Describe the process of industrialization in the USSR. The beginning of the industrialization of the USSR

Industrialization of the USSR

Socialist industrialization of the USSR (Stalin's industrialization) - the transformation of the USSR in the 1930s from a predominantly agrarian country into a leading industrial power.

The beginning of socialist industrialization as an integral part of the "triune task of radically reorganizing society" (industrialization, collectivization of agriculture and the cultural revolution) was laid by the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy (-). At the same time, private commodity and capitalist forms of economy were eliminated.

According to the widespread point of view, the rapid growth of production capacities and production volumes of heavy industry allowed the USSR to win the Great Patriotic War. The buildup of industrial power in the 1930s was considered one of the most important achievements of the USSR within the framework of Soviet ideology. Since the late 1980s, discussions have taken place in Russia about the cost of industrialization, which have also questioned its results and long-term consequences for the Soviet economy and society.

GOELRO

The plan provided for the advanced development of the electric power industry, tied to the plans for the development of territories. The GOELRO plan, designed for 10-15 years, provided for the construction of 30 regional power plants (20 thermal power plants and 10 hydroelectric power plants) with a total capacity of 1.75 million kW. The project covered eight main economic regions (North, Central Industrial, South, Volga, Ural, West Siberian, Caucasian and Turkestan). In parallel, the development of the country's transport system was carried out (reconstruction of old and construction of new railway lines, construction of the Volga-Don Canal).

The GOELRO project laid the foundation for industrialization in Russia. Electricity generation in 1932 compared to 1913 increased by almost 7 times, from 2 to 13.5 billion kWh.

Discussions during the NEP period

One of the fundamental contradictions of Bolshevism was the fact that a party that called itself "workers", and its rule - the "dictatorship of the proletariat", came to power in an agrarian country where factory workers accounted for only a few percent of the population, and most of them were recent immigrants from the village, who have not yet completely severed ties with her. Forced industrialization was designed to eliminate this contradiction.

From a foreign policy point of view, the country was in hostile conditions. According to the leadership of the CPSU (b), there was a high probability of a new war with the capitalist states. It is significant that already at the X Congress of the RCP (b) in 1921, the author of the report "On the Soviet Republic surrounded by" LB Kamenev stated the preparations for the Second World War that had begun in Europe:

What we see every day in Europe ... testifies that the war is not over, armies are moving, combat orders are being issued, garrisons are sent to one or another area, no boundaries can be considered firmly established. ... one can expect from hour to hour that the old completed imperialist massacre will give rise, as its natural continuation, to some new, even more monstrous, even more disastrous imperialist war.

Preparations for war required a thorough rearmament. However, it was impossible to start such rearmament immediately due to the backwardness of heavy industry. At the same time, the existing rates of industrialization seemed insufficient, since the lag behind the capitalist countries, which experienced economic growth in the 1920s, was increasing.

One of the first such rearmament plans was outlined already in 1921, in the project for the reorganization of the Red Army, prepared for the X Congress by SI Gusev and MV Frunze. Gusev and Frunze proposed to deploy a powerful network of military schools in the country, and to organize the mass production of tanks, artillery, "armored cars, armored trains, airplanes" in a "shock" order. A separate point was also proposed to carefully study the combat experience of the Civil War, including the units opposing the Red Army (officer units of the White Guards, Makhnovist carts, Wrangel's "bomb-throwing airplanes", etc. In addition, the authors also called for urgently organizing the publication in Russia of foreign " Marxist "works on military issues.

After the end of the Civil War, Russia again faced the pre-revolutionary problem of agrarian overpopulation ( "Malthusian-Marxian trap"). During the reign of Nicholas II, overpopulation caused a gradual decrease in the average allotment of land, the surplus of workers in the countryside was not absorbed either by the outflow to the cities (which amounted to about 300 thousand people per year with an average growth of up to 1 million people per year), nor by emigration, nor by the initiated the Stolypin government by the program of resettlement of colonists beyond the Urals. In the 1920s, overpopulation took the form of urban unemployment. It became a serious social problem that grew throughout the NEP, and by its end it amounted to more than 2 million people, or about 10% of the urban population. The government believed that one of the factors holding back the development of industry in the cities was the lack of food and the reluctance of the countryside to provide the cities with bread at low prices.

The party leadership intended to solve these problems by means of a planned redistribution of resources between agriculture and industry, in accordance with the concept of socialism, as announced at the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the III All-Union Congress of Soviets in Stalin's history. ”, However, he made only a general decision on the need to transform the USSR from an agrarian country into an industrial one, without defining the specific forms and rates of industrialization.

The choice of a specific implementation of central planning was hotly debated in 1926-1928. Supporters genetic approach (V. Bazarov, V. Groman, N. Kondratyev) believed that the plan should be drawn up on the basis of objective patterns of economic development, identified as a result of the analysis of existing trends. Adherents teleological approach (G. Krzhizhanovsky, V. Kuibyshev, S. Strumilin) ​​believed that the plan should transform the economy and proceed from future structural changes, production capabilities and strict discipline. Among the party functionaries, the former were supported by N. Bukharin, a supporter of the evolutionary path to socialism, and the latter by L. Trotsky, who insisted on immediate industrialization.

