Before World War I, Russia was the most backward country in Europe. According to the investigation of 19 10, there are10 million wooden plows and 25 million wooden rakes in use in China, while there are only 4.2 million iron plows and less than 500,000 iron rakes. Mechanical traction has almost no livestock. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the years before the war, the average grain yield per mu in Russia only reached one-third of that of German farmers and one-half of that of French farmers. On the eve of the war, according to the population, the output of pig iron in Russia was 30 kg per year, 203 kg in Germany, 228 kg in Britain and 326 kg in the United States. Russia produces 0.2 tons of coal per capita, Germany 2.8 tons, Britain 6.3 tons and the United States 5.3 tons. Russia's per capita cotton consumption is 3. 1 kg, Britain 19 kg and the United States 14 kg. Russia's electric power industry and machinery manufacturing industry have just been established, and there are no machine tool industries, chemical plants and automobile factories at all. During the war, the production of weapons hardly increased, while the production of basic industries declined. Between 19 14 and 19 17, only 3.3 million rifles were produced for15 million conscripts.

19 13 years, when Russian capitalism reached its climax, Russia was still the largest agricultural country in Europe. Agricultural income accounts for 54% of the national fiscal revenue, and industrial income only accounts for 29%. From 1908- 19 14, the urban population of Russia only accounts for 15% of the total population, while the urban population of England and Wales in Europe is 78%, Norway is 77%, Germany is 56. 1%, and France is 4/4.

According to the population and medical conditions, the one-year-old infant mortality rate in Russia in the early 20th century was 237‰. Italy 157‰, Netherlands 137‰, Norway 65‰, Sweden 72‰, Spain 162‰, Switzerland 123‰, England-Wales 130%, France/kloc.

The number of doctors per thousand population: 1.44 in the United States, 0.5 in Germany, 0.78 in Japan, 0.5 in France and only 0. 18 in Russia.

From the perspective of social structure, in 19 13 years, employees in the tertiary industry in Russia only accounted for 16% of the employed population, while the United States accounted for 36.9%, Germany 24.8%, France 28.8% and Japan 25.8%.

Judging from the educational level and cultural level, most Russian residents were illiterate in the early 20th century, and only 2 1. 1% were literate. The number of general education per thousand residents in the United States is 197, Germany 157.4, Britain 142.3, France 176, Japan 143.6, while Russia only has 66.5.

The above materials prove that Russia fell behind Europe and other developed countries in the social and economic fields in the early 20th century. Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904- 1905 and Russia's defeat in the First World War further proved Russia's backwardness.

In Russia in the early 1920s, due to the destruction of World War I and civil war, the output of agricultural products was only 65% of 19 13, while the products of large industries were only a little more than 10%. By the end of 1920, the industry in this country produced very few products, only the simplest things. The metallurgical industry can only supply 64 grams of nails to each Russian farmer every year. If the industrial development has been maintained at this level since then, a farmer will not expect to buy plows and rakes until 2045 after buying them at 1920. More than 70,000 kilometers of railways are out of service, and about half of the trains are out of service. Three years of fratricidal war claimed millions of lives (roughly estimated at 7 million to15 million). In addition to the victims of combat operations, large-scale terrorist actions carried out by the authorities and illegal acts of bandits, from 19 18 to 192 1, 2 million people died of typhoid fever, and more than 5 million people starved to death in the Volga River basin and other parts of the south of the country.

In June 1 927+1October1,Stalin's first five-year plan was implemented in the Soviet Union. In order to accelerate the economic development of the Soviet Union, the 1 92715th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik) adopted an instruction on making a five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1928- 1932). Therefore, the Soviet State Planning Commission drafted two first five-year plans. 1929 In April, the Party's16th Congress discussed and adopted the highest index scheme. According to the plan, the basic task of the first five-year plan is to establish the foundation of national economic and technological transformation in a short time and turn the Soviet Union from an agricultural country into an industrial country. At the same time, it also stipulates that people's material and cultural living standards should be improved. 1933 65438+ 10, Stalin announced that the "first five-year plan" would be completed in four years and three months ahead of schedule. During the first five-year plan period, the Soviet Union established 65,438+0,500 large enterprises and established industrial departments such as machine tools, automobiles, tractors, engines, chemistry and airplanes. Industrial output value, the proportion of industry in industrial and agricultural output value and the proportion of heavy industry in industry have all been greatly improved. The Soviet Union changed from an importer of machinery and equipment to a producer of machinery and equipment, and from an agricultural country to an industrial country. At the same time, socialism accounts for 99.3% of the industry, and people's material and cultural living standards have been initially improved.

In order to successfully complete the socialist construction, strengthen the national defense capability and quickly eliminate the backwardness in technology and economy, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward the slogan "Technology is everything". Stalin said: "We are 50 to 100 years behind advanced countries. We should run this distance in 10 years. Either we can do this or we are knocked down. "

In order to solve technical problems as soon as possible and meet the needs of rapid development, the state and factories have set up many higher and secondary technical schools. By 1933, about 20 students were studying in higher technical colleges and 900,000 students were studying in secondary technical schools. At the same time, professional training courses run by schools and factories train workers 1 10,000 people every year. These schools and training courses have eased the contradiction between the shortage of engineers and skilled workers. In addition, a nationwide literacy campaign was launched. In this country full of illiteracy, 1929, among the population aged 8 to 50, the number of illiterate people dropped to 48.9%. 1930 10, the local committee was established to guide the movement. By 1939, the illiteracy rate had dropped to 18.8%.

