How successful were the Five-Year Plans?

Economic aims:  solve the problems of te NEP, rapid industrialisation, increase exports to fund industrialisation, outperform capitalist economies and improve labour productivity

Successes

• Huge new industrial complexes were built
• Electricity production trebled, coal and iron output doubled and steel production increased by one third
• The engineering industry developed
• Urbanisation - the majority of the population lived in towns and cities
• The Stakhanovite movement motivated workers to work harder, increasing productivity

Failures

• Little growth in consumer industries
• Factories ran short of materials
• Shortages of qualified personnel/workers due to the purges
• Overcrowding was intense and cities and towns grew by 200,000 people a month
• The majority of the population  changed jobs regularly due to the 'quicksand society'

Ideological aims: replace the free market with economic planning, convince peasants of the benefits of socialism and improve living and working conditions for workers

Successes

• Workers and young people were enthusiastic about projects and many volunteered to work on distant projects
• Provision of state nurseries and childcare meant women…