Final answer:
Stalin aimed to industrialize the USSR with the Five-Year Plans and to collectivize agriculture, leading to industrial growth but also mass starvation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Joseph Stalin's primary goals for the Soviet economy were to modernize the Soviet Union, so it could become a self-sufficient industrial power and to prepare the nation to defend itself against foreign powers. The tools he used to achieve these objectives were the Five-Year Plans and forced collectivization of agriculture. The First Five-Year Plan, initiated in 1928, focused on rapid industrialization, particularly in heavy industries such as iron and steel production, and the construction of new electrical power stations.
Despite the plan's ambitious targets not being fully met and the often tragic human cost, the Soviet Union's industrial capacity did increase approximately by 50 percent. However, Stalin's policy of forced collectivization resulted in disastrous effects for Soviet agriculture, leading to mass starvation and social disruption.