Communal Apartments In Soviet Union - History of "Kommunalka"
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- Опубліковано 29 гру 2020
- Communal apartments or kommunalkas appeared in the Soviet Union following the Russian revolution in 1917. It was seen as a product of the "new collective vision of the future" and as a good solution to the housing crisis in the urban areas of USSR. Let's see how the life in communal apartments was arranged and why some people still live in them in the 21st century.
The housing problem, of course, corrupted Soviet people. It was a big issue throughout the whole twentieth century. Bolsheviks attempted to drastically reduce its severity, leading to the emergence of a bizarre form of everyday life: the communal apartment, or "kommunalka". A unique offspring of socialism, where behind one door, through the will of fate and officials, unrelated people of different professions, nationalities, ways of life, social backgrounds and material wealth lived together. A perfect melting pot in which Soviet society was formed.
What were the rules of social living in a communal apartment? How many families could fit into one flat? How were the common areas shared? How did neighbours help each other or fight each other? How did they dream of moving out and then get bored, how did they entertain guests or celebrate holidays together? Let's try to remember it all once again.
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@ameroffsky well, they have regular apartments instead of communal now. Some were rebuilt, some were not. If we are talking about St. Petersburg, where there were LOTS of 10-20-30 room kommunalkas - they are still there, people are still living in them because basically noone is capable of/willing to buy all of the rooms from all of the owners
SHARE HOUSES.... common amongst university students today. My sister was in a pretty alright 3 bedroom place with 2 other girls. They would keep blocking the U bend under the bathroom basin with makeup and one would keep stealing tissue boxes from my sister room. I used to have parents who would not use much heating and then I would go to my sisters spare house and the gas heating would be roaring and it would be like 28 degrees C inside. They would be living on discount bakery goods but the heating would be on full blast.
That sceen in The Saint now makes so much more sense
Fascinating, what was that book you mentioned called?
Kommunalka, ultra luxury spacious version of Hong Kong apartments.
And London ones.
as a hong konger, can confirm
aren't hong kong apartments at worst literal cages that you can barely lay down in?
@@braindead_boi because no one wants to be in continental China xd
@@dima5840 'hongkonger' literally crossed over to work in neighbouring shenzen.
Hong kong housing problem caused by the land proprietors and banks that uses them as the base to attract foreign capital and circulation of money there which make it necessity to jack the prices.
Even now there's more foreign owners that owned the property within the city than the local themselves.
Being an old person, I can live in a communal apartment instead of assisted living and always have someone to talk to, talking endlessly about the good old days, how things were better, how things were harder, how to do things, how I get more, how you get less, how things were yada, yada, yada. Talking, talking, talking, endlessly talking. Be polite to Grandpa.
That's a really good point. I haven't really looked at communal housing from this angle, being a younger person myself.
@@Setarko i live in one whilst being young it's kinda the only way nowadays to get a roof above your head
Being socially active in old age is a good way to avoid memory related illnesses.
You: Be polite to Grandpa
West: Ok Boomer
can you imagine someday and old person who was born in the 70's will yap on an on how the 80's had the best music ever and young people will agree with him!
A Kommunalka would be pretty chill actually if everyone in it was legit friends with eachother but I dont know how anyone could enjoy it in any other context
To some extent when you have that kind of society and you go through a lot of shit together the culture can be more open and welcoming. A lot of older Russian people have said they miss the kind of friendly social atmosphere of the USSR among common people. So I imagine people learned to work out their differences more easily than Americans. We seem to burn bridges constantly cause we're individualist.
I have seen too many long term friendships get frayed because they "thought" being flatmates would be a great idea. Being a flatmate and being a friend is a different dynamic entirely.
@@crater35 everyone in every county idealizes the past . This does not indicate how well or how badly things went on back then most of the time people simply miss their youth. Also when you live in a country where propaganda only tells you the country is great,you start to believe it,to an extent that crimes such as pedophilia were not presented in the news creating an illusion of a much safer society. This is just one example of this bias people have towards the past.
Forcing people to live under one roof whether they like it or not - - that's not just Commie, it is the Liberal way - - used to be called Integration
@Fremen you and me both, I tolerate my wife that's about it
Basically, many New Yorker also living in "kommunalka" because apartment rent is too pricey, many families start to share 1 apartment unit and divide the rent costs.
democrat state
@@friedhelmwinter1237 exactly
@@friedhelmwinter1237 Those trailer parks full with 3rd world sanitation problems look like a pile of dog shit in the Republican bible belt states if you really want to talk shit)
Go a few miles out of Manhattan and the situation changes. Commuter rail exists for a reason.
I was going to make the same comment about Barcelona.
