In Soviet Times

We have heard the term "in Soviet times" often from our tour guides. The first guide we had in Moscow said it with some obvious nostalgia. The second one with honesty and a bit of scorn. The guide who was with us the last two days, on the Golden Ring, seemed to have very mixed feelings. Clearly the transition to a capitalist society has not always been easy.

As part of the collectivization and nationalization of everything, private ownership of land and homes ended. Initially, people were housed in confiscated homes, churches and cultural buildings. Then large apartment buildings were built. According to our last guide, these were much sought after, because they had 'all the modern conveniences'. Her family lived (and she still lives) in Vladimir, about 120 miles from Moscow. The log homes had no running water or electricity. The new apartments had both. They also had heat from a central heating plant. In fact, everything is heated from central systems, through Moscow and the other cities.

With the end of "the Soviet time", people were give ownership of their flats or homes. Many then had them bilked away by shifty buyers. Most Russian still live in large apartment buildings. The one pictured here, with the colored panels, is in Vladimir. But they are everywhere in Moscow. Most were built in the 1950s and 60s under Khrushchev, who promised to solve the housing problems of the nation. Today they are crumbling, but still provide most of the housing for folks. Here are various pictures of houses, and apartments. The pipes are steam heating pipes. You see them everywhere. The bottom picture is the main government building in Vladimir. They do not seem to care about restoring the crumbling hammer and sickle.