Socialist industrialization went down in the history of the country as a process of creating modern industry in it and forming a technologically equipped society. With the exception of the war years and the post-war period of economic recovery, it covers the period from the late twenties to the early sixties, but its main burden fell on the first five-year plans.
The need for industrial modernization
The purpose of industrialization was to overcome the lag caused by the inability of the NEP to provide the necessary level of technical equipment for the national economy. While some progress was observed in areas such as light industry, trade, and services, it was not possible to develop heavy industry on the basis of private capital in those years. The reasons for industrialization included the need to create a military-industrial complex.
First Five Year Plan
To solve the tasks under the leadership of Stalin, a five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1928-1932) was developed, adopted in April 1929 at a meeting of the next party conference. The tasks assigned to employees of all sectors, for the most part, exceeded the real capabilities of the performers. However, this document had the force of an order given in wartime, and was not subject to discussion.
According to the first five-year plan, it was supposed to increase industrial production by 185%, and in heavy engineering to achieve production growth of 225%. To ensure these indicators, it was planned to increase labor productivity by 115%. The successful implementation of the plan, according to the developers, was supposed to lead to an increase in the average wage in the manufacturing sector by 70%, and the income of agricultural workers to increase by 68%. In order to supply the state with sufficient foodstuffs, the plan provided for the involvement of almost 20% of peasants in collective farms.
Industrial chaos generated by storming
Already during the implementation of the plans, the construction time for the majority of large industrial enterprises was significantly reduced, and the volume of deliveries of agricultural products increased. This was done without any technical justification. The calculation was mainly based on general enthusiasm, fueled by a large-scale propaganda campaign. One of the slogans of those years was a call to fulfill the five-year plan in four years.
The features of the industrialization of those years were in forced industrial construction. It is known that with a reduction in the terms of the five-year plan, the planned targets almost doubled, the annual production growth reached 30%. Accordingly, collectivization plans were also increased. Such a storming inevitably created chaos in which some industries did not keep pace with others, sometimes adjacent to them. This ruled out any possibility of the systematic development of the economy.
Five Years Outcome
During the period of 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 intended volumes. This especially affected the extraction of energy resources, as well as the production of steel and cast iron. But, nevertheless, significant success was achieved in the creation of the military-industrial complex and all the infrastructure accompanying it.
The second stage of industrialization
In 1934, the plan of the second five-year plan was adopted. The goal of the country's industrialization during this period was to establish the work of enterprises built over the previous five years, as well as to eliminate everywhere the results of the chaos that arose in industry due to the establishment of technically unreasonable high rates of development.
In drawing up the plan, the shortcomings of past years were largely taken into account. Financing of production was provided in a larger volume, and considerable attention was paid to the problems associated with secondary technical and higher education. Their solution was necessary to provide the national economy with a sufficient number of qualified specialists.
Advocacy campaigns during the five-year period
Already in these years, the results of the country's industrialization were not slow to affect. In cities, and partly in rural areas, supply has noticeably improved. To a greater extent, the population 's demand for consumer goods was satisfied . The scale of these successes was greatly inflated by the ongoing large-scale campaign in the country, attributing all the merits exclusively to the Communist Party and its leader Stalin.
Despite the fact that over the years of industrialization, the widespread introduction of advanced technology was carried out, manual labor still prevailed in many areas of production, and propaganda methods were used where technological growth could not be achieved by technological means. An example of this is the famous Stakhanov movement unfolded in those years . The race for record workings led to the fact that individual drummers, for the exploits of which the whole enterprise was preparing, received awards and bonuses, while the rest only increased the norms, while urging them to be equated with advanced workers.
The results of the first five-year plans
In 1937, Stalin announced that the goal of industrialization had basically been achieved, and that socialism was built. Numerous disruptions in production were explained solely by the machinations of the enemies of the people, against which cruel terror was established. When the second five-year period ended a year later, the most important results were evidence of an increase in pig iron production by two and a half times, steel - by three times, and cars - by eight.
If in the twenties the country was purely agrarian, then at the end of the second five-year plan it became industrial-agrarian. Between these two stages are the years of truly titanic work 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 this time, most of the country's population lived in cities and was engaged in industrial production.
Over the years of industrialization, new industries have emerged, such as the automotive, aircraft, chemical and electrical industries. But the most important thing was that the state learned to independently produce everything necessary for its needs. If before the equipment for the production of a product was imported from abroad, now the need for it was provided by its own industry.