Following the decline of Russian leader Vladimir Lenin’s health, Joseph Stalin stepped into the position of the general secretary of the Russian communist party in 1922 (Stock). This was the very beginning stage of Joseph Stalin’s enormous impact on the communist party, as well as the rest of the world. Although Stalin’s rule is sometimes considered extreme, Stalin had an enormous impression on Russian history as well as the collective history of the world. One of the most important things Joseph Stalin did was develop and enforce the Five-Year Plan.
This was a plan creating boundaries and a clear plan that Russian business owners and economists had to follow. Joseph Stalin’s creation and involvement in the Five-Year Plan impacted the world economically and socially through industrialization, as well as ultimately leading to a better economic situation. Joseph Stalin began his first major involvement in Russian affairs around the time of the October Revolution of 1917. Headed by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik party attempted to overthrow the traditional Monarchy-Tsar government system Russia had.
This coup was known as the October Revolution of 1917. The Bolshevik party advocated for a system of government headed by the proletariat group of people, following Karl Marx’s beliefs. Stalin was very supportive of such ideals, and because of this support, he organized and aided the Bolshevik party in their efforts. With this motivation and support, he quickly moved into influential roles for the Bolshevik effort. Eventually, Lenin’s health prohibited him from being continually active in the movement, so Stalin stepped in as the general secretary for the communist party.
It was under this position where Stalin became very influential in the government, and resulted in Stalin building up power for himself. When Lenin died in 1924, the position of the leader of the Communist party was only capable of being filled by Stalin or Trotsky, and eventually, Trotsky resigned ensuring Stalin the position of the leader of the Soviet Union. (Stock) Stalin was very influential in this role, creating economic plans that economically shaped current day Russia. Under Stalin’s lead in 1929, the USSR was becoming very successful at agriculture.
They found that collective farming was a great way of producing many crops. (Tucker 91) Collective farming is a communist-like way of farming where the communist state (in this case the USSR) provides land for farmers to use their own resources on and grow crops. Rather than working as enterprises, the government can let people farm by themselves, while obtaining the resources, the government needs to gain wealth. (Gardner and Lerman) Stalin advocated for an expansion of these collectivized farming operations, as organizers found that would lead them to become a major global superpower in those industries. Tucker 92) Thus, Stalin created a plan called the FiveYear Plan. Stalin quickly collectivized farming and put the FiveYear Plan into play. “The plan focused primarily on heavy industry, seeking to increase coal and iron production and electric power. Stalin set seemingly unattainable production goals for the industrialization of the Soviet Union. ” (Stock) At the beginning of the plan, Stalin set goals for all producers to achieve, attempting to expand the Soviet Union’s resources.
This was the first step in many of Stalin’s to create economic plans for producers to follow. Stalin created this Five-Year Plan on the preconceptions “so uncertain individually that their aggregate was nothing short of an economic miracle: (1) five consecutive good harvests; (2) more external trade than in 1928; (3) a sharp improvement in qualitative performance; and (4) a smaller ratio than previously of military expenditures in the total of state expenditures. ” (Tucker 95) These were a lot of preconceptions that Stalin depended on to make the Five-Year Plan successful.
But the military expenditures were unpredictable and were set as an unreliable notion to be dependent on. This led to the plan not surviving in the same form as the first variation. The first variation of the Five-Year Plan focused mainly on shifting the workers into collective farming. Because much of the Five-Year Plan was unrealistic goals set for the large number of people collective farming, the people didn’t meet the goals the plan set for them. The Soviet government still was dependent on the collective worker’s yield to fund their military expenditures.
Because the government was dependent on the amount of produce the Five-Year Plan was supposed to provide, they were forced to take a higher percentage, therefore leaving people to go hungry. People were going hungry and the government resulted to using force to motivate peasants to grow crops. Riots, violence, and hatred broke out among the people of the Soviet Union, creating even more hatred toward Joseph Stalin. (Atkins) Through the changes in the Five-Year Plan, industrialization occurred rapidly.
