For many countries in Europe during the early nineteen hundreds, industrialization had already left its mark and was considered widespread. Other countries were several steps behind such industrial powers as Great Britain. Their economies still depended on rural markets and there had been no influx of people to urban areas. One country, Russia, had such an economy. Joseph Stalin would soon change this, however. So, in hindsight, the Industrial Revolution was necessary and eminent for the Soviet Union but Stalin forced it on his state in a horrific manner, which only worsened living conditions and created negative tensions among his people. In order to better comprehend the negative aspects of Stalin's industrialization, first it is necessary to put the circumstances into perspective with a brief summary of Stalin's rise to power, then an overview of the two Five Year Plans will be provided, and finally the effects of Stalin's industrialization will be outlined.

Stalin first came out of the woodwork during the October Revolution in the early 1900's, with the rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Stalin became general secretary of the Bolshevik party's Central Committee. He was also the

Another change that came hand and hand with industrialization was equality, of sorts, for women. This served the simple purpose of allowing women to enter the work force and thus provided more workers for the factories. They were urged to work outside the home and to liberate themselves sexually. Divorces and abortions were also made very easy. "Young women were constantly told that they should be fully equal to men, that they could and should do anything men could do . . ." (McCauley 34). Most women had to work outside the home because it took both the husband and wife working to support their family. But, the woman had a heavy burden of household chores in her off-hours. Soviet men still considered the home and the children the wife's responsibilities (McCauley 35).

After the economic success of the First Five Year Plan, the Seventeenth Party Congress formally adopted the Second Five Year Plan, covering the years 1933-1937 in January, 1934. To overcome the lacking of iron and steel, the Second Plan ordered construction of forty-five new blast furnaces, one hundred and sixty-four open-hearth furnaces, and one hundred and seven rolling mills. Other goals of the second plan were an expansion of machine tool production, the development of a specially trained group of workers that would master the technique of their job, and the improvement of overall living standards (Nove, An Economic History of the USSR 229).

McCauley, Martin. Stalin and Stalinism. New York: Longman, 1983.

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Approximate Word count = 2156
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)