there WAS an economic hard time.
Monday, January 24, 2011 @ 10:41 PM
Stalin wanted to modernise the country at such a fast rate that it could make-up the 50 year gap in around 10 years.
Stalin executed his first '5-year plan' in 1928 for intensive economic growth.
It was aimed at modernising and expanding existing industries, establishing new ones, and relocating those industries in the west further to the east for protection against possible attacks from the west.
Most investments were put into heavy industries, such as constructing large buildings, production for war machineries, and agricultural advances.
The results were undeniably a big success, and the results were achieved one year ahead of the original plan.
However, the enormous demands put on the workers meant that millions of them lived under harsh conditions, working on the vast projects that were assigned to them, and they were poorly paid.
The lack of consumer goods is one example of the fall in the standard of living.
Huge amounts of people are moving into the cities from the country side, so there was not enough medical facilities, houses, and schools.
Also, inflation grew.