Joseph Stalin, a prominent member of the Bolshevik party, and later one of the most important men in the twentieth century, took control of the Soviet Union after the death of Vladimir Lenin. From the beginning Stalin, had a clear vision of the direction the Soviet Union had to take. To Stalin, the answer to strengthen Russia was rapid industrialization. After all, Marxist theory ordained that a socialist society must be highly industrialized with an overwhelming preponderance of workers. Stalin’s rapid industrialization brought many failures that particularly affected peasants the most, but it also came to be one of the Soviet Union major achievements through history. With the adoption of the First-Five Year Plan in 1929, industrialization
…show more content…
As part of the collectivization policy, peasants had to transfer of all their land, whether managed by the commune or individuals, into new agricultural units called collective farms. In the collective farms, peasants were required to contribute most of their grain to the state, and many of this farms were organized by pressure and, if required, by force. Collectivization was the major force contributing to the industrialization drive, but as a result peasants suffered the most under this policy. Under the advice of the government, poor peasants were encouraged to steal grain from the ‘Kulaks’ which often resulted in confrontation and violence. Local communist would often go into villages, and collect a small band of poor or greedy peasants, and proceeded into intimidating Kulak families, and drive them from their homes and they would confiscate their …show more content…
Producing a major upheaval in the universities and technical schools. Around 150,000 workers and Communist entered higher education; most of them studying engineering, since it was regarded as the best qualification for a leadership in an industrializing society. Prior to industrialization, children of the working class did not have the means to pursue higher education, and with the process of industrialization the regime recognized the need for educated Communists. By 1940, almost all citizens in the soviet Union under the age of fifty were literate, and by 1990 there was universal seven-year education and almost no
As part of the collectivization policy, peasants had to transfer of all their land, whether managed by the commune or individuals, into new agricultural units called collective farms. In the collective farms, peasants were required to contribute most of their grain to the state, and many of this farms were organized by pressure and, if required, by force. Collectivization was the major force contributing to the industrialization drive, but as a result peasants suffered the most under this policy. Under the advice of the government, poor peasants were encouraged to steal grain from the ‘Kulaks’ which often resulted in confrontation and violence. Local communist would often go into villages, and collect a small band of poor or greedy peasants, and proceeded into intimidating Kulak families, and drive them from their homes and they would confiscate their …show more content…
Producing a major upheaval in the universities and technical schools. Around 150,000 workers and Communist entered higher education; most of them studying engineering, since it was regarded as the best qualification for a leadership in an industrializing society. Prior to industrialization, children of the working class did not have the means to pursue higher education, and with the process of industrialization the regime recognized the need for educated Communists. By 1940, almost all citizens in the soviet Union under the age of fifty were literate, and by 1990 there was universal seven-year education and almost no