The First Three Five Year Plans (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
The First Three Five Year Plans
Stalin's drive for rapid industrialisation
In February 1931, Stalin addressed the first all-Union Congress of managers of Socialist industry, articulating the rationale behind his economic programme. He argued that Russia had historically suffered from multiple forms of backwardness - military, cultural, political, industrial, and agricultural. Stalin insisted that the Soviet Union must eliminate this backwardness rapidly or face defeat. He invoked Lenin's warning from the eve of the October Revolution: the choice was either to perish or to overtake and surpass the advanced capitalist countries. Stalin claimed Russia was 50 to 100 years behind these nations and must close this gap within a decade or be destroyed.
Stalin's February 1931 speech encapsulated the existential urgency driving his industrialization policy. He framed the choice starkly: either modernize rapidly or face destruction. This rhetoric of crisis and survival justified the extreme measures and sacrifices that would characterize the Five Year Plans.
This speech encapsulated the urgency driving Stalin's industrialisation policy. The Wall Street Crash of October 1929, which bankrupted enterprises across the USA and Europe and triggered the Great Depression, provided apparent vindication for Stalin's approach. At a time when capitalist economies experienced low productivity and mass unemployment, the Soviet planned economy offered an alternative model - though the reality proved far more complex.
Gosplan and the organisation of the Five Year Plans
Gosplan (the State Planning Agency) was established in 1921 and given responsibility for drawing up economic plans and establishing output targets for every industrial enterprise in accordance with Party directives. Stalin advanced his economic programme through a series of Five Year Plans which set attainment targets for industrial enterprises, beginning in 1928.
How Gosplan operated
Gosplan's function was to ensure overall economic objectives of the Five Year Plans were met by matching input against output. The agency first calculated the necessary 'input' - raw materials required - by examining production statistics minus exports plus imports. This input was then matched to 'output' targets to identify mismatches. Using these calculations, Gosplan established priorities for resource use, organised supply and distribution networks, and took steps to ensure necessary investment and reorganisation to 'balance' the economy.
Challenges facing Gosplan
The Communist government made overall decisions about what should be produced and when across a five-year period, whilst regional Party leaders competed to present ambitious projects and argued with Gosplan about why their region should receive resources. Gosplan suffered from a lack of reliable information, particularly concerning import costs or export prices, and faced difficulty planning for numerous variable and changing commodities.
The targets set were usually extremely ambitious, intended to force managers and workers to devote maximum effort to the programme. Since failure to achieve a target was deemed a criminal offence, all those involved in administering and carrying out the plans went to great lengths to ensure reported statistics showed huge improvements - often far above the targets originally set. Consequently, corruption and faulty reporting became embedded in the system from the outset.
Gosplan occupied an unenviable position. It worked from deliberately falsified statistics, and if things went wrong, its officials could be held responsible. Once the plans commenced, thousands of State employees were dismissed, including members of Gosplan's own offices, on grounds they were insufficiently class-conscious, enthusiastic, or were tainted by corruption.
The first Five Year Plan, 1928–1932
The first Five Year Plan was approved by the Sixteenth Party Congress in April 1929, though backdated to October 1928. It was not based on secure data and was exceptionally over-ambitious.
Aims of the first plan
The plan concentrated on developing heavy industries (sometimes termed producer goods or capital goods) - materials such as coal and steel that serve as raw materials for manufacturing other products. The aims were to:
- Increase production by 300 per cent
- Focus development on coal, iron, steel, oil and machinery
- Boost electricity production by 600 per cent
- Double output from light industry including chemicals
The targets set
The ambitious target system can be seen in the dramatic increases projected across four years. Coal was targeted to increase from 35.4 million tonnes (1927-1928 actual production) to 75 million tonnes by 1932-1933. Oil was to rise from 11.7 to 22 million tonnes. Steel production was expected to reach 10.4 million tonnes from just 4 million tonnes, and pig iron to grow from 3.3 to 10 million tonnes.
Achievements
The publicity surrounding the plan's launch provoked an enthusiastic response. Stalin claimed the targets had been met in four years rather than five, though this resulted from over-enthusiastic reporting by local officials eager to demonstrate loyalty and effort. In reality, none of the major targets were actually met, though investment brought impressive growth.
Actual Achievements of the First Five Year Plan
Despite Stalin's claims of success, the reality was more modest but still impressive:
- Electricity output trebled - a remarkable achievement in power generation
- Coal and iron output doubled - significant expansion of heavy industry capacity
- Steel production increased by a third - substantial growth though falling short of the 10.4 million tonne target
- New infrastructure emerged including railways, engineering plants, hydro-electric power schemes and industrial complexes across the country
These gains represented genuine industrial transformation, even if they didn't match the ambitious official targets.
Failures and shortcomings
Despite Stalin's claims, the targets for the chemical industry were not met. House-building, food-processing and other consumer industries were woefully neglected. Too few skilled workers were available, and too little effective central coordination existed for efficient development. Smaller industrial works and workshops lost out in competition from larger factories.
The emphasis on quantity rather than quality permeated the system. Whilst it was possible to criticise imperfections in the plan model, it should be recognized that the first Five Year Plan constituted a tremendous experiment with no obvious example elsewhere from which to learn, particularly during the economic collapse following the Wall Street Crash.
