Stalin's Five Year Plans

First Five Year Plan - October 1928 to December 1932 

The emphasis was on heavy industries - coal, iron and steel, oil, electricity, cement, metals, timber. This accounted for 80% of total investment; 1500 enterprises were opened.

Successful sectors

• Electricity - production trebled.
• Coal and iron - output doubled.
• Steel production - increased by 33%
• Engineering industry developed and increased output of machine-tools. turbines, etc.
• Huge new industrial complexes were built or were in the process of being built.
• Huge new tractor works were built in Stalingrad, Kharkov and other places to meet the needs of mechanised agriculture.

Weaknesses

• There was very little growth, and even a decline, in consumer industries such as house-building, fertilisers, food processing and woollen textiles.
• Small workshops were squeezed out, partly because of shortages of materials and fuel.
• Chemical targets were not fulfilled.
• The lack of skilled workers created major problems. Workers were constantly changing jobs, which created instability.

Comment

In reality, many targets were not met. The Great Depression had driven down the price of grain and raw materials, so the USSR could not earn enough from exports to pay for all the machinery it needed. Also, a good deal of investment had to go into agriculture because of the forced collectivisation programme. However, the Soviet economy was kick-started: there was impressive growth in certain sectors of the economy and there were substantial achievements. 

Second Five Year Plan - January 1933 to December 1937

Heavy…