Learning Curve
HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
How did Stalin industrialise the USSR?
Every five years the Soviet government, under Stalin's instruction, set detailed targets that
industry and agriculture had to meet. These Five Year Plans aimed for a great increase in production.
The key to industrialisation was heavy industry. Every year the amount of steel, coal, iron and
oil that was produced rose. New factories were opened, especially in the east. More railways
were built to transport the goods produced. New industrial centres sprang up in Kuzbass and
the Volga. An entire city called Magnitogorsk was constructed in the Ural Mountains, with a
steel mill (in a process that involved great hardship for the people involved). One great
achievement was the Dnieper dam, built between 1927-32 to provide hydro-electricity.
This rapid industrialisation meant that many peasants left the land to work in towns or industrial centres. These workers had to be fed, so agricultural production also had to increase. Stalin
ordered the collectivisation of farming, a policy pursued intensely between 1929-33.
Collectivisation meant that peasants would work together on larger, supposedly more productive farms. Almost all the crops they produced would be given to the government at low prices
to feed the industrial workers. Fewer workers were needed on these collective farms, so more
peasants could become factory workers. By 1936, nearly all peasants had been moved into
the collective farms.
In the drive to industrialise Stalin often adopted harsh methods. These methods included
forced labour, punishments for those who failed to reach targets and the elimination of those
who didn't fit into his plans. Many kulaks (prosperous peasants) didn't want to give up their
own farms and resisted collectivisation, destroying their animals and equipment in protest.
Millions were sent to prison camps. Stalin was able to enforce his power in the countryside and
he got hold of the resources he needed to turn the Soviet Union into an industrial power.
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Learning Curve
HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Examine these sources to find out more:
Comparing 1935 &
1936 USSR
production targets
USSR machinery
production targets
for 1938
Ways to get more
work from
Russians, 1938
Recording of a man
recalling Stalin's
brutal policies
Soviet labour
discipline, 1931
Speech by
Molotov on forced
labour, 1931
Soviet propaganda
poster, 1931
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 1
Part of a report from the British Ambassador in Moscow, comparing 1936 USSR production targets with those from 1935
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/20344, January 1936)
1a
1b
1c
1d
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Why was there a target to increase the amount of crops grown?
Why was there a target to increase the amount of oil produced?
Why was there a target to reduce the import of machines?
Were consumer goods an important feature of the plan for 1936?
How would you have tried to encourage workers to work harder?
How would you have tried to cut down on railway accidents and increase efficiency?
A hero may be someone noted for their special achievements or their bold exploits. Could
Stalin have been seen as a hero because of his Five Year Plans?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 1a
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 1b
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 1c
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 1d
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 2
Official USSR machinery production targets for 1938, reported by the British ambassador in Moscow
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/22292)
Questions
1. What was the overall percentage increase in total output planned for 1938?
2. How much harder were the workers being asked to work in 1938?
3. Compare this source with source 1. What new types of products were being planned for in
1938 that weren't mentioned in the 1936 source?
4. Do you think that many other governments had such detailed production plans?
5. A hero may be someone noted for their special achievements or their bold exploits. Could
Stalin have been seen as a hero because of his Five Year Plans?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 2
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 3
Extract from an article detailing ways that Stalin tried to get more work from Russians,
1938
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/22293, from 'Labor and Management in the USSR', Vera Micheles
Dean, 'Foreign Policy Reports', Foreign Policy Association, New York, 15 June 1938)
3a
3b
Questions
1. According to this article, what methods did Stalin use to increase the reliability of his work
force?
2. What methods were used to encourage workers to work harder?
3. For what reasons were people such as Stakhanov willing to work so hard?
4. Would any of these incentives have made you work harder?
5. What might the average worker have thought of the Stakhanovites in March 1936?
6. Do you think workers in the USSR in 1937 were treated in line with the ideals of the 1917
revolution?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 3a
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 3b
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 4
Soviet propaganda poster published in 1931
(© TopFoto)
Questions
1. What types of work are women shown doing?
2. What devices does this poster use to encourage women to go to work outside the home?
Consider the pictures, the colours and the text.
3. Why has the artist included pictures of young children being cared for?
4. Propaganda is about spreading information to promote a particular viewpoint or cause.
What viewpoint or cause was being promoted here?
5. Why did the Soviet Union need women to work outside the home?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 4
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 5
Grigori Tokaty, a former Russian soldier speaking in 1972, recalls Stalin's brutal policies
in the 1930s
(Imperial War Museum, 2810 reel 1)
Questions
1. What is Tokaty's view about the collectivisation and liquidation of the Kulaks?
2. According to Tokaty, what damage did these policies do to the USSR?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages for a historian of using this source as
evidence?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 5
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 6
British summary of Soviet labour discipline, December 1931
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/15592)
Questions
1. What steps were taken to tighten up discipline at work?
2. Can you think of any causes for discipline problems (such as making shoddy goods or
changing jobs without giving notice) in Soviet industry? (There is a clue in source 3.)
3. How was not being allowed to work in a state factory for six months a punishment? How
would punished workers have supported themselves?
4. Did the punishments fit the crimes?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 6
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 7
Part of a speech by VM Molotov, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
(leader of the government under Stalin), referring to forced labour, 1931
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/15589)
Questions
1. According to Molotov, why was forced labour being used?
2. What was Molotov's attitude to forced labour? Choose 4 quotes from his speech to support
your answer.
3. Why do you think Molotov gave this speech?
4. Why did Molotov say that forced labour was not used to produce goods for export?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages for a historian using this source as evidence?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Stalin & industrialisation > How?
Source 7
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