Russia - KT4

• 1FYP Aims - Ideological 


  Stalin believed that the working classes (core supporters of the Bolsheviks), should benefit from Communist rule. Yet under the NEP, peasants had prospered, while conditions for the workers were  slow to improve. Stalin aimed to reverse this.
• 1FYP Aims - Ideological


  Stalin aimed to replace the old ‘bourgeois specialists’ who managed industry during the NEP  with ‘red specialists’ who were educated by the Communist government and came from the working classes.
• 1FYP Aims - Ideological


  However, Russia was economically backwards and up to 100 years behind the advanced economies of the West. So, in order to make socialism a reality, Stalin aimed that ‘in ten years at most we must make good the distance which separates us  from the advanced capitalist countries’.
• 1FYP Aims - Political 


  In 1929, on Stalin’s fiftieth birthday, he made the unusual move of giving a speech about Lenin’s mistakes. The message was clear – Lenin’s Russia, the Russia of the NEP, was over.
• 1FYP Aims - Political 


  Stalin was concerned that Russia would be unable to defend itself against capitalist nations in the event of war. In order to repel attacks, Russia would need to develop iron, steel, oil and coal  industries on a grand scale, because these industries were necessary for modern warfare.
• 1FYP Aims - Economic


  The focus on heavy industry was also designed to lay the foundations for future industrial  development. All industries needed raw materials such as coal, steel, oil and iron to develop. So,  developing these first made sense
• 1FYP Impacts - Political 


  In the early 1930s, foreign companies and individuals, including Henry Ford, helped build Russian industry, with Ford designing cars produced in Gorky. This attracted skilled workers from the West, giving Stalin a strong propaganda opportunity to showcase the USSR as the future of socialism.
• 1FYP Impacts - Political 


  Local Party officials who failed to meet production targets faced demotion, dismissal, or execution. Under intense pressure, many administrators lied about raw material production, falsely claiming targets had been exceeded.
• 1FYP Impacts - Political

  Stalin announced in December 1932 that the 1FYP had been such a success that it was to finish a year early. This was a propaganda coup for the Communist Party and for Stalin, as he had been the main advocate of switching away from the NEP.
• 1FYP Impacts - Economic 


  The 1FYP did lead to industrial growth with a 14% annual growth rate in Russia at a time when capitalist economies in the West were falling due to the Great Depression.
• 1FYP Impacts - Economic

  Production of crude oil grew from 11.6 million tons in 1928 to 21.4 million tons in 1932. Remarkably, oil production exceeded its target of 19 million tons.
• 1FYP Impacts - Economic

  Production of coal grew from 35.5 million tons in 1928 to 64.4 million tons in 1932. Though this did not meet the target of 68 million tons.
• 1FYP Impacts - Social

  The Soviet government introduced a programme of ‘proletarian advancement’, which removed existing ‘bourgeois specialists’ and replaced them with 150,000 newly trained working-class ‘red specialists’.
• 1FYP Impacts - Social 


  Workers received rations that were much poorer than those under the NEP, and consumer goods disappeared, leading to widespread queuing. Stalin introduced a seven-day working week, making Sunday just another workday. 
• 1FYP Impacts - Social

  Labour discipline was harsh, with lateness criminalized, strikes banned, and workers accused of being "wreckers" if they broke machinery, often leading to exile. This intense pressure backfired, increasing absenteeism and lowering productivity during 1FYP
• 2FYP Impacts - Political 


  In 1935, Stalin attended the first All-Russian Conference of Stakhanovites. Surrounded by happy  workers, he said “life has become better, and happier too”. Stalin’s words became the basis of a popular propaganda song entitled ‘Song about Stalin’. It was said that Stalin ‘lives for the happiness of the people’.
• 2FYP Impacts - Political

  Kirov & the moderates in the Politburo were able to pressure Stalin into agreeing to improve living standards in the 2FYP, however Kirov’s assassination and the purging of the Party, gave Stalin the confidence he needed to direct investment away from consumer goods.
• 2FYP Impacts - Political

  The same fraud and exaggerations of figures that had been rife amongst local Party officials in the 1FYP continued into the 2FYP
• 2FYP Impacts - Economic

  By 1937, crude oil production had risen to 28.5 million tons.
• 2FYP Impacts - Economic

  By 1937, coal production had risen to 128 million tons.
• 2FYP Impacts - Economic


  In 1937, Stalin announced that the 2FYP had only been over-fulfilled by 3%
• 2FYP Impacts - Social

  The first lines of the Moscow metro were opened in 1935, allowing for cheap public transport
• 2FYP Impacts - Social

  In 1934 bread rationing was ended and this was followed by the end of rationing for other commodities, e.g. meat and butter & wages of industrial workers increased in real terms.
• 2FYP Impacts - Social 


  The Stakhanovite movement created inequalities by rewarding the most productive workers with opulent flats and access to luxury food (commission = capitalist)