Second Five-Year Plan
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| Second Five-Year Plan | |
|---|---|
| Name | Second Five-Year Plan |
| Period | 1933–1938 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Planners | Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Alexei Rykov |
| Main targets | Heavy industry, First Five-Year Plan, collectivization consolidation |
| Preceding | First Five-Year Plan |
| Succeeding | Third Five-Year Plan |
Second Five-Year Plan The Second Five-Year Plan was a central planning program initiated in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin and senior officials such as Vyacheslav Molotov and Mikhail Kalinin. Framed after the completion reports of the First Five-Year Plan and contemporaneous with policy debates involving figures linked to Leon Trotsky and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the plan emphasized expansion of heavy industry, consolidation of agricultural collectivization linked to the Collectivization in the Soviet Union campaign, and improvements to infrastructure projects exemplified by initiatives like the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station. It was implemented amid international events including the Great Depression, the rise of Nazi Germany, and shifts in policy following the Soviet famine of 1932–1933.
Background and objectives
The plan emerged from the Politburo and technical institutes influenced by earlier debates within the Communist International and economic thinking promoted by planners tied to Gosplan and industrial engineers trained at institutions such as the Moscow State University and the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Aimed to follow up on the First Five-Year Plan's achievements, leadership like Sergei Kirov and administrators such as Vyacheslav Molotov articulated objectives stressing growth in metallurgical works associated with facilities like the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, expansion of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, and capacity increases at petroleum complexes in regions connected to Baku. The objectives also responded to geopolitical concerns involving tensions with Imperial Japan in the Far East and the evolving diplomatic posture toward France and the United Kingdom.
Economic policies and industrial targets
Planners prioritized sectors identified in reports from Gosplan and industrial ministries overseen by ministers such as Grigory Ordzhonikidze and technicians like Sergo Ordzhonikidze. Targets included output increases for coal mines in the Donbas, iron ore extraction near Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, steel production at Magnitogorsk, tractor and machinery manufacturing at plants tied to the Kharkov Tractor Plant and locomotive production at facilities linked to the Sormovo Shipyard. Policies combined centralized investment allocation promoted by the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry with mobilization campaigns reminiscent of earlier drives led by organizers influenced by Alexei Stakhanov's productivity movement. The plan also sought to expand transport infrastructure through projects associated with the Trans-Siberian Railway and enhancements to ports linked to Murmansk and Black Sea Fleet logistics.
Implementation and regional programs
Implementation relied on regional soviets, industrial trusts, and construction brigades operating in concert with enterprises in the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and the Volga basin. Major undertakings included expansion of metallurgical complexes at Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, hydroelectric development at the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, and industrialization efforts in the Donbas coalfields. Workforce mobilization drew from recruitment campaigns tied to institutions like the Red Army's reserves, technical schools affiliated with the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, and migration flows encouraged by ministry directives based in Moscow and Leningrad. Regional programs featured coordination with engineers and planners connected to the Uralvagonzavod complex and shipbuilding yards such as Sevastopol Shipyard.
Social impact and consumer sectors
Social consequences were profound in urban and rural zones, affecting households tied to collective farms associated with the Collective farm movement and urban workers at plants like Kharkov Tractor Plant and Magnitogorsk. Consumer goods industries — textiles centered in Ivanovo, footwear workshops in Kazan, and food processing units in Rostov-on-Don — were subordinated to heavy industry priorities, producing shortages that intersected with relief efforts linked to the Soviet famine of 1932–1933. Education and public health institutions such as the People's Commissariat for Education and medical facilities in Leningrad saw mixed investment outcomes, while labor policies enforced by organs like the NKVD had effects on disciplinary regimes, internal migration, and skilled personnel distribution.
Outcomes and evaluation
By the plan's nominal end, official statistics presented by Gosplan and reported in publications associated with the Pravda apparatus claimed substantial gains in steel, coal, and machinery output, with flagship projects like Magnitogorsk and the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station becoming emblematic successes. Independent historical assessments referencing archival material, testimony involving technocrats from Gosplan and accounts tied to managers at the Kharkov Tractor Plant, note that while heavy industry and transport capacity expanded, consumer goods shortages persisted and agricultural recovery lagged due to lingering effects of the Collectivization in the Soviet Union and weather-related crop failures. Economic historians comparing data from contemporaneous sources such as reports by Leon Trotsky sympathizers and Western observers linked to John Maynard Keynes-era analyses highlight methodological disputes over output measurement and social cost.
Legacy and historical significance
The plan influenced subsequent programs, shaping priorities in the Third Five-Year Plan and wartime industrial relocation ahead of the Great Patriotic War era. It left an institutional legacy within bodies like Gosplan and industrial conglomerates including Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works and Uralvagonzavod, and it became a subject of study in Soviet historiography promoted by outlets such as Pravda and contested in émigré accounts linked to figures associated with the White émigré community. Internationally, the plan informed debates among policymakers in Germany and observers in United States and United Kingdom about planned industrialization models. Monuments, museum exhibits in cities like Magnitogorsk and Dnepropetrovsk (now Dnipro) and archival records preserved in institutions such as the State Archive of the Russian Federation reflect debates over achievement versus human cost, making the plan a pivotal episode in 20th-century industrial history.