One of the first ideologists of industrialization was the economist E.A. Preobrazhensky, close to Trotsky, who in 1924-1925 developed the concept of forced "super-industrialization" by pumping funds out of the countryside ("initial socialist accumulation", according to Preobrazhensky). For his part, Bukharin accused Preobrazhensky and the "left opposition" that supported him of implanting "military-feudal exploitation of the peasantry" and "internal colonialism."

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) I. Stalin at first took the point of view of Bukharin, but after Trotsky was expelled from the Central Committee of the party at the end of the year he changed his position to the diametrically opposite. This led to a decisive victory for the teleological school and a radical turn from the NEP. Researcher V. Rogovin believes that the reason for Stalin's "left turn" was the grain procurement crisis of 1927; the peasantry, especially the well-to-do, massively refused to sell grain, considering the purchase prices set by the state to be too low.

The internal economic crisis of 1927 was intertwined with a sharp exacerbation of the foreign policy situation. On February 23, 1927, the British Foreign Secretary sent a note to the USSR demanding that it stop supporting the Kuomintang-communist government in China. After the refusal, Great Britain broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR on May 24-27. At the same time, however, the alliance between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communists collapsed; On April 12, Chiang Kai-shek and his allies massacred the Shanghai Communists ( see Shanghai massacre of 1927). This incident was widely used by the "united opposition" ("Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc") to criticize official Stalinist diplomacy as knowingly failed.

In the same period, there was a raid on the Soviet embassy in Beijing (April 6), British police searched the Soviet-British joint-stock company "Arcos" in London (May 12). In June 1927, representatives of the ROVS carried out a series of terrorist attacks against the USSR. In particular, on June 7, White émigré Kaverda killed the Soviet plenipotentiary envoy in Warsaw Voikov, on the same day in Minsk the head of the Belarusian OGPU I. Opansky was killed, a day earlier a terrorist ROVS threw a bomb at the OGPU pass bureau in Moscow. All these incidents contributed to the creation of an atmosphere of "war psychosis", the emergence of expectations of a new foreign intervention ("crusade against Bolshevism").

By January 1928, only 2/3 of the grain had been procured in comparison with the level of the previous year, since the peasants massively held back the grain, considering the purchase prices too low. The interruptions in the supply of cities and the army that began were aggravated by the aggravation of the foreign policy situation, which even reached the point of conducting a test mobilization. In August 1927, panic began among the population, resulting in a wholesale purchase of food for future use. At the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (December 1927) Mikoyan admitted that the country had gone through the hardships "on the eve of war without having a war."

First five-year plan

To create our own engineering base, a domestic system of higher technical education was urgently created. In 1930, universal primary education was introduced in the USSR, and in cities it is compulsory for seven years.

With the aim of increasing incentives to work, pay has become more closely tied to productivity. Centers for the development and implementation of the principles of the scientific organization of labor were actively developing. One of the largest centers of this kind (CIT) has created about 1,700 training centers with 2 thousand highly qualified CIT instructors in different parts of the country. They operated in all leading sectors of the national economy - in mechanical engineering, metallurgy, construction, light and timber industries, on railways and vehicles, in agriculture and even in the navy.

In parallel, the state moved to a centralized distribution of the means of production and consumer goods belonging to it, the introduction of command-administrative methods of management and the nationalization of private property were carried out. A political system arose based on the leading role of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), state ownership of the means of production, and a minimum of private initiative. Also, the widespread use of forced labor of GULAG prisoners, special settlers and the rear militia began.

In 1933, at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Stalin said in his report that according to the results of the first five-year plan, less consumer goods were produced than needed, but the policy of relegating the tasks of industrialization to the background would lead to the fact that it would be the tractor and automobile industries, ferrous metallurgy, metal for the production of machines. The country would be sitting without bread. Capitalist elements in the country would incredibly increase the chances for the restoration of capitalism. Our position would become similar to that of China, which then did not have its own heavy and military industry, and became the object of aggression. We would not have non-aggression pacts with other countries, but military intervention and war. A dangerous and deadly war, a bloody and unequal war, for in this war we would be almost unarmed in front of the enemies who have at their disposal all modern means of attack.

The first five-year plan was associated with rapid urbanization. The urban workforce increased by 12.5 million, of which 8.5 million were rural migrants. However, the USSR reached a share of 50% of the urban population only in the early 1960s.

Use of foreign specialists

Engineers were invited from abroad, many well-known companies such as Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG and General electric, were involved in the work and carried out the supply of modern equipment, a significant part of the models of equipment produced in those years at Soviet factories were copies or modifications of foreign analogues (for example, the Fordson tractor, assembled at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant).

