The document provides background information on the creation of a centrally planned economy in the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin between 1917-1928. It discusses the transition from the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the 1920s which allowed some private enterprise, to collectivization of agriculture and rapid industrialization under the first five-year plan beginning in 1928. This resulted in forced collectivization of agriculture and high human and economic costs but helped the Soviet Union develop an industrial base.