The most surprising thing about this video to me is how similar the kommunalkas are to the “room for rent” apartments where you share the apartment with 3 other rooms in the United States
And you have to pay a fortune for it.
Except landlords cut more corners than the Russians did, and it takes 35% of your income every month.
In the late 1950's in Sydney Australia I had some Russian neighbours who shared a house with 3 other families - also Russians. They had this "communal" system as well. My friends had 2 rooms, but shared the kitchen etc. So I assume that "birds of a feather stick together" !
@@mcrichards694yeah dawg it’s called being poor
@@mcrichards694wtf ever lucky to have a running toilet to shit to yourself alone…why you think everyone wants to be rich? To gtfo of shit like that
a lot of Hong Kong apartment is communal bathroom and kitchen and living space with only private beds
You mean the cage houses? Yeah but these are for the really poor
@@turbolover-nh4vf gotta love having to share amenities would 15 other strangers in a 15m2 apartment
Me, mentally: I could never do it, I need my space
Me, in real life: _has multiple roommates because I can't afford an apartment by myself_
Ah yes, having roomates = 4 families per 25 m2 apartment
@Fremen Ahh, yes. The voluntary choice between "do this or be homeless."
@Fremen not really voluntary, if you can't afford a place on your own you have to share
Congrats. You live in a capitalist commune.
@@RedScareClair No. Like, sometimes in comunalka you need to live simultaneously with an old grumpy lady, a pair with an active night life, a young women with a really small child, that cries a lot, and an always drunk "uncle". And you CAN'T move in majority of cases.
Just imagine such a combination.
i wish there was a sitcom about communal apartment living, just imagine all the juicy drama and humor and misery that can come from that, people making each others lives miserable just because babushka Floarea stole Angela's saucepan, also side note the guy on 12:06 owns an hawk in the middle of the city, the heck
We have one in russia, called "Бедные люди" (Poor people) about a guy living in a modern kommunalka in St. Petersburg. I don't know if it's good but it exists.
Aldo we have a film called Pokrovskie gates (Покровские ворота)
There is a TV series you can watch on the web. Search Коммуналка on Yandex.
@@mysisterskeeper3347 i would love to but i dont know russian
@@antonioalbul00 maybe it has subs
I met a Russian person whilst volunteering in uk. She had some crazy stories so I’ve been learning about it from UA-cam. Thanks for this epic content.
That's how students live nowadays.
In Russian?
@@rafaelalodio5116 everywhere ??
I live with 2 other guys, we all have decent jobs but rent too damn high for one
Ironically, the komunalka I lived in during my studies in Moscow was the best housing I had as a student.
If only was students...
Student of American history here! This is fascinating! We actually had virtually the same system in the U.S. for many many decades, though it wasn't ideologically driven. Most East Coast & industrial cities in the Midwest saw this same phenomenon starting in later half of the 1800's & continuing well into the 1920's, and in places even into the 1930's. They were called "Tenement Apartments" but really they were elevated multistory slums. Mostly inhabited by immigrants & the working poor, it wasn't uncommon for find 16 people living in a single room, and one bathroom to be shared by several rooms. New York City was the most of this in terms of numbers & severity of living conditions, and there's still a museum today based off of an old Tenement Apartment you can tour in NYC that takes you through how life was for those living there.
It was same here in Czech Republic until 1960. My father grew up in one room apartment with 11 other people. There was no bathroom or toilet. Only toilet was outside of building. Only runnig water was on the shared hallway. When they want to bath, they manually filled big "bucket" with water. The same water was used by multiple people.
The tenement apartments you are talking about were pretty much limited to the lower east side and Bowery neighborhoods of Manhattan. One borough. That’s it. It quickly became a haven for poor Jews and Italians as the original inhabitants gained wealth and moved out to Brooklyn and Queens. Nobody lived like that outside of those areas.
I really appreciate your videos on Soviet housing. It's impressive how rapidly the USSR developed especially considering how immensely poor the country was just after the revolution. That one clip of the thatched roofed peasant home really put it into perspecive. Going to communal apartments for a lot of people must have been a major step up and then to go too single family apartments in the 50's is pretty awesome. Especially considering how devastated the country was after WW2. I have learned alot from this. I hope you make more educational videos exploring Soviet life. They are really interesting!
What you on? I'd love to see you live there at that time...idi*t
@@IC-lz3of Why am I an idiot for praising a country that turned what was once one of the poorest, most backwards places in the world into an industrial superpower within the span of a couple decades?
"That one clip of the thatched roofed...really put it into perspective" - we still have thatched properties in the UK, as if that is anything worse than a communal slum!
Also, many Russian peasants found it worse, hence multiple uprisings (and murders of them by the regime). For most, they actually moved into worse conditions. Please don't use "Red" tinted glasses... please.
