Five Year Plan

By: Valerie Chau and Shreya Venkatesan

What is the Five Year Plan?

• During the Russian Revolution, Josef Stalin created a list of economic goals designed to strengthen the country’s economy between 1928 and 1932.
• The focus of the Five-Year Plan primarily hoped on making the nation militarily, industrially, and financially self-sufficient.

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Who was Joseph Stalin

and what were his views?

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• Joesph Stalin became a dictator in Russia during the 1920s.
• When Stalin took power in Russia, he instituted a policy of Socialism on one country. This meant that he wanted to rapidly modernize and industrialize Russia. In order to achieve his goal, he set up a centrally controlled Command Economy and began the first of a series of Five Year Plans.

Where did the Five Year Plan Occur?

• The Five Year Plans were designed to build up Russia’s economy and heavy industry, thus occurring in the Soviet Union of Russia.
• However, Stalin seized assets, including farms and factories, and reorganized the economy.
• These efforts led to less efficient production and ensured mass starvation among the countryside.

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Where did the Five Year Plan Occur?

• To mask the disastrous results of the plan, Stalin maintained export levels, shipping food out of the country and resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of rural residents.
• This disruption led to famine Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, as well as areas of the Northern Caucasus.

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When did the Five Year Plan Occur?

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• The First Five Year Plan occurred in 1929, and ended up being a success in the welfare of Russia, as the lifestyle for the poorer people improved and caught up with other countries.
• Because of the success of the first plan, the government went ahead with the Second Five Year Plan in 1932 followed by a Third Five Years Plan, ending in 1941.

Why Were the Five Year Plans Disastrous?

• In 1929, Stalin created collective farming systems that stretched thousands of acres. Hundreds of peasants were working on them with human labor.
• Any protests against Stalin’s policies resulted in immediate death or relocation to gulag, which is a prison camp in the remote regions of the nation.

Peasants at work farming, with their tractors.

How did the Five Year Plans

Affect Russia Positively?

• Although the disruption led to famine in many countries, the introduction of collective farms allowed for peasants to use tractors to farm the land, whereas before, tractors were too expensive to be owned or be used by the poor.
• Remarkable results were achieved such as coal and iron production doubling, electric power production tripling, and 1500 new industrial plants were built.

So let me ask you, were the Five Year Plans beneficial or harmful towards the Russia’s future?

Alla Fine