Stalin's Five Year Plan failed?

Stalin's Five Year Plan for massive industrialization was a very risky plan, requiring collectivization of agriculture, centralization of the economy, and rapid industrialization. The risk itself is shown by Mao Zedong's pathetic attempt at the same thing, it failed miserably.

What if the Five Year Plan ground to a halt as well? And, if the Five Year Plan failed, chances are the economy would be devastated, ruining any other chances for a rapid industrialization. The 1940's Soviet Union would be a shadow of the industrial power it was. Hitler would still no doubt view the Soviets as ideological enemies, and still would be a number one target. But, would Stalin be much more appeasing, or would he still have the same general plan? And would the war be winnable for the un-industrialized Soviets?

 

Something like 75-80 % of the industrial capital acquired during Soviet industrialization was purchased from the West in exchange for Russian raw materials. This was painted as a triumph of the Soviet system when it was essentially robbery which led to the deaths of millions of Ukrainians and other less desirable groups within the Soviet empire.

 

To a large extent, the 5-year plans DID fail; what the question should be is "what if the five year plans didnt exist?" THEN the Soviets would have hard time in WWII for sure...

The thing to remember about the plans is that Stalin constantly pushed the workers and industry ahead of what they would accomplish. Therefore, they had to resort to the black market and outside support, like Wolfy said.