Industrial and social developments

• Key Chronology


  • 1928: The first Five Year Plan is launched
  • 1932: The Dnieprostroi Dam is completed
  • 1933: The second Five Year Plan is launched
  • 1936: There is a new emphasis on armaments production
  • 1937: The Moscow-Volga Canal is completed
  • 1938: The third Five Year Plan is launched
  • 1940: Armaments spending is doubled
  • 1941: The third Five Year Plan is interrupted by the German invasion
• Dates of five year plans

  • First Five Year Plan (1928-32)
  • Second Five Year Plan (1933-37)
  • Third Five Year Plan (1938-42)
• Aims of First Five Year Plan (1928-32)

  • Develop heavy industry
  • Boost electricity production
  • Double the output from light industry, e.g. chemicals
• Aims of Second Five Year Plan (1933-37)

  • Continue the growth of heavy industry
  • Boost light industry: chemicals, electricals, consumer goods
  • Develop communications
  • Foster engineering
• Aims of Third Five Year Plan (1938-42)

  • Renewed emphasis on heavy industry
  • Promote rapid rearmament
  • Complete the transition to communism
• Successes of First Five Year Plan (1928-32)

  • Electricity production tripled
  • Coal and iron output doubled
  • Steel production increased by one third
  • Some large-scale communication projects
• Successes of Second Five Year Plan (1933-37)

  • Rapid growth in electricity production and chemicals
  • New metals (e.g. copper and tin) mined for the first time
  • Steel output trebled
  • Coal production doubled
  • The USSR was self-sufficient in metal goods and machine tools by 1937
  • Some strong growth in machinery and engineering
• Successes of Third Five Year Plan (1938-42)


  • Defence industries developed exceptional models, e.g. the T-34 tank
  • Spending on rearmament doubled between 1938-40
• Limitations of First Five Year Plan (1928-32)


  • None of the extremely ambitious targets were actually met
  • Improvements in the chemical industry lagged behind
  • Consumer industries were badly neglected
• Limitations of Second Five Year Plan (1933-37)

  • Consumers were still very short of some products
  • While overall quantity increased, quality still tended to be very low
  • Oil production failed to meet its target
• Limitations of Third Five Year Plan (1938-42)

  • Oil production failed to meet targets causing a fuel crisis
  • There was a lack of specialists due to Stalin's purges
  • The German invasion of 1941 disrupted the Plan, causing it to end early
• Examples of large-scale infrastructure projects

  • Dnieprostroi Dam
  • Moscow Metro
• Dnieprostroi Dam constructed


  1927 - 1932
• Dnieprostroi Dam


  • One of the largest power stations in the world at the time
  • After five extra generators were installed in the second Five Year Plan, the dam increased Soviet electric power by five times
  • Powered aluminium and steel production in nearby new industrial centres
• Moscow-Volga canal

  • 1932-37
  • Made river navigable by ships
  • Built by 200,000 prisoners of whom 22,000
• Stakhanovites:

  • Workers who exceeded their targets were used as examples
  • Compete to break records
• Success of Five year plans:

  • Soviet economy grew at 5-6% per year
  • USSR became major industrial power
  • Created opportunities
  • Sense of pride in the communist system
• Weaknesses of Five year plans:

  • Worse living conditions
  • Bribery and corruption
  • Prision camp labour