In the field of culture, including the progress in popularizing education and expanding literacy rate, the Soviet Union can be said to have created a world miracle at that time. Only in 1933- 1937, more than 20,000 new schools were opened, equivalent to the sum of the schools opened in Russia in 200 years. 19 18- 1928, the number of people receiving secondary education or receiving complete and incomplete general and vocational education was 738,000 (about 67,000 per year), and 1929- 1932 reached 577,000 (per year) 1937- 1938, the number of college students in the Soviet Union exceeded the sum of the number of universities in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan (for example, 1940, the number of college students in the Soviet Union was 812,000, in Britain it was 44,000, and in Germany it was 76,500.

Danilov, a famous Russian scholar, demonstrated the achievements of social modernization brought by Soviet industrialization. He said: "The modernization process before the Russian revolution only focused on economic growth. The modernization of the Soviet Union is different. While building a strong heavy industry, it also brought a new social system. The state guarantees the planned development of economy, science and culture, and implements universal employment, free education, free medical care and virtually free housing, vacation system and other social security. "

Workers' skills have improved, production efficiency has improved, costs have been reduced, and the first and second five-year plans have been completed ahead of schedule. 1In June, 933, Stalin reported to the Central Committee that the Soviet Union had changed from a backward agricultural country to a rapidly developing industrial country in the world. The first five-year plan was completed in 1932, which took only four years and three months. The number of industrial workers increased by 1 times, from 1 1 ten thousand to 22 million; The output also increased by 1 times. Stalin reported: "We didn't have an iron and steel industry before, but now we do. We didn't have a tractor industry before, but now we do. We didn't have a machine tool manufacturing industry before, but now we do. We didn't have an automobile manufacturing industry before, but now we do. " He went on to talk about aviation industry, agricultural machinery manufacturing, chemical industry and other industries, and said, "We not only created these industrial sectors, but also dwarfed European industries in scale."

Only in 1932, when the first five-year plan of the Soviet Union was completed ahead of schedule, some important indicators of industrial products were already very impressive compared with the Chiang Kai-shek regime at that time. We use actual data instead of planned data, such as power generation of 65.438+035 billion kWh, 6.2 million tons of pig iron, 5.927 million tons of steel, 64 million tons of coal, 24,000 cars and 49,000 tractors.

The textbook of a Russian university in 2006 wrote: "By the end of the first five-year plan, the total industrial output value of the Soviet Union had already occupied the second place in the world and the first place in Europe"; The 2002 edition of History of the Soviet Union wrote: "The first five-year plan was completed four years and three months ahead of schedule, and 1500 large enterprises with advanced technology and equipment were built. The total industrial output value has tripled, of which the production of means of production has increased by 2.7 times. " Academician Aleksev said: "As a result of two five-year plans (1929- 1937), the Soviet Union has taken an important step on the road to industrialization. At the end of the second five-year plan, the industrial production level of the Soviet Union increased by 8.2 times compared with 19 13. Before the revolution, Russia's industrial output value only accounted for 2.6% of the world's, but by the end of the second five-year plan, the industrial output value of the Soviet Union had reached 13.7% of the world's, and the industrial output value of 1937 had accounted for 77.4% of the whole national economy. Before the first five-year plan, workers and staff only accounted for 17.6% of the total number of domestic residents, reaching 65438. Industrialization has greatly changed the structure of urban and rural residents. 1926 The population living in cities was 18%, and reached 30% in early 1938. During the period of 1929- 1940, the average number of rural residents decreased by19.6 million (36%), while the population of industry and construction increased by 8.9 million. " He particularly emphasized: "These figures definitely prove that the social and economic structure of the country has undergone essential changes, and definitely prove that Russia has taken a huge step on the road of modernization and transition from a traditional agricultural society to an industrial society."

In order to accomplish this grand plan, the Soviet Party and people paid a high price and made some mistakes in their work. However, there has never been such rapid and great progress in history. The people of the Soviet Union believe that if the pace is not so fast, it will not only delay socialist construction, but also endanger the survival of the country. Because in 1933, Japanese imperialism had already started a war from the northeast of China to the border of the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany had openly claimed possession of Ukraine. The people of the Soviet Union believed that without their rapidly growing economic strength, they might be invaded by the East and the West. Stalin said in his report: "We must spur our country, because it is 100 years behind and in danger of national subjugation. Otherwise, we will be surrounded by capitalism armed with new technologies and be unarmed. "

Undeniably, the Soviet Union paid great sacrifices and costs to realize industrialization and modernization, but it succeeded after all. What's more, without these expenses paid in advance, how can we ensure the victory of the future Soviet patriotic war? How much is the charge? That is the price of national subjugation and extinction!