Living conditions

• Housing tender to consist of a single-room wooden hut heated by an oven
• Under the Tsars housing for the 'average' peasant remained the same.
• Housing was crowded as animals were also housed in the hut
• Whilst accomodation was cold, damp and grubby, it was cheaper to construct and peasant families had control over how they used it
• AIII- by the end of the 19th century, around 15% of the population lived in towns and cities
• (Stalin) construction of special housing blocks located on the periphery of collective farms.
• Khrushchev planned to create self-contained agro towns. These were built quickly and to a poor standard. It became overcrowded and there were public health issues
• (Khrushchev) Kulaks suffered even worse conditions as when forced from their properties, they were usually dumped in barracks or given tent accomodation
• AII- (Crimean War) The Edict of Emancipation gave the peasants greater ownership of the houses in which they lived
• NII- (1905 revolution) under the November Manifesto, redemption fees were halved with the promise that they would end by January 1907
• Lenin- (RCW) as a result of the NEP, Peasants could buy consumer goods with their disposable incomes. However it was short-lived as the NEP was solely a temporary solution
• Stalin- by the end of 1934, 70% of peasant households were in collectives and 90% by 1936
• (AIII) Vyshnegradskii raised the tax on consumer goods, meaning that the populatio had to pay more for everyday items
• (Lenin) The Scissors crisis of 1923. By late 1923, the cost of manufactured items had incrased to almost 3 times their price in 1913.
• (Lenin) high commodity prices meant they could not afford to purchase manufactured goods