Two, the implementation of the Five-Year Plan
The Soviet Union, for the first time in the history of mankind, adopted the formulation of a scientifically rigorous and well-thought-out plan for the organized large-scale construction of the country. The USSR implemented three Five-Year Plans before the Patriotic War. (The third five-year plan was not completed.)
From 1928 to 1937, the USSR successfully completed the first and second five-year plans, and the focus of the Soviet Union's socialist construction was on the development of heavy industry and defense industry. By the eve of the Patriotic War in 1941, the USSR had built a large number of large-scale, new equipment, technologically advanced large-scale industrial and mining enterprises. The Soviet Union's iron and steel, machinery manufacturing, electric power, petrochemical, automobile, tractor, aviation, and military industries developed rapidly. The USSR became the first industrial power in Europe and the second in the world. The USSR established an independent and complete national economic system and realized socialist industrialization. The USSR was transformed from a backward agricultural country to a strong industrial country. The Soviet Union's national defense strength was greatly strengthened, and a large number of advanced weapons and equipment were developed, laying the material foundation for the subsequent anti-fascist war.
Three historical examples of the struggle of the Soviet people:
The Western bourgeois press called the Soviet Five-Year Plans "dreamer's nonsense" and "red fantasy". On the road to socialist industrialization, the USSR was indeed beset by unimaginable difficulties, with insufficient capital, building materials, machinery and experts. Industrialization required enormous sacrifices and efforts on the part of the Soviet people. At that time, the USSR had its own food shortage. Nevertheless, it had to export grain in exchange for the necessary foreign exchange and to purchase Western machinery and equipment. The people also had to deduct a considerable part of their wages for a long period of time from their already modest incomes to buy industrialization bonds. At that time Soviet workers had only half a day's rest per week. Soviet peasants even sold their agricultural products at low prices and bought industrial goods at high prices for the sake of national construction, sacrificing the improvement of their own lives. The people of the Soviet Union worked diligently with a high revolutionary spirit, never fearing difficulties, and created one miracle after another. By the time of the Patriotic War the USSR had established 9,000 large modern enterprises, and investment in the national economy totaled more than 270 billion rubles. The Soviet Union's iron and steel, machine building, large equipment manufacturing, electric power, aviation, defense, petroleum and heavy chemical industries had reached the world's advanced level. in 1940, the Soviet Union's industrial production capacity was 10 times that of 1913. in 1929, during the construction of two iron and steel complexes in Magonitogorsk and Kuznetsk. More than 12,000 young people responded to the call of the **** Youth League and went to the Urals and Siberia. They lived in tents and earthen kilns, ate half-starved, dug foundations with shovels and pickaxes, and worked in shifts day and night. It took only three years for two of the world's largest iron and steel complexes to be built and put into operation. in the spring of 1932. A batch of *** youth corps members drove into the primitive forests on the banks of the Amur River, shoveling out the old roots of century-old trees, draining swamps, picking up factories and housing, four years later a new industrial city - *** Qingcheng. Appeared. In the "Second Five-Year Plan" period, the Soviet Union set off a socialist labor competition movement known as the Stakhanov movement. the night of August 30, 1935, the Ukrainian Donbass coal mine of young miners Stakhanov, the use of new and improved technology, digging 102 tons of media in six hours, more than the quota of 13.5 times. People learnt from him and innovated their techniques in production, and all units actively carried out socialist labor competitions, and all kinds of production records were constantly set. The first two five-year plans of the Soviet Union were completed nine months ahead of schedule.
7. Collectivization of agriculture: In order to make factories and cities get more food and agricultural products, in the 1930s, the Soviet Union implemented large-scale collectivization of agriculture, but the collectivization of some twists and turns. By 1940 the Soviet Union had completed the collectivization of agriculture and the socialist transformation of agriculture. Collective farms and state-run tractor stations were widely established in the USSR, which changed the backwardness of Soviet agriculture and rapidly increased the level of mechanization. The collectivization of agriculture ensured the realization of industrialization. However, the collectivization of agriculture suffered from the problems of being too coarse, too hasty and against the farmers' will. Because of insufficient investment in agriculture, the development of Soviet agriculture was slow.
8. The superiority of the socialist system: the great achievements of the Soviet Union's national economy and social life showed the great advantages of socialism. In the thirties, the life of the Soviet people was significantly improved, with a brand-new city rising up, residential buildings and all kinds of municipal, cultural and educational facilities being rapidly constructed, laborers' wages being substantially raised, the people's health and medical care level being rapidly improved, and the people living and working in peace and contentment, with unemployment basically being eliminated. Unemployment was basically eliminated in the USSR, and the average life expectancy in the USSR increased from 34 years in 1918 to 64 years in 1938. The socialist cultural construction in the USSR was also a brilliant achievement, with the emergence of a large number of world-renowned literati and artists, and the birth of a large number of outstanding works of literature and art, which greatly enriched the spiritual and cultural life of the people. The level of culture, education and science in the USSR was greatly improved. All kinds of crimes were greatly reduced, and such social evils as pornography, gambling, drug addiction and blackness were completely eliminated. The propaganda and education on the spirit of ****productivism were vigorously promoted. The moral outlook of the people was positive.
9. The Establishment of the Soviet Socialist Model (Stalin Model): The Soviet Union adopted a new constitution in 1936, announcing the elimination of exploitation and private ownership and the establishment of the socialist system in the USSR, and the Stalinist constitution marked the formation of a highly centralized political and economic system in the USSR.
III. Evaluation of the Socialist System in the USSR
Socialism in the USSR was the first socialist system of mankind. It was formed in the Soviet Union under the special circumstances of being surrounded by imperialism, relatively backward in domestic economy and culture, isolated in the international situation and dangerous in domestic form.
Positive effects: (1) The Soviet Union's socialist construction achievements were brilliant. The Soviet Union only took more than ten years to complete the road of the western capitalist countries for hundreds of years, realized socialist industrialization, and became the first in Europe and the second in the world, a powerful industrial country, laying a strong material foundation for the victory of the anti-fascist war. (2) The USSR rapidly got rid of its backwardness, the lives of the vast number of working people were improved, social welfare such as culture, education and health were effectively guaranteed, and for the first time the masses of the people were able to lead a dignified and secure life. The USSR built a brand-new society that truly eliminated class exploitation and oppression and eliminated serious social evils. Negative effects: Priority was given to the development of heavy industry leading to a serious imbalance in the proportion of the national economy, and agriculture and light industry were in a state of long-term backwardness, affecting the improvement of the people's life; industrialization deprived the peasants too much, harmed their interests, and discouraged them from producing; economic development was sloppy focusing on quantitative growth, and paying little attention to quality, variety, and efficiency; the mode of economic growth was sloppy and economically ineffective; the politics were highly centralized, the Serious bureaucracy and lack of supervision by the people; lagging behind in the construction of democracy and legal system. Evaluation of the socialist construction of the USSR: Stalin led the people of the USSR to build the first socialist country in the world by uniting the strength of the whole party and the whole nation. The socialist construction of the USSR made great and brilliant achievements, laid the material foundation for the victory in the anti-fascist war, and embodied the superiority of socialism. But the socialist construction of the USSR also had serious shortcomings and mistakes.