After the civil war, the Russian economy, in the modern "Obama" language, "was torn to shreds." Truly torn and broken. And the NEP only somewhat stabilized the problem of providing the country's population with food and consumer goods, but it caused a sharp increase in class contradictions in the countryside due to the growth in the number of kulaks and aggravated the class struggle in the countryside to open kulak uprisings.

Therefore, the VKP(b) party took a course towards the development of the country's industrial production in order to obtain an opportunity for independent solution of the national economic problems facing Russia, which had been destroyed by many years of war. And a fast decision. That is, the party headed for the industrialization of the country.

Stalin said:

“We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it or we will be crushed. This is what our obligations to the workers and peasants of the USSR dictate to us.

Industrialization is the socio-economic policy of the Bolshevik Party in the USSR, from 1927 to the end of the 30s, the main goals of which were the following:

1. Elimination of the technical and economic backwardness of the country;

2. Achievement of economic independence;

3. Creation of a powerful defense industry;
4. The priority development of a complex of basic industries: defense, fuel, energy, metallurgical, machine-building.

What ways of industrialization existed by that time and which ones were chosen by the Bolsheviks?

From Stalin's statements about industrialization:

1.“Knows the various ways of industrialization.

England industrialized due to the fact that she plundered colonies for tens and hundreds of years, collected "additional" capital there, invested them in her industry and accelerated the pace of her industrialization. This is one way of industrialization.

Germany accelerated her industrialization as a result of the victorious war with France in the 70s of the last century, when she, having taken five billion francs of indemnity from the French, poured them into her industry. This is the second way of industrialization.

Both of these methods are closed to us, because we are a country of Soviets, because colonial robberies and military seizures for the purpose of robbery are incompatible with the nature of Soviet power.

Russia, old Russia, rented out extortionate concessions and received extortionate loans, trying in this way to gradually get out onto the path of industrialization. This is the third way. But this is the path of bondage or semi-bondage, the path of turning Russia into a semi-colony. This path is also closed to us, because we did not wage a three-year civil war, repelling all and sundry interventionists, so that later, after the victory over the interventionists, we would voluntarily go into bondage to the imperialists.

There remains the fourth path of industrialization, the path of own savings for the cause of industry, the path of socialist accumulation, which Comrade repeatedly pointed out. Lenin, as the only way to industrialize our country.

(“On the economic situation and policy of the party”, vol. 8, p. 123.)

2. “What does it mean to industrialize our country? This means turning an agrarian country into an industrial country. This means setting up and developing our industry on a new technical basis.

Nowhere else in the world has it happened that a vast backward agrarian country has turned into an industrial country without plundering the colonies, without plundering foreign countries, or without large loans and long-term loans from the outside. Remember the history of the industrial development of England, Germany, America, and you will understand that this is exactly the case. Even America, the most powerful of all capitalist countries, was forced to spend as much as 30-40 years after the civil war in order to establish its industry at the expense of loans and long-term credits from outside and to rob the states and islands adjacent to it.

Can we take this “tested” path? No, we cannot, because the nature of Soviet power does not tolerate colonial robberies, and there is no reason to rely on large loans and long-term credits.

Old Russia, tsarist Russia, went to industrialization in a different way - through the conclusion of extortionate loans and the return of extortionate concessions to the main branches of our industry. You know that almost the entire Donbass, more than half of St. Petersburg industry, Baku oil and whole line railways, not to mention the electrical industry, were in the hands of foreign capitalists. It was the path of industrialization at the expense of the peoples of the USSR and against the interests of the working class. It is clear that we cannot take this path: we did not fight the yoke of capitalism for this, we did not overthrow capitalism in order to voluntarily go under the yoke of capitalism.

Only one path remains, the path of our own savings, the path of economy, the path of prudent management of the economy in order to accumulate the necessary funds for the industrialization of our country. There are no words, this task is difficult. But, despite the difficulties, we are already resolving it. Yes, comrades, four years after the civil war we are already resolving this problem.

(“Speech at a meeting of workers of the Stalinist railway workshops of the October Road”, v.9 p.172.)

3. “There are a number of accumulation channels, of which at least the main ones should be noted.

Firstly. It is necessary that the surplus accumulation in the country should not be dissipated, but collected in our credit institutions, co-operative and state, as well as in the form of internal loans, with a view to using them for the needs, first of all, of industry. It is clear that investors should receive a certain percentage for this. It cannot be said that in this area things were in any way satisfactory with us. But the task of improving our credit network, the task of raising the prestige of credit institutions in the eyes of the population, the task of organizing the business of internal loans is undoubtedly before us as the next task, and we must resolve it at all costs.

Secondly. It is necessary to carefully close all those paths and cracks through which part of the surplus accumulation in the country flows into the pockets of private capital to the detriment of socialist accumulation. To do this, it is necessary to conduct such a price policy that would not create a gap between wholesale prices and retail prices. All measures must be taken to reduce retail prices on industrial and agricultural products in order to stop or at least minimize the leakage of surplus accumulation into the pockets of the private owner. This is one of the most important issues of our economic policy. From here comes one of the serious dangers both for our accumulation and for the chervonets.

