Stalins Domestic Policies

1305 Words6 Pages
To what extent did Stalin’s domestic policies solve the problems they faced? When discussing to what extent Stalin’s domestic policies solved the problems they faced we must first look at the economic and political problems, then look at the policies Stalin used to solve these problems. The economic problems they faced included the limited industrial development and problems within agriculture. Stalin’s solutions to these problems were the Five Years Plans and Collectivization. The political problems they faced included the need to establish a one-party state and to increase power and control for him self within this one-party state. Stalin’s method to achieve this goal was through the purges and using coercion to control the population. He also used his already gained power to control arts, education and the church. In 1931 Stalin pointed out the economic backwardness of the USSR was up to 50 to 100 years behind the west. He continued to state that this must be made up within the next 10 years. Russia’s economic situation was one of the biggest problems they faced. This statement can help explain the rapid industrialization the USSR experienced in the following decade. Stalin’s policy to solve this problem was through the Five Year Plans, which were managed by Gosplan. Stalin introduced three Five Year Plans. These three plans took place from 1928 to 1942. The plans dealt with heavy industry and the goal was for heavy industry to increase by 300%. The first plan showed significant achievements, but when the second Five Year Plan was drafted in 1933, the success of the first plan had caused problems because the cost of the increased industry was mush higher than expected therefor the second and third plans were not as successful. The crisis year of 1932-33 caused other problems for the USSR due to the increase in population, which led to housing shortage, which
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