A branch of Albert Kahn, Inc. was opened in Moscow. under the name "Gosproektstroy". Its leader was Moritz Kahn, brother of the head of the company. It employed 25 leading American engineers and about 2.5 thousand Soviet employees. At that time, it was the largest architectural bureau in the world. Over the three years of its existence, "Gosproektstroy" has passed through it more than 4 thousand Soviet architects, engineers and technicians who studied the American experience. The Central Bureau of Heavy Engineering (CBTM), a branch of the German company Demag, also operated in Moscow.

Albert Kahn's firm played the role of coordinator between the Soviet customer and hundreds of Western companies supplying equipment and advising on the construction of individual projects. Thus, the technological project of the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant was carried out by the Ford company, the construction project by the American company Austin. The construction of the 1st State Bearing Plant in Moscow (GPZ-1), which was designed by Kana, was carried out with the technical assistance of the Italian company RIV.

The Stalingrad Tractor Plant, built according to Kahn's design in 1930, was originally built in the United States, and then was dismantled, transported to the USSR and assembled under the supervision of American engineers. It was equipped with equipment from more than 80 American engineering companies and several German firms.

results

At the end of 1932, the successful and early implementation of the first five-year plan in four years and three months was announced. Summing up its results, Stalin said that heavy industry fulfilled the plan by 108%. Between October 1, 1928 and January 1, 1933, the production fixed assets of heavy industry increased 2.7 times.

In his report at the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b) in January 1934, Stalin cited the following figures with the words: "This means that our country has become firmly and finally - an industrial country."

The first five-year plan was followed by the second five-year plan, with slightly less emphasis on industrialization, and then the third five-year plan, which was disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.

The result of the first five-year plans was the development of heavy industry, due to which the GDP growth during 1928-40, according to V.A.Mel'yantsev, amounted to about 4.6% per year (according to other, earlier estimates, from 3% to 6 , 3%). Industrial production in the period 1928-1937 increased 2.5-3.5 times, that is, 10.5-16% per year. In particular, the production of machinery in the period 1928-1937. grew on average 27.4% per year.

With the beginning of industrialization, the consumption fund fell sharply, and as a result, the standard of living of the population. By the end of 1929, the rationing system had been extended to almost all food products, but there was still a shortage of ration products, and huge queues had to be stood in order to buy them. Later, the standard of living began to improve. In 1936, the cards were abolished, which was accompanied by higher wages in the industrial sector and an even greater increase in the state ration prices for all goods. Average per capita consumption in 1938 was 22% higher than in 1928. However, the greatest growth was among the party and labor elite and did not affect the vast majority of the rural population, or more than half of the country's population.

The date of the end of industrialization is determined in different ways by different historians. From the point of view of the conceptual striving to raise heavy industry in record time, the most pronounced period was the first five-year plan. Most often, the end of industrialization is understood as the last pre-war year (1940), less often the year on the eve of Stalin's death (1952). If industrialization is understood as a process, the purpose of which is the share of industry in GDP, characteristic of industrially developed countries, then the economy of the USSR reached such a state only in the 1960s. The social aspect of industrialization should also be taken into account, since only in the early 1960s. the urban population exceeded the rural one.

Professor ND Kolesov believes that without the implementation of the policy of industrialization, the country's political and economic independence would not have been ensured. The sources of funds for industrialization and its pace were predetermined by economic backwardness and the too short time allotted for its liquidation. According to Kolesov, the Soviet Union managed to eliminate backwardness in just 13 years.

Criticism

During the Soviet era, the communists argued that industrialization was based on a rational and feasible plan. Meanwhile, it was assumed that the first five-year plan would come into effect at the end of 1928, but even by the time of its announcement in April-May 1929, the work on its preparation had not been completed. The original form of the plan included targets for 50 industries and agriculture, as well as the relationship between resources and opportunities. With the passage of time, the achievement of predetermined indicators began to play a major role. If the growth rates of industrial production initially set in the plan were 18-20%, by the end of the year they were doubled. Despite the report on the successful implementation of the first five-year plan, in fact, the statistics were falsified, and none of the goals were achieved even close. Moreover, there has been a sharp decline in agriculture and industrial sectors that depend on agriculture. Part of the party nomenklatura was extremely outraged by this, for example, S. Syrtsov described the reports on the achievements as "eyewash."

Despite the development of the production of new products, industrialization was carried out mainly by extensive methods: economic growth was ensured by an increase in the rate of gross fixed capital formation, the rate of savings (due to the fall in the consumption rate), the level of employment and the exploitation of natural resources. British scientist Don Filzer believes that this was due to the fact that as a result of collectivization and a sharp decline in the standard of living of the rural population, human labor was greatly depreciated. V. Rogovin notes that the desire to fulfill the plan led to an atmosphere of overextension of forces and a permanent search for reasons to justify the failure to fulfill the overestimated tasks. Because of this, industrialization could not feed on enthusiasm alone and required a number of coercive measures. Beginning in 1930, free movement of labor was prohibited, and criminal penalties were introduced for violations of labor discipline and negligence. Since 1931, workers have been held liable for damage to equipment. In 1932, the forced transfer of labor between enterprises became possible; the death penalty was introduced for the theft of state property. On December 27, 1932, the internal passport was restored, which Lenin at one time condemned as "tsarist backwardness and despotism." The seven-day week was replaced by a continuous working week, the days of which, without names, were numbered from 1 to 5. Every sixth day had a day off set for work shifts, so that factories could work without interruption. Prisoners' labor was actively used (see GULAG). In fact, during the years of the first five-year plan, the communists laid the foundations of forced labor for the Soviet population. All this has become the subject of sharp criticism in democratic countries, and not only from the liberals, but primarily from the social democrats.