@@IC-lz3of The only people it got statistically worse for is for Tzar sympathizers and the Kulak thanks to them rising up against collectivization and burning fields/killing poor peasants and party members. For everyone else, pay grew and so did general living quality, but it was limited by the fact that the USSR was attacked by the fascists and were constantly being threatened by the surrounding capitalist nations.
@@batzorigvaanchig6358 I'm particularly talking about Russian peasants who were rioting due to terrible living standards and being forced to move out of their villages. Stop misconstruing my comment please.
I lived in one such house, but not in Russia. It was ok when I was 20-24... But it really puts your diplomatic skills to the test. Fists did fly a few times, but nobody got seriously hurt. It helps when you are out of the house most of the day, but we never had anything near a quite time. It was full on anarchy to be honest: it's like a big dysfunctional family with drunkards, drug addicts, students, workers, people having sex right next to you... Who am I kidding?! It was fucked up!
Well said
I tried that for 2 months. I quickly understood how nice it was, when i lived alone and how much i hate people.
Extremely well said... preferably on a "DEAD-END" street.
Was reading a travelogue about the Trans Siberian when it was just opened but not finished, without a connection around Lake Baikal. There is a passage in there about how in the grandest Russian houses the servants didn't have their own living spaces, but where just expected to sleep on the floor wherever. The guy writing about it was shocked because it reminded him much more of India than Europe, where the servants were at least expected to have a bed.
It’s funny because that sounds exactly like life in London these days. You share a house with like 10 different people / sometimes couples or families and you spend half your salary on rent. Capitalism and communism have much more in common than they’d like to admit.
"All your fears about socialism have been realized under capitalism" - one of my favorite sayings.
Also, it's capitalism and fascism that have the huge similarities.
Marx literally said that capitalism will create the conditions for capitalism. What do you think the industrialization of agriculture and other production are?
@@alexcarter8807 fascism and communism are the most similar
Greedy pigs rise to the top in both systems who always want more. Billionaires have it all already and are just bored psychos who now want to control us to keep them entertained. People should rise up worldwide and take all the billionaires wealth and redistribute it evenly to all citizens.
"Welcome. Welcome, to City 17. You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers."
Unsurprisingly, the designer responsible for City 17 grew up in Eastern Europe: half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Viktor_Antonov
Yes me and Victor Antonov are from Bulgaria, proud.
I mean, it's basically like having a lot of roommates. I lived in a house during the first two years of University with six other people. We all shared one kitchen, two bathrooms, and each had only a single room. It's really only strange and alien if you can't conceive of rooming on a massive scale. But man does the scale of these kommunalka seem extreme.
Not really. Like, sometimes in comunalka you need to live simultaneously with an old grumpy lady, a pair with an active night life, a young women with a really small child, that cries a lot, and an always drunk "uncle".
Just imagine such a combination.
Suggestion for an horror movie script: a ordinary person wakes up in a commun apartment and realises it will have to live there and has no clue how he got there. That would be terrifying! Even worst than those Alien Movies with Sigorney Weaver
@Jake Johansson well, will all due respect, the song "Hotel California" is not a movie, and a "Hotel" is not a "communal apartment".... Then, the character in the song went there willingly and he knows how he got there.
Also, there is nothing "lovely" about this, while hotel California appeared to be lovely at first.
Most ordinary people already must have roommates in order to afford a place to live
I would rather live in a communal apartment than be homeless in the modern world.
I mean, there are still few of this type of house in Shanghai as well.
UK too
Spain too. In Madrid some are actually protected for historical reasons. They knock down walls to combine old communal apartments into modern style apartment so people will still rent them.
For someone like me who lived his entire life in Western world, this idea is terrifying haha.
They do it better in Singapore
As a western myself, I just found out that I live in a kommunalka with friends and it is quite awesome.
@@b.6603 you mean a Flat Share?
Flatshares are extremely common in UK, but only for under 30s
@@Damo2690 the difference is that in soviet Russia they were forced to live like that, if they wanted a roof over their head.
Glad you got monetized!
Me too, the content is added to my ad-blocker off list now. :)
he's the bourgeoisie now!
@@marzi_kat hah
Thanks for this little history lesson, in history books people's everyday life is mention little and in lituature sometimes it is hard to understand why people are in these situations, how it came to be. So this information helps to put many things in their places
This channel is fascinating and beautifully compiled. Thank you very much.
Students all over the world be like: hold up! That’s just a normal student corridor!
Another great video! You always put quality into your videos and I enjoy learning from your perspective
I find this really fascinating. I can't imagine sharing a home with another family, or even growing up with my own family in two rooms.
