projects were carried out by forced slave labourers from the gulags. Conditions were appalling and hundreds of thousands died. For example 100 000 people died while building the Belomor canal.