Industrialization was largely carried out at the expense of agriculture (collectivization). First of all, agriculture has become a source of primary accumulation, due to low purchase prices for grain and re-export at higher prices, as well as due to the so-called. "Super tax in the form of overpayments for manufactured goods." In the future, the peasantry also ensured the growth of heavy industry with labor. The short-term result of this policy was a drop in agricultural production: for example, animal husbandry was reduced by almost half and returned to the level of 1928 only in 1938. The consequence of this was the deterioration of the economic situation of the peasantry. Agricultural degradation has been a long-term consequence. Additional expenses were required to compensate for the losses of the village. In 1932-1936, collective farms received from the state about 500 thousand tractors, not only for the mechanization of land cultivation, but also to compensate for the damage from the reduction in the number of horses by 51% (77 million) in 1929-1933.

As a result of collectivization, famine and purges between 1927 and 1939, the death rate above the "normal" level (human losses) was, according to various estimates, from 7 to 13 million people.

Trotsky and other critics argued that, despite efforts to increase labor productivity, in practice, average labor productivity was falling. This is also stated in a number of modern foreign publications, according to which for the period 1929-1932. The added value per hour of work in industry fell by 60% and returned to the 1929 level only in 1952. This is explained by the emergence of a chronic commodity shortage in the economy, collectivization, massive famine, a massive influx of untrained labor from the countryside and the increase in enterprises of their labor resources. At the same time, the specific GNP per worker in the first 10 years of industrialization increased by 30%.

As for the records of the Stakhanovites, a number of historians note that their methods were a continuous method of increasing productivity, previously popularized by F. Taylor and G. Ford. In addition, the records were largely staged and the result of the efforts of their assistants, but in practice turned into a quest for quantity at the expense of product quality. Due to the fact that wages were proportional to productivity, the salaries of the Stakhanovites became several times higher than the average earnings in industry. This caused a hostile attitude towards the Stakhanovites on the part of the "backward" workers, who reproached them for the fact that their records led to higher norms and lower prices. The newspapers talked about the "unprecedented and undisguised sabotage" of the Stakhanov movement by foremen, shop managers, and trade union organizations.

The exclusion of Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev from the party at the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks gave rise to a wave of repression in the party, which spread to the technical intelligentsia and foreign technical specialists. At the July 1928 plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Stalin put forward the thesis that "as we move forward, the resistance of the capitalist elements will increase, the class struggle will intensify." In the same year, a campaign against sabotage began. The Wreckers were accused of failing to meet the plan's targets. The first high-profile trial in the case of the "saboteurs" was the Shakhty case, after which accusations of sabotage could follow for the enterprise's failure to fulfill the plan.

One of the main goals of forced industrialization was to overcome the lag behind the developed capitalist countries. Some critics argue that this lag itself was largely a consequence of the October Revolution. They point out that in 1913 Russia ranked fifth in world industrial production and was the world leader in industrial growth with a rate of 6.1% per year over the period 1888-1913. However, by 1920, the level of production fell nine times compared to 1916.

Soviet propaganda announced the growth of the socialist economy against the background of the crisis in the capitalist countries

Soviet sources argued that economic growth was unprecedented. On the other hand, in a number of modern studies it is argued that the GDP growth rates in the USSR (mentioned above 3 - 6.3%) were comparable to those in Germany in 1930-38. (4.4%) and Japan (6.3%), although they significantly exceeded the indicators of countries such as England, France and the United States, which experienced the "Great Depression" at that time.

The USSR at that time was characterized by authoritarianism and central planning in the economy. At first glance, this gives weight to the widespread opinion that the high rates of increase in industrial output of the USSR were due precisely to the authoritarian regime and the planned economy. However, a number of economists believe that the growth of the Soviet economy was achieved only due to its extensive nature. In the framework of counterfactual historical research, or so-called "virtual scenarios", it was suggested that if the NEP continued, industrialization and rapid economic growth would also be possible.

Industrialization and the Great Patriotic War

One of the main goals of industrialization was to build up the military potential of the USSR. So, if as of January 1, 1932, there were 1,446 tanks and 213 armored vehicles in the Red Army, then on January 1, 1934 there were 7,574 tanks and 326 armored vehicles - more than in the armies of Great Britain, France and Nazi Germany combined.

The relationship between industrialization and the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War is a subject of debate. During the Soviet era, the view was adopted that industrialization and pre-war rearmament played a decisive role in the victory. However, the superiority of Soviet technology over German on the western border of the country on the eve of the war could not stop the enemy.

