Central Committee plenum debates grain procurement and the Shakhty affair

The Fifteenth Congress opened amid the defeat of the Left and United Opposition. Delegates debated agricultural procurement, industrialization and the future of NEP. The Congress became a turning...

The Congress concluded after expelling the opposition and adopting a course toward expanded collectivization and industrial development. It did not itself complete collectivization; implementation...

By the end of 1927, state grain procurement had fallen short as peasants withheld grain they considered underpriced. The crisis exposed a central tension of NEP: the state wanted cheap food and...

A Central Committee directive sent to local party organizations demanded intensified grain procurement as the shortfall in state purchases deepened. Authorities used criminal law, searches and...

Stalin traveled to Siberia and directed local officials to use emergency measures to obtain grain, including arrests and pressure on wealthier peasants. The campaign marked a sharp retreat from...

The Shakhty trial began with charges that engineers and technical specialists had sabotaged coal production. The highly publicized proceedings portrayed technical failures as political conspiracy...

The Central Committee plenum met from 4 to 12 July to review grain procurement and the broader economic situation. Its resolution called for restoring peasant confidence and stopping a return to...

Five defendants convicted in the Shakhty case were executed, while other death sentences were commuted. The punishment signaled the costs of being classified as an enemy of industrialization and...

The Sixth Congress of the Communist International opened and adopted a more confrontational analysis of capitalism and colonialism. Delegates debated the failures of the Chinese united-front...

The first Five-Year Plan period was launched from October 1928, although the plan was formally approved in 1929. It sought rapid industrial growth through state investment and output targets. The...