Stalin's Great Turn: The First Five-Year Plan Unleashed

By 1928, Joseph Stalin had consolidated power in the Soviet Union and launched a radical transformation: the First Five-Year Plan. This episode dives into the plan's origins, its brutal implementation, and its human cost. We follow the construction of Magnitogorsk, a steel city built from nothing on the steppe, and the Stakhanovite movement that turned ordinary workers into propaganda icons. We examine the collectivization of agriculture that led to famine in Ukraine, the role of Gosplan in setting impossible targets, and the psychological pressure of 'Socialist competition.' Lucas and Luna discuss the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, the Donbas miners, and the secret police who enforced the plan. How did Stalin's industrialization reshape Russia, and at what price? This episode offers a grounded look at one of the 20th century's most transformative and tragic experiments.

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