The principle of socialism was that of a party of the proletariat or the working classes and in 1928 Russia did not have a very large proletariat because most people worked in agriculture. It was believed that industrialisation was the only way to ensure the survival of socialism because a party of workers would only work in a society where workers made up the masses. The proletariat was seen as the backbone of the revolution and so to continue the revolution the proletariat had to be increased. The five-year plans with their full nationalisation ensured that this industrialisation would be implemented fast enough to create the working society that communists envisaged whilst removing the detested Nepmen, the private businesses and trades left over by the N.E.P. The Nepmen were seen as capitalists and a reminder of the Old World'. It was argued that whilst capitalism remained, it would not be possible to establish socialist. Nepmen were even compared to spies and saboteurs as the enemy within. Capitalist elements needed to be wiped out and the five-year plan would achieve this. .
These concerned were expressed at both high and low levels and the five-year plans were seen as both a revolution from above and a revolution from below. The attitudes of low ranking officials and workers were pushing Stalin towards industrialisation as in the 1920's many expressed their resentment at the revolution. Their targets were the class enemies who had survived under the N.E.P. The Nepmen were prime targets, but Kulaks, the richer farmers, and bourgeois experts were seen as contrary to the claim of revolution. Dissatisfaction was building among those who fought the civil war for the reds. Stalin's drive for the five-year plans was popular throughout the lower sections of the party, and communism being the government of the workers; it was hard for the more important officials to object to it. Because of this support Stalin managed to unite the state and the country to his objectives and whilst this did ensure his personal power it also ensured the survival of socialism within at the roots.
