Which policy did Stalin launch in the late 1920s to industrialize the Soviet Union and collectivize agriculture?

Which policy did Stalin launch in the late 1920s to industrialize the Soviet Union and collectivize agriculture?

• A. The First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932)
• B. The New Economic Policy
• C. The Third International
• D. War Communism

Answer: (A)

This item tests understanding of Stalin’s move to transform the Soviet economy through a centralized, ambitious plan that targets both industry and agriculture. The policy launched in the late 1920s to industrialize the Soviet Union and collectivize agriculture is the First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932). It was a bold push to build heavy industry—steel, coal, machinery, and infrastructure—through centralized planning and massive state investment, aimed at reducing dependence on foreign goods and accelerating modernization. At the same time, the plan included rapid agricultural transformation via collectivization, merging individual peasant farms into large, state-controlled or collective farms. This was meant to raise agricultural productivity and free up surplus labor and resources to fund industrial expansion. The shift reflected a move away from the New Economic Policy’s more mixed economy toward a tightly controlled, planned economy organized around state targets and quotas. This choice fits best because it directly names the policy that combined industrial expansion with collectivization in that period. The other options describe different things: the New Economic Policy was the earlier, semi-market approach before this shift; War Communism occurred earlier during the civil war; and the Third International was an international organization, not a domestic economic policy.

This item tests understanding of Stalin’s move to transform the Soviet economy through a centralized, ambitious plan that targets both industry and agriculture. The policy launched in the late 1920s to industrialize the Soviet Union and collectivize agriculture is the First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932). It was a bold push to build heavy industry—steel, coal, machinery, and infrastructure—through centralized planning and massive state investment, aimed at reducing dependence on foreign goods and accelerating modernization.

At the same time, the plan included rapid agricultural transformation via collectivization, merging individual peasant farms into large, state-controlled or collective farms. This was meant to raise agricultural productivity and free up surplus labor and resources to fund industrial expansion. The shift reflected a move away from the New Economic Policy’s more mixed economy toward a tightly controlled, planned economy organized around state targets and quotas.

This choice fits best because it directly names the policy that combined industrial expansion with collectivization in that period. The other options describe different things: the New Economic Policy was the earlier, semi-market approach before this shift; War Communism occurred earlier during the civil war; and the Third International was an international organization, not a domestic economic policy.