Lenin

• Housing under Lenin overview

  • Redistribution of property.
  • Housing under the NEP.
• Redistribution of Property

  • Forced property redistribution; from 1918, working people in cities forcibly took property away from aristocrats and the middle class; former owners were either killed, forced from their homes, or allowed to retain a single room for themselves and their family.
  • Many citizens squatted in deserted buildings.
  • Property Decree 1918; local soviets empowered to redistribute property from owners to the poor and homeless.
  • Civil War; workers fled urban areas in search of food so factories closed; houses were destroyed to provide timber for fuel.
• Housing under the NEP

  • Under NEP; 60-80% of urban housing was denationalised.
  • 1923-24, large town houses were 'socialised' ; property owners were forced to live in a single room, while working class families were moved into other rooms; church property was nationalised, priests evicted from cottages.
  • Rent reintroduced in 1921; from 1923 onwards over 89% of houses were built by private companies.
  • Attempts to promote collective living through architecture; Constructivist style buildings designed to promote collective living through collective library, gym, and laundry rooms; only 2 built.