Third. It is necessary that certain reserves be set aside within industry itself, in each of its branches, for depreciation of enterprises, for their expansion, for their further development. This is a necessary, absolutely necessary thing; it must be moved forward at all costs.

Fourth. It is necessary that certain reserves be accumulated in the hands of the state, necessary to insure the country against all sorts of accidents (lack of crops), to feed industry, to maintain agriculture, to develop culture, etc. It is now impossible to live and work without reserves. Even the peasant, with his small farm, cannot now do without certain supplies. Moreover, the state of a great country cannot do without reserves.

(“On the economic situation and policy of the party”, vol. 8, p. 126.)

Means for industrialization:
Where did the Bolsheviks get money for industrialization?

1. Funds were withdrawn from agriculture and light industry;

2. Funds came from the sale of raw materials (Oil, gold, timber, grain, etc.);

3. Some treasures of museums and churches were sold;

4. The private sector was taxed up to the complete confiscation of property.
5. By reducing the standard of living of the population, due to rising prices, the introduction of a distribution card system, individual government loans, etc.

6. Through the enthusiasm of the working people who are building a new world for themselves without the exploitation of man by man.

7. Through the most powerful propaganda and agitation of new forms and new, collectivist methods of organizing labor.

8. By organizing an advanced Stakhanovist movement both in industrial production and in agriculture.

9. By introducing state awards for labor achievements.

10.By developing the system of free social benefits and state guarantees for working people: free education and free medicine for all groups of the population, free nurseries, kindergartens, pioneer camps, sanatoriums, and so on and so forth.
And again Stalin's words about the foundations of industrialization in the USSR:

“So, is the industrialization of our country possible on the basis of socialist accumulation?

Do we have sources of such accumulation sufficient to ensure industrialization?

Yes, it is possible. Yes, we have such sources.

I could refer to such a fact as the expropriation of landowners and capitalists in our country as a result of the October Revolution, the destruction private property to land, factories, plants, etc., and their transfer to public ownership. It scarcely needs to be proved that this fact is a fairly solid source of accumulation.

I could refer, further, to such a fact as the annulment of tsarist debts, which removed billions of rubles of debt from the shoulders of our national economy. It must not be forgotten that in leaving these debts we had to pay annually several hundred millions of interest alone, to the detriment of industry, to the detriment of our entire national economy. Needless to say, this circumstance has brought great relief to our accumulation.

I could point to our nationalized industry, which has been restored, which is developing, and which is producing some of the profits necessary for the further development of industry. It is also a source of accumulation.

I could point to our nationalized foreign trade, which yields some profit and therefore constitutes a certain source of accumulation.

One could refer to our more or less organized state internal trade, which also yields a certain profit and thus represents a certain source of accumulation.

One could point to such a lever of accumulation as our nationalized banking system which yields a certain profit and nourishes our industry to the best of our ability.

Finally, we have such as state power, which disposes state budget and which collects a small fraction of money for the further development of the national economy in general, our industry in particular.

These are basically the main sources of our internal accumulation.

They are interesting in the sense that they give us the opportunity to create those necessary reserves, without which the industrialization of our country is impossible.

(“On the economic situation and policy of the party” vol. 8 p. 124.)

For, according to Stalin, the rapid rate of development of industry in general and the production of means of production in particular is the fundamental principle and key to the industrial development of the country, the fundamental principle and key to the transformation of our entire national economy on the basis of advanced socialist development.

At the same time, we cannot and must not curtail heavy industry for the sake of the all-round development of light industry. And light industry cannot be developed to a sufficient degree without the accelerated development of heavy industry.

("XV Congress of the CPSU (b)" vol. 10 p. 310.)

The result of industrialization was:

1. Creation of a powerful industry in the country;
From 1927 to 1937 over 7,000 large industrial enterprises were built in the USSR;
2. The USSR took the 2nd place in the world in terms of industrial production after the USA.

3. The USSR created its own powerful defense industry, new for Russia.

4. In the USSR, on the basis of powerful industrial production, branch science also began to develop powerfully, determining the technical level of technologies being developed and used in industrial production.

5. The USSR became the birthplace of technical cosmonautics, creating a new, global industry production, space, significantly ahead of the United States in this direction.

The results of the industrialization of the USSR were stunning not only for the inhabitants of the USSR, but for the whole world. After all, the former tsarist Russia in an unusually short time became a powerful, industrially and scientifically developed country, a power of world significance.

As you can see, Stalin turned out to be right in making Russia out of completely collapsed Russia, out of Russia plows and bast shoes, an advanced industrial power with the shortest working day in the world, the best free education in the world, advanced science, free medicine, national culture and the most powerful social guarantee of the rights of the country's workers

However, in today's Russia, everything is not done the way Stalin did in the USSR, and we have a Russia with a barely glimmering industrial production, completely ruined agriculture, a dead science, a poor, barely making ends meet population, but with countless numbers of its own billionaires.

So who was right in choosing the path of Russia's development, the Bolsheviks or the current democrats? In my opinion, the Bolsheviks! After all, not a single word of Stalin about the industrialization of Russia has not yet become outdated.

