Industrialisation and Collectivisation 1929–1941

Stalin's abandonment of the NEP in 1928–29 launched the most radical programme of economic transformation in modern history. The Five-Year Plans sought to industrialise the Soviet Union at breakneck speed, while collectivisation destroyed traditional peasant agriculture. Together, these policies fundamentally reshaped Soviet society — but at a human cost that remains almost incomprehensible.

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The First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932)

Objectives

Goal	Rationale
Rapid heavy industrialisation	Build the military-industrial base needed to defend the USSR against capitalist encirclement
Self-sufficiency	End dependence on imported machinery and technology
Elimination of the NEP	Destroy the market economy and private enterprise
Employment	Absorb the surplus rural population into industrial labour
Socialist transformation	Create a modern, urban, industrial working class

Targets vs Reality

Sector	1928 Actual	1932 Target	1932 Actual
Coal (million tons)	35.4	75.0	64.3
Steel (million tons)	4.0	10.4	5.9
Oil (million tons)	11.7	22.0	21.4
Electricity (billion kWh)	5.05	22.0	13.4
Tractors (thousands)	1.3	53.0	48.9

While most targets were missed, the absolute growth was still substantial. Major projects included Magnitogorsk (a vast steel complex built from nothing), Dneprostroi Dam, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, and the Turksib Railway.

Working Conditions

The human cost of industrialisation was severe:

• Workers endured 12–16 hour shifts under dangerous conditions
• Labour discipline was harsh — absenteeism could result in loss of rations, housing, or imprisonment
• The internal passport system (reintroduced in 1932) tied workers to their workplaces
• Real wages fell during the First Five-Year Plan despite nominal increases
• Housing was desperately overcrowded — families shared single rooms
• Yet industrialisation also created genuine opportunities for upward social mobility, particularly for ambitious young workers and party members

Key Definition: Gosplan — the State Planning Commission, responsible for drawing up and monitoring the Five-Year Plans. In practice, targets were often set by political leaders and adjusted arbitrarily, making genuine planning difficult.

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The Second and Third Five-Year Plans

The Second Five-Year Plan (1933–1937)

• More realistic targets than the first plan
• Greater emphasis on communications, transport, and chemical industries
• Some improvement in consumer goods production (though still far below demand)
• The Stakhanovite movement (from 1935) promoted 'heroic' workers who exceeded their targets — used to justify raising quotas for all workers
• Armaments production increased significantly as the threat from Nazi Germany grew

The Third Five-Year Plan (1938–1941)

• Focused heavily on military production — tanks, aircraft, artillery
• Disrupted by the Great Purges, which removed many experienced managers and engineers
• Interrupted by the German invasion in June 1941
• The industrial relocation eastward during 1941 demonstrated the regime's capacity for mobilisation

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Collectivisation

The Decision

In late 1929, Stalin declared the 'liquidation of the kulaks as a class' and launched the forced collectivisation of Soviet agriculture.

Motivations

Motivation	Detail
Economic	Collectivisation would ensure reliable grain supplies for the cities and for export; mechanised farming would (theoretically) be more efficient
Political	Individual peasant farms were difficult to control; collective farms were easier to manage and tax
Ideological	Private farming was incompatible with socialism; collective ownership was the Marxist ideal
Funding industrialisation	Grain exports would earn foreign currency to buy Western machinery
Destroying the kulaks	Prosperous peasants were identified as class enemies who must be eliminated

The Process

Phase	Detail
1929	Collectivisation launched; initially voluntary but quickly became coercive
Early 1930	By March 1930, 58% of peasant households had been collectivised, often through extreme violence
Peasant resistance	Peasants slaughtered livestock and destroyed crops rather than surrender them to collective farms — livestock numbers fell catastrophically
'Dizzy with Success' (Mar 1930)	Stalin's article blaming local officials for excessive zeal; a tactical retreat — collectivisation temporarily slowed
1931–33	Collectivisation reimposed with renewed vigour
By 1936	Over 90% of peasant households were collectivised

Dekulakisation

The assault on the kulaks was one of the most brutal episodes in Soviet history: