1. Stalin’s Economic Policies
The Revolution from Above

2. Economic Objectives Modernize the Soviet Union Why?
Stalin wanted the USSR to be an industrial state on par with the West
“Either we do it or we shall be crushed”
He wanted to end Russia’s backwardness
Turn the USSR “from a country which imports machines and equipment into a country which exports machines and equipment.”
To solidify his political authority

3. Collectivization Questions
What does collectivization mean? How did it work?
Why was collectivization the first step?
How did many peasants react to collectivization?
Who were the kulaks and how did they fare under this policy?
What was the significance of Stalin’s “Dizzy with Success” article in March 1930’s Pravda?
What were the outcomes of Stalin’s collectivization policies?
In what ways can collectivization be considered a success? How is it a failure?
Why do some historians believe the Great Famine of 1932 was politically motivated?

4. More details on collectivization:
3 Types of Collective Farms
Toz- Land peasants owned land, but would share equipment and jobs such as sewing. It was mostly common before 1930.
Sovkhoz- Land is owned and run by the state. The peasants live and work on sovkhozs. Peasants are given a wage; similar to factories. This would create a proletariat peasant population.
Kolkhoz- The land is held in a common and ran in an elected committee, people would pull together; land, equipment, livestock, etc. Each household would be allowed a private plot of land of no more than 1 acre. The kolkhoz was most successful because peasants were motivated with private plot of land.

5. How was it done?
The key to the system was the use of science and machinery.
Machine Tractor Stations were created to hire out tractors, combine harvesters, etc
Collectives were up and running by 1930 and the government claimed that over 50% of all farms had been grouped together
The harvest was split three ways, in this order of importance:
compulsory deliveries to the state
the Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) share
the shares of the individual members of the collective (Bullock, )
The state’s share was the source of capital investments in industry. The state sold off the confiscated or forcibly delivered grain at higher than average prices.

6. Results?
By 1940 approximately 97% of all peasant households had been collectivized and private ownership of property almost entirely eliminated.
Stalin affirmed his grip on the party-Who was Ryutin?
Forced collectivization helped achieve Stalin's goal of rapid industrialization, but the human costs were incalculable
“…not until 1988 that …the method, and the motives appeared in Soviet publications. The deaths in the terror- famine cannot have been lower than 6 to 7 million. The death toll among the peasantry over the whole period 1930 to is given in the recent Soviet literature as around 10 million-- higher than the dead of all the belligerents put together in the First World War.”
-Robert Conquest

7. Industrialization Why did Stalin want to industrialize so rapidly?
He feared capitalist encirclement by the West and wanted to be prepared
The desire for autarky (economic self sufficiency in war time)

8. The Five Year Plans
Stalin’s five year plans were the primary method used to achieve the desired level of industrialization
However, these plans provided unrealistic targets and expected that they would be met ahead of schedule, but provided no means of attaining them
What was GOSPLAN?
Enforced using a mix of coercion and worker’s pride
Emphasis was on heavy industry, coal, iron, steel, and massive projects
Same industrial pattern as the West, but on a socialist path-which looked good to many outsiders given the Depression was in full swing elsewhere
Soviet people were expected to sacrifice for the collective good
Poor quality work was blamed on saboteurs and wreckers, who were severely punished

9. The First Five Year Plan
When?
Major characteristics?
Why did Stalin make an “optimal” plan during the early stages of the first FYP?
What is the argument in favor of viewing the Five Year Plans as a “cultural revolution” and who proposes this view?
In what ways was the first Five Year Plan successful?

10. Magnitogorsk The “socialist city of steel”
Built literally from scratch between and 1932 (part of 1st 5YP)
Site of the biggest steel manufacturing plant in the world
Became a “symbol of revolutionary transformation” until WWII
Video: ubject&show=video&SubjectID=1929mag nitogorsk&Year=1929&Theme=576f726b &navi=byTheme

11. 2nd and 3rd Five Year Plans
When?
Major characteristics?

12. Stakhanovite Movement
What 1935 event was the catalyst for the Stakhanovite movement?
Who were the Stakhanovites?
How were they used as propaganda?
What were the benefits of Stakhanovism?
What were the problems of this movement?
What insights regarding the lives of Soviet workers during the five year plans are provided by the Stakhanovite movement ?

13. Additional Questions From The Reading
Explain the concept of “gigantomania” as it pertains to the Five Year Plans.
Describe some of the limitations of the Five Year Plans.
Describe the impact of the Five Year Plans on the workers.

14. Features of Stalin’s economy
Command economy
The state needed to break the power of capitalism by direction from above
Marxist ideology: need a socially owned and operated economy
Not well planned or coordinated centrally
Developed the economy in relative isolation
Desired autarky (though the Soviets didn’t use that term)
Viewed the economy as a means to achieve other goals: social utopia, military defense, prosperity
Focused on industry over consumer goods
Key to success was coercive nature of the system
Economic sabotage (obstruction, shoddy work, etc) was punished
Utilized slave labor for many projects
Invested heavily in military spending
Majority of workers did not benefit (famine, hardships, wages remained close to pre-WWI levels)

15. Five Year Plans: Results and Assessment
What problems face a historian examining data from the five year plans?
Did the Five Year Plans achieve their stated objectives?
To what extent did Stalin’s industrialization policies adhere to Marxist ideology?
Were these policies meant to benefit the USSR, or to maintain Stalin’s hold on power?

16. To what extent did Stalin’s economic policies solve the problems he faced?
In your group, create a thesis statement, and then outline the main points of your argument.

17. Stalin and Hitler: Similarities
Ran command economies
Were anti-capitalist (although for different reasons)
Developed their economies in relative isolation
Desired autarky (though the Soviets didn’t use that term)
Viewed the economy as a means to achieve other goals: social utopias, military defense, prosperity
Focused on industry over consumer goods
Key to success was coercive nature of the system
Economic sabotage (obstruction, shoddy work, etc) was punished, esp. in the USSR
Invested heavily in military spending
Majority of workers did not benefit (for example, wages remained close to pre-WWI levels)

18. Stalin Hitler
Marxist ideology: need a socially owned and operated economy
State needs to break power of capitalism by direction from above
USSR needs a strong economy to preserve itself in a hostile world-it is the key to its survival
Hardships of the Soviet people were extraordinary (famine, etc.)
Economy needs to serve the Volk-it is a means to preserve the master race
Germany’s lack of resources means it needs to conquer other lands and seize their resources; therefore economics is tied directly to foreign policy aim of lebensraum and ideological belief in social Darwinism
Capitalist entities cannot be trusted to act in the Volk’s interest, therefore the state needs to control economy
Private businesses can exist if they serve the state