The Stalinist industrialization of the late 1920s - 30s was traditionally viewed by Soviet historiography (as well as Soviet propaganda) as a way to raise the economy of the USSR to a global level. A sharp increase in productive forces was accompanied by the elimination of trade, a sharp decline in the production of consumer goods, a decrease in consumption itself to a minimum level and, accordingly, a catastrophic drop in the standard of living of the population.
The Second Five-Year Plan (1933-37) continued the primary emphasis on heavy industry. By the late 1930s, however, collectivized farms were performing somewhat better (after reaching a nadir during the period 1931-34). In 1935 a new law permitted individual peasants to have private plots, the produce of which they could sell on the open market. According to official statistics, during the Second Five-Year Plan gross agricultural production increased by just under 54 percent. In contrast, gross industrial production more than doubled.
The Plan combined unnaturally high directive planned indicators of industrial growth, which had to be fulfilled at any cost, and deliberately not designed for fulfillment, purely fictitious fantastic indicators of growth in labor productivity, consumer consumption, housing construction, etc. The first completely excluded the second. The implementation of Stalin's plans for industrial production could be carried out only at the expense of the population.
Approved by the 17th Congress of the CPSU (b) at the beginning of 1934, the Plan proclaimed the main task of the five-year plan - the construction of the material and technical basis of socialism. The main slogan of the second five-year plan: "Cadres decide everything!" A struggle to increase labor productivity has begun in the country. ¬ In the second five-year plan, the average annual growth rate of industrial production decreased to 16.5% (against 30% in the first five-year plan). Were taken into account the miscalculations in the development of light industry, which now had to outstrip heavy industry in terms of production growth. In addition, it was planned to expand the output of consumer goods at heavy industry enterprises. All this was due to the need to resolve pressing social issues, to somehow raise the living standards of the working people. It was planned to create new industrial centers in the Urals, Western and Eastern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Transcaucasia.
The main attention of the CPSU (b) was still focused on the decisive areas of technical reconstruction: energy and mechanical engineering, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, the fuel industry and transport. Along with a decrease in the growth rate of industrial production, the second five-year plan was also characterized by some expansion of the independence of enterprises, a revival of material incentives for workers and employees, and the strengthening of the ruble. The economy was introducing piece-rate bonuses for completing and overfulfilling tasks. Differentiation of wages was introduced - depending on working conditions. During the second five-year plan VSNKh was headed by G.K. Ordzhonikidze, V.V. Kuibyshev was transferred to the leadership of the USSR State Planning Committee. Ordzhonikidze assessed the situation in industry and the potential of the economy as a whole more realistic than many other leaders.
The economic stimulus was complemented by a call for widespread socialist competition. The Stakhanov movement developed in the country, named after the miner Alexei Stakhanov. On the night of August 30 to 31, 1935, he set an unprecedented coal production record, exceeding the norm by 14 times in one shift.
Stakhanov's successes were marked by government awards, received all-Union fame. The party called for work in the Stakhanov way in all branches of production. Now the Stakhanovites appeared in almost every enterprise. Note that their extra-standard work was paid an order of magnitude higher than other workers. In addition, they received fame, recognition, the opportunity to move up the career ladder. Despite all the difficulties of everyday life, the idea of ??the industrial advancement of the country spread deeper and deeper among the working people. Ideology and propaganda combined with a patriotic attitude. A significant part of Soviet workers wanted to prove with their labor that they could build more and produce faster than at construction sites and factories in the USA, Germany or England. However, the desire to set records led in a number of cases to damage to new and expensive equipment.
In the second five-year plan, the construction of plants, factories, and power plants continued (4.5 thousand industrial enterprises). The Ural Machine-Building and Chelyabinsk Tractor Plants, dozens of blast furnaces, mines and power plants were commissioned. The first metro line was opened in Moscow. Huge capital investments went into the industry of the Union republics. In Ukraine - to machine-building enterprises, in Uzbekistan - to metal processing plants, etc. New industrial centers and new industries appeared in the country: chemical, aviation, tractor-building. Scientific and technical backwardness was overcome. The industrial base began to move to the East.
Labor productivity doubled in comparison with the first five-year plan. The import of foreign equipment decreased 10 times. There were significant successes in the development of transport. The White Sea-Baltic canal and the Moscow-Volga canal, the Turkestan-Siberian road were laid. Air transport arose, which played a decisive role in the development of the North. The Northern Sea Route through the seas of the Arctic Ocean was opened for navigation. The country gained economic independence and independence. New enterprises provided 4/5 of all industrial production. The production of coal has doubled, oil production has doubled, and rolled steel production has tripled. The bulk of the new workers came out of the peasants (2/3 of 12 million in the first five-year plan).
The economy was in dire need of qualified personnel. The slogan "Cadres decide everything!" involved gigantic efforts in training specialists in their field. In 1933, factory apprenticeship schools (FZU) were reorganized into professional educational institutions. During the years of the second five-year plan, 1.4 million people received specialties. Refresher courses were opened at factories and plants. In the mid-1930s, the Soviet military-industrial complex (MIC) was formed. In 1936, the People's Commissariat of the Defense Industry was formed, to which a large number of industrial enterprises, as well as various scientific research organizations and design bureaus were subordinate. Completion of the second five-year plan was announced ahead of schedule - again in 4 years and 3 months. However, modern historians cite data that during this time the second five-year plan was fulfilled only by 75-77% of the original tasks. Nevertheless, the overall results of the second five-year plan were more successful than the indicators of the first.
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