..." and that they had to "...make good this lag in 10 years...or they (the capitalists) will crush us." With this, an emphasis was placed upon the speed at which the allocated tasks were completed; "The five year plan in four" was one slogan to be used (Morcombe: 1998, 204) as well as being one aim to be reached. The push for the swift completion of projects was a powerful one and can be seen by the fact that the targets, as set out in the five-year plans were almost always close to being reached. What made this achievement so remarkable was that, by evaluating the different sections of Stalin as a totalitarian leader, these targets can be interpreted as being unattainable goals, merely there to keep the general population ignorant/distanced from other events that might provoke controversy. The fact that the workers were able to nearly attain the unattainable is testament to either the phenomenal work rate of the workers or the incompetence of Gosplan, the central planning committee responsible for the setting of the targets. Either way, the end result of the five-year plans (by 1939) was a massive increase in several key areas of heavy industry (vital with its ability to create and maintain infrastructure) including coal, oil and pig iron (360%, 244% & 453% increases in output respectively (Morcombe: 1998, 205)). This was arguably the most important and most successful part of Stalin's plan for creating a strong USSR through economic achievement and was further assisted by Stalin's plans for agricultural development.
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