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When I wrote about apartments of modern and Soviet time, I forgot to write about communal
or shared flats. These were the flats, shared by several families. It is very interesting to
investigate how families lived in such flats. That story may surprise you!
What is/was a Communal Flat?
An apartment that earlier belonged to one family, but after the Revolution of 1917 was either
taken from the owners (if they left the country) or more families were moved to that
apartment. The idea of Bolshevik government was that having many rooms for one family is
too much luxury. Modern families do not need living rooms, dining rooms, study rooms,
libraries etc. they just need a roof above their head, a room where they can sleep. 9 square
meters per person is more than enough. A lot of families were moving to Moscow after the
Revolution and there was not enough of available real estate, so newcomers were moved to
the existing flats.
And now please imagine. Your family has to share an apartment with one kitchen and one
bathroom with several other families. You may have 2 adults in the family, you may also have
kids and grandparents, living with you. In any case you personal private space is one
bedroom. The rest is a shared space. How do families work that out?
Day-to-day Life at Communal Flats
http://artnow.ru/ru/gallery/3/4838/picture/0/469946.html
Maria Pavlova, Old doors
Lets start with visitors. How do they buzz in? There were multiple door rings at the entrance or
a note, which specified how many time you need to buzz the ring if you came to see Ivanovs
or Petrovs family
Since you only have one room to entertain visitors and all your family also sleeps in that room
you will have a dining table in the center of the room and beds or sofas near the walls. If
several generations of the family lived in the same room using dividers could give at least
some sense of privacy. Dresser often work as dividers.
Sacred places in rooms were usually either the icon corner or a TV set. Other emotionally
charged items present in the room photos of family and relatives and decorative items.
Carpets were widely used to add coziness and carpets were both at the floor and at the wall
Lack of space usually meant that the dining table also served as a study table. One could see
newspapers, textbooks, medicine, reading glasses and other items there as well as a tea kettle
and cups. When guests arrived the table was cleared, but if the family was having a dinner
those items usually stayed there.
Shared space was usually used for coats, umbrellas and street shoes. People also stored bikes
or baby strollers there if there was enough space.
Now, lets move to kitchen. Having several fridges was not typical. Refrigerators were a novelty
and were expensive. Some families did not have a fridge at all and stored food outside of
window or below the window sill in winter. Wealthy people had their own fridge in their
bedroom. If the fridge was in the kitchen and was shared it would be a dorm-like setup
you have your own shelf or leave notes, attached to your food
Now, the bathroom. In large families morning time logistics is hard enough. Imagine you have
a several families, who share the bathroom?! If the relationship is decent, people work out a
bathroom schedule and adhere to it, if not it is an issue. But some people like to take long
baths or showers and in addition to the inconvenience, they may spend more water or
electricity. That was also an issue to discuss.
small favor (such as lending some milk or flour or other staple food that she forgot to buy that
day). Small favors go long way.
Communal flat phone, not sure about the name of the artist
Privacy management As you imagine there is not much privacy in a communal flat. Your
neighbors actually have too much information about you they know when you leave to work,
when you return, they overhear your phone conversations since the phone is in a lobby, they
see all your visitors, they judge your habits (especially if you have any bad habits), they see
how you dress and they even know which soap you use and how your underwear looks like
(literally, since you hang it out for drying in the bathroom). So, even if you do not talk too
much about your life, they see your life. Usually the way to manage privacy was to maintain
privacy in your room and to limit conversations with neighbors to need to know
Influence Of Communal Living On Russian Mentality
I am sure that there were professional studies on that subject. I will try to find them and
update this post. And for now here are some of my guesses:
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Tom Wanderer - 2 months ago
Hi Tanya! Thank you for such amazing articles about Russian life, it does help me a lot because
Im currently an international student who studying in Moscow, I find everything which I eager
to know about life, culture, history in Russia. Please keep up your wonderful articles, totally
support your blog.
Reply
Tanya Golubeva - 2 months ago
Hi Tom! Thank you very much for your support and kind words! Please do not hesitate to send
me your questions about Russia. Questions from my readers are the fuel for this blog!Hope
you enjoy Moscow and already have friends here! All the best, Tanya
Reply
Michelle - 2 months ago
One of my best friends still lives in a Kommunalka in Moscow! They have been waiting for an
apartment for over 7 years, but all they got were typicall promises by the government. Her
neighbors are 2 families with teenage kids, so its usually quite noisy and the kitchen is almost
always filled with people. Its a real drawback that many families still have to wait.
Reply
Tanya Golubeva - 2 months ago
Dear Michelle, Thank you very much for sharing this story! I hope that your friends will get a
new apartment soon. Best regards, Tanya
Reply
Anonymous - 2 months ago
Brilliant article, I once saw a stage play in Moscow about life in communal flats, your writing
follows the theme very well.
Reply
Anonymous - 1 month ago
A great read!!! I am nosey about life everywhere, but here, in the boring US!!!! Thanks,learned
a lot!!!
Reply
abylkhatov - 1 month ago
H