From Agrarian Backwardness to Industrial Power
Soviet Centralized Economic Planning: From Agrarian Backwardness to Industrial Power
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- The Bolsheviks nationalised industries and banks during the Civil War.
- Peasants were allowed to cultivate land that had been socialised, using confiscated land to demonstrate collective work.
- A centralised planning system was introduced:
- Officials set five-year targets for economic growth.
- During the first two Five-Year Plans (1927-1932 and 1933-1938), all prices were fixed to promote industrial growth.
- Centralised planning resulted in significant industrial growth:
- Industrial production, including oil, coal, and steel, increased by 100% between 1929 and 1933.
- New factory cities like Magnitogorsk emerged.
- Challenges of Rapid Industrialisation
- Construction projects like the Magnitogorsk steel plant were completed quickly but led to:
- Poor working and living conditions.
- 550 stoppages of work in the first year of Magnitogorsk's operation.
- Severe hardships in worker accommodations during extreme winters.
Workers Sleeping in Dormitories - This image reflects the harsh living conditions of workers in pre-revolutionary Russia, contributing to the discontent that led to the revolution. - Efforts were made to improve worker conditions:
- Crèches for children of women workers were established in factories.
- Cheap public healthcare and model living quarters were provided.
- Construction projects like the Magnitogorsk steel plant were completed quickly but led to:
- Collectivisation of Agriculture
- In 1927-1928, towns faced acute grain shortages, leading to government intervention:
- Grain supplies were confiscated as peasants resisted selling at fixed prices.
- The government accused rich peasants (kulaks) of hoarding grain.
- Stalin’s collectivisation programme (1929 onward) aimed to:
- Replace small peasant farms with large state-controlled collective farms (kolkhoz).
- Modernise agriculture using industrial machinery.
- Consequences of collectivisation:
- Mass resistance by peasants, including the destruction of livestock.
- A decline in cattle numbers by one-third between 1929 and 1931.
- Severe punishments for resisting peasants, including deportation and exile.
- Devastating famines between 1930-1933 caused over 4 million deaths.
- In 1927-1928, towns faced acute grain shortages, leading to government intervention:
- Repression and Criticism
- Critics of collectivisation and industrial confusion faced accusations of conspiring against socialism.
- By 1939, over 2 million people were imprisoned or sent to labor camps, many under false charges.
- Numerous professionals and innocent individuals were executed after forced confessions.
- Personal Accounts and Government Reports
- Accounts of hardships:
- A 13-year-old worker's letter highlighted the struggle to study amidst poverty.
- A peasant resisted collectivisation due to high taxes and property confiscation, losing all possessions by 1937.
- Government measures to suppress opposition:
- Mass arrests and executions of resisting peasants, especially in Ukraine during 1930.
- Collectivised grain, livestock, and tools were forcibly taken from peasants.
- Accounts of hardships:
