Question 1
Stalin was a proud man and was always aware of his image; he was keen to be seen as an impressive and inspiring leader. When he introduced the Five Year Plans he brought glory upon himself. This however, wasn’t the only reason that he introduced the plans. Other reasons include: Russia was barley self sufficient, it was in desperate need of modernisation, the plans eradicated Capitalism in Russia and the Five Year Plans unified Russia.
In terms of manufacturing output Russia seriously lagged behind its European rivals until the mid 1920’s. This is a quote from Stalin acknowledging that fact: “fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us.” Before the Five Year Plans were introduced Russia was producing a meagre 5% of the world’s manufacturing output. To put this into perspective, the USA was producing a whopping 43%. When Stalin had eventually manoeuvred himself into the Kremlin’s highest position of authority one of his first tasks was to modernise Russia. To do this he introduced the Five Year Plans.
One other reason for Stalin to introduce the Five Year Plans was that it eradicated capitalism in Russia. Before Stalin came to power Russia still had capitalist undertones. Some of its policies, especially the New Economic Policy that was introduced by Lenin were based upon capitalist ideas. The introduction of the Five Year Plans wiped out these capitalist undertones as the Five Year Plans involved everyone working for the state, rather than themselves.
A third reason for Stalin introducing the Five Year Plans was that it unified Russia. Russia was (and still is) the biggest country in the world. Since Russia was so big it was made up of many different tribes and communities. Having these different tribes wanting different things was difficult for Stalin to deal with. Stalin knew that if his leadership were going to be successful he would have to...