Industrialization in a broad sense is understood as the process of transition of all branches of the national economy of the country, and primarily in industry, to large-scale machine production. In a narrow sense, the Soviet industrialization of the 30s of the XX century is an accelerated build-up of energy-resource and factory capacities of the USSR economy, in order to overcome the catastrophic lag behind the industrialized West.

Socialist industrialization is usually associated with the implementation of the first five-year plans for the development of the social and economic potential of the Soviet Union. The process of industrialization in the USSR still causes conflicting assessments among specialists in history, economics and political science in terms of goal-setting, methods, means and results of an outstanding phenomenon of the 20th century.

In order to form your own idea of ​​the process, it is necessary to consider the initial data, the content, and the real results of Soviet industrialization.

Despite the embellishment of the achievements of the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire, the industrial potential did not fully meet many needs and was mainly controlled by foreign investors. The First World War and the Civil War partially destroyed even what was there. At the time of the formation of the USSR in 1922, the country's economy was a ruin and could not ensure the country's defense capability in a hostile environment.

Necessity socialist industrialization economy of the USSR was finally realized by the ruling elite at the XIV Congress of the CPSU (b). The party forum was called the "industrialization congress" because it set a course for the complete achievement of the economic independence of the USSR. Despite the fact that in the resolutions the problem of industrialization was considered only in general terms, the decisions of the congress were of exceptional importance. The course towards industrialization provided for super-accelerated rates of development of Soviet industry in the course of implementing plans first three five-year plans (1928-1932 and 1933-1937. The third, 1938-1942, was interrupted by the war).

Reasons for industrialization

After by the mid-1920s the USSR reached the economic indicators 1913, the prerequisites for overcoming were identified:

1. The backwardness of the country in the technical and economic field.
2. Technological and structural dependence domestic economy from the West, which significantly weakened the defense capability of the Soviet state.
3. Underdevelopment of the agricultural sector of the economy.

The prerequisites developed into the main reason for industrialization - the Soviet Union had to turn from a country importing equipment and machinery into a country producing means of production.

Goals of industrialization

The historical situation around the USSR determined the targets of the industrialization process:

1. The Soviet Union had to follow the path of sustainable scientific and technological development and technological breakthrough.
2. Creation of a full-fledged defense potential that provided all the military needs to protect the country's borders.
3. Development of new capacities in heavy industry and metallurgy.
4. Full economic independence from other (more developed states).
5. Improvement of the standard of living of the Soviet people.
6. Demonstration to the capitalist world of the advantages of socialism.

The achievement of the set goals was to ensure the USSR's exit from the state of glaring poverty to the transition to a phase of growth and all-round prosperity.

conditions for industrialization

The problems in the national economy were so obvious that they had to be tackled immediately, despite the not very favorable conditions:

1. Economic development was hampered by the devastating effects of the Civil War.
2. Acute shortage of qualified personnel.
3. Domestic production of means of production has not been established, the needs of the economy in machinery and equipment are met through imports.
4. Weakening, and in some moments the complete absence of international economic ties.

Such conditions for industrialization were extremely unfavorable and required decisive measures from the Soviet government.

Sources of funds for industrialization

The process of radical transformation of the country's economy required enormous costs. The sources of financing and implementation of a set of industrialization measures were:

• The transfer of funds from light industry to the development of heavy industry;
• transfer of material resources for the development of the agricultural sector to the industrial one;
• systematic internal loans from the working population;
• monetization of the labor enthusiasm of the people (socialist competition, mass overfulfillment of the plan, the Stakhanovist movement, etc.);
• income from international trade;
• almost gratuitous workforce of the Gulag.

The West constantly changed its demands for payment for its supplies of machinery and technology, which sometimes led to catastrophic imbalances (the famine of the early 1930s).

Industrialization Methods

The industrialization initiated by the state power was supported by the unprecedented enthusiasm of the masses. The command-administrative method of implementing all projects of economic reforms in the USSR dominated. Measures of accelerated industrialization were carried out at an accelerated pace and with serious shortcomings. But this is the case when "quantity grows into quality."

Progress of industrialization

First Five-Year Plan (1928 - 1932)

As a result of activities to implement the first five year plan was:

1. More than 1500 industrial enterprises have been built.
2. The country's national income has been doubled.
3. The construction of Dneproges, the largest power plant in the world at that time, was completed.
4. Metallurgical production was put into operation in Lipetsk, Sverdlovsk (Uralmash), Chelyabinsk, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk and Magnitogorsk.
5. The production of tractors began in Stalingrad, Kharkov, Chelyabinsk and Nizhny Tagil.
6. Mass automobile production has begun at the GAZ and ZIS plants.
7. Construction of the White Sea Canal.
8. The construction of the Turksib (Turkestan-Siberian Railway) was completed.
9. There was a creation of a new industrial region - Kuzbass.
10. The introduction of a 7-hour working day with the complete elimination of unemployment.
11. Achieved 2nd place in the world in mechanical engineering, iron smelting and oil production, 3rd place in the production of electricity.

Second Five-Year Plan (1933 - 1937)

• More than 4,500 large industrial facilities;
• The construction of the White Sea Canal has been completed;
• the large-scale construction of the Moscow Metro began (the first metro line was introduced in 1935);
• mass construction of military factories;
• comprehensive development of Soviet aviation.

