Learning Curve
HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Why did Stalin want to industrialise the USSR?
In 1928 Stalin began one of the most dramatic transformations of a country's economy that the
world had ever seen. There were political and ideological reasons for putting communist theories into practice. There were also practical reasons to change the economy of the USSR.
World War I devastated Russia. Towns, factories, roads and railways were destroyed.
Farmland was ruined. Millions of people died. The Bolshevik revolution also caused havoc and
then revolution turned to civil war. A drought in 1921 led to famine. All this meant that economic rebuilding was necessary.
After the death of Lenin in 1924, there was a power struggle from which Stalin gradually
emerged as winner. Stalin was aware that he had to assert his leadership. One way he could
do this was to make a success of his policies, especially by making the USSR strong through
industrialisation.
The USSR had a large population, but the majority of people worked in agriculture. A small
amount of industry existed in the west of the country. Stalin wanted to create more industry
and industry in the east. To do this, transport links between the regions had to be improved
and peasants had to be turned into industrial workers.
The race to industrialise was spurred on by the fear that capitalist countries would try to
destroy communism in the USSR. At the First Conference of Workers in 1931, Stalin delivered
a passionate speech, commanding workers to play a crucial role in industrialisation. He said:
"We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in
ten years. Either we do it or they will crush us."
Examine these sources to find out more:
Map of industry in
the Russian Empire,
c.1914
Account of
disruption during
civil war, 1919
Report on starving
Soviet peasants,
1921
Pravda's view on
help from other
nations, 1921
Article on
preparations for
world war, 1933
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 1
Map of the Russian Empire showing industry in about 1914
Questions
1. What do you notice about the location of the industrial centres?
2. Where are most of the coalmines?
3. What changes would have to be made if new factories were to be built in the east of
Russia?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 1
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 2
An account of the disruption during the civil war, written by AJ Youngman on a journey
to Russia, 18 August 1919
(Catalogue ref: FO 418/53)
Questions
1. According to this source, what problems were there in the country?
2. What was being done to solve problems in the economy?
3. To what extent can we rely on this eyewitness account by a foreign visitor as a historical
source?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 2
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 3
Report on starving Soviet peasants, from Mr Rennie, the British ambassador to Finland,
28 July 1921
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/6850)
Questions
1. Russia suffered a drought in 1921. What was the result?
2. What were the Soviets doing to solve problems in the economy?
3. To what extent can we rely on this account, based on what the Finnish minister said, as a
historical source?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 3
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 4
Report by Mr Hodgson at the British Commercial Mission, Moscow, on the opinion of
the Soviet newspaper Pravda, August 1921
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/6850)
Questions
1. Pravda was the official paper of the Soviet Communist Party. Who might have read
Pravda?
2. Who are 'the bourgeois governments' and why does Pravda warn against them?
3. Both this source and source 5 write of foreign intervention. Do you think the USSR would
have been more worried about foreign invasion in 1921 (source 4) or 1933 (source 5)?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 4
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 5
Extract on preparations for world war, from a communist journal published in Europe
for International Women's Day, 1933
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/17244, 'Better Work Among Women!', D Manuilsky, 'International
Press Correspondence', 13:9, 27 February 1933)
Questions
1. Who are the imperialist states?
2. According to this source, what are the various imperialist states preparing to do and why?
3. What evidence does this source give to back up its claims that there will soon be military
intervention in the USSR?
4. Are any of the accusations in this source accurate? Explain your answer.
5. Both this source and source 4 write of foreign intervention. Do you think the USSR would
have been more worried about foreign invasion in 1921 (source 4) or 1933 (source 5)?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > Why?
Source 5
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