Editing Joseph Stalin (section)

====Economic policy====
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=We have fallen behind the advanced countries by fifty to a hundred years. We must close that gap in ten years. Either we do this or we'll be crushed.

This is what our obligations before the workers and peasants of the USSR dictate to us.|source= — Stalin, February 1931{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=273}} }}

The Soviet Union lagged far behind the industrial and agricultural development of the Western powers.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=256}} Stalin's government feared attack from capitalist countries,{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=172–173|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=256|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3pp=638–639}} and many communists, including in [[Komsomol]], [[OGPU]], and the Red Army, were eager to be rid of the NEP and its market-oriented approach.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=144, 146|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=258}} They had concerns about those who profited from the policy: affluent peasants known as "[[kulak]]s" and small business owners, or "[[NEPmen]]".{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=256|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=571}} At this point, Stalin [[Great Break (USSR)|turned against]] the NEP, which put him on a course to the "left" even of Trotsky or Zinoviev.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=253|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=101}}

In early 1928, Stalin travelled to [[Novosibirsk]], where he alleged that kulaks were hoarding grain and ordered them be arrested and their grain confiscated, with Stalin bringing much of the grain back to Moscow with him in February.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=147–148|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=257–258|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3pp=661, 668–669, 679–684|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=102–103}} At his command, grain procurement squads surfaced across West Siberia and the Urals, with violence breaking out between the squads and the peasantry.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=258|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=103}} Stalin announced that kulaks and the "middle peasants" must be coerced into releasing their harvest.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=258}} Bukharin and other Central Committee members were angered that they had not been consulted about the measure.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=258|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=105}} In January 1930, the Politburo approved the "liquidation" of the kulak class, which was exiled to other parts of the country or concentration camps.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=267}}{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=160|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=166}} By July 1930, over 320,000 households had been affected.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=267}} According to [[Dmitri Volkogonov]], dekulakisation was "the first mass terror applied by Stalin in his own country."{{Sfn|Volkogonov|1991|p=167}}

[[File:Stakhanov.JPG|thumb|[[Alexei Stakhanov|Aleksei Stakhanov]] with a fellow miner. Stalin's government initiated the [[Stakhanovite movement]] in order to encourage hard work.{{Sfn|Sandle|1999|p=231}}]]

In 1929, the Politburo announced the [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|mass collectivisation of agriculture]],{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=265–266|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=110–111}} establishing both ''[[kolkhoz]]'' collective farms and ''[[sovkhoz]]'' state farms.{{Sfn|Sandle|1999|p=234}} Although officially voluntary, many peasants joined the collectives out of fear they would face the fate of the kulaks.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=113}} By 1932, about 62% of households involved in agriculture were part of collectives, and by 1936 this had risen to 90%.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=271}} Many collectivised peasants resented the loss of their private farmland,{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=270}} and productivity slumped.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=270|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=116}} Famine broke out in many areas,{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=272|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=116}} with the Politburo frequently being forced to dispatch emergency food relief.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=272}} Armed peasant uprisings broke out in Ukraine, the [[North Caucasus]], Southern Russia, and Central Asia, reaching their apex in March 1930; these were suppressed by the army.{{Sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=270|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=113–114}} Stalin responded with [[Dizzy with Success|an article]] insisting that collectivisation was voluntary and blaming violence on local officials.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=160|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=114}} Although he and Stalin had been close for many years,{{Sfn|Volkogonov|1991|p=174}} Bukharin expressed concerns and regarded them as a return to Lenin's old "[[war communism]]" policy. By mid-1928, he was unable to rally sufficient support in the party to oppose the reforms;{{Sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=172|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=260|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=708}} in November 1929, Stalin removed him from the Politburo.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=158|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=266|3a1=Conquest|3y=2008|3p=18}}

Officially, the Soviet Union had replaced the "irrationality" and "wastefulness" of a [[market economy]] with a [[planned economy]] organised along a long-term and scientific framework; in reality, Soviet economics were based on ''ad hoc'' commandments issued often to make short-term targets.{{Sfn|Sandle|1999|pp=227, 229}} In 1928, the [[First five-year plan (Soviet Union)|first five-year plan]] was launched by Stalin with a main focus on boosting Soviet heavy industry;{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=259}} it was finished a year ahead of schedule, in 1932.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=274}} The country underwent a massive economic transformation:{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=265}} new mines were opened, new cities like [[Magnitogorsk]] constructed, and work on the [[White Sea–Baltic Canal]] began.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=265}} Millions of peasants moved to the cities, and large debts were accrued purchasing foreign-made machinery.{{Sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=118}}

Many major construction projects, including the White Sea–Baltic Canal and the [[Moscow Metro]], were constructed largely through forced labour.{{Sfn|Conquest|1991|pp=186, 190}} The last elements of workers' control over industry were removed, with factory managers receiving privileges;{{Sfn|Sandle|1999|pp=231–233}} Stalin defended wage disparity by pointing to Marx's argument that it was necessary during the lower stages of socialism.{{Sfn|Sandle|1999|pp=241–242}} To promote intensification of labour, medals and awards as well as the [[Stakhanovite movement]] were introduced.{{Sfn|Sandle|1999|p=231}} Stalin argued that socialism was being established in the USSR while capitalism was crumbling during the [[Great Depression]].{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=269}} His rhetoric reflected his [[utopian]] vision of the "[[new Soviet person]]" rising to unparallelled heights of human development.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=300}}
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