Glossary · Term

Five-year plans of the Soviet Union

1928–1991 · 20th century

The five-year plans were the centralised economic plans by which the Soviet state directed production from 1928 until 1991. The First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932) and the Second (1933–1937) drove rapid heavy industrialisation, building steel works, power stations and new industrial cities, at the cost of consumer goods, forced labour and a famine caused by collectivisation. The method was later copied by China, India and many other states.

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APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Five-year plans of the Soviet Union. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/five-year-plans-of-the-soviet-union
MLA
“Five-year plans of the Soviet Union.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/five-year-plans-of-the-soviet-union. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Five-year plans of the Soviet Union.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/five-year-plans-of-the-soviet-union.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Five-year plans of the Soviet Union’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/five-year-plans-of-the-soviet-union (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