1941 - Economic Strengths

• The Five Year Plans may have been fairly chaotic and inefficient, but they did achieve some stunning successes.
• The creation of entire new cities such as Magnitogorsk from scratch and the building of the Dneipostroi Dam for hydroelectric power were huge symbols of achievements of the Five Year Plans.
• Production of raw materials increased massively.

  • Steel production roose 400% and coal output 600% between 1928 and 1941.
• The workforce of the Soviet Union was significantly more skilled in 1941 than in 1924.
• Allowing peasants to cultivate their own private plots on the collective farms and sell their produce at market after 1935 did lead to some improvement in the supply of fresh vegetables, eggs and meat into the cities.
• After 1934, the lessening of peasant resistance had led to a slow recovery in agricultural production.
• Without the rapid industrialisation of the Five Year Plans in the 1930s it is impossible to see how Russia would have survived the German invasion.
• The centralised nature of the Soviet economy also helped in the war effort.
• Decisions made in the centre about war production could be immeidately implemented.
• When the German army advanced rapidly through western Russia in 1941, many factories were simply pulled down and rebuilt further east beyond the Urals.