Part 7/10:
The ambitious goals of rapid industrialization achieved astonishing rates of growth; the Soviet economy expanded at an annual rate of approximately 5.8 percent between the late 1920s and the onset of World War II. However, this growth was achieved at immense human and social costs. The forced collectivization of agriculture decimated rural populations and led to famine, claiming millions of lives.
Moreover, the Soviet economy's structure was riddled with inefficiencies stemming from poor incentive structures. With fixed wages for state employees and production quotas that discouraged innovation and hard work, productivity stalled. Many enterprises operated under political mandates rather than market-driven principles, resulting in vast amounts of idle labor and mismatched supply and demand.