To address the issues mentions in the document, Stalin proposed to
"To slacken the tempo would mean falling behind. And those who fall behind get beaten. But we do not want to be
beaten. No, we refuse to be beaten! One feature of the history of old Russia was the continual beatings she suffered
because of her backwardness. The Mongol khans beat her. The Turkish beys beat her. The Swedish feudal lords beat
her. The Polish and Lithuanian gentry beat her. The British and French capitalists beat her. The Japanese barons beat
her. All beat her-because of her backwardness, because of her military backwardness, cultural backwardness,
political backwardness, industrial backwardness, agricultural backwardness. They beat her because it was profitable
and could be done with impunity. You remember the words of the pre-revolutionary poet: "You are poor and
abundant, mighty and impotent, Mother Russia." Those gentlemen were quite familiar with the verses of the old poet.
They beat her, saying: "You are abundant," so one can enrich oneself at your expense. They beat her, saying: "You are
poor and impotent," so you can be beaten and plundered with impunity. Such is the law of the exploiters-to beat the
backward and the weak. It is the jungle law of capitalism. You are backward, you are weak therefore, you are
wrong; hence, you can be beaten and enslaved. You are mighty-therefore, you are right, hence, we must be wary of
you. That is why we must no longer lag behind."
Joseph Stalin, speech delivered at the first All-Union Conference of Leading Personnel of Socialist Industry, February 4, 1931
a) transform the Soviet Union's economy along a communist model
b) transform the Soviet Union into the world's largest military power
c) transform the Soviet Union into a leading producer of grains
d) transform the Soviet Union into a powerful industrial state