Stalin and the Soviet Economy

Colectivization 

Aim:
The end of private ownership

Means:
The anti-Kulak Campaign

Consequences:
Disruption on the Land
Peasant bewilderment
Catastrophic fall in food production
Reprisals against the peasants
Hunger and Famine
Government failure to deal with famine


3. Industrialization 

• Stalin's intent: establish war economy 
• successful production of iron, steel, and oils= preparedness for war against capitalists
•   Russian industrialization coincided with Western depression (same time as US great depression) 
• Stalins industrialization happened in 5, Five-Year Plans (FYPs) 
• From 1928 until Stalin's Death (1955) except war years (41-45)
• 1st FYP: oct 1928- Dec 1932
• 2nd FYP: Jan 1933-Dec1937
• 3rd FYP: Jan 1938-Jun 1941
• 4th FYP: Jan 1946-Dec1950 
• 5th FYP: Jan 1951-Dec 1955

FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN 

• Laid out quotas, but failed to describe means of achieving quotas
• Local officials falsified figures to make it seem like they had met quotas 
• Thus, actual statistics of the first five-year plan are unclear
•  Thinking quotas were being met,  Stalin made higher quotas (twice)
• "optimal" plan 1932-33
• "Revised" plan 1932
• Actual Number much lower 
• Whole FYP= huge propaganda project 
• Young people, biggest supporters, thought they were truly making a difference 
• Economic changes, an attempt to create a new type of human Homo sovieticus (Soviet Man) 
• Stalin told Soviet Writers they should regard themselves as "engineers of the human soul" 
• Despite fudged-figures the first FYP did dramatically increase production (coal, iron, & electricity) 
• output of finished textiles actually declined 
• Living conditions declined 
• no "material rewards" for hard workers
• Any resistance= sabotage against the USSR
• Trials put on & publicized in an attempt to whip the masses into shape
• "Gigantomania": The worship of size for its own sake (Stalin: Quantity/ Size over Quality)
• Stalin used Party Cadres (Party members sent to spy on managers and workers) to terrorize workforce 
• Failure to meet quotas, do good work, or show up on time= enemy of the state/ saboteur

THE SECOND & THIRD FIVE YEAR PLANS

• More realistic quotas 
• Same lack of co-ordination (over-production in some parts of industry, under production in other areas) 
• Materials hard to come by, fierce competition between regions & sectors of industry to get needed materials (so as not to fall short on quotas) 
• When production broke down, huge groups were accused of 'sabotage' and sent to concentration camps 
• Workers encouraged to work @ high intensity to produce way above set quotas- called "Storming"
• In the long run, actually reduced productivity 
• Unions became a means by which the gov't imposed its regulations on the workers 
•  Strikes and demands for higher wages outlawed 
• Wages increased, but inflation made standards of living lower
• Steel, Oil, Electricity, and Coal production hugely increased 
• Agriculture secondary to industrial needs
• 1941 German invasion effectively destroyed the third FYP 

4. The Key Debate

Did Stalin's FYPs benefit the soviet union and its people or was it solely to consolidate Stalin's power? Some key historian's thoughts:

•   Alec Nove: 
• Collectivism & industrialization- bad economics
• upheaval of land & misery of peasants- didn't produce necessary industrial growth 
• living conditions deteriorated
• Robert Conquest 
• "Stalinism is one way of attaining industrialization just as cannibalism is one way of attaining a high protein diet" 
• Leonard Shapiro
• Thought that the growth under Stalin could have also been achieved if the tzars stayed in power
• Norman Stone 
• ^ agreed w/ shapiro. Without already existing expertise and infrastructure the FYPs would have failed 
• Shelia Fitzpatrick  
• Criticized  Stalin's "gigantomania" saying it distorted the already strained economy
• However, Stalin was trying to bring stability to a nation in turmoil. 
• Dmitri Volkogonov (an actual soviet soldier/ administrator) 
• Economic plans, a test of loyalty (only incidentally economic plans) 
• Peter Gattrell
• Stalinism was harsh, but prepared the Soviet union for four years of the most harsh of modern warfare 
• the only way that the Soviet Union could have been modernized?
• David Hoffman
• Instated of sending the USSR forward, the FYPs actually sent Russia into a state of neo-traditionalism- heavily reliant on blat
• blat- Russian word meaning a system operating through bribes, favors, and connections  
•