Stalin's Economic Policies - The Five Year Plans

Stalin's Economic Policies - The Five Year Plans

In 1928, Stalin revealed his plans for economic development: "We are fifty or one hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in ten years or they crush us...". The party wanted "the transformation of our country from an agrarian into an industrial one, capable by its own means of producing necessary equipment". This ties in with the policy of "Socialism in One Country", but doesn't relate to the NEP.

In 1928, the first Five Year Plan was established. This was a law that lay down rates of increase for industry and agriculture for the period 1928-32. Emphasis was on heavy industry and fuel supplies - heavy industry was to…