My Take on Josif Stalin's Russia

These writings are my take on two of Stalin's decisions as leader of Russia: The Collectivization of farms and all of the Five Year Plans proposed by Stalin.

Collectivization – This to me was an utter failure. Even though grain production within the Soviet Union gradually increased, the amount of livestock was drastically reduced as peasants who didn’t want to give into collective farming, slaughtered their animals as well as the constant grain shortages for livestock in the winter. The officials sent to overlook collective farms we often incompetent and inexperienced in the skill of farming, witch could have led to accidents in production. Peasants were less encouraged to provide more food as there was no economic gain for them as was delivered by Lenin’s capitalist ‘New Economic Policy,” in which the government sold a portion of the crop to the world market and distributed the money back to the peasantry. It is one thing for the government to own/control the farms, but another to force rules and decisions upon the farmers. There should have been more choices for these people as individual farms produced even more in the long run then collective farms. The only upside that I could see was the advancement of farming machinery and techniques given to the farmers as well as the growth of industrial centers as the result of the grain being distributed by the government. In all fairness, there should have been a better plan for mass agricultural production, and not the decision of collective farming. Collective farming itself is not a terrible idea, just that it could have turned out better with more experienced overseers, a reason to provide for the government on government owned lands, and more rights/benefits to the workers since they supported the Revolution.

 Lenin’s New Economic Policy had certain flaws as with modern day individual farming. Demand, market price, and supply, all played major factors in overall production and profit. This caused much more bureaucracy since the government took a portion of grain from thousands of farms, which could have fallen to human errors as well as how to distribute the money (if any) to individual farms, let alone, individuals. In conclusion, the “farming” factor of Communism is still a tricky one today. While grain was never in short supply, it didn’t prove to be much of a profit according to Soviet policies at the time. There should have been a way where the government can still own the land, yet not make it become a deficit or centers of riots. Collectivization could still be a key answer, but if so, must be remodeled into modern day standards and better efficiency.

The Five Year Plan (all) – The Five Year Plan proposed by Stalin had both bad yet prominent effects. While it did a tremendous job industrializing 200 years of narrow-mindedness, it was at the cost and moral of the workers. Pig iron doubled that of Britain’s output, electricity was brought to industrial centers, and coal tripled in output. Yet living conditions were horrible and were often set with 500 men in one room with either a poorly made bed, or a wooden coffin-like floor. Casualties drastically increased as the need for safety measures grew. Many peasants fled from collective farms in hopes that industrial life would be better only to find a 7 day work week with long hours. Many people, especially the youth factions, found this as a challenge to be taken and rushed to it with fervor. Many American poets and novelists complained about Russia’s living and working conditions, yet the people didn’t care as long as they thought that they were building a better future for their children and their grandchildren. Stalin even pushed further by demanding factories to mean certain demands by FOUR years. This made the managers appointed by Stalin worried and often inflated the actual production numbers in fear of their lives. This plan did have many flaws though. Stalin leaned away from Lenin’s idea that “factories should be run according to joint decisions made by workers’ councils.” When machinery broke, in was often hard to receive replacement parts and often workers would be idle for weeks on end. Another factor of failure was that many of the peasants from the countryside were often ill-trained and often broke or made errors on certain jobs. Workers were paid according to how much work they filled in their quota. If they did even more than was expected, they received free holidays, increased rations, a trip to the Kremlin, and in some cases, an award from the Kremlin. However, if workers didn’t fill their quotas, then mostly their rations were cut, more labor was forced upon them, and in certain cases, they were sent to work camps in Siberia. If a worker was late, they were often beaten; if they were absent, they were dismissed and their home was taken and they faced imprisonment, work camps, or even execution.

            The Five Year Plan did not show the true moral virtues of true Communism. Living conditions were often horrible and in the winter, power outages often froze people to death; working conditions were not even better. Strict work hours were forced upon the people and those who didn’t agree were punished. This does not show true Communism, but an ugly side of authoritarian rule. In terms of production, Stalin did a considerate job of reversing decades of lost progress, but could have been more lenient and attentive to the Russian people as well as set realistic goals.