Is it possible to industrialize the world's most significant agricultural country in a few years? Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the leader of the Soviet Union, set forth this task in 1928—and succeeded. The Soviet Union (USSR) was born in 1922 out of the Russian Revolution (1917) and dissolved in 1991.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenIs it possible to industrialize the world's most significant agricultural country in a few years? Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the leader of the Soviet Union, set forth this task in 1928—and succeeded. The Soviet Union (USSR) was born in 1922 out of the Russian Revolution (1917) and dissolved in 1991.
The USSR subscribed to socialist economics roughly based on Marxism. The country underwent several economic phases, including the New Economic Policy (1921-1928) and the Five-Year Plans (1928-1990). After 1928, the Soviet Union featured a state-controlled, centralized economy (command economy) based on heavy industries and collective farming.
The Russian Empire, ruled by the tsars, was a largely agrarian society with 70-80% of the population involved in farming. However, there were pockets of industrial production throughout late imperial Russia, including:
After the Revolution of 1917, the Soviet economic system sought to break with the Tsarist past. the revolutionaries, led by Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), used the works of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and adapted his theories to their country's conditions.
Marx believed that the capitalist economic system led to the exploitation of the working class by capital (big business) because capital owns the means of production. His analysis of the relationship between big business, the bourgeoisie (middle class), and the working class is one of the key aspects of his thought.
Marx also predicted the emergence of a classless society—after a social revolution—under Communism.
The most significant problem with Marx's forecast was that he was vague about how this revolution would take place. Contrary to his vision:
The Russian Revolution (1917) was successful because of several factors, including:
The Bolsheviks' simple message of bread, peace, and land resonated with the Russian people. The Revolution spilled over into a Civil War (1917-1921).
During the Civil War, the revolutionary Red Army fought against the White Army, supporting the imperial government. At this turbulent time, the economic system was that of war communism:
Wartime conditions resulted in a significant drop in industrial production and inflation, making life difficult for ordinary people.
The Soviet Union had different economic types during its existence.
Dates | Economy Type |
1917-1921 | War Communism
|
1921-1928 | New Economic Policy
|
1928-1991 | Centralized Economy (Command Economy)
|
The New Economic Policy (1921-1928), NEP, was a mix of socialism and capitalism. Vladimir Lenin introduced this policy after several years of wartime hardship as a compromise.
The new Soviet state nationalized key industries but allowed for private ownership in other areas of the economy, including agriculture, the service industry, and retail. The Soviet government sought to attract foreign capital through concessions—enterprises that used foreign investment. The government also carried out a monetary reform to make the Russian ruble a convertible currency.
The Five-Year Plans were a series of Soviet economic plans starting in 1928 by the next leader, Joseph Stalin. These plans were based on output quotas. The workers were even encouraged to complete the plans in four years. The authorities also encouraged overachievement on a personal level.
Stakhanovites, named after the miner Alexey Stakhanov, who surpassed their quotas, were rewarded and publicly lauded.
Industrialization involved constructing hundreds of factories, such as the Uralmash, power plants, railways, and expanding cities focused on heavy industries like mining (e.g. Magnitogorsk). The Moscow metro was also built at this time.
Between 1928 and 1937, the Soviet government also carried out a mass collectivization initiative to organize individual private farms into large, collective farms operated by the state. The purpose of collectivization was to enhance productivity through mechanized production and to divert resources into the heavy industrial sector. Some farmers, particularly the well-off ones, opposed collectivization. As a result, the state was forced to slow down this process to avoid civil unrest.
When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, the latter already had heavy industries, natural reserves, and human power at its disposal. Historians argue that the USSR would not have been able to withstand the Nazi onslaught had it not been for its rapid industrialization.
In 1942, the USSR reoriented its economy toward wartime production. Overall, during the Second World War, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of fighting Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front and was responsible for approximately 80% of Nazi German losses. The country, however, was devastated, with entire cities, such as Stalingrad, destroyed and 27 million dead.
After 1945, because of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was excluded from the Marshall Plan (1948-1952)
—a U.S.-led campaign to help postwar Western European recovery that provided loans and other incentives.
The Cold War was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1991.
The Soviet Union launched its counterpart, the Molotov Plan, which sought economic recovery in Eastern Europe. The USSR also converted its economy to peacetime conditions. The government persisted with the Five-Year plans focused on heavy industry and military output in light of the Cold War.
The USSR successfully developed science, technology, and space research and exploration:
In the 1970s, the Soviet Union continued developing heavy industry and building new factories in several cities, pursuing nuclear power, electronics, and the agro-industrial sectors of its economy. The country also consolidated its energy system and focused on oil and gas production. The economic system was still centrally controlled. As a result, certain aspects of effectively managing the economy of the largest country in the world gradually became outdated. Falling oil prices also negatively affected the country in its late period.
In the mid-1980s, the Soviet government attempted to reform its economic and political system in Perestroika's initiative through partial decentralization and improved resource allocation. However, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed for several complex economic and political reasons, ranging from the poor leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev to regional nationalism.
The Soviet Union had a centralized economy controlled by the government starting from the late 1920s. Some referred to it as a "command economy." This type of economic control meant that the government made important decisions about the direction of each industry and planned ahead (Five-Year Plans).
In the 1920s, the Soviet Union had a mixed economy. For example, some key industries were under state control. Others were owned privately. After 1928, the Soviet Union transitioned to a centralized form of control, which some called a command economy. This transition allowed the government to control the country's key industries and economic direction at large. The government also set plans, called Five-Year Plans.
The Soviet Union's economy had many successes. The country was able to transform from a primarily agrarian model to an industrial powerhouse in just over a decade from the late 1920s until World War II. Soviet developments in science and technology also allowed the country to compete in the space race launching the first satellite and first human into space. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet economy stagnated and had difficulties diversifying its focus from heavy industries to the information age.
In the early days, the Soviet Union had a mixed economy of government and private business ownership in a primarily agricultural country. However, after 1928, the Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialization, as the government took overall control of the economy and transformed the country from its agrarian roots. In the 1930s, the country also underwent collectivization of farming, in which the government took over the agrarian sector. After World War II, the Soviet state focused on developments in science and technology: from developing nuclear weapons to having many successes in the space race. Later on, when the Soviet economy stagnated in the 1970s and 1980s, the government tried to implement reforms in a number of ways. For example, the Soviet Union attempted to implement a better allocation and use of resources as well as investments in specific industries.
The Soviet Union lost approximately 27 million people in World War II. The country felt the demographic results of this massive loss for decades to come. Economically, the country transitioned from a wartime to a peacetime economy. It was able to secure credits from some western countries like the UK, but the U.S. excluded the Soviet Union from the Marshall Plan. As a result, the Soviet Union could use additional resources from its sphere of influence in Eastern and Central Europe and provide help as part of the Molotov Plan (the Marshall Plan counterpart). At this time, the Soviet Union continued to focus on heavy industries and developed its science and technology sector. Overall, its economic recovery was successful—more so than when it was attacked by Nazi Germany in 1941.
Which German thinker served as the main ideological source for the Russian Revolution?
Karl Marx
When was the New Economic Policy introduced?
1921
What was the purpose of the First Five-Year Plan?
To industrialize the Soviet Union
Which foreign companies aided Soviet industrialization?
GE and Ford Motors
What achievements did the USSR have in the realm of space exploration?
The USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, and the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space in 1961.
What type of economy did the Soviet Union have in its heyday?
A command economy
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