While Stalin did deprive many people of food and worsened the economy at the time, Stalin and his Five-Year Plan was an agent of change for Russia. By forcing labor, many more people had to contribute to the economy, and while the food shortages were worsening, more people were contributing to the economy and to the USSR’s government support. This industrialization and support strengthened the Soviet Union’s government, as well as their military, enabling them to fight against the Nazis in World War II. (Atkins) Stalin had many planners and organizers to help him create the different stages of the Five-Year Plan.
These very skilled economists helped develop the Five-Year Plan, but because of the unrest and confusion due to the Five-Year Plan, planners were called back to make variations and changes to the plan. “A Second Five-Year Plan was issued in one volume in 1934, already behind schedule. The planners were learning that one-year plans were more effective for managing the economy, leaving the five-year plans to serve as propaganda documents, especially effective abroad where the Great Depression seemed to signal the collapse of capitalism. ” (Holland)
While these lanners were working on the revisions of the plans, they kept the Five-Year Plan in place, as it worked as propaganda. Although it wasn’t as effective, the Five-Year Plans made western nations believe they were a lot more powerful and had a stronger government than they actually were. Although Joseph Stalin’s involvement in economic plans was a major impact on the world, one of his biggest impacts was the hatred and distrust developed for the Soviet Union. Apart from other people not sharing the communist beliefs, many thought Stalin’s rule was harsh and unfair.
Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the communist party, gave a speech during a Soviet congress meeting following Stalin’s death. During this speech, Khrushchev quotes a letter from Lenin and says, “Comrade Stalin accumulated in his hands immeasurable power and I am not certain whether he will be able to use this power with the required care… Stalin is excessively rude, and this defect, which can be freely tolerated in our midst and in contacts among us Communists, becomes a defect which cannot be tolerated in one holding the position of the Secretary General.
Because of this, I propose that the comrades consider the method by which Stalin would be removed from this position and by which another man would be selected for it, a man who, above all, would differ from Stalin in only one direction, namely, greater tolerance, greater loyalty, greater kindness and a more considerate attitude toward the comrades, a less capricious temper, etc. ” Even the previous leader of the Communist party thought Stalin was a harsh leader. Lenin attributed Stalin to being temperamental and because of this, declares he’s unfit in every way to become the Secretary General.
Developing the Five-Year Plan, while using his harsh and extreme rule has impacted the entire world socially, by creating a negative stigma held upon Russia by the rest of the world. Stalin’s impact in implementing his Five-Year Plan, and lowering the living standards for most of the USSR led to people not liking him. The Five-Year Plan, the living standards, and Stalin’s ideals of forced labor created many enemies for the USSR. This caused a lot of tension, and has led to many conflicts with the USSR and the rest of the world.
But because of this enormous increase in agricultural production, the USSR contributed to the global economy by providing much more resources than they ever could provide. This has ultimately created a better global economy with more trade. This was all due to Stalin’s push for productivity, and his enforcing it using the Five-Year Plan as a guideline for what people needed to do. Pushing people to do this magnitude of work also majorly improved the Soviet government. With their communist ideals, the USSR government took a large portion of the agriculture and products.
They were able to profit off of this greatly and also used the resources they had obtained to fund their military, making them a large global superpower. This has led to improving Russia’s current government and created a better current Russian economy. From creating the Five-Year Plan, to implementing it, Stalin was very successful in creating motivation for people to work. Forced labor has been a common thread all throughout Russian history, but Stalin was the most successful in increasing production.
The Five-Year Plan acted as a motivator, a propaganda piece, and a way to improve the Soviet and global economy. It also allowed the Soviet military to reach a strength where they could combat Nazis in World War II. Finally, Joseph Stalin’s rule with the Five-Year Plan created many negative stigmas against communism and the USSR. Stalin’s Five-Year Plan impacted the world socially and resulted in majorly improving the global economy. It’s caused the world to be the way that it is today, both economically and socially.