"Contrary to myths": how the five-year plan changed the economy of the USSR

After the revolution of 1917 in Soviet Russia, and then in the USSR, the search began for an economic model for the further development of the country. From 1918 to 1921, the RSFSR experienced a period of war communism, which was characterized by large-scale nationalization of industry, centralization of management, and prodrome. As the country emerged from the Civil War, the authorities began to pursue a new economic policy (NEP). The surplus was replaced by a tax in kind, elements of market relations and private entrepreneurship were restored.

Five year plans

In the mid-1920s, it became clear to the USSR authorities that the pace of industrial development under the NEP did not allow catching up with Western countries. Moreover, the industrial gap continued to increase - unemployment increased in cities.

Among economists and party functionaries began discussions on the future development of the country. As a result, Joseph Stalin supported the point of view of those experts who advocated for the release of products, future structural changes and strict discipline. It was decided to base the planning of economic development for five years.

“This period was not chosen by chance. This is the horizon on which everything is clear and, as a rule, there can be no big surprises, ”said Mikhail Delyagin, research director of the Institute for Problems of Globalization, in an interview with RT.

In December 1927, the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was held in Moscow, at which Directives were adopted to draw up the first five-year plan for the development of the USSR national economy.

• Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Vyacheslav Molotov, People's Commissar for Military and Maritime Affairs Clement Voroshilov, Chairman of the SNK of the USSR and SNK of the RSFSR Alexei Rykov, Head of the Political Administration of the Red Army Andrei Bubnov, Secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions Andrei Andreev (right to left) in the Presidium of the XV Congress of the CPSU (B)
• RIA News

Two years later, a conference of the CPSU (b) was held in the capital. It approved a resolution on the five-year plan for the development of the national economy. From April - May 1929, historians count the beginning of five-year planning.

The beginning of industrialization

By the period of industrialization, most researchers include three five-year plans (the first (1928-1932), the second (1933-1937) and the third, which began in 1938). Stalin announced her strategic tasks at the first All-Union Conference of Socialist Industry Workers.

“We are 50–100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us, ”the Soviet leader said.

The labor force for the realization of the ideas of industrialization was enough. The party and the Komsomol successfully carried out a propaganda campaign. Many people left the cities from the countryside for a higher quality of life. Foreign specialists were actively involved in the creation of new enterprises.

The first and second five-year plans were presented to the country by Turksib, Dneproges, Uralmash, GAZ, metallurgical and tractor factories, as well as many other strategically important industrial facilities.

• The builders of the Dnieper plant gathered for a rally before the station was launched. 1932
• RIA News

It was impossible to industrialize without qualitative changes in the science and education of citizens. In 1930, universal primary education was introduced in the USSR, and seven years in cities. Soviet scientists and educators lined up a system of higher technical education.

According to the results of the first two five-year plans, the production of iron and steel in the USSR quadrupled, coal 3.5 times, oil 2.5 times, electricity seven times.

From 1928 to 1940, the GDP of the Soviet Union increased, according to various estimates, at a rate of 3% to 6.3% per year. The average annual growth rate of industrial production reached 16%. In terms of product output, the USSR came in second place in the world after the United States.

The role of five-year plans in the war

The methodologist of the Victory Museum Irina Arkhangelskaya noted in a conversation with RT that the third five-year plan was marked by preparations for the Great Patriotic War.

"The 1938 Munich Agreement eloquently testified that a large-scale conflict could not be avoided," the expert stressed.

According to Arkhangelsk, the third five-year plan is a stage of extensive construction. During these years, about 3 thousand new large plants and factories were put into operation. By 1941, the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia, and the eastern regions of the country began to play a prominent role in industrial production.

“It was there that the foundations of the infrastructure were laid, thanks to which, in the first months of the war, it was possible to organize the evacuation of enterprises from the west, to organize their work in a new place,” the expert emphasized.

• Superfast locomotive 2-3-2 Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Plant. Moscow, 1939
• RIA News
• © Anatoly Garanin

Arkhangelskaya noted that by the end of the third five-year plan, the Soviet Union had turned from an agrarian country into an industrial power.

“By 1940, production assets increased sevenfold compared with 1928. The USSR already produced about 10% of the world industrial output. By 1941, since the beginning of the industrialization policy in the Soviet Union, 23 thousand new factories were built. These scientific, technical and economic successes largely determined the results of the war, ”the expert added.

Economy of peaceful life

After the victory over Nazi Germany, the Soviet leadership set a task for society to rebuild the country, make a new economic breakthrough and increase industrial production three times compared with the pre-war level.

By 1961, the authorities' plans were exceeded: the USSR produced 50.9 million tons of pig iron, 70.8 million tons of steel, 506.4 million tons of coal, 166 million tons of oil. The volume of engineering in 1950 was 2.3 times higher than the figures of 1940.

Instead of the seventh five-year plan, the seven-year plan of 1959-1965 was introduced, aimed at the development of high-tech industries, the growth of living standards and the improvement of the military-industrial complex against the background of the Cold War.

During this period, oil production doubled, mass construction of neighborhoods began, and the production of passenger cars grew dynamically. National income for the seven-year plan grew by 53%, industrial products - by 84%, real incomes of the population - by one third.

Since the late 1960s, the growth rates of the main economic indicators began to decline gradually, although in general they remained fairly high. In the 1980s, the USSR's share in global industry was about 20%, and the economy as a whole was second only to the American one.

• Construction of residential buildings in Academichesky travel in Moscow. 1960 year
• RIA News
• © Igor Vinogradov

In the last decade of the Soviet Union’s existence, a decline in economic efficiency and a technological lag behind Western states began to appear. In the years of perestroika, negative trends only worsened. In the late 1980s, GDP growth rates declined, in 1990 they became negative. The 13th five-year plan was not implemented due to the collapse of the USSR.

Despite the problems that arose in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Delyagin called the idea of ​​five-year planning a success. In his opinion, the experience of the five-year plans can be used today.

“Five-year planning is applied in a number of highly developed countries, for example in France. This is the ideal form of industry functioning. Pre-industrial and post-industrial components of the economy require other approaches, but for industry planning, in my opinion, have not yet come up with anything better, ”concluded the expert.