How successful were the Five- Year Plans in transforming Russian industry in the years to 1941?

Stalin made three five-year plans spanning from 1928 to 1941. He had very different aims for each of the plans and had some very optimistic targets for the achievements of these plans. An overriding theme of each of the plans was industry. Stalin wanted to restore Russia’s hold on industry and make it a great trading power once again.
The five year plans were very successful in helping building up the Russian industry. They did this through many ways, each contributing in a different manner. The production of raw materials increased dramatically thought eh five-year plans and industry on a whole became a lot more efficient. This can be seen through statistics that show the production in tonnes. Such materials as; coal, iron and steel, all rose in production quite dramatically. Iron rose from 4.2 million tonnes to 6.2 million tonnes, coal from 29.1 million tonnes to 64.3 million tonnes and steel from 4.0 million tonnes to 5.9 million tonnes. These were huge increases at that time. For an country that was struggling as much as Russia was at that time, it was an achievement. Stalin had many initiatives to achieve a better industry. He put in place a reward scheme for workers if they helped reach the targets that were set. Workers were encouraged to work for these rewards. This strategy worked wonders as it increased the turn around in the factories as the workers were all working for something at the end. One case of this would be the Russian miner, Stakhanovite. Stalin used this miner as a propaganda opportunity. Stakhanovite had been claimed to have mined an extreme amount in one shift. Stalin used him into the limelight as an inspirational man and someone who showed what communism was all about.
However, the targets Stalin had set were not, in reality, met. Even though the production did increase it was not by the dramatic rates Stalin and the communists had wanted it to and this made the plans seem like failures. They may have not succeeded to the rate the communists wanted to but they were still successful. Overall, the five year plans did indeed lead to a transformation in Russian industry as they helped the production of raw materials increase dramatically and this boosted the Russian industry dramatically.
In many ways the city of Magnitogorsk represent she best of the five year plans. It was a huge achievement for both the Russian workers and Stalin himself. Not only was it a marvel for others to look at it helped strengthen Russia industry. The town was built up from scratch. Stalin drafted in a quarter of a million workers and instructed them to build Russia largest steel factory. Stalin planned to make Magnitogorsk a town of strength and unity. He wanted it to be a place where the workers lived as one and worked as one. It was a very idealistic look on life and a target that many though couldn’t be achieved. The idea of a industry based community was one which had not ever existed. Stalin thought that by making his workers live and work as one in one place not only would he achieve the ‘communist family’ he desperately craved, he thought it would make them work harder and therefore it would help to make the Russian industry boom. The town was to be built around Russia largest steel works which were aimed to boost the production of steel dramatically. To build the town Stalin had drafted in many workers which meant the building would be efficiently done and should be very quick. However, conditions on the site were not as expected and many workers left after 80 days to find new work. This was not what Stalin needed, or wanted as it slowed work down and slowed Russia down. Also the community that Stalin so desperately wanted to create was never achieved. Yet again Stalin had set his sights to high and it had resulted in the quality decreasing. Having said this, the town was built and the steel works did help boost steel production massively. Overall, the town of Magnitogorsk was an achievement for Russia and it did help boost Russian economy through the huge steel works built there. Even if the community that Stalin had wanted to build was never actually created.
The five year plans were not whole a success though and they didn’t always help the Russian economy. The quality of the goods being made by the Russian workers was dramatically affected by the five year plans. Stalin pushed the workers to reach production targets and this had a counter effect on the quality of goods and materials produced. Workers desperately tried to reach the targets and earn rewards etc that they were focussing mainly on the numbers they were making and not if what they were producing was up to scratch. This was not helpful to the Russian industry. The quality of goods was very important to the sales and exports. Having this drop was not what Stalin wanted and therefore, this was not what he had planned. He focussed on the numbers and there was no quality control in place. The quality of the goods being produced was felt by the consumers as well. They were not impressed with the goods being made and therefore they did not buy as much. This had many knock on effects, one of which being on the economy. If public spending went down, so too did the governments income. This knocked on to affect industry and a cycle was created. It was not only felt in the consumer side of the economy. The industrial production was also dwindling. The quallity of the materials being extracted and produced was not very good and therefore it was not being sold well or exported. This was not what Stalin had wanted or planned. But as long as the targets were met Stalin did not care about the quality of the goods etc. Overall, the five year plans put pressure on the workers and forced them to rush the production processes which, in turn, made quality fall and the goods being made were not of a high standard. This was not what Stalin had hoped for and it did not help Russian industry.
Working and living conditions were absolutely awful under Stalin and the five year plans. The people were worked to exhaustion and had to live in squalor and cramped conditions. It didn’t make for a good environment. Even though living standards were not part of the plan and therefore are not necessarily a failure of the plan they did contribute to a failure in the industrial side of the plan. Workers were sustained on rations which provided a diet significantly poorer than that available under NEP. Stalin also introduced a seven day week which meant there wasn’t a ‘day of rest’ and meant workers were worked very hard and weren’t given any time to relax or catch up on sleep etc. This made them reach exhaustion very easily and many workers fell ill quickly under Stalin. Working conditions also decreased rapidly.
Peasants who had only recently moved to the cities and had little experience of industry periled quickly and this left Stalin at a loss of workers. This obviously did not help Russian industry. Managers were not concerned about the workers and the bad conditions they were living/working in. The managers did not really care as they were purely focussed on meeting government targets and so long as they were achieved they didn’t care much for their workers. Stalin and the communists had not realised that they should look after their workers as they were the key to improving industry. Labour discipline was harsh and lateness to work was criminalised. This was an extreme measure that Stalin had in place to ensure everyone treated work with respect and the job they were there to do was done, and completed to a high standard. Stalin also made striking illegal meaning workers had no way of objecting to what Stalin was making them do this meant they could not object to anything and therefore had to work and comply to the rakes Stalin imposed, regardless. Overall, the conditions Stalin imposed upon his workers were not helpful to the improvement of the Russian industry and didn’t help reach the goals Stalin had set.
In conclusion, the five year plans, although not fully, did help in transforming the Russian economy leading to the year 1941. They did this through many ways but the main ones being stains targets and the encouragement and pressure he imposed upon his workers. The pressure he imposed on them through punishments and targets that needed to be met was extreme. The workers feared if they did not maintain the standards that Stalin was after and if they did not reach the targets he had set. The workers were treated badly but were expected to work extremely hard at a very fast pace of work. This had very good results for the industry of Russia as production of raw materials etc rocketed and the targets Stalin had set, although not reached, were bought closer. Everything increased by a sizeable margin and this was an achievement. It made the Russian industry grow and strengthen.
For these reasons, the five year plans were indeed successful in transforming Russian industry to the year 1941.

This is a well written and well-structured response that shows good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Stalin's five year plans. Perhaps individual plans could have been focused on more specifically and some examples would have enhanced the argument. 4 out of 5 stars.