Unrealistic Five Year Plans example essay topic

The Russian Revolution negatively affected the lives of the Russian people. Though they were not being oppressed by the monarchs, they were still being oppressed by the communist leaders through giving the people no incentives, choice, nor freedom. Centralized planning was focused on industrial and agricultural development to the detriment of consumer needs. Stalin developed a form of centralized planning in 1928 called Five-Year plans. The Five-Year Plans were programs that forced industrialization and agricultural development in the U.S.S.R. Though production was the highest in 1940 after Stalin's Five-Year Plans as shown in document 4, peasants were being oppressed. The Soviet Union, under Stalin's control, was a harsh regime which controlled the lives of its citizens on every level.

Many of the average peasants were convinced of the necessity of the on-going revolution through continuous propaganda campaigns, as shown in document 1. However this didn't last long. Stalin started to create unrealistic Five-Year plans which led to the deportation and execution of hundreds of thousands of the better-off peasants, kulaks. Despite the death of millions from famine and goods shortages that these measures caused, Stalin pursued the program relentlessly. Peasants had no freedom, they were given no incentive. They were told what job to take and what to make, the peasants were made into the slaves of Stalin.

For example he attempted to revolutionize Soviet agricultural output. To achieve this, Stalin's agents scoured the countryside, forcing peasants to cooperate in killing those who refused to turn their privately owned land over to the state-controlled collectives. As shown in document two, Stalin ordered massacres on villages, and that anyone who opposed him to be shot. The civil war was fought by soldiers to free the peasants from oppression, only then to be forced to shoot them indiscriminately.

Lenin had another plan in mind than just freeing the peasants. Lenin's prediction was one day communism would rule all of Europe, and Europe capitalism would collapse, as shown in document 3. This prediction however did not hold true. Not many countries changed their way of governing to communism unless forced. Stalin became unrealistic which showed in his thinking and plans which was seen by the party.

The enormous tensions which were caused by this extraordinary drive led to a growing desire for normalization, which produced considerable dissatisfaction and in turn started a secret movement within the party to replace Stalin with Sergei Kirov, a secretary of the central committee and party leader in Leningrad. Kirov was soon murdered, in December 1934, which started a period of terror that lasted until 1939. During this period, virtually the entire political and military personnel who were close to Stalin were executed and placed in forced labor camps. This way Stalin, with the help of the secret police, established his personal dictatorship over the party and the country.

Stalin was humble, simply dressed, calming, and fatherly; qualities that appealed to his colleagues, and to the public. This allowed him to win the trust of the people and the party. He worked to save the peasants only to use them for his own oppression. Stalin worked for power and communism. Although Stalin was a ruthless leader he did not leave Russia powerless to the point of being conquered easily by the Germans in World War II.