According to the historian K. Nikitenko, the built command-administrative system nullified the economic contribution of industrialization to the country's defense capability. V. Lelchuk also draws attention to the fact that by the beginning of winter 1941 the territory was occupied, where 42% of the population of the USSR lived before the war, 63% of coal was mined, 68% of pig iron was smelted, etc. with the help of the powerful potential that was created during the years of accelerated industrialization. " At the disposal of the invaders was the material and technical base of such giants built during the years of industrialization as

Industrialization is a process of radical restructuring of the country's economy, aimed at creating and increasing industrial potential. Industrialization - unavoidable condition transformation of an agrarian country into a powerful, industrially developed state.
In the Soviet Union, this process took place as quickly as possible - from 1929 to 1940.

Reasons for industrialization in the USSR.
A crisis "New Economic Policy" (NEP). The NEP, proclaimed by the Bolsheviks immediately after the end of the Civil War, helped revive the economy in the post-war years. But by the end of the 1920s, the NEP, having fulfilled its tasks, was unable to bring the country's economy to a new level. In 1928, in terms of most economic indicators, the Soviet Union reached the indicators of the Russian Empire of the pre-war 1913 model, and surpassed in some industries. For example, production volumes in mechanical engineering in 1928 were 80% higher than in 1913, electricity production amounted to 5 billion kW versus 1.9 billion kW, 1.8 thousand tractors were produced that were not produced in the Russian Empire at all. However, even this growth rate did not meet the country's needs.
Economic security of the USSR. In the late 1920s, the Soviet Union continued to be under political and economic blockade. The question of the country's economic security based on self-sufficiency in industrial goods was acute. But the USSR continued to be a country with a predominant agricultural sector of the economy, and was forced to turn to the foreign market to purchase industrial goods.
Military security of the USSR ... The First World War did not resolve the contradictions between the powers, but only postponed them for a short period. A new world war was inevitable. And the USSR, included in the sphere of world politics, would be a participant in it. But the new war required a developed industry, which was simply not the case in the USSR during the NEP period. The historically important issue that was still before the Russian Empire was not resolved - the industrial development of the country, the creation of a modern economy corresponding to the status of a world power. The rate of industrial growth in pre-revolutionary Russia was not enough to wage a modern war. For example, over the three years of the war, 28 thousand machine guns were produced in Russia, 280 thousand in Germany, and 326 thousand in France. Aircraft engines were not produced in Russia at all, and 3.5 thousand aircraft were built on foreign-made engines, while 48 thousand aircraft were produced in France during the same period. The situation with weapons was not in the best way in Soviet Russia in the 1920s, which was a direct consequence of the undeveloped industry.

Industrialization progress.
Industrialization in the USSR was carried out based on five-year plans(five-year plans). The plan of the first five-year plan, 1929-1932, was fulfilled - in 4 years and 3 months. The plan for the second five-year plan, 1932-1937, was not fulfilled. The third five-year plan remained unfinished due to the outbreak of the war. Therefore, summing up the results of industrialization in the USSR, it is customary to operate with indicators for 1940.
Industrialization in the USSR was not aimed at making a profit, but creating conditions, a basis for stable industrial growth in the coming years. For this, first of all, the enterprises of the "A" group were created - the production of means of production: energy, metallurgy, mining, transport and machine-tool building. This laid the foundation for the development of industry in the USSR for decades to come.
Another feature of the transformation of the Soviet Union into an industrial superpower was the absence of foreign loans and investments. In conditions of foreign policy isolation, they simply had nowhere to come from. The USSR carried out industrialization at the expense of internal reserves. But this does not mean that there was no cooperation with industrialized countries. On the contrary, the USSR actively attracted foreign specialists, bought means of production, and, most importantly, technologies. In this he was helped by the economic crisis that occurred in Western countries in the early 1930s. During the crisis, Western companies willingly went to cooperate with the USSR. With the involvement of foreign specialists and technologies, such major industrial enterprises as DneproGES, MMK, tractor plants in Stalingrad and Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant and others were built.

The results of industrialization in the USSR.
General results. For ten years the Soviet Union has made an unparalleled breakthrough in the development of industry. From 1929 to 1940, more than 8.5 thousand large enterprises... Among them are such giants as: DneproGES, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Stalingrad, Chelyabinsk and Kharkov Tractor Plants, Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant, Zaporizhstal, Azovstal, Uralmash, Krivoy Rog and Novolipetsk metallurgical plants and many others. The Moscow and Leningrad metros were put into operation.
The growth rate of industrial production was three times higher than in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the century.
This allowed the USSR to become not only an industrial power, but also to become a leader among industrialized countries. So, in 1937, in terms of absolute volumes of industrial production, the Soviet Union ranked second in the world, second only to the United States. True, it lagged behind Germany, Great Britain and France in terms of production per capita. In the same year, 1937, the share of imports of manufactured goods was only 1% of the volume of consumption. Thus, the problem of economic independence was solved. The country itself provided itself with the necessary goods. Moreover, the USSR itself supplied the products of its factories for export. For example, having abandoned the import of tractors in 1932, in 1934 the Soviet Union itself began to export tractors of its own production.
One of the results of industrialization in the USSR was the creation of new industries - machine tool building, aircraft building, automobile manufacturing, the production of tractors, bearings, and instrument making.
During the first five-year plans, GDP growth was 6% annually. And industrial production grew every year by 11-16%.

