ate ownership ended. A mass program of industrialization was launched, and the strength of the Soviet Military was substantially empowered.
             The citizens during this period endured great hardship. Agricultural production output diminished, resulting in food shortages. These shortages were enhanced by the mass exportation of food which was done to pay for industrial imports. (Stephenson, p. 373). Stalin also put the production of what he called production goods such as manufacturing machinery, above basic consumer goods such as clothes and other staples.
             The Second World War broke out and drained most of what was left of the already impoverished state. Yet after the war, national unity was strengthened so was the Soviet military machine. The Soviet Union became a super power, the U.S. being the only country more powerful than it.
             After the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the First Secretary of the Communist party. Stalin's death marked the end of supreme power for the head of the party, and Khrushchev condemned Stalin's actions as unnecessa
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