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Stalin 's First 5 Year Plan

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In order to determine the overall success of Stalin’s first 5 Year Plan, the strengths and weaknesses of the plan must be explored and evaluated. In this essay, I will be evaluating that Stalin’s first 5 Year Plan was a long term success but also a short term failure. In regards to the successes of the 5 Year Plan, I will cover subjects such as the economic expansion of Russia, comparisons between military action in both World War 1 (before the plan was put into action) and World War II (10 years after the plan had been completed.) As for the failures that may show how the 5 Year Plan was unsuccessful, I will be exploring the working conditions in Russia and the use of Gulags (labour camps) throughout this period amongst other topics.
One of the main strengths of the first 5 year plan was a great increase in industrial output across Russia. For example, iron production increased from 3.3 to 6.2 million tonnes, steel production also grew from 4.0 to 5.9 million tonnes, and coal production grew from 35.4 to 64.8 and oil increased from 11.7 to 21.4 million tonnes all in the same period. Across all of these industries, Soviet industrial production was on average 1.8 times higher in 1933 than in 1928, clearly showing an increase in industrial output in four years, which was Stalin’s original plan as he delivered a message to the workforce to ‘fulfil the 5 Year Plan in four!’ . In addition, the Soviet economy rose to 14% per annum , showing that the first 5 year plan was a success

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