Economic developments: reasons for and impact of the 'Great Turn'; the economic shift; the launch of the first Five Year Plan and the decision to collectivise
Around 1928–1929, Stalin abandoned the mixed economy and launched a crash programme to industrialise Russia fast. He also forced millions of peasant farmers onto state-controlled collective farms.
Real World
The First Five-Year Plan's steel targets mirror China's Great Leap Forward targets of the late 1950s — both drove rapid industrial output through fear and coercion, and both produced falsified statistics that masked catastrophic human costs.
Exam Focus
Link the 'Great Turn' to specific pressures (grain crisis, war scare) rather than Stalin's ambition alone — multi-causal answers score higher than single-factor explanations.
Essay Framework
Use PEEL to structure every paragraph. Tap each step for guidance and an example.
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