One major problem was that people became afraid to question anything about the plan as Stalin's regime grew more authoritarian. Criticism might easily be labelled disloyalty, sabotage or treason - a dangerous accusation in Stalin's Soviet Union.
The second Five Year Plan, 1933–1937
This plan built upon the infrastructure provided by the first. It gave more attention to consumer goods than the first plan, though heavy industry remained the overall priority.
Aims of the second plan
The objectives were to:
- Continue developing heavy industry
- Promote growth of light industries including chemicals, electricals and consumer goods
- Develop communications to provide links between cities and other industrial areas
- Foster engineering and tool-making
The "three good years" and achievements
The plan experienced particular success during the 'three good years' of 1934 to 1936. The Moscow Metro opened in 1935, the Volga canal in 1937. The Dnieprostroi Dam, which had been producing hydro-electric power since completion in 1932, was extended with four additional generators, making it Europe's largest dam. Electricity production and the chemical industries grew rapidly. New metals including copper, zinc and tin were mined for the first time.
Major Achievements of the Second Five Year Plan
The period saw several landmark accomplishments:
- Steel output trebled - demonstrating continued heavy industry expansion
- Coal production doubled - meeting increasing industrial energy needs
- Soviet Union became virtually self-sufficient in metal goods and machine tools by 1937 - achieving economic independence
Notable infrastructure projects included:
- The Moscow Metro (opened 1935) - a showcase of Soviet engineering
- The Volga Canal (completed 1937) - improving transportation networks
- The Dnieprostroi Dam expansion - making it Europe's largest dam
In 1936, the plan's focus shifted slightly as greater emphasis was placed on rearmament, which rose from 4 per cent of GDP in 1933 to 17 per cent by 1937.
Continued problems
Oil production failed to meet its targets. Despite some expansion in footwear and food-processing, no appreciable increase in consumer goods occurred. The emphasis on quantity over quality, which had also marred the first Five Year Plan, continued.
Armaments production
A provision not appearing in the published military budget was the development of at least one secret workshop devoted to weapons production in each industrial complex. Such workshops are thought to have provided almost half of Soviet military production. The high priority given to defence, where output rose by almost 300 per cent between 1933 and 1938, came largely at the expense of advertised consumer targets.
Comparing Targets with Actual Production
The mixed results of the second plan become clear when examining specific industries:
Coal: 64.4 million tonnes in 1932 (target: 75 million) → 128 million tonnes in 1937 (target: 152.5 million)
Oil: 21.4 million tonnes in 1932 (target: 21.2 million) → 28.5 million tonnes in 1937 (target: 46.8 million)
Steel: 5.9 million tonnes in 1932 (target: 10.4 million) → 17.7 million tonnes in 1937 (target: 17.0 million) - one of the few targets actually exceeded
Electricity: 13,540 million kWh in 1932 (target: 22,000 million) → 36,000 million kWh in 1937 (target: 38,000 million)
Machine tools and tractors also saw substantial increases, though often falling short of ambitious targets.
The third Five Year Plan, 1938–1942
This plan placed particular focus on the needs of the defence sector, responding to the growing threat that Nazi Germany posed to the USSR. Hitler had come to power in 1933 and set about rearming and expanding Germany, making no secret of his desire for Lebensraum (living space) for German people to the East, which threatened Soviet territory. The plan was disrupted by the approach of war in 1941.
Aims of the third plan
The objectives were to:
- Place renewed emphasis on developing heavy industry
- Promote rapid rearmament
- Complete the transition to communism
Outcomes and difficulties
Heavy industry remained the main beneficiary, with some strong growth in machinery and engineering, though the picture varied across the country. Resources were increasingly diverted to rearmament, on which spending doubled between 1938 and 1940. This had an adverse effect on other areas. Steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet targets, causing fuel crises, and many industries found themselves short of raw materials. Consumer goods were relegated, once again, to the lowest priority.
The main obstacles
The third Five Year Plan faced the most serious problems. There was a dearth of competent managers, specialists and technicians following Stalin's purges, in which many citizens lost their jobs and sometimes suffered deportation or execution. This loss of expertise severely hampered the plan's implementation and contributed to production failures across multiple industries.
An exceptionally hard winter in 1938 compounded difficulties, and the needs of defence played a part. The plan was disrupted and finished early because of the German invasion of 1941.
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
- Gosplan was the State Planning Agency that established production targets for the Five Year Plans, but it operated with unreliable data and faced enormous pressure to show success, leading to widespread corruption and falsification.
- The First Five Year Plan (1928-1932) focused overwhelmingly on heavy industry, achieving impressive growth in coal, steel, iron and electricity, though no major targets were actually met and consumer goods were woefully neglected.
- The Second Five Year Plan (1933-1937) continued heavy industry development whilst giving slightly more attention to consumer goods, with particular success during the 'three good years' of 1934-1936 in completing major projects like the Moscow Metro and expanding electricity production, though oil targets failed and rearmament increasingly dominated from 1936.
- The Third Five Year Plan (1938-1942) prioritised defence needs due to the Nazi threat, but was severely hampered by the shortage of competent managers following Stalin's purges, an exceptionally harsh winter in 1938, and ultimately the German invasion of 1941.
- Throughout all three plans, the emphasis on quantity over quality persisted, consumer goods remained a low priority, and the combination of over-ambitious targets, propaganda pressure, and criminal penalties for failure created a system built on falsified statistics and endemic corruption.