Third Five-Year Plan (1938 - 1942)

1. more than 3 thousand industrial enterprises were put into operation.
2. The Uglichskaya and Komsomolskaya HPPs have been launched.
3. Novotagilsky and Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky metallurgical plants were built.
4. The products were produced by the Balkhash and Sredneuralsk copper smelters.
5. An oil refinery in Ufa was put into operation.

What did the five-year plans give the country their significance for industrialization

With certain shortcomings, the successes of the first five-year plans are impressive.

First, the USSR became an industrial country as a whole.

Secondly, on the eve of the war, according to various estimates, in the structure of the revenue side of the budget, revenues from industry ranged from 50 to 70%.

Thirdly, the growth of industry was 2.5 times higher than in 1913.

Fourthly, the USSR took 2nd place in the world in terms of industrial volumes. Fifthly, the Soviet Union achieved complete state and military-economic independence.

Industrialization gave everything without which it is impossible to win a large-scale war.

Results of industrialization: positive and negative

Positive results	Negative results
9,000 new industrial facilities have been put into operation.	The people suffered hardships due to the deterioration of the work of light industry and the compulsion to borrow their funds from the state.
Creation of new industrial branches: tractor, automobile, aviation, chemical and machine-tool building.	Excesses with collectivization and the impoverishment of the countryside.
Gross industrial volumes increased by 6.5 times.	Difficult working conditions for workers and especially prisoners.
The USSR took 1st place in Europe and 2nd place in the world in terms of industrial volumes.	Completion of the formation of a command-administrative and planned economy
The USSR could independently produce all types of industrial products.	Creation of the Soviet industry as the basis of a totalitarian state.
The country has become urbanized, the urban population has grown to 40%.	Excessive volumes of grain export abroad, natural resources and even cultural values.
A powerful layer of domestic engineering and technical intelligentsia was created.	The growth of bureaucracy (the number of people's commissariats and departments has increased significantly).
Unemployment is completely gone.	Administrative arbitrariness.

Industrialization of the USSR - tough but timely transformations

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union was in real danger of losing sovereignty. Only thanks to the tough and purposeful policy of the highest authorities, the enthusiasm and the greatest exertion of the forces of the Soviet working people, was it possible to make a powerful industrial breakthrough. The USSR became an independent economic and technical power, capable of providing itself with everything necessary for the reliable defense of its borders.

Synopsis on the history of Russia

1). Definition: industrialization is the process of creating large-scale machine production in all sectors of the economy and, first of all, in industry.

2). Background of industrialization. In 1928, the country completed the recovery period, reached the level of 1913, but the Western countries have gone far ahead during this time. As a result, the USSR lagged behind. Techno-economic backwardness could become chronic and turn into historical.

3). The need for industrialization. Economic - large-scale industry, and first of all group A (production of means of production), determines the economic development of the country as a whole, and the development of agriculture, in particular. Social - without industrialization, it is impossible to develop the economy, and, consequently, the social sphere: education, healthcare, recreation, social security. Military-political - without industrialization it is impossible to ensure the technical and economic independence of the country and its defense power.

4). industrialization conditions: the consequences of the devastation have not been fully eliminated, international economic relations have not been established, there is not enough experienced personnel, the need for machines is met through imports.

5). Goals, methods, sources and timing of industrialization. Objectives: the transformation of Russia from an agrarian-industrial country into an industrial power, ensuring technical and economic independence, strengthening defense power and raising the welfare of the people, demonstrating the advantages of socialism. Sources: internal loans, siphoning funds from the countryside, income from foreign trade, cheap labor, the enthusiasm of workers, the labor of prisoners. Methods: The state initiative is supported by enthusiasm from below. Command-administrative methods dominate. Terms and rates: Short terms of industrialization and shock rates of its implementation. The growth of the industry was planned - 20% per year.

6). Beginning of industrialization. December 1925 - The 14th Party Congress emphasized the absolute possibility of the victory of socialism in one country and set a course for industrialization. In 1925, the restoration period ended and the period of reconstruction of the national economy began. 1926 - the beginning of the practical implementation of industrialization. About 1 billion rubles have been invested in industry. This is 2.5 times more than in 1925. In 1926-28. large-scale industry doubled, and gross industry reached 132% of the 1913 level.

7). Negative aspects of industrialization: commodity hunger, ration cards (1928-1935), decline wages, lack of highly qualified personnel, population migration and exacerbation housing problems, difficulties in setting up new production, massive accidents and breakdowns, as a result - the search for the perpetrators.

8). Pre-war five-year plans. During the years of the first five-year plan (1928/1929 - 1932/1933), adopted by the 5th Congress of Soviets in May 1929, the USSR turned from an agrarian-industrial country into an industrial-agrarian one. 1500 enterprises were built. Despite the fact that the first five-year plan turned out to be significantly underfulfilled in almost all indicators, the industry made a huge leap. New industries were created - automobile, tractor, etc. Industrial development achieved even greater success during the years of the second five-year plan (1933-1937). At that time, the construction of new plants and factories continued, and the urban population increased sharply. At the same time, it was great. specific gravity manual labor, light industry did not receive proper development, little attention was paid to the construction of housing and roads.