I love your channel mate! So underrated and interesting
Fascinating, informative and hugely enjoyable.
Thank-you!
Fantastic videos mate! Keep up the good work!
You’re growing quick, great video again!
Thanks for this amazing content! As someone whose family grew up in the Eastern Bloc it gives me a lot of nostalgia :)
Bro, I watched several of your videos and I really liked your documentaries and the way make them. The visuals paired with your russian accent gives it a special look and feel. Thank you for bringing this up as I learned a lot about Russia....oh and YES, you got a sub 🙌😎
As an American, I cannot wrap my head around why someone would choose willingly to live this way today. Thanks for the history lesson though, it was very interesting.
Are you of an older generation? In my generation, it is the norm for all students to live like this because of finance.
I mean, when i was a postgraduate student i had an official scholarship of 6600 rubles/month (about 100$). 1-room apartment in my town was 200$/month. 1-room apartment in Moscow was 400$/month and the scholarship wass the same. So yeah, it's mostly for financial reasons
Because it's that or the streets just like the USA.
1. you cant afford anything else
2. you could afford more, but you want to save money to get your own property.
given house prices go up, saving a lot early matters and accepting a temporarily worse standard of living so you can ultimately get what you really want sooner is something many are willing to do
@@aventura1266 He is saying why anyone will willingly do this .Doing this because of finances isnt willingly.
Thanks for the well-made educational and quirky videos on your country, one that I love - from a recent subscriber.
Fascinating video! Subscribed, and eager for more!
In Dostoyevsky's writing one is introduced to komunalka way before revolution. Actually frequently room was devided by a fabric partition where a former husband or wife had a new lover or both. After the revolution the concept took off as many arristocrats took tail for France driving taxis in Paris. French in many cases was their primary tounge.
Just want to say I was here before your channel blew up.
Yeah, so was I. So was another 100 people.
Where'd he get all these new subscriber's from?
same here lol
Same here
Looking forward to see this channel grow :)
Greetings from Estonia! Good videos and presentation...glad algo got something right for once!
How come you said Marx and Engels never offered practical advice when the Critique of the Gotha Program exists? Lenin cites it pretty heavily in State & Revolution
Any damn fool of an intellectual can offer criticisms and blackboard solutions that don't work in the real world
These Videos are really great, I grew up in the 70s & 80s when we got very little info about how people lived in Russia.
Well on school and in the media you also dont really learn much about russia nowadays
The Romans lived in Insula. They're basically just apartments.
Great channel man. I enjoy your take on the Soviet Union
Very similar to the student hostel I stayed in when I was in Perm, communal kitchen and communal and communal showers. It was not a bad life at all
What, balonie!
Perm was another name given for a gulag
@@JohnSmith-eo5sp lie down John before you hurt yourself..... You're thinking of Perm 36 founded 1943, the city is a lot older
My mother grew up on the Lower East Side in an apartment of three rooms with a toilet shared by two families. Two of the rooms, the kitchen/sitting room was reached via a door from the hall. One of two originally windowless bedrooms was reached through the kitchen/sitting room that had either a front or rear facing window to a fire escape. In 1929, landlords cut an interior window from the sitting room to the bedroom, usually in the upper half of the door. The idea was to allow sunlight in, but most people promptly covered them with curtains or a shade for purposes of privacy. The second bedroom was accessed via a door from the hall. One could also go directly from this bedroom into the shared toilet room. The bedroom had either a “transom” window into the hall, and/or a window into the air shaft up the center of the building. (Baths for children were taken in the kitchen deep sink. Adults made due with sponge baths, and everyone went once a week to the community bathhouse located three blocks away.) It was common for cash-strapped tenants to illegally sublet the separated bedroom as an entire tiny apartment. In my mother’s case, living in the attached two rooms were her grandparents, parents, and two brothers, making seven. They rented the separated bedroom to relatives, a family of six from Ukraine. Their apartment was on the fourth floor of six, facing the street. In back was an identical apartment housing a German family with both boarders and lodgers. Up to thirty people shared the one toilet room. Too frequent use often rendered it out of order, so people still made use of the outhouses out back or of chamber pots.
Always full of concrete history. Thank you comrade!
Wow, great presentation!
Thanks! It is a really interesting story. In my country (Argentina) the idea of private property-privacy related to housing is almost unchangeable. For instance in slums or shanty towns where people live under plastic and card board roofs, such a solution with shared bath/kitchen is not even proposed as an low cost alternative, meanly because people want their own land to build their own house as small as it could be. Another example, for students or young people just moving out their parents' home, there is no such offer as co-living, Kommunalka or Wohngemeinschaft (WG) because most people wouldn't share their space. Thereby housing has become increasingly expensive, almost unreachable to mid income, small appartments are becoming tinier (12sqm) and "young people" do not move out until they are late 20 or 30.