The results of industrialization in the USSR for the defense industry. One of the tasks of industrialization was to ensure the country's defense capability. In fact, the defense industry was re-created. This made it possible from 1939 to begin a large-scale rearmament of the army. Unfortunately, it was not finished by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - there was not enough time. But in the course of the war itself, it was the industrial potential of the USSR that made it possible to organize the mass production of weapons and ammunition, and in the shortest possible time to reorganize the industry into military production.

The results of industrialization in the USSR for agriculture. The main results of industrialization for agriculture were:
- mechanization of agricultural production. With the beginning of the mass production of tractors and other agricultural machinery in the early 1930s, agriculture received a powerful impetus for development due to mechanization. From 1929 to 1940, more than 700 thousand tractors were produced in the USSR (40% of their world production). The infrastructure was created in the village for the use and maintenance of this equipment - Machine and Tractor Stations (MTS). Accordingly, mass training of specialists was organized - tractor drivers, mechanics, drivers, etc.
- mass resettlement of the rural population to cities. It was both a consequence of collectivization and industrialization. Actually, the massive inflow of free labor from the countryside, and in the first five-year plan alone, such a migration of the population amounted to about 12 million people, created favorable conditions for successful industrial construction. The mechanization of rural production freed up a lot of workers, which were used in the course of industrialization. In total, from 1928 to 1940, about 35 million people moved from the countryside to the city. However, until the early 1960s, the share of rural residents was more than 50% of the total population.

The results of industrialization in the USSR in the social sphere. Industrialization in the USSR directly influenced public life:
- science and education. In the course of industrialization, education was faced with completely different tasks than in the 1920s - not just the elimination of illiteracy (the ability to read and write), but the training of qualified specialists. To this end, in 1930, universal primary education was introduced for the inhabitants of the village, and the compulsory seven-year education for the urban population (in rural schools the compulsory seven-year education was introduced in 1934). In 1932, a ten-year secondary education system was introduced. In 10 years, from 1929 to 1939, the number of secondary school students increased threefold - from 13.5 million to 31.5 million.
At the same time, a higher education system was being created, its goal was to train domestic engineering personnel. Thus, by 1937 the number of higher educational institutions had increased by 7.7 times compared with 1914.
It was in the 1930s that the foundations of Soviet science were laid, which very soon became one of the most advanced in the world.
- standards of living. At the end of 1920, in connection with the curtailment of the NEP and the restructuring of the economy, the standard of living of the population decreased, and there was a shortage of consumer goods. In 1929, a rationing system for the distribution of goods was introduced, which extended not only to products. But by the mid-1930s, there were already enough goods and products, and the rise in wages, especially in industry, made these goods available to the population. In 1936, the rationing system was abolished. By the end of the 1930s, the level of consumption of goods and services by the population was more than 20% higher than 10 years ago.

On the whole, industrialization in the USSR has achieved its goals.
Without industrialization precisely in such a tight time frame, the political and economic independence of the USSR would not have been achieved. The Soviet Union managed to close the gap with the world powers in just 11 years, which, without exaggeration, is an economic miracle.

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

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

In order to get your own idea of ​​the process, you need to consider the initial data, content and 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 under the control of 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 in ruins and could not ensure the country's defense in a hostile environment.

The need for socialist industrialization of the USSR economy was finally realized by the ruling elites at the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The party forum was called the "industrialization congress" because it took a course towards the full 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 the super-accelerated rates of development of the Soviet industry during the implementation of the plans of the 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 of 1913 in terms of the main parameters, the prerequisites for overcoming:

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

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

Industrialization goals

The historical situation around the USSR determined the target settings 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 military needs to protect the country's borders.
3. Development of new capacities for heavy industry and metallurgy.
4. Full economic independence from other (more developed countries).
5. Improving the standard of living of the Soviet people.
6. Demonstration of the advantages of socialism to the capitalist world.

Achievement of the set goals was supposed to ensure the USSR's exit from the state of blatant poverty to the transition to the 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 not very favorable conditions:

1. Economic development was hampered by the devastating consequences of the Civil War.
2. Severe shortage of qualified personnel.
3. Own production of means of production has not been established; the economy's needs for 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 demanded colossal costs. The sources of financing and implementation of a set of industrialization measures were:

• Transfer of funds from light industry to the development of heavy industry;
• transfer of material resources for the development of the agrarian sector into the industrial sector;
• systematic internal loans from the working population;
• monetization of the people's labor enthusiasm (socialist competition, massive overfulfillment of the plan, the Stakhanov movement, etc.);
• income from international trade;
• almost free labor of the GULAG.