Main directions of economic activity: accelerated growth rates of group A, annual growth industrial products- 20%. The main task is the creation of a second coal and metallurgical base in the east, the creation of new industries, the struggle to master new technology, the development of an energy base, and the training of qualified specialists.

The main new buildings of the first five-year plans: Dneproges; Stalingrad, Kharkov and Chelyabinsk tractor plants; Krivoy Rog, Magnitogorsk and Kuznetsk metallurgical plants; automobile plants in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod; canals Moscow-Volga, Belomoro-Baltiysky, etc.

labor enthusiasm. The role and importance of moral factors were great. Since 1929 mass socialist competition has developed. Movement - "five-year plan in 4 years". Since 1935, the "Stakhanov movement" has become the main form of socialist competition.

9). The results and significance of industrialization.

Outcomes: 9 thousand large industrial enterprises equipped with the most advanced technology have been put into operation, new industries have been created: tractor, automobile, aviation, tank, chemical, machine-tool building. Gross industrial output increased 6.5 times, including group A - 10 times. In terms of industrial output, the USSR came out on top in Europe and second in the world. Industrial construction has spread to remote areas and national outskirts, the social structure has changed and demographic situation in the country (40% of the urban population). The number of workers and engineering and technical intelligentsia increased sharply. Funds for industrial development were taken by robbing the peasantry driven into collective farms, forced loans, expanding the sale of vodka, exporting grain, oil, and timber abroad. The exploitation of the working class, other sections of the population, prisoners of the Gulag has reached an unprecedented level. At the cost of enormous exertion of forces, sacrifices, predatory waste of natural resources, the country entered the industrial path of development.

Industrialization in the USSR is a large-scale mechanization of all branches of the country's production. It was carried out in the 20-30s of the last century. The policy of accelerated industrialization has transformed the face of our state and laid the foundation for its further development. economic development for several decades to come.

Industrialization in the USSR led to the development of modern industry, which allowed the Soviet Union to become one of the world leaders. We will try to figure out what were the features of socialist industrialization in the Soviet Union, what problems caused the need for its implementation, what were the methods of implementation economic reforms what are their causes and consequences.

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Prerequisites and the beginning of industrialization in the USSR

To understand why industrialization was hailed as a top priority, let's look at history.

The prerequisites for industrialization arose by the mid-20s of the 20th century, when the young Soviet state recovered from the consequences of the First World War and the Civil War. The development of industrial production, agriculture and trade under the conditions of the New Economic Policy (NEP) announced by the Bolsheviks brought the USSR to the level of the pre-war 1913.

But during the upheavals, the Soviet Union lagged far behind the West. One of the reasons for the accelerated industrialization in the USSR was the need to reduce this gap. Despite our complicated relationship with the rest of the world, we were largely dependent on foreign countries. Most of the equipment, cars and much more were purchased abroad, since the industry of means of production was practically absent in our country.

The reasons for industrialization were to overcome these negative points. The peculiarities of industrialization in the USSR, which distinguished it from similar processes in other countries, were caused by the shortened terms for its implementation.

There was an urgent need for industrialization in the USSR, which would lead to the transformation of the country into a modern, economically developed power.

The active role of the state in industrialization provided for the solution of three main tasks:

1. Economic. The presence of heavy industry is the main guarantee of economic independence.
2. Social. A strong economy provides the social sphere with the necessary means.
3. military-political. Only an industrialized state has military power.

The development of Soviet industry during industrialization was hampered by the following factors:

• complex relations with other states;
• lack of specialists;
• lack of the necessary material and technical base.

Tasks of industrialization

Here are the goals set for industrialization in the Soviet Union:

1. overcoming the technical backwardness of the USSR from Western countries;
2. achieving economic and technological independence;
3. the emergence of heavy and military industries;
4. providing the village with modern agricultural machinery and further
5. collectivization (industrialization of agriculture);
6. the transformation of an agrarian state into one of the leading industrial superpowers;
7. ensuring a decent standard of living for the population of the USSR.

All these reasons and goals of industrialization have served as an impetus for immediate practical action.

What were the features of socialist industrialization in the USSR

The Soviet Union was not the only country on the planet that experienced industrialization, but it rapidly brought our country into the ranks of the world's industrial leaders. It was an unprecedented event of great significance. History has never seen anything like it.

Typical poster of that time

A feature of Soviet industrialization was that in no other country in the world had such a leap in economic development been observed before as during the period of industrialization in the USSR. The bottom line is that the European industrial production developed gradually and systematically, without sharp jerks, which characterized the Soviet industrialization. Its sources were income from the agro-industrial complex and light industry.

Talking about Soviet industrialization, one cannot ignore the negative aspects.

The plans of the leadership of the USSR did not include slow growth, the lag behind the leading countries of the West was too great. When the policy of industrialization in the USSR began, the country's source of funds for restructuring the economy of the USSR was the profit from the export of bread, works of art and natural resources abroad.

