Shortage of consumer goods
Waste and inefficiency
Use of enslaved laborers
The first Five-Year Plan implemented by Josef Stalin, from 1928–32, focused on developing and increasing heavy industry, as well as collectivizing agricultural production. Consumer goods were not the focus, and a shortage of basic consumer goods was a result. it was all about gearing up the Soviet Union for industrialization and military strength. Collectivization of agriculture was aimed at funding such projects. Unrealistic goals for industry were set also, which led to much waste and inefficiency, and indeed, many industrial accidents. Safety was not a priority.
Stalin also made much use of prisoners as forced labor. As pointed out by Edvard Radzinsky in his biography of Stalin (1996), Stalin ordered Vladimir Menzhinski, the chief of the Soviet Union's secret police, to create a framework that would use prisoners in work for the Five Year Plan. Prisoners sent to concentration camps as prisoners (who became forced laborers) included members of outlawed political parties, nationalists and priests.