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

Industrialization methods

Industrialization, initiated by the government, was supported by the unprecedented enthusiasm of the popular masses. The command-administrative method of implementing all projects of economic transformations in the USSR dominated. Forced industrialization measures were carried out at an accelerated pace and with serious shortcomings. But this is the case when “quantity grows into quality”.

Industrialization progress

The first five-year plan (1928 - 1932)

As a result of measures for the implementation of the first five-year plan, it was:

1. More than 1,500 industrial enterprises have been built.
2. The national income of the country has been doubled.
3. The construction of Dneproges, the largest power plant in the world at that time, was completed.
4. Metallurgical production was commissioned in Lipetsk, Sverdlovsk (Uralmash), Chelyabinsk, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk and Magnitogorsk.
5. The production of tractors began in Stalingrad, Kharkov, Chelyabinsk and Nizhny Tagil.
6. Mass production of automobiles has begun at the GAZ and ZIS plants.
7. Construction of the White Sea Canal.
8. The construction of Turksib (Turkestan-Siberian railway) has been completed.
9. A new industrial region, Kuzbass, was created.
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 electricity production.

The second five-year plan (1933 - 1937)

• Over 4500 large industrial facilities have already been built;
• The construction of the Belomorkanal was completed;
• large-scale construction of the Moscow metro began (the first metro line was commissioned in 1935);
• massive construction of military factories;
• all-round development of Soviet aviation.

Third five-year plan (1938 - 1942)

1. more than 3 thousand industrial enterprises were commissioned.
2. The Uglich and Komsomolsk hydroelectric power stations started operating.
3. Novotagilskiy and Petrovsk-Zabaikalskiy metallurgical plants were built.
4. The Balkhash and Sredneuralsky copper smelters produced their products.
5. An oil refinery was commissioned in Ufa.

What the five-year plans gave the country their significance for industrialization

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

First, the USSR has become 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, receipts from the industry ranged from 50 to 70%.

Third, 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 volume. Fifth, the Soviet Union achieved complete state and military-economic independence.

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

Industrialization Outcomes: Positive and Negative

Industrialization of the USSR - tough but timely transformations

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union was in real danger of losing its sovereignty. Only thanks to the tough and purposeful policy of the higher authorities, the enthusiasm and the greatest exertion of the forces of the Soviet workers, 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 to reliably defend its borders.

It went down in the history of the country as a process of creating a 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 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 to modernize the industry

The goal 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. If there was some progress in such areas as light industry, trade and services, it was not possible to develop in those years on the basis of private capital. 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 set for workers in all industries, for the most part, exceeded the real capabilities of the performers. However, this document had the force of an order issued in wartime and was not subject to discussion.

According to the first five-year plan, it was planned to increase industrial output by 185%, and in heavy engineering to achieve an increase in production by 225%. To ensure these indicators, it was planned to achieve an increase in labor productivity by 115%. The successful implementation of the plan, according to the developers, should have led to an increase in average wages in the manufacturing sector by 70%, and the income of agricultural workers to increase by 68%. In order to supply the state with food in sufficient volume, the plan provided for the involvement of almost 20% of the peasants in collective farms.

Industrial chaos spawned by stormtroopers

Already in the course of the implementation of the plans, the construction time of most large industrial enterprises was significantly reduced, and the volume of supplies of agricultural products was 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 the call to fulfill the five-year plan in four years.

Features of the industrialization of those years consisted in the accelerated industrial construction. It is known that with the shortening of the five-year period, the planned targets almost doubled, and the annual production growth reached 30%. Accordingly, the plans for collectivization were also increased. Such an assault inevitably gave rise to chaos, in which some industries did not keep pace in their development after others, sometimes adjacent to them. This excluded any possibility of planned development of the economy.

The result of a five-year journey

During the period of the first five-year plan, the goal of industrialization in full was not achieved. In many industries, the real indicators largely fell short of the planned volumes. This especially affected the extraction of energy resources, as well as the production of steel and pig iron. But, nevertheless, significant successes were achieved in the creation of the military-industrial complex and all the accompanying infrastructure.

Second stage of industrialization

In 1934, a plan for the second five-year plan was adopted. The goal of the country's industrialization during this period was to improve the operation of enterprises built during 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 unjustified high rates of development.

In drawing up the plan, the shortcomings of the past years were largely taken into account. In a larger volume, financing of production was provided, 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.

Propaganda campaigns during the five-year plans

Already in these years, the results of the country's industrialization were not slow to show. In cities, and partly in rural areas, supply has improved markedly. The demand of the population for the greater extent was satisfied.The scale of these successes was largely inflated by the large-scale agitation campaign carried out in the country, attributing all the merits exclusively to the Communist Party and its leader, Stalin.

Despite the fact that during 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 it was not possible to achieve an increase in labor productivity by technological means. An example of this is the famous Race for Record Workings, unfolded in those years, led to the fact that individual shock workers, for whose exploits the whole enterprise was preparing, received awards and prizes, and the rest were only increased the norms, called upon to be equal to the foremost workers.