To understand what was main feature industrialization in the USSR, one should study the statistics of population changes in the country. And during the years of the first five-year plan, it has drastically declined. The most severe robbery of agrarian areas took place, which led to mass famine in the Volga region, the North Caucasus and Ukraine.

Industrialization in the USSR was largely paid for by the millions of lives of peasants who died of starvation. These are the results of industrialization in our country.

Even in the United States, the period of rapid industrialization of the country after the Civil War, which brought this country far ahead, cannot be compared with the industrial revolution during the period of industrialization in the USSR. Mark Twain called the era of American industrialization the "Gilded Age", implying its half-heartedness. The course towards industrialization was taken in this country after the victory of the industrialized North over the agrarian South. As a result of reforms, the United States has moved away from handicraft production, but has not yet come to a developed network of plants and factories.

The Soviet model of industrialization was fundamentally different from the models of other countries. It should also be understood what were the main sources of economic reforms in the USSR. Unlike the industrialization of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, the Stalinist industrialization of the country was carried out due to two factors:

1. the use of slave labor by convicts;
2. active use of foreign capital, the influx of which was provided by the sale of bread abroad.

These resources are the main sources and tools with which industrialization was carried out, which made it possible to successfully carry out the main technical re-equipment of the country. The industrialization in the USSR characterizes the predominant development of heavy industry.

In June 1930, the first tractor rolled off the assembly line of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant.

First five-year plan

The course towards industrialization was adopted at the 14th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in December 1925. There were identified the main directions of industrialization in the short term. The industrialization of the country was defined as the most important task, and at the 15th congress, held in 1927, a plan for the 1st five-year plan was presented in expanded form. The date of this congress was the starting point from which the industrialization of the Soviet state began.

Morning of the first five-year plan

The plan covered 1928-1933. NEP policy, which was characterized by individual elements market economy, has been rolled up. During these years, in the Soviet Union, the course was taken for forced industrialization, which is characterized by the use of command and control methods.

At the initiative of Stalin, the first five-year industrialization plan was carried out in a short time, in four years.

Campaigning was everywhere

The main task of the five-year plan was the development of heavy industry and energy. One of the reasons for the accelerated industrialization in the USSR was the need to move from the export of machine tools and machines to their own production. The task was carried out at any cost, even to the detriment of light industry.

This was done not only to gain economic independence. In the USSR, industrialization began at the moment when a major economic crisis, which resulted in a significant reduction in production in Western countries. This was the reason for the reduction in the supply of equipment to the USSR.

The main activities are the mass construction of industrial facilities. During the years of the first five-year plan, about 1,500 new enterprises were built, many of which are industrial giants.

What company then appeared? Here are some results of industrialization during the first five-year plan:

The Turkestan-Siberian Railway, industrial areas are significantly strengthened:

• Ural;
• Donbass;
• Kuzbass.

Pros and cons of industrialization in the USSR during the first five-year plan

The first five-year plan laid the foundations for the economic development of the USSR. She brought a lot of positive things to the life of the country. Here are some positives:

1. socialist competitions became widespread;
2. the inventive and rationalization initiative became popular;
3. construction of industrial facilities was launched in the country on an unprecedented scale;
4. although it was not possible to achieve one hundred percent fulfillment of plans, the development of heavy industry allowed the USSR to cease to depend on foreign supplies of machinery and equipment.

But the first five-year plan was also accompanied by negative factors and shortcomings:

1. significant migration of the population, rupture of ties;
2. exacerbation of problems with housing;
3. lack of food and the introduction of food cards;
4. disproportion in industry: light industry lags significantly behind heavy industry.

In 1930, it was decided to more actively use the labor of prisoners in hard work. After all, it has long been known that although slave labor is ineffective, it is free.

Use of labor of prisoners for heavy work

The main result of the first five-year plan was that the Soviet Union stopped importing equipment and began to produce it on its own.

Second five-year plan

If the main task of the first five-year plan was to refuse to purchase equipment abroad and maintain a course on own production, then the second five-year plan solved a whole range of tasks, the solution of which can be attributed to the results of industrialization in the USSR in pre-war period. More attention was paid to the balance of the national economy.

The five-year plan was held from 1933 to 1937. More attention was paid to improving financial situation workers. New methods of labor motivation were introduced, corresponding to the socialist slogan: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work." Piecework wages have become one of the levers for increasing labor productivity. Elements of cost accounting began to appear in the work of enterprises.

Although heavy industry developed most rapidly, light industry lagged behind heavy industry a little. This made it possible to start saturating the market with consumer goods. The results of industrialization in the USSR in the pre-war period include the fact that the rationing system for food and non-food products was eliminated.

Under the Stalinist slogan "Cadres decide everything," a purge of the leading cadres of organizations and enterprises begins. The "class-alien elements", many of which were "utilized", are being replaced by new leaders from the proletarian milieu. They received decent training and became real professionals.

Although the methods of industrialization were administrative-command, high level the enthusiasm of the workers made it possible to achieve excellent results.

In various areas of production, the Stakhanov movement begins, named after the name of the Donetsk miner Alexei Stakhanov. The country recognized his name, as well as the names of Nikita Izotov, Pasha Angelina, and Pyotr Krivonos. The popularity of these people was wider than today among the stars of show business. Their best practices served as an example for millions.

