From 1928 Stalin abandoned the NEP for a forced transformation of the entire economy — "the Great Turn." In a decade the USSR became an industrial power, but at a human cost measured in millions of lives.
Why abandon the NEP?
The NEP had revived the economy but produced the scissor crisis (industrial prices high, grain prices low) and recurring procurement shortfalls. Stalin's reasons for the Great Turn combined ideology and strategy: autarky (self-sufficiency), military strength against a hostile capitalist world, reliable grain supply, and the building of socialism. The 15th Party Congress (1927) set the direction.
Collectivisation
Peasant farms were forced into collective farms (kolkhozes). The campaign of dekulakisation targeted wealthier peasants (kulaks) for deportation or execution. Peasants resisted by slaughtering livestock and reducing sowing — and the state's response, combined with continued grain exports to fund industry, produced the catastrophic Great Famine of 1932–33, including the Holodomor in Ukraine, which killed millions.
Industrialisation
The state planning agency Gosplan directed the economy through the Five-Year Plans. The First Plan (1928–32) prioritised heavy industry — coal, steel, electricity. Output targets were colossal and propaganda celebrated record-breaking workers (Stakhanovism). Achievements were real — entire new industrial cities like Magnitogorsk rose from nothing — but so were the costs: forced labour, appalling conditions, and falsified figures. The regime promoted the ideal of the "New Soviet Man," selflessly building socialism.
Let's build the balance sheet students will need for the Task 2 explanation.
| Policy | Achievements | Costs |
|---|---|---|
| Collectivisation | State control of grain; eliminated the kulak "class" | Famine/Holodomor; livestock destroyed; lasting agricultural weakness |
| Industrialisation | Rapid growth in heavy industry; new cities; military base for 1941 | Forced labour; poor conditions; consumer goods neglected; inflated figures |
Discuss: was the Great Turn a success? Agree on the criteria first (by whose measure — the state's? the peasants'?), then reach a judgement. Notice how the answer depends on the criteria chosen.
Q1. State two reasons Stalin launched the Great Turn.
Q2. Explain the relationship between collectivisation and industrialisation.
Q3. Explain the economic changes that transformed the USSR between 1928 and 1941, and assess their impact on peasants and factory workers. (Practice for Task 2.)