Wait, students/young adults don't share living spaces? In the UK everyone I know under 25 flatshares with others to keep costs down
@@Damo2690 When I was that age and studying at the Uni, I can recall maybe 5 people living alone in college residences or in a small apartment owned by their parents in the city. The rest of us were still at home. Back then only 3-4% of the population go to college here, and they belong to the wealthiest 10%. 20 years later, situation hasn't got any better. Working part-time (30hr/w=100usd; fulltime=300usd) is hardly enough to pay rent (rent for 25sqm is 100-120usd+30-50usd service charges). Bigger apartments are often more expensive, but access to those is limited by the availability of rental guarantee. Guarantor is often (must be) a close family member (parent, grandparent),is not willing to risk their property for 4-5 young adults, who are not their children. So a bigger rental (40-60sqm) would be only accessible to a couple with two fulltime income plus family guarantor. Investors aren't interested in shared apartments because of management costs. Flatshare alternatives are hostels and college residences, which are as expensive as in the EU (around 10-15 Eu/sqm).
Oh boy does this bring nostalgia to my grandma. In Vietnam, we have the same idea. Communal appartment for all. Just like in the vid, large houses were divided and given to people. When in the USSR communal apartments were replaced by Kruschyovkas, in Vietnam it still the norm in the 1980s. Even some are still present to this day.
I'm in the UK and spent most of my younger years in communal living house shares. Overall I loved it, just had to share with the right people, took turns cleaning and cooking, got on well with housemates friends, had amazing bbqs and parties, affordable. That worked nicely until I settled down and had a son. Now I'm in a nice apartment of my own but still enjoy a small aspect of communal living. Me and my neighbours share a porch, we leave our apartment doors open and our kids play together whenever they want in whichever home they want & share the garden. My son loves it as he never needs to be lonely.
Thank you for this. Very informative
Wow, u went from 2 k to 4 k subs pretty quick. Great video
Really love the subtle humor in these videos.
Great channel to learn about my ancestors! Great video!
Great content!
As someone who was in the army from 1986 until 2011, I have lived in open bays with 40 other people and who also lived in small apartments built by substandard contractors, crowded with multiple families in the same building to finally buying our first home in a subdivision far away from any real town. I can say honestly that I never want to be in a communal situation again.
Athefumen...or...women...or kids.
This is the best channel ever
Before my grandparents and my mom got their first own family apartment in a Commieblock in '79they had to share their flat with another family with a child. It was horrible for them, since they constantly got into arguments and had a time schedule for using the kitchen. Toilets were in the stairway anyway in most old buildings and you usually had to bring a bucket of water to them since there was noch flush, in winter you couldn't prepare it, since it was freeze.
@Jake Johansson I don't think you should comment on this, you're clearly from the Western hemisphere. Did you ever live in the Soviet Union? If not, bugger off.
Good to hear your story. I have a great respect for the people who lived in the former Soviet Union, and it reminds to be thankful.
There are many people in western countries who fantasize about the former Soviet Union. These same people have everything... education, the internet, good living standards, nice homes...they think they can have more under an ultra socialist society. Well, perhaps one day they will find out...
@Jake Johansson where in the Soviet Union is your family from? Remember, conditions weren't the same for everyone (even though that is the goal of Communism!)
@Jake Johansson Belarus...LMAO😂
@Jake Johansson Commowokia, where else?
Capitalists: Communism will force you to share houses!!!
Also capitalists: You will own nothing and you will be happy.
I have to agree with this. Capitalism should be about equal opportunity for everyone, not just the super rich.
Unfortunately, on the opposite spectrum, Socialism ends up removing the middle class so that you end up with super poor and super rich.
The best appears to be a balance...
@@IC-lz3of well the capitalist system just needs to be properly regulated and not let big companies be immune from the law:
( ie monopolies and just ASININE idea of corporations being people with "rights")
just because they own the new "Virtual town square" and therefore can silence any opposition
@@IC-lz3of Scandinavian countries have probarly the perfect system. They have mixed economy which means there is a balance between Capitalism and socialism. Private businesses are allowed but they pay taxes for free healthcare, school etc
@@rejvaik00 I agree, but nobody appears to be willing to take on Amazon, Google, etc. Not going to be much competition soon anyway....
I don't really have any confidence in Biden or his government in fixing this - they will just take everything from the middle class.
Honestly, most of the time they are attacking CEOs, managers, and medium sized businesses... people who (mostly) create jobs. I see no criticism of F1 drivers, footballers, and celebrities who are handed ridiculous sums of money.
I personally don't give a fig about a CEO earning 200k when there are celebrities being handed +50million for b**ching on TV.