In August 1935, Donetsk miner Aleksey Stakhanov (on the right in the photo) set a world record for coal production, having mined 102 tons in 5 hours and 45 minutes of work, which exceeded the average daily production rate by 14 times

Thanks to the active participation of S. M. Kirov and the Leningrad party organization, Leningrad was the flagship of socialist competition. Petersburg communists actively introduced the idea of ​​socialist competitions to the masses.

The course of industrialization is characterized by the active use of prison labor. It was thanks to them that many objects were built in the 1930s, including the famous White Sea-Baltic Canal.

Rally at the opening of the White Sea-Baltic Canal

The main result of the second five-year plan can be called the formation of a powerful military-industrial complex. The first five-year plans made it possible to carry out the technical re-equipment of the Red Army in the pre-war period.

The war was not far off, it was she who forced the third five-year plan to be interrupted, since in wartime the tasks before Soviet economy were completely different. The negative effects of industrialization are largely offset by the fact that as a result of the reforms, the country was able to resist the fascist invasion.

Results of industrialization

The results of socialist industrialization had a positive effect on the country's defense capability.

The country's leadership wanted to leave the memory of the events of this era for centuries. For this, a large-scale map of the industrialization of the USSR was created. It was a mosaic canvas with an area of ​​26.6 square meters and was made using precious metals and stones. It depicted in detail the elements of relief, cities, rivers, enterprises, deposits and much more.

Fragment of the industrialization map of the USSR from gems

Although the map is a unique monument of the Soviet era, it is much more important that the country was able to reach a decent level in a short time, which allowed it to resist the fascist invasion and eventually win.

IndustrializationUSSR

By 1926, on the basis of the NEP, the industrial development of the country reached the pre-war level. However, the USSR continued to lag far behind the developed capitalist countries. National economy was at the pre-industrial stage of development. if the Soviet state wanted to remain a subject of world politics, it should not just complete industrialization, but do it as quickly as possible.

Various forms of implementation of the long-term development strategy were proposed: two-year, four-year, seven-year plans. In the end, we settled on a five-year cycle.

First Five Year Plan

During the years of the first five-year plan (1928/1929-1932/1933) the USSR was to turn into an industrial-agrarian country. For 5 years, electricity production should have increased by almost 4.5 times. It was planned to commission 42 new power plants. Coal mining was to be doubled. As the plan was being implemented, these figures were further increased. The party put forward the slogan "Five-Year Plan in Four Years".

The country was covered with construction sites. The reconstruction of industrial enterprises in Moscow, Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Donbass has begun.

Enormous funds were required for industrial construction. It was possible to take them in an agrarian country, first of all, from the peasantry.

An additional tax on the peasantry was established, and forced loans among the population became widespread. Almost every worker was forced to give part of his earnings to the cause of industrialization. The largest source of income was the sale of vodka. The export of grain, oil and oil products, timber, furs, and flax abroad has sharply increased. In particular, the export of commercial timber increased. These sources of funds continued to operate in the future.

In January 1933, the Soviet leadership announced the brilliant victory of the five-year plan in 4 years and 3 months. It was a lie. Practically all tasks of the five-year plan were failed. The quality of the products produced was extremely low.

Nevertheless, Soviet industry made a huge leap in five years. 1500 enterprises were built. Entire industries have been created that did not exist before: automotive, tractor, petrochemical, aircraft manufacturing. From a country importing equipment, the USSR turned into a country producing industrial equipment. The country got the opportunity to create modern types of weapons.

Second five-year plan

At the beginning of 1934, the second five-year plan (1933-1937) was approved. If during the years of the first five-year plan, as it was believed then, the economic foundation of socialism was built, then the main task of the second five-year plan was to build a socialist society. The average annual increase in industrial output was to be 16.5%. It was envisaged to complete the construction of the giants of ferrous metallurgy: Magnitogorsk, Kuznetsk, Zaporozhye plants. In the eastern regions of the country, it was planned to create bases for the coal, metallurgical, machine-building, and chemical industries.

The fulfillment of the tasks of the second five-year plan was associated with enormous difficulties. The country lacked skilled workers and engineers. Yesterday's peasants came to construction sites, factories, factories, transport. Many of them did not have the skills of industrial labor, and for the first time in their lives they saw machines. The lack of qualified specialists and workers, the poor quality of management decisions made by semi-literate party officials and heads of state enterprises led to chaos, confusion in production, frequent downtime, low discipline, absenteeism, and marriage. These shortcomings were offset by a large workforce, low living standards, the propensity of workers to perform overtime work, subbotniks, and the use of prison labor. During the years of the second five-year plan, the standard of living of the urban population increased somewhat. Extremely slowly, especially in small towns, such achievements of civilization as water supply, sewerage, and central heating were introduced. Slowly developed public transport. The level of service in trade and healthcare remained low. During the second five-year plan, 4,500 new industrial enterprises were built. Industrial production has doubled. The private trader was almost completely ousted from the economy. The Communist Party concluded that socialism was victorious in the country.

