Stalin's Economic Policies
When Stalin came into power, he put into effect two Five Year Plan’s in which he planned to industrialize Russia in the span of ten years. Paranoid by nature, Stalin was so eager to do so because he feared a German invasion of Russia. Also, the common goal at the time of was to spread Communism around the world, which was called the Global Revolution, something that was greatly feared by the Western countries. The two Five Year Plans were pretty successful ; for example grain production rose from 16.2% to 36.6%. However although electricity, iron, steel and cement all saw a rise in production, this rise was only applicable for non-consumer goods. The people continued to suffer from a lack of supplies since so much of it was either being used to industrialize the country or export for a profit.
However, even though there were harsh working conditions in the work force, fines were brought in if workers didn’t meet their targets. There was a lot of pressure on the workers to become the “ideal, Soviet” worker, and the fines were put in place to enforce that.
The Bolshevik Party also brought in the New Economic Policy (NEP), in which small private businesses were allowed to run independently, and peasants were allowed to sell their surplus crops but were taxed. Experts were also brought in to increase production and nationalize the industry. However, one mistake that Stalin made was that most of the educated people of Russia had either been executed or had fled to the country due to the mass hunts for bourgeoisie in the USSR, and therefore had to import people who were experts on the economy.
However, even though there were harsh working conditions in the work force, fines were brought in if workers didn’t meet their targets. There was a lot of pressure on the workers to become the “ideal, Soviet” worker, and the fines were put in place to enforce that.
The Bolshevik Party also brought in the New Economic Policy (NEP), in which small private businesses were allowed to run independently, and peasants were allowed to sell their surplus crops but were taxed. Experts were also brought in to increase production and nationalize the industry. However, one mistake that Stalin made was that most of the educated people of Russia had either been executed or had fled to the country due to the mass hunts for bourgeoisie in the USSR, and therefore had to import people who were experts on the economy.