‘Stalin was a disaster for the USSR.’ Discuss.

Stalin’s dictatorship had huge significance for the USSR. His five-year plans led to a massively increased industrial output, increasing the USSR’s exports and income. Yet this came with heavy costs, and arguably, the humanitarian concerns of his rule can be determined a ‘disaster.’ His consolidation of power led to the purging of 20 million people, with a further 13 million executed or imprisoned during collectivisation.