Sixth Comintern Congress opens in Moscow

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 joint plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission met from 6 to 11 April, discussing the grain procurement crisis and the Shakhty case. Its resolutions called for forceful...

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 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...

The eleventh anniversary of the October Revolution was celebrated amid growing emphasis on industrialization and political unity. Official narratives linked economic acceleration to the defense of...

In a speech to the Central Committee plenum, Stalin criticized the “Right deviation” as the party debated industrialization targets, agricultural policy and the control figures for 1928–29. The...

By the end of 1928, the NEP compromise was breaking down. Emergency grain seizures, accelerated industrial planning and the defeat of party opposition shifted the state toward command methods. This...

The plan launched a drive for rapid industrialization. Its targets recast investment and production as centrally negotiated priorities, with burdens borne unevenly by workers, peasants, and...