Introduction
After the death of Vladimir Lenin, the demise of New
Economic Policy also followed to the grave. And the same period saw the rise of
the “socialism in one country” concept which was the brainchild of Joseph
Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Central to this concept is the industrialization and collectivization of USSR,
which marked the shift from a solely agriculture-dependent society to “uniting
Soviet agriculture and some fifty major Soviet industries (Rappaport, 1999, p.
90)” making USSR an industrial power.
With the “economic command policy” of Stalin, Soviet aimed
to mobilize the country, bringing more women into the workforce, to combat the
backwardness of Russia's economy. This economic policy works on high and
improved production, whatever the cost or sacrifice, which further strengthened
Stalin's despotic role in the vast USSR. In essence, the Stalin's economic
policy was a contradiction to the communists' core Marxist thinking which
relies mainly on socialism than capitalism as a motivation for growth.
Stalin's draconian economic policy was enveloped in a
series of Five-Year Plan, the first ran from October 1928 to December 1932.
With the intent to provide strength and evidence of the effectiveness and
realization of the plan, Stalin planned to “fulfill it in three years in all
basic, decisive branches of industry... (Boobbyer, 2000)” The mindset of Stalin
was focused on creating a society that was superior and at part with superpower
nations at that period, such as the United States and United Kingdom, to avoid
inferior treatment from the rest of the world.
From 1928 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992,
there were a total of thirteen five-year plans that served the rapid
industrialization and focused on heavy industry. Some of the five-year periods
were completed earlier and successfully, but there were periods that failed and
were totally abandoned during the process.
Benefits of the Five-Year Plan
The socialist concept worked on the past achievements of
the country to foster growth and development. Prior to the achievements of
Stalin's policy, “the development of textiles in the Moscow area, heavy
industrial plant around Petrograd, coalfields in the Donets region, iron and
steel in the Ukraine and oil at Baku (Lee, 1999)”, and many other industries
were already established as the result of the administration of local leaders
including Peter the Great.
Yet, the achievements of the first Five-Year Plan were
impressive, in spite of the difficulty of precisely measuring production. The
direct benefits of the plan resulted to increased production of steel (from 3
million to 6 million tons), oil (from 12 million to 21 million), and coal (from
35 million to 64 million ). The succeeding five-year plan cycles also helped to
further increase the production figures of the USSR making it a global
industrial leader before the World War II erupted (ibid).
In terms of indirect results, the economic policy spurred
the economic growth of USSR as the result of the ambitious endeavor on heavy
industries. The period saw a massive cut of unemployment, giving the people a
better chance to get involved in the economic cycle of the country. As heavy
industries increased their production units, the USSR workforce was
strengthened and empowered. In a broader perspective, Stalin's Five-Year Plan
was able to develop the labor industry through capital motivation, which was
the core of replacing agriculture with industrialization.
As a result of the workforce empowerment and the increased
economic activity, urbanization grew. More people left the rural agricultural
environment to venture in the big city, which served as the center of commerce
and economy. In fact, the same period established the legacy of Stalin on
villages, towns, and cities that were named after him. USSR became a modern
civilization, a quick turn from its countryside outlook.
The stirring of the coal and mining industry provided a
new source of strength for USSR to rearm
itself as global military superpower. In various parts of USSR, Stalin was able
to put industries that could easily hold the core of his military objectives.
In the same manner, the economic achievements of USSR gave them capability to
increase budget for defense and military. From 4 percent in 1933, USSR was able
to pull 33 percent of its industrial budget for the defense.
As mentioned earlier, the Stalin's concept stroke on the
chords of industrialization and collectivization. Through collectivization,
Stalin aimed to foster the growth of agriculture, with the agenda of increasing
the necessary resource for industrialization. The government grabbed land of
farmers and the governent became the de-facto owner of these agricultural
lands, forcing farmers to work on these lands (Taylor, 2001).
The principle behind this agrarian change was that farmers
did not have modern ideas and tools to further increase agricultural yields,
which was still in line with the goal of “increased production on all
industries” mindset. Of course, this moved enabled the government to control
the production of agriculture providing the country enough supply of grains and
other basic needs without importing from other countries. Government figures
were affirmative, however, situations across the Soviet were not really
commendable.
