Stalin's Five Year Plans were set in order to bring Russia to the forefront of the power play in Europe. These plans served as a new economic policy, following a "communism from above" method, dismissing Marx's communist "revolution of the people" expectation. Stalin realized Russia was decades behind the major powers in Europe, whose industrial revolutions equipped them with strength in resources beyond Russia's. Therefore, Stalin's Five Year Plans were meant to bring Russia up to par with Western democracies.
The quotas set to reach were used as a motivator for factory workers, most of whom had just been introduced to the technological advances. From 1928 to 1940, the number of Soviet workers in industry, construction and transport increased from 4.6 million to 12.6 million. Stalin's first five year plan alone helped bring Russia to being one of the leading industrial nations.