Stalin's Defense of 5 Year Plans Speech to Industrial Managers, February 1931.
The late 1920s brought to the Soviet Union both the consolidation of Joseph Stalin's authority as preeminent leader, and a
"great break" in political and economic policy marked by forced collectivization and breakneck industrialization. In this
speech, Stalin addressed those who criticized the pace of industrialization.
"In the past we had no fatherland, nor could we have one. But now that we have overthrown capitalism and power is in our
hands, in the hands of the people, we have a fatherland, and we will defend its independence. Do you want our socialist
fatherland to be beaten and to lose its independence? If you do not want this you must put an end to its backwardness in the
shortest possible time and develop genuine Bolshevik (socialist) tempo in building up its socialist system of economy. There is
no other way. That is why Lenin said on the eve of the October Revolution: "Either perish, or overtake and outstrip the
advanced capitalist countries. We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this
distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall be crushed."
1a. What reason does Stalin give for trying to aggressively improve the Soviet economy?
1b. Which "fighting methods" does this doc show? (reference notes!) It can show multiple.