Stalin and the Soviet Economy 1929-1941
Stalin’s Economic Aims
- In the late 1920s, Stalin imposed a crash programme of reform, referred to as the
‘second revolution’ or the ‘great turn’, to revolutionise agriculture and industry
- It was prompted by a critical resolution of the Party Congress in 1926 to
industrialise Russia through modernisation
- Stalin’s economic policies aimed to modernise Russia through collectivisation and
modernisation, which saw the state take over the economy in a revolution from above
- The Bolsheviks believed the October Revolution had been a revolution from below,
so Bukharin and the right argued that, as the USSR was a proletariat society, the state
shouldn’t interfere
- Stalin’s schemes were larger and more thorough than Lenin’s Gosplan, as state
control was to be total. He saw the hard-line policy as the best way to confirm his
authority
- He was convinced that the needs of Soviet Russia could only be met by
modernisation, and that the survival of Soviet Russia depended on their ability to
increase industrial production in the shortest time to overtake the advanced nations of
Europe
Collectivisation
- Stalin aimed to transform Russia from an agrarian society to an industrial one
through collectivisation and modernisation
- The USSR needed to industrialise, which required large amounts of manpower and
capitol, but they didn’t have this and their natural resources hadn’t been exploited, so
peasants had to produce a food surplus to be sold abroad to raise capital, and
collectivisation would make a surplus of farm labourers who could then become
factory workers
- Stalin referred to them as collective farms, where peasants pooled resources and
shared wages, and state farms, where peasants worked for the state and received a
wage
- The Bolsheviks believed larger farms would require more machinery and unwanted
farm labourers would become urban workers
- Peasants were reluctant to be collectivised, so Stalin fabricated a class of kulaks who
were holding back the peasantry, which provided an effective scapegoat
- In poorer regions, peasants undertook dekulakisation, which provided a reason to
settle old quarrels with richer peasants, The land and property of kulaks was attacked,
and they were deported and arrested by anti-kulak squads, which served as a warning
to peasants who were considering rebelling against collectivisation
- Many disturbances were instigated by women as they were the first to suffer the
effects of collectivisation. Women in Ukraine seized requisitioned grain from Red
Army squads and laid in front of tractors as they were less likely to suffer reprisals
- Peasants could not cooperate with the upheaval of their traditional lives, so they ate
sweetcorn and slaughtered cows. Stalin responded with more severe methods of
coercion and sent party members to help replenish stocks, but they were incompetent.
What little grain was left was forcibly exploited as surplus
- By March 1931, half of all peasant farms were collectivised. There was 700% more
unrest, and an equivalent to a civil war broke out
Stalin’s Economic Aims
- In the late 1920s, Stalin imposed a crash programme of reform, referred to as the
‘second revolution’ or the ‘great turn’, to revolutionise agriculture and industry
- It was prompted by a critical resolution of the Party Congress in 1926 to
industrialise Russia through modernisation
- Stalin’s economic policies aimed to modernise Russia through collectivisation and
modernisation, which saw the state take over the economy in a revolution from above
- The Bolsheviks believed the October Revolution had been a revolution from below,
so Bukharin and the right argued that, as the USSR was a proletariat society, the state
shouldn’t interfere
- Stalin’s schemes were larger and more thorough than Lenin’s Gosplan, as state
control was to be total. He saw the hard-line policy as the best way to confirm his
authority
- He was convinced that the needs of Soviet Russia could only be met by
modernisation, and that the survival of Soviet Russia depended on their ability to
increase industrial production in the shortest time to overtake the advanced nations of
Europe
Collectivisation
- Stalin aimed to transform Russia from an agrarian society to an industrial one
through collectivisation and modernisation
- The USSR needed to industrialise, which required large amounts of manpower and
capitol, but they didn’t have this and their natural resources hadn’t been exploited, so
peasants had to produce a food surplus to be sold abroad to raise capital, and
collectivisation would make a surplus of farm labourers who could then become
factory workers
- Stalin referred to them as collective farms, where peasants pooled resources and
shared wages, and state farms, where peasants worked for the state and received a
wage
- The Bolsheviks believed larger farms would require more machinery and unwanted
farm labourers would become urban workers
- Peasants were reluctant to be collectivised, so Stalin fabricated a class of kulaks who
were holding back the peasantry, which provided an effective scapegoat
- In poorer regions, peasants undertook dekulakisation, which provided a reason to
settle old quarrels with richer peasants, The land and property of kulaks was attacked,
and they were deported and arrested by anti-kulak squads, which served as a warning
to peasants who were considering rebelling against collectivisation
- Many disturbances were instigated by women as they were the first to suffer the
effects of collectivisation. Women in Ukraine seized requisitioned grain from Red
Army squads and laid in front of tractors as they were less likely to suffer reprisals
- Peasants could not cooperate with the upheaval of their traditional lives, so they ate
sweetcorn and slaughtered cows. Stalin responded with more severe methods of
coercion and sent party members to help replenish stocks, but they were incompetent.
What little grain was left was forcibly exploited as surplus
- By March 1931, half of all peasant farms were collectivised. There was 700% more
unrest, and an equivalent to a civil war broke out