Results of the first five-year plans

In 1937, Stalin announced that the goal of industrialization had been largely achieved and socialism had been built. Numerous disruptions 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 ended a year later, its most important results were evidence of an increase of two and a half times, steel - three times, and cars - 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 lie the years of truly titanic labor of the entire people. In the post-war period, the USSR became powerful. It is generally believed 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 employed 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 had learned to independently produce everything necessary for its needs. If before the equipment for the production of a particular product was imported from abroad, now the need for it was provided by our own industry.

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 forced industrialization has transformed the appearance of our state and laid the foundation for its further 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 it, what were the methods of implementing 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 has been declared a top priority, let us turn to history.

The prerequisites for industrialization emerged by the mid-1920s, when the young Soviet state recovered from the aftermath of the First World War and the Civil War. The development of industrial production, agriculture and trade in 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 forced industrialization in the USSR was the need to reduce this lag. Despite our difficult relations 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 we practically did not have an industry of means of production.

The reasons for industrialization were to overcome these negative aspects. 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 is 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. Heavy industry is the main guarantee of economic independence.
2. Social. A strong economy provides the necessary means for the social sector.
3. Politico-military... Only an industrialized state has military power.

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

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

Industrialization tasks

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

1. overcoming the technical backwardness of the USSR from the countries of the West;
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. transformation of the 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 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 to undergo industrialization, but it rapidly propelled our country into the ranks of the world's industrial leaders. This was an unprecedented event of enormous significance. History has never known anything like it.

Typical poster of the time

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

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

Slow growth was not included in the plans of the USSR leadership, the lag behind the leading Western countries was too great. When the policy of industrialization in the USSR began, in the country the source of funds for restructuring the economy of the USSR was the profit from the export of grain, works of art and natural resources abroad.

To understand what was the main feature of industrialization in the USSR, one should study the statistics of changes in the population size in the country. And over the years of the first five-year plan, it has significantly decreased. The most severe robbery of agricultural regions 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 in the lives of peasants who died of hunger. 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 industrially developed North over the agrarian South. As a result of the reforms, the United States moved away from handicraft production, but has not yet arrived at a developed network of 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 inflow of which was ensured through the sale of grain 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. Industrialization in the USSR characterizes the predominant development of heavy industry.

The first five-year plan

The course towards industrialization was adopted at the 14th Congress of the CPSU (b) in December 1925. There were identified the main directions of industrialization in the near future. The industrialization of the country was identified 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.

The plan covered 1928-1933. The NEP policy, which was characterized by individual elements of a market economy, was curtailed. During these years in the Soviet Union, the course was taken towards forced industrialization, which is characterized by the use of command-administrative methods.

On Stalin's initiative, the first five-year industrialization plan was carried out within a short timeframe, in four years.

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

This was done not only to gain economic independence. In the USSR, industrialization began at a time when a major economic crisis broke out in the world, as a result of which there was 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 massive construction of industrial facilities. During the years of the first five-year plan, about 1.5 thousand new enterprises were built, a large part of which belong to industrial giants.

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

The Turkestan-Siberian railway was put into operation, the industrial areas were 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 into the life of the country. Here are some of the positives:

1. socialist competitions became widespread;
2. inventive and innovation initiatives have become popular;
3. the construction of industrial facilities began on an unprecedented scale in the country;
4. although it was not possible to achieve one hundred percent fulfillment of plans, the development of heavy industry allowed the USSR to stop depending 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, breaking of ties;
2. aggravation of housing problems;
3. lack of food and the introduction of ration cards;
4. imbalance in industry: a significant lag between light industry and 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.

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 purchases of equipment abroad and maintain the course for our own production, then the second five-year plan solved a whole range of problems, the solution of which can be attributed to the results of industrialization in the USSR in the 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 the material situation of 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 of labor productivity growth. Elements of cost accounting began to appear in the work of enterprises.

Although heavy industry developed the fastest, the lag of light industry from heavy industry decreased slightly. This made it possible to start saturating the market with consumer goods. The results of industrialization in the USSR in the pre-war period can also be attributed to the fact that the rationing system for food and non-food products was eliminated.

Under the Stalinist slogan "Cadres decide everything", the purge of the leading cadres of organizations and enterprises begins. New leaders from the proletarian milieu are replacing the "class-alien elements", many of which have been "utilized". They received decent training and became real professionals.

Although the methods of industrialization were administrative-command, the high level of enthusiasm of the workers allowed for excellent results.

In various spheres of production, the Stakhanov movement begins, named after the Donetsk miner Alexei Stakhanov. The country recognized his name, as well as the names of Nikita Izotov, Pasha Angelina, Petr Krivonos. The popularity of these people was wider than that of show business stars today. Their excellence has served as an example to millions.

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

The course of industrialization is characterized by the active use of prison labor. It is thanks to them that many objects were built in the 30s, including the famous 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 interruption of the third five-year plan, since in wartime the tasks of the Soviet economy were completely different. The negative consequences of industrialization are largely offset by the fact that, as a result of the reforms, the country was able to withstand the fascist invasion.

Industrialization results

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 relief elements, cities, rivers, enterprises, deposits and much more.

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 ultimately win.