@@slavicviking9272 Maybe, but not Sweden...
You don't need privacy comrade when you can have multiple girls running around you😏.
Neighbor's 14 year old daughter katya looking rather well-fed 👀
@Jake Johansson shut your mouth before kommisar kuznecov gets to hear of your wifes "side business"
@Jake Johansson best not stick your nose where it doesn't belong, tovarisch.
Those beauties were meant to high partisans elites. Mess with then and the People's Revolutionary spies will sent you to forced labor.
Спасибо, было очень интересно. Кстати, я прожил 5 лет в Хрущевке в Казани. Вообщем, внутри дома был очень грязным потому что никто не убирал на лестничных площадках. Мне пришлось заниматься этим сам, хаха. Но это было приятно в некотором смысле, так как дом стал, типа, моим-сам убирался, сам чинил)
Thank you for your videos! A few weeks ago I finished the 12 chairs by Ilf and Petrov. I loved it and also watched the 70s movie here on youtube. Thank you for the reccomendation of the golden calf. Do you have any more really outstanding russian books I need to read? I have read "roadside picknick" and some other books of the Strugatzkis, also "A hero of our time".
I had the opportunity to live almost in this condition in the USA. It's very common different people share the same apartment...
Yeah that's what I don't get. Every country has communal living
These sound a lot like modern student flats in the UK, where what you rent is a bedroom that's part of a large flat- with anywhere from 2 to 9 flatmates- this is the standard form of student living in the UK but Studio style student flats are becoming more popular, where instead of a full featured but shared kitchen, you get a minimalistic kitchen in your bedroom all to yourself. I live in a Studio style flat in North London and I love it. In London specifically because rents are so high, it's not unheard of for a group of friends to split the rent on a larger flat between them as it works out less per person- which I wouldn't mind doing.
There was a lot of great satire in USSR, one had to be very inventive to pass the controls, so the humor is very underhanded but everybody knows what the joke is :) Quality content, as usual!
This is also one of the reasons Russian comedies aren't well understood outside of Russia
Oh yeah a new channel to Binge watch
For anyone wondering what that piece of music was, I don't know the precise track but it's the 90s Berserk OST by Susumu Hirasawa.
When I was a kid my family rented out every single room in our house (4 bedrooms). Our foyer was basically a miniature living room so I slept in there. I wonder if that's something like living in a communal apartment.
well, if kitchen and bathroom are shared than yes, pretty much komunalka
Kommunalka, a prototype of living in a hive city for the dark future to come
It can always get worse.
Like bunk beds and you eat at the factory.
Bathing? Hahah we spray you at work.
@@VojislavMoranic "So is there a lunch break or..."
"YOU WILL BE INJECTED WITH NUTRIENTS 3 TIMES DAILY"
well you could find something similiar or even worst in some big cities today
Proto student/ modern day dutch houses
Hey man just discovered your channel. Love your content so far. Have a video idea. Can you cover the Orthodox Church and possibly other religion's in Soviet Russia and the transition to modern Russia?
I've subscribed and await your next video.
It is very unlikely that I will cover anything that is related to modern Russian Orthodox Church (due to me being paranoid about some Russian laws). I probably will make a video about Orthodox church during Soviet times as it is a very interesting topic.
@@Setarko Awesome man. Can't wait. Just finished watching your video on the russian bear. Shame about those laws. Nevertheless would be very interested in hearing about the church in the Soviet era.
Also could you maybe do a video on how Russia today remembers the Soviet-Afgan War? Here in the U.S. the Vietnam war is still heavily debated (both politically and socially) and it's veterans are not remembered fondly. I've always heard that the Soviet-Afgan War is Vietnam War of Russia. Would love to hear what you can put together. Just curious.
Keep up your work man.
That's good for university dorms
Love your choice of background music! Leningrad!! Can you do a video about bladniack? Greetings from germany.
Actually that's not Leningrad, it's Fedor Chistyakov. He was a leader of rock band "Ноль" who were basically Leningrad before Leningrad themselves lol. They had that unique sound because they used russian bayan as a main instrument. Kinda unusual for a rock band. And the song is called "коммунальная квартира" (communal apartment)
As for bladniack (or blatnyak or whatever it is called in english i dunno lol) - it is a very interesting topic but a russian youtuber did a very good video on it recently (ua-cam.com/video/lajLyS-1NII/v-deo.html). It is in russian, obviously, so the video won't be helpful for non-russian speakers. But I watched this video and was very impressed by it. Now I'm kinda afraid that i won't be able to make a good video without copying this guy.
