Union's economy didn't falter under this system though. It did quite the opposite. In its primary stages Stalin's radical policy saw the industrialisation of the Soviet Union on an unprecedented scale. The size of the industrial working class grew strongly, the dependence upon agriculture fell and urbanisation increased rapidly. Heavy industry was created in the Stalinist system by the devotion of all available resources, regardless of costs. This allocation of resources created extensive growth (as opposed to intensive growth – the path that many capitalist nations were following at the time). Subsequently, national GDP became heavily dependent upon both coal mines and steel plants but this did not seem to matter as the USSR had an abundance of natural resources at its disposal and any shortage would be a problem faced much further down the track.
             The industrialisation wave in the Soviet Union occurred at a time when many of the western capitalist powers were deep in recession. It seemed amazing that whilst s
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