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Industrialisation and Collectivisation in the USSR (1928 to 1940)

From 1928 the Soviet state ran Five-Year Plans to build heavy industry fast and merged small farms into collective farms (kolkhozes). Coal, steel and electricity output grew several times and cities swelled. But the state took grain by force, richer peasants (kulaks) were removed, and the famine of 1932-33 killed millions. Industry gained; farming and ordinary life paid the price.

đŸŽŦ Step-by-step story

  1. The USSR is far behind the advanced countries. In 1931 Stalin says the gap must be closed in ten years. Watch the short red tower try to reach the tall grey one.
  2. Five-Year Plans begin in 1928. The bars show coal, steel and electricity. Watch them grow from 1928 to 1932, 1937 and 1940.
  3. Collectivisation from 1929: twelve small farms slide together into one big collective farm with a tractor.
  4. The cost: the grain bar stays almost flat, because the state takes grain by force. The famine of 1932-33 appears.
  5. Towns grow. The blue town people grow in number while the green village people shrink between 1926 and 1939.
  6. Free play: move the year slider from 1928 to 1940 and compare all four bars.

Tip: drag the 3D scene to turn it. Use two fingers to zoom.

🤔 Common doubts, cleared

Why was the USSR called backward?

Compared with Britain, Germany and the USA it made far less steel, fewer machines and had little power. The short tower in the 3D stands for that gap.

Why did the plans choose coal, steel and electricity first?

These make machines, weapons and power for everything else. The leaders thought they must be built before goods for shops.

Why did the state want collective farms?

Big farms with fixed quotas were easier to tax and watch than millions of small private farms, so grain for towns and export was surer.

Why did grain not rise even with tractors?

Many peasants killed animals and left farming or were removed, and quotas took the surplus. Tractors were few at first.

Why did towns grow so fast?

Factories needed workers and the countryside was pushed into collectives, so millions moved to cities. Housing could not keep up.

Which year had the biggest jump?

Slide the year slider: electricity and steel climb fastest between 1932 and 1937.

Why industrialise so fast?

Industrialisation means building factories, power stations and mines so that a country makes machines and steel, not only farm goods. In the 1920s, under the NEP, the USSR made enough for a small economy but was far behind Britain, Germany and the USA.

Stalin gave two reasons: (1) fear of attack, since the USSR had no big arms industry; (2) the dream of building socialism with a modern economy. In 1931 he said the country had to cover in ten years the distance others took fifty to a hundred years to cover. Another cause was the grain crisis of 1927 to 1928: peasants held back grain because state prices were low, so the towns were short of food.

The Five-Year Plans

A Five-Year Plan is a list of output targets for industry set by the state planning office (Gosplan). The first plan began in October 1928 and was declared done in four years and three months. The second ran 1933 to 1937 and the third from 1938 until the war.

Collectivisation of farming

Collectivisation means joining small private farms into big farms owned and run together. The state wanted a cheap and sure grain supply for towns and exports, and wanted to control the countryside.

Results: industry up, farming down, famine

Gains: the USSR became an industrial power. Its factories helped it build tanks and aircraft that mattered in the war from 1941. Urban population grew from about 26 million (1926) to about 56 million (1939), and literacy and technical schooling spread.

Costs:

Try it

Use the 3D. Before step 4, predict: will the grain bar be taller, equal or shorter than steel in 1940? Then use the slider in step 5 and note in which year each bar crosses x3. Which bar never does?

Key formulas and definitions

Worked examples

1. Steel output rose from about 4.3 million tonnes in 1928 to about 18 million tonnes in 1940. By what factor did it grow?

18 Ãˇ 4.3 ≈ 4.2. Steel output grew about 4 times.

2. Electricity went from about 5 to about 48 billion kWh in the same years. Find the growth factor and say what it shows.

48 Ãˇ 5 = 9.6, about 10 times. It shows that power grew faster than steel; factories needed electricity.

3. Explain two reasons why collectivisation led to a fall in animals and a very weak grain harvest in the early 1930s.

First, many peasants slaughtered or sold animals rather than hand them to the collective farm. Second, the state forced them to give up grain at fixed quotas, and farms were badly organised after the rush, so harvests were poor and little grain was left for villages.

Common mistakes

Practice quiz

1. When did the first Five-Year Plan begin?
2. Which type of industry got priority in the plans?
3. What is a kolkhoz?
4. Who were the kulaks in Soviet policy?
5. What happened to grain output in the 1930s compared with industry?

Practice: answer these yourself

Type or choose your answer, then press Check. Use a hint if you are stuck; the full solution appears after you answer.

Frequently asked questions

What was collectivisation?

It was the policy of joining small private farms into large collective farms (kolkhozes) that the state could control and take grain from.

Did the Five-Year Plans succeed?

In heavy industry the output grew several times and the USSR became an industrial power. But quality was often poor, consumer goods were few, and farming and living standards suffered.

Who were the kulaks?

The state used the word for richer peasants. They were called class enemies, and about two million people were sent away to distant areas during dekulakisation.

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