Under the Five-Year Plans, the production of a wide range of goods—steel, coal, crude oil, cement, electricity—was targeted for rapid growth; while the production of consumer goods was largely stagnated. The first two Five-Year Plans also saw a massive expansion of the industrial base of the country.
The Five-Year Plans were largely directed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and were part of a broader agenda of transforming, restructuring, and industrializing the largely agricultural economy of the Soviet Union of the 1920s. The plans attempted to bring the Soviet Union to a level of economic and industrial development equivalent to that of major world powers in a matter of decades. To this end, the development of heavy industry was prioritized, and the agricultural sector and the production of consumer goods were forced to carry most of the burden of the industrialization effort.
The First Five-Year Plan was a significant success in industrial and agricultural production, but also led to widespread famine, most notably the Holodomor in Ukraine. The Second Five-Year Plan saw a further expansion of the industrial base of the country and the collectivization of the majority of agriculture. It was also a period of great political repression and the establishment of a totalitarian regime. The Third Five-Year Plan was disrupted by the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and the consequent Great Patriotic War. Later Five-Year Plans were less ambitious and focused on more balanced growth.
The economic growth achieved during the Five-Year Plans was accompanied by a number of social and economic problems, including:
* Low living standards and widespread shortages of consumer goods
* Severe political repression and the establishment of a totalitarian regime
* Environmental damage and resource depletion
* Regional disparities in development
* A growing disparity between the urban and rural populations
Despite these problems, the Five-Year Plans were largely successful in achieving their objectives of rapid industrialization and transforming the Soviet Union into a major world power.