Third five-year plan

During the years of the third five-year plan (1938-1942), the task was set to catch up the developed countries per capita industrial output and begin a gradual transition from socialism to communism. Particular attention was paid to strengthening labor discipline. Along with government decrees, workers were subjected to criminal penalties for absenteeism and being late. The working day was extended, output rates were increased, piece rates were reduced, the length of the working week was increased, and transfers from one enterprise to another were prohibited without the consent of the administration. The state actually attached workers and employees to enterprises, which was tantamount to introducing elements of serfdom into the country. Particular attention during the years of the third five-year plan was given to the military industry. The industrialization carried out in the late 1920s and 1930s changed the face of the Soviet Union. From 1928 to 1941 about 9,000 were built large enterprises. New industries have emerged. On a mass scale, the production of aircraft, automobiles, tractors, combines, synthetic rubber, various kinds of equipment intended for heavy industry and increasing military power was launched. Large industrial centers arose in the East, in previously uninhabited areas. Increased urban population From the patriarchal-peasant country moved to the industrial stage of development. At the same time, manual labor prevailed in construction and agriculture. The light industry has not received due development. Very little attention was paid to the construction of roads, warehouses, what is called the infrastructure of the economy. At the end of the 1930s, there was less living space per citizen than before the revolution. Most huddled in communal apartments, barracks, cellars. The infant mortality rate was high.

The development of Soviet industry was closely connected with the processes taking place in the country's agriculture.

The collectivization of agriculture: Pcauses and start

Having adopted a course towards accelerated industrialization, the Soviet leadership was faced with the problem of funds and labor. It was possible to get both, first of all, from the peasantry. Transfer funds from the countryside to industry by establishing low prices on agricultural products and high on industrial without coercion, of course, it was not possible. Peasants voluntarily did not hand over grain to the state on unfavorable conditions. Food difficulties periodically arose in the country. The small, fragmented, technically weakly armed peasant economy of the country was not able to provide the growing urban population with food, and the rapidly developing industry with raw materials. Extraordinary measures in relation to the peasantry, that is, the forcible seizure of their grain, carried out at the beginning of 1928, did not give serious results. In 1929 there was a new decline in grain procurements. It was impossible to carry out industrialization without fundamentally solving the agricultural problem. The ideas of cooperating the Russian peasantry were actively developed by V. I. Lenin. He hoped for the possibility of a slow, gradual, voluntary process of agricultural co-operation. The logic and practice of socialist construction dictated fast and tough pace and methods.

Only the industrious, highly skilled, prosperous peasantry, the kulaks, could resist forced collectivization in the countryside. In order to drive the peasants into the collective farms, it was necessary to liquidate this stratum of the population.

The transition to a policy of collectivization and liquidation of the kulaks began in the summer of 1929, shortly after the adoption of the first five-year plan. By June of this year, 1 million peasant households had been united in the collective farms. By the end of 1929, there were already 4.5 million peasant households in the collective farms. The collective farms were not allowed to accept kulaks.

In carrying out collectivization, the parties and the state relied on the poorest peasantry and farm laborers, the weakest, unskilled part of rural society. 35,000 workers were sent to the countryside to carry out the policy of the Communist Party. Komsomol youth were used en masse. Deception was used (go to the collective farms and the state will provide you with everything you need), threats (the slogan was put forward: “Who does not go to the collective farm is the enemy of Soviet power”), violence (groups of Komsomol members without the consent of the peasants brought their property to the collective farm yard) .

Each province, each district was given the task of arresting and deporting a certain number of kulaks. Some of the peasants were shot. The bulk of the dispossessed were deported to sparsely populated, often almost uninhabitable regions of the country: to the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, and northern regions. At the same time, they were not allowed to take clothes and things with them, many, thus, were doomed to death. The property of the repressed went to the collective farm. They themselves worked at logging, in the mining industry, a smaller part was used in agriculture.

The peasants, who had undergone a socialist reorganization, resisted. Began mass slaughter of livestock. The “red rooster” roamed the villages - arson, the favorite weapon of all peasant riots in Russia. They burned not only collective farm property, but also their own property, following the principle: “Let the acquired property be consumed by fire, but you will not get it.” In some areas, peasants took up arms. From January to mid-March 1930 alone, more than two thousand anti-collective farm uprisings took place in the country. The country found itself on the brink of civil war. Under these conditions, the country's leadership was forced to make temporary concessions. It was recognized that serious mistakes were made in collectivization: the principle of voluntariness was violated, various local conditions were not taken into account, there was a run ahead in the socialization of peasant property, abuses during dispossession .. There was a mass exit of peasants from collective farms. If by March 1930 more than half of all peasant farms had been collectivized, by June less than a quarter of the farms remained in the collective farms. In some areas, the exit from the collective farms was even more significant. However, after the harvest of 1930, the collective farm offensive resumed. Now other, more "subtle" methods were used for the socialist reconstruction of the countryside. Villages and villages, whose population did not join the collective farms, were entered on the "black boards". They stopped the delivery of goods, the issuance of loans. Sole proprietors were driven from their plots to inconvenient, remote lands, strangled with taxes. So, the individual farmer paid ten times more tax than the collective farmer, and the prosperous peasant - 140 times more.