Stalin's Five-year plan

Joseph Stalin, leader of Russia (1928-1953), created a Five-Year Plan that included methods and goals which were detrimental to Russian agriculture in 1928. Stalin wanted to transform individual farms into large collective farms because he saw that the government was losing money to private traders. This required that the majority of farmers would have to work and live together on large state-run farms. Through these farms Stalin hoped to increase agricultural productivity, to create grain reserves …

…number of animals were killed unnecessarily, and/or starved because of lack of feed on the farms. Russia's agricultural sector suffered because there was not enough equipment, seed, livestock and manpower to meet the country's needs. Reports from eyewitnesses confirmed the horrendous conditions that the people and animals lived in. If Stalin had treated the farmers with decency and provided them with equipment, livestock, seed, and food the collective farms could have been more productive.