The goal of industrialization of the USSR. Years of industrialization, its course, results

Socialist industrialization entered the history of the country as a process of creating modern industry in it and the formation of a technically equipped society. With the exception of the war years and the period of post-war economic reconstruction, it covers a period of time from the end of the twenties to the early sixties, but its main burden fell on the first five-year plan.

The need for industrial modernization

The goal of industrialization was to overcome the backlog caused by NEP's inability to provide the necessary level of technical equipment for the national economy. If there was a certain progress in such areas as light industry, trade and services, then it was not possible to develop heavy industry based on private capital. The reasons for industrialization included the need to create a military-industrial complex.

The plan for the First Five

To solve these tasks, under Stalin's guidance, a five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1928-1932) was adopted, adopted in April 1929 at a meeting of the next party conference. The tasks assigned to employees of all industries, in most cases, exceeded the real capabilities of the performers. However, this document had the force of an order given in time of war, and was not subject to discussion.

According to the first five-year plan, it was planned to increase the output of industrial products by 185%, and in the heavy machine industry to achieve production growth by 225%. To ensure these indicators, it was planned to achieve an increase in labor productivity by 115%. Successful implementation of the plan, according to the developers, should lead to an increase in average wages in the manufacturing sector by 70%, and the incomes of agricultural workers increase by 68%. In order to supply the state with sufficient food, the plan foresaw the involvement of almost 20% of peasants in collective farms.

Industrial chaos, generated by storming

Already during the implementation of the planned plans, the time frame for the construction of the majority of large industrial enterprises was significantly reduced, and the volumes of agricultural production were increased. This was done without any technical justification. The calculation was mainly based on universal enthusiasm, fueled by a large-scale propaganda campaign. One of the slogans of those years was the call to fulfill the five-year plan in four years.

Features of industrialization of those years consisted in forced industrial construction. It is known that when the terms of the five-year plan were shortened, the planned tasks almost doubled, and the annual increase in production reached 30%. Accordingly, the plans for collectivization were also increased. Such a storming inevitably gave rise to chaos, in which some branches did not keep up with others, sometimes adjacent to them. This precluded any possibility of systematic development of the economy.

The result of the five-year path

During the first five-year plan, the goal of industrialization in full was not achieved. In many industries, real indicators in many respects did not reach the target volumes. This particularly affected the extraction of energy resources, as well as the production of steel and cast iron. But, nevertheless, significant progress was made in the creation of the military-industrial complex and all the accompanying infrastructure.

The second stage of industrialization

In 1934, the plan of the Second Five-Year Plan was adopted. The purpose of industrialization of the country in this period was to establish the work of enterprises built during the previous five years, as well as to eliminate the results of chaos that has arisen in industry due to the establishment of technically unjustified high rates of development.

When drawing up the plan, the shortcomings of past years were largely taken into account. In a larger volume, the financing of production was envisaged, and considerable attention was paid to the problems associated with secondary and higher education. Their decision was necessary to provide the national economy with a sufficient number of qualified specialists.

Propaganda campaigns during the five-year plans

Already in these years, the results of industrialization of the country were not slow to affect. In the cities, and partly in the rural areas, the supply has improved noticeably. The population's need for consumer goods was more satisfied . The scale of these successes was greatly inflated by the large-scale agitation campaign conducted in the country, attributing all the services to the exclusively Communist Party and its leader Stalin.

Despite the fact that throughout the years of industrialization, the introduction of advanced technology was widespread, in many areas of production manual labor was still prevalent, and where propaganda methods could not be achieved technologically. An example of this can serve as the famous Stakhanovite movement, developed in those years . The race for record workings led to the fact that individual drummers, to whose feats the entire enterprise was preparing, received awards and bonuses, and the rest only increased the standards, calling at the same time to be equal to the foremost.

Results of the first five-year plans

In 1937, Stalin announced that the goal of industrialization was basically achieved, and socialism was built. Numerous failures in production were explained solely by the intrigues of the enemies of the people, against whom the most severe terror was established. When the second five-year plan was completed in a year, then, as its most important results, there were testimonies on the increase in the production of pig iron in two and a half times, steel - three times, and cars - at eight.

If in the 1920s the country was purely agrarian, then at the end of the Second Five-Year Plan it became an industrial-agrarian one. Between these two stages lie the years of truly titanic labor of the whole people. In the post-war period, the USSR became a powerful industrial power. It is generally accepted that socialist industrialization was completed by the beginning of the sixties. At that time, most of the country's population lived in cities and was engaged in industrial production.

During the years of industrialization, new industries have emerged, such as automotive, aircraft building, chemical and electrical industries. But the most important thing was that the state had learned to produce everything it needed for its own needs. If before the equipment for production of a particular product was imported from abroad, now the need for it was provided by its own industry.