How Did Joseph Stalin's Transformation Of The Soviet Union?

Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union as a virtual dictator between 1928 and 1954. During the first ten years of his rule Stalin introduced dramatic change to the Soviet Union in the areas of industrialisation, agriculture, culture and education. While there were some benefits for both the nation and the people with respect to the consequences of his policies on industrialisation and education, the impact of his policies regarding agriculture, and culture was overwhelmingly damaging to the Russian people, and consequently, the nation as a whole. Therefore, it can be said that between 1928 and 1938 Stalin had a largely devastating impact on the people, but a less damaging one on the Soviet Union itself.
To a large extent Stalin’s transformation of the Soviet
The targets of the Five Year Plans had the force of government orders and thus failure to meet them could be punished as treason. Additionally, in 1929 Stalin introduced the uninterrupted work week. This meant that factories worked a full seven day week with workers taking alternate days off. [Brooman, J 1988. p. 12] This was damaging to home life of the workers as it meant families often saw little of each other. A strict code of labour discipline was also introduced. Absenteeism could be punished with loss of ration cards, fines or sacking. The implication of this was that “Workers were intimidated so that they would work harder.” [Fiehn, T 1996. p. 89] While increasing productivity, the resulting creation of a culture of fear at work was ruinous to the Russian people. Another harmful effect of industrialisation was the overcrowding of towns and cities as a result of the influx of industrial workers, leading to families sharing housing. Despite some benefits for the Soviet Union, industrialisation had an undeniably harsh impact on many Russian