@@Setarko thanks for the music tip ! Its very hard to find bladnyak ( I also have no clue how to write it in english) here in germany. Allthough spotify makes it easier. I realy think you should do that video ( if you’re afraid of copiing just cite the other Video as a source ;) ) and Boy doing it in english you would Open the subject to the whole world! Anyway hope to hear from you and I hope you have a happy new year!
Ahh I watched the other video, and he also cites Uli Hufen, from him is also my Knowledge on bladnyack;)!
@@danielbraun2939 thanks! A small tip to finding it - try tag "Russian chanson". The artists themselves really prefer this term. Not every "russian chanson" song can be considered blatnyak, but i guess every blatnyak song can be found in "russian chanson" playlists. And Happy new year to you too
This Channel is gold
Thanks for Your video about “Kommunalka” "Brezhnevka""Khrushchyovka".
In China, All three types have existed. And it’s been delayed by nearly 20-30 years than Russia. （1918-Vs-1949）
I grew up in a 9F "Brezhnevka" with a garbage chute but without elevator.But now they have removed the garbage chute but added an elevator.
Well, I guess there are some differences in layouts and other things between Soviet and Chinese versions but the idea was probably the same - a lot of housing quickly and cheaply
@@Setarko Yes, there is a huge difference between Made in China and Made in Russia.:)
Vladimir Putin grew up in a kommunalka. It didn't hot water and the building was infested with rats according to him.
Food!
Great video, living in ex soviet country here, we never had communalkas, but watching this, I notice that people living in such places have much more social interactions. Decades ago I was still a kid, I remember my grandpa had like a big basement with cozy furniture. Every night from all flats people would gather there to drink and have fun. It was always open you could go there even if no one was there, it was a time when no one locked the front door of their apparents or the basements. Everyone would participate in making kompots, pickles, wine, rakia and much more, everything was shared between the neighbors there, you just go and take whatever you need. Nowadays I can't get an interaction like that, people are very disconnected and such conditions would probably inspire a lot of theft betweenthe neighbors, sadly people are different now. Honestly socialism may have been far from perfect, but that doesn't mean it's was all bad. There was much, that was done better than capitalism and at the same time, there was so much more to be desired from it.
I love this channel
Они очень похожи на некоторые наши приюты для бездомных или групповые дома в некоторых городах США. У меня был друг, который жил в одном. У них была отдельная комната и на каждом этаже было по 2 душа, 2 туалета, 4 раковины и одна кухня с 2 печами на 8 комнат. Это в одном городе США в 2000-2004 гг.
hmm... but once the merchant's mansion is taken, and given to the proletariat, where does the merchant live?
-Oh yeah, he doesn't..
I created a google account to just follow you. Very informative content. Thank you
litteraly my grandparents generation, I dont know how they did this.. these videos are great 👍
So, given the lack of privacy in a Kommunalka, how would two have the opportunity to have sex without waking their Kommunalka Komerades?
There was no sex in the USSR, everybody knows that
@@Setarko No babies?
@@starventure It's a joke. Unfortunately,people most often had no other option other than neighbors lighting up a cigar or pipe when you are done .
We have this in Spain too. They are called corralas. Many are still around. They usually knock down some walls to make modern apartments.
What is the black and white movie featured in this excellent episode, please? (with the scary lady)
That's how I lived, tons of us + friend family all in one place. So, 3-4 of us kids (my older brother was out a lot) plus mom + mom's BF + neighbor friend lady and her daughter. All shared one place. It worked OK. Then when I left home I was in the Army, again communal, then as a young adult/student I was in places where I had a small room + shared bathroom with a few to several other people and cleaned on "my" day of the week, the communal kitchen, floors etc. A bit later I was an elite athlete, well, lots of communal living there, 2-3 athletes in a room. We had a trick: We'd put a 2nd bed on top of our bed to make something like a bunk bed, then put the mattress on the top one, and have a little "office" or personal space in the bottom one, put a little chair and desk in there. Bathrooms and showers were down the hall, now shared with like 20 other athletes. I'm not even very young now being in my 50s but younger people don't have as much trouble with communal living as Boomers think.
Well, I'm a "young person" and I have many problems with it...as do many other young people I know....Bruh
It’s far better when it’s a friends familly instead of a bunch of strangers,in which case it’s pure luck. You could end up with alcoholics,violent or just simply very annoying people. Also shared spaces tend to be extremely dirty as no one really cares enough to spent as much time cleaning them as they do with their own rooms. It seems manejable with two families sharing a bathroom but if it’s 3 or 4 or more the que becomes terrible. Also so many people are comparing these to student accommodation but these Soviet apartments were designed for families,usually with children while young people lived in shared rooms -around four people per room on average I believe,although it might have been more.
Can you give the links to the statistics and cite the sources for the things you said in your videos, or are they all just your personal anecdotal evidence?
