How did industrilization in the Soviet Union differ from the West.

by Rand019

In terms of the causes, means, duration and results.

Thank u for your time.

AllF4ther

Alright, ill take a crack at this.

The Soviet Union by all metrics had effectively "de-industrialized" which i dont think is generally the correct term used, but is consequently true as a factor of the Russian civil war.

The Russian civil war and WW1 as a backdrop, notably took Russia from a up and coming industrial powerhouse to a deflated backwater once again with something like 30-40% of its pre WW1 Industrial capacity in tact. This is somewhat notable as War Communism had been put into effect in order to streamline and maintain the remaining industrial base of the Bolsheviks during the civil war and was met with... disastrous consequences as a result. War communism was both a saving grace for the fledgling communist state, and also a full on disaster. While its argued the aims were broader than what actually happened, the War communism was formally a policy put into place to win the civil war plain and simple.

War communism was successful in its attempt to salvage the Red army and help stem the White armies advance but had some pretty drastic consequences for the general populous of the affected areas. It was somewhat starling since eventual this led to serious unrest and even potential for revolt by the very same people that had put Lenin and his men into power in the first place. Taking a look at raw data however its easy to figure out why.

"A black market emerged in Russia, even with the threat of martial law against profiteering. The Ruble pretty much completely collapsed and, by 1921, heavy industry output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels. 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than the ruble. 70% of locomotives were in need of repair, and food requisitioning, combined with the effects of seven years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths. Coal production decreased from 27.5 million tons (1913) to 7 million tons (1920), while overall factory production also declined from 10,000 million roubles to 1,000 million roubles. According to David Christian, the grain harvest was also slashed from 80.1 million tons (1913) to 46.5 million tons (1920)."

So as we leave the backdrop of the early years of the Bolsheviks and jump ahead to the Soviet union recently taken under the Stewardship of Stalin. Seeing as the majority of the Western World had intervened in the Russian civil war, and the Nazis and Communist ideologies simply didnt get along, Stalin saw a very clear need to crash course industrialize hence the 5 year plans.

This is specifically where Soviet industrialization and Western Industrialization diverge at the most apparent point. We look to the west which specifically industrialized due to market need and securing a market niche for themselves such as Steel, Textiles, Weapons, finished goods, you name it. Then we look to the soviets who had just seen most of the powerful nations of the world array against them to try and secure a white victory and a defeated and angry Germany who followed Hitlers badly written and planned ideology in "Mein Kampf." Stalin saw nothing but enemies everywhere and was increasingly paranoid of the "Capitalists" planning to show up and crush the Soviet state in its cradle. So as the Soviets unleashed their 5 year plans, they did it at possibly one of the best possible times for them to do it. The Great Depression gave them the agency, and a bevy of unemployed professionals from the west who were just concerned with making a living.

Since were talking about the initial Five Year Plans or (FYP's) the Soviets by the late 20's and early 30's traded relatively little with the outside world in comparison to their actual economic strength. This meant that any and all needs of the people had to be filled by the Soviet government and while some exceptions existed in minor cases at this point, the Soviets with their centralized planning via the Politburo were able to achieve astonishing and quick success in turning the USSR into an Industrial powerhouse. The Plans themselves went through some major planning phases and through many ministries and departments. It would go through the lower planning ministries which had detailed the status of the regional and local economies and needs, would look at the communist enterprises which existed and detail their needs and wants, and then would head up to the Supreme Administrative body for this the "Gosplan" which then evaluated all of this and then restructured and redrafted the plan as needed and then it was off.

Stalin had addressed the major issues facing the young Soviet Union in 1927-28. Stalin was paranoid, believing a Western invasion to occur at any moment much like the Russian revolution occupations of Russian territory by Western powers. The Soviet Union skipped the expanding capital base of a Light Industry sector and jumped straight into addressing the unrest caused by the Famines and relatively exposed position the country was in. Advocating Socialism in one country and faced by many external threats, many imagined, many real. With many Soviet citizens attempting to escape the country side he was able to exploit this. Factories would be built and he had a ready and able population flocking to industrial centers which sought out work. This in turn saw these beleaguered peoples standard of living increase rather drastically which would effectively create a large feedback loop which was virtually limitless for the time period. With Millions upon Millions of people to draw from, and a multitude of plans considered Stalin was under no threat of further internal issues as he had addressed the concerns of the People of their standard of living, and somewhat the Famines which ravaged the country. Holodomor is a whole different monster as it was specifically engineered.

To be completely fair though, the Russian industry was not necessarily a completely impotent beast as its made out to be and was relatively significant prior and during WW1 but there was a sort of Resurrection needed following WW1 and the civil war that the new Soviet State had to undergo since it had lost one of its primary drivers, Outside investment into Russias vast populations and resource wealth (which the French heavily financed prior to WW1 to make them a meaningful counterbalance to the Germans.) So yes while the 5 year plans were something that are completely divergent from Western Industrialization, it was mostly to bring the Soviet state back into a serious part of its Great power heritage and be competitive again on top of being a part of its "national healing" process.

R. W. Davies; Mark Harrison; S. G. Wheatcroft (9 December 1993). The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-521-45770-5.

"Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls". necrometrics.com. Retrieved 2017-12-12.

Christian, David (1997). Imperial and Soviet Russia. London: Macmillan Press Ltd. p. 236. ISBN 0-333-66294-6.