• 8.2: The Soviet Union: Stalinist Industrialization

    Following his rise to power, Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) abandoned the NEP in 1928 when he introduced his first Five Year Plan to dramatically increase Soviet industrial production and force the collectivization of agriculture. While his industrial goals were unrealistic, Stalin managed to substantially increase the industrialization in the new Soviet Union. However, when he forced the collectivization of agriculture, millions of farmers and agricultural workers starved to death when they were left with too little of their crops to live on. Agricultural collectivization was a failure for the Soviet state.