Negative Implications of the Five Year Plan
With all the remarkable figures provided by the government
during that period, and perhaps the observable impact of the Five-Year Plan,
negative implications of the plan were also undeniably enormous. The ultimate
goal of the Five-Year Plan was to make USSR the leading global industrial and
military superpower that did not need to depend on other nations for growth and
survival. This meant that USSR could do whatever it wanted without fear of
economic embargo, food sanctioning, and other international sanctions. The plan
wrote the ruthlessness of Stalin without any fear of being erased by other
superpowers that acted last World War II.
The rise of USSR became very significant to World War II.
Stalingrad and the entire Soviet Union had been the jewel of industrial power
when the war broken out. The ultimate goal of Hilter was to take the Union to
capture and use its vast resource to foster his military endeavors. The
Five-Year Plan of Stalin made USSR a favorite prey, and Hitler was able to make
it his own. History proved that had Hitler been able to harvest USSR's
industrial power, World War II could have another turn and twist (Sharp, Feb.
20, 2006).
Nonetheless, the industrial power of USSR made it a
constant threat to democracy around the world. With its capability to create
nuclear bombs, and history tells that Russia was able to create the
Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, the West was in great danger. Perhaps,
Stalin wanted to scare off the West and make USSR a hermit nation, the sort of
North Korea today.
As Stalin aimed to promote collectivization, it backfired
and created a downhill movement for agriculture. The government resorted to all
forms of hostilities to take control of the agrarian, however, Stalin still
failed to stir the entire agricultural industry (Lacey, 2002; Taylor, 2001).
The first Five-Year Plan was orchestrated during the kick off of Russia's Great
Famine. As a result of Stalin's hostilities, the peasant revolted and forced to
participate in Stalin's programs, which worsened the famine situation. As
production slowed down, USSR suffered the most severe famine the country ever
faced, and the situation just made it harder for Stalin to promote better
agrarian.
Opposite to its figures and statistics, the Five-Year Plan
strained USSR more than it helped the country.
As Stalin placed figures that should be reached at all cost, the
industry is forced to reach its limitations. Because good production units were
expected to increase their productivity, they were forced to get more resources
than possible. In fact, hoarding became a way to ensure that sufficient supply
would be available to reach the target and avoid Stalin's anger. Of course, the
strained created an unparallel pattern across the country.
Unlike its contemporary superpowers like the United
States, USSR failed to work on a balanced growth. Instead, USSR just focused on
heavy industries leaving auxiliary industries to suffer. While it increased
production of coals and oil, the country suffered from low production of food
through its agriculture. The imbalance of USSR's economy also resulted to an
“isolated economy”. The increased production of a single industry cannot
support the entire nation growth. And this is where Stalin failed - and the USSR failed.
As legendary as the cities and towns named after him,
Stalin's Five-Year Plan also left some legendary marks on the now-defunct USSR.
While Russia was able to harvest the impact of USSR's industrial strength,
Tajikistan suffered from lack of industrial resources. While Lithuania enjoyed
economic and political freedom, Turkmenistan remained sick with its civil
unrest and a looming 60% unemployment rate. Simply, Stalin's Five-Year Plan shared its
positive and negative implications, and the history of post-Soviet Union
nations tells the final verdict of the “socialism in one country” concept. The
long narration of figures could be rendered nothing when compared to the
reality of the Soviet – and post-Soviet nations today.
References:
Boobbyer, P. 2000. The Stalin Era. Routledge.
Lacey, G. 2002. Revise Modern World History for OCR
Specification 1937. Heinemann.
Lee, S. 1999. Stalin and the Soviet Union.
Routledge.
Rappaport, H. 1999. Joseph Stalin: A Biographical
Companion. Annotated ed. ABC-CLIO.
Sharp, M. February 20, 2006. What
If Adolf Hitler Defeated the Soviet Union in World War II?. [Accessed on Feb. 04, 2006 at http://voices.yahoo.com/what-if-adolf-hitler-defeated-soviet-union-in-16869.html?cat=37]
Taylor,
D. 2001. Modern World History for OCR Specification 1937: Foundation.
Heinemann
