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The Years of Forced Development, 1928–30

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Part of the book series: Studies in Soviet History and Society ((SREEHS))

Abstract

The introduction of the First Five Year Plan transformed the policymaking environment in the USSR. It sought to establish a comprehensive plan for the development of the economy, but focused primarily on heavy industry and agriculture. The modernisation of the railway system to meet the expanding needs of the economy and the defence requirements of the country occupied a vital but secondary role. The plan for the railways has to be seen against the background of the recovery staged in the mid-1920s. NKPS’s participation in the formulation and revision of the plan provides a case-study of the impact of institutional lobbies on policy formation within the context of the planned economy.1

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Notes

  1. In this chapter, I have drawn heavily on K. Nagatsuna, ‘A Utopian-Ideologue in Soviet Industrialisation: S. A. Bessonov and Transport Reconstruction Debates, 1928–1930’, paper presented to the Soviet Industrialisation Project Seminar, CREES, University of Birmingham, 1987.

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  2. On Sulimov, see Bol’shaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopaediya (M., 1976), vol. 25, pp. 62–3. The other collegium members were I. A. Grunin, Yu. V. Rudyi, L. P. Serebryakov, E. V. Polyudov, D. V. Poluyan, A. S. Andreichik, A. G. Ishchenko, V. I. Zof, M. E. Bystrov, I. N. Mironov, N. I. Popov and V. N. Chernyi.

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  62. Ibid., p. 215.

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  64. I. V. Stalin, Sochineniya (M., 1955), xii, pp. 337, 347–8.

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  67. Ibid., pp. 381–3.

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  68. Ibid., pp. 273–5.

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© 1995 E. A. Rees

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Rees, E.A. (1995). The Years of Forced Development, 1928–30. In: Stalinism and Soviet Rail Transport, 1928–41. Studies in Soviet History and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23763-0_2

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