Stalin - Industrialization (Economic/Domestic Policy)

Industrialization

Historical context

1. The October Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War subsequently established a revolutionary government under the Bolsheviks in Russia.
1. The revolutionary government was chaotic and lacked structure, however the main characteristic was that the Party ruled.
2. Membership in the Party was essential.
2. At the same time, Lenin, who was leader of the Bolsheviks and hero of the revolution, was in failing health.
1. The future of the party after Lenin’s death was uncertain.
3. This uncertainty –in the government, the structure of the party and in the future in general, set the stage for Stalin to take power in the USSR.

Methods

1. The First Five Year Plan aimed to increase total industrial output by a massive 236%.
1. Large figures were key in inspiring the people to perpetually work harder.
2. The use of massive figures for targets characterized the FFYP as a huge propaganda project to convince Soviet workers that they were involved in a vast industrial program of their own making.
3. As they met targets, workers felt their personal contributions to increasing the national security of the USSR and providing it the means of achieving greatness.
2. Stalin advocated the development of the Homo Sovieticus as a new species of man.
1. This was a propaganda image that portrayed the Soviet man as one who was bred to fulfill the industrial goals of the USSR. It effectively appealed to the nationalistic sentiment in the Soviet people.
3. A popular slogan among the people bragged that “there is no fortress that we Bolsheviks cannot storm!”
1. Stalin handled the industrialization of the USSR in militaristic terms, and used military language to inspire the population to meet targets and create a modern socialist economy in the process.
2. Propaganda such as this also separated the soviet “us” from the “them”, who were enemies of soviet industrialization –capitalists, religious figures, conservatives and sabotagers.
3. By creating an “us”, this propaganda also evoked nationalist feelings within soviet workers.
4. The term “sabotage” began to brand all forms of resistance towards the efforts of the FFYP.
1. This is because Stalin handled the FFYP as a defence program. This allowed him to use strict political control to enforce the economic policy onto the people.
5. The FFYP emphasized quantity over quality (Sheila Fitzpatrick historiography “gigantomania”).
1. This showed Stalin’s shrewd judgement because he understood that the new industrial workforce, created by the vast influx of peasant workers, were unskilled and simply incapable of making quality goods. Therefore the quality of output was no longer a measure of success, and quantity was emphasized instead.
6. The FFYP was comprised of quotas and goals rather than any real planning. Planning occurred on the local level.
1. This made it possible for Stalin to accuse lesser officials of “sabotage” while himself and his colleagues avoided any blame.
7. In August 1935 (SFYP), Alexei Stakhanov mined fourteen times his quota of coal in a five-hour shift, and his achievement became a significant tool for propaganda.
1. The party’s control of the media allowed for only positive views of the plan to be presented. The Stakhanovite movement is an example of this.
2. His achievements were used to inspire other workers and impose a more efficient system of production.

Results

8. 1500 new factories were built by the end of 1932.
9. Food rationing ended in 1935.
10. Over 60 million tons of coal was mined by 1932, and over 150 million tons by 1940.
11. The literacy rate increased from 51% to 81%.
12. The USSR’s GDP tripled during 1928-40.
1. No other major economy even doubled output because of the Great Depression. This demonstrated a victory of socialism over capitalism.

Sheila Fitzpatrick ,  Stalin was “clearly in the grip of ‘gigantomania’, the obsession with hugeness.” The Russian Revolution (2008)

Robert Conquest ,  Stalin “represented a continuity …with the old party of the underground” The Great Terror: Reassessed (1991)

Michael Lynch, “In no way was the first FYP a blue-print or model”. Stalin and Khrushchev: USSR, 1924-64.