Eh, I'm not sure I have lots of stats in this video. And most of my sources are obviously in Russian. But if you want exact links for some numbers:
About 30% of Moscow housing market in 1990 - lenta.ru/articles/2018/11/14/kommunalka/
About sanitary norms and average number of occupants - Орлов И.Б. Советское жилищное хозяйство в 1920-1930 гг.: между классовой линией и самоокупаемостью.// Современные проблемы сервиса и туризма. Т. 8. 2014. N 2. С. 81.
3.758.000 people living in barracks by 1952 - Советская жизнь. 1945-1953/ Сост. Е.Ю. Зубкова. М., 2003. С. 178.
I think it's great that some youtubers include all links for their sources in the description but frankly I don't really help it would help as all of them are in Russian and 98% of my viewers do not speak Russian. Maybe I'll do it in the future
The cat segment at 1:20 made me lol man. Cats make everything better, poor Emerald though!
what were the alternative to communal apartment during that time ? I would expect they just build their own house rather than share apartment, or just go back rural area. unless the new job in the city pay so much more, I don't see why would chose communal apartment over the alternative
Do you have a discord server? And if not could you make one? It would be nice.
Great video, thing is that yoy don't examine the historical and cultural background of pre-revolution Russia. Workers used to live in company's quarters, families and couples along with loners were packed together. Living conditions were horrible, no private space, many died due to illnesses. So, a type of commonal living already existed by the time it was formally introduced as a housing policy. For workers was a great deal that now they had some more private space, healthier conditions and that is depicted by the increasing life expectancy. Same phenomena existed on all industrial societies. Affordable and reliable housing for all is a matter that still is not solved in west too.
I am not against communal/collective living, matter a fact I would be interested. I prefer the middle of no where but I would be willing to try.
The problem is who am I living with?
How is the building constructed, private bathrooms etc?
Kommunalka seem a little too close.
Excellent video comrade.
Arco Santi
Of course the Nomenklatura lived quite differently in this "Workers' Utopia". So much for equality!
Kommunalkas were developed by contructivists and futurists, the movement was opposed by Stalin and many other factions of the communist party, this led to the brief but comfortable Stalinka
The housing shortage led to kommunalkas being practical for mass housing in cities, and wasn't necessarily always ideologically driven. Constructivists often emphasised communist ideals in architecture in other ways than the kommunalka. But yes, the phenomenon was largely driven by the left factions of the party and architectural circles, which led to Stalin getting rid of constructivism as a mainstream architectural style in the country due to it being "trotskyist".
@Jake Johansson no, part of the constructivist design philosophy was ideologically driven. That's why I specified.
Yeah but you have this in the US as well. Even I lived in shared accommodation for almost two years, many students do.
A very small percentage of people, and a small demographic, college students, also by choice.
Not over half the country like in the USSR. And those are dormatories, you have 1 or 2 roommates sharing an apartment. The USSR had multiple families in a single room. Which would also include the bathroom.
If you watched the video and paid attention, you would see that there is no comparison.
Isn't this type of apartment older than the USSR? I remember reading crime and punishment and if my memory doesn't fail me, some sort of communal apartment appears in the book
Raskolnikov lived in a revenue house (доходный дом) which were very popular in Russia in 19th century. I won't say it's the same thing as kommunalka
@@Setarko It wasn't Raskolnikov's apartment, but the apartment where the wife and the kids of his friend who got ran over by horses lived. If i am not mistaken, that apartment was communal
Also, great video!
Wow these are really bad conditions bruh
True.
Worse than being outdoors in a homeless camp in the USA? Because that's how the USA helps its poor - you sleep outside, lose everything like personal papers when you get "swept" out by the cops, etc.
@@alexcarter8807 Oh for the love of God, stop watching biased anti American media spouting the usual Marxist "cOpS aRe bAD" propaganda.
@@maxstone2380 He's not wrong. This is legitimately something that happens almost every day.
@@alexcarter8807 loosing personal papers? So something like an ID or a passport,essential for traveling and getting a job right? Well passports were only granted to country side citizens in USSR in the 70s (even though they made up like 40% of the population). Sure they had a job on the farms but they were deprived of the right to travel or to go work in the cities,no self autonomy what so ever (apart from those who went to the army or to study then they could leave their villages). But go on,praise the USSR like everyone else in the comment section who has no idea what it is like actually living in those apartments.
Hope your brutal truth change the mind in some westerners about the life in USSR.
They made people starving to death due to space race 😢😢
It's sad.
Greetings from Greece 😘😘
Have had no time to study my subscription at this site.
Also ill from a blood infection and the medication is
not improving my ability to better appreciate history.
Have a nice day.