Theoretical ideologies

Socialism and communism are two sets of ideas inspiring movements for social,
political, and economic change that significantly overlap.
Socialism is a populist economic and political system in which the means of
production operate under public political ownership, sometimes called common
ownership. Common ownership under socialism may take shape through
technocratic, oligarchic, totalitarian, democratic or even voluntary rule. All legal
production and distribution decisions are made by the ruling class.
Communism is political and economic ideology based on communal ownership and
the absence of class. Communism, which can be thought of as capitalism's
opposite, says that in a capitalist society, the working class (the proletariat) is
exploited by the ruling class (the bourgeoisie).
While based on a Utopian ideal of equality and abundance, as expressed by the
popular slogan, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,"
communism in practice has only existed under authoritarian government and has
been the source of millions of human rights violations and deaths.
After 1989, a consensus was established among the mainstream economists that
socialism, as an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means
of production and society-wide planning, was fundamentally flawed. It was widely
accepted that the socialist economic system could not work rationally because it

failed to solve the information problem, the motivation problem, and the innovation
problem. The consensus was shared by large sections of the leftist intellectuals.
As yet, it is true. Socialism has not created a society which can be said to represent
its IDEAL. But for more than a generation the policies of civilized nations have been
directed towards nothing less than a gradual realization of socialism.

City Planning in the USSR

A series of Five Year Plans accelerated urbanization and industrialization throughout
the country. Between 1926 and 1955, the urban population of the Soviet Union grew
from 18 to nearly 50% of the total population, creating an urgent need for
investment in housing and infrastructure.
In 1930, Stalin's administration issued an order or a more pragmatic "socialism
against utopianism in planning. The experimental architectural ideologies were
consolidated into Union of Soviet architects who would work under the direct control
of the State. Along with some 12,000 to 14,000 foreign specialists hundreds of
architects and technicians were brought in.

However, the revolution directed in a rush of ideas on city planning in the new
socialist era. The government sought to reinvent society in accordance with Marxist
principles, including communal ownership of resources, universal education, income
and gender equality, and the unification of town and country. However, industrial
development was the primary focus. In open defiance of the 1935 plan, new

factories were built throughout the city. The shortage of housing created severe
overcrowding despite millions of lives lost to famine, purges, and World War II.

Architects took part in competitions to design monuments, buildings, and cities

based on socialist ideals. Their submissions show an exaltation of new technology,
communal living, public health, green space, and an egalitarian society. Famous
designers from around the world (including Hannes Meyer, Ernst May, Mies van der
Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier) visited or worked in Moscow during the
1920s and 1930s.
Ideas for the socialist city are often described in terms of urbanism and disurbanism
orientation. Urbanism plans are characterized by relatively dense high-rise buildings
set within seas of green space. Disurbanism plans are known for prefabricated
privately owned houses dispersed along major roadways that traverse the entire
country.

We must aim at the fusion of industry and agriculture, based on the

rigorous application of science, combined with the utilization of collective
labor, and by means of a more diffused settlement pattern for the people.
We must end the loneliness, demoralization, and remoteness of the
village, as well as the unnatural concentration of vast masses of people in
the cities. Joseph Stalin
A numbers of theories were in hard competition with each other and these in turn
have led to the impression of representing the mainstream of Russian city planning.
The various town-planning schemes devised by Hannes Meyer are an expression of
the general line followed after discussions of the OSA and being a Marxist, Meyer
put forward thirteen principles of Marxist architecture

Housing for the masses

The

density of people in a block of houses or the number of floors in an apartment

house is based only on social, biological, and aesthetic needs, and economic
considerations. Based on the established standard for a housing project, the Soviet
architect must create a living space for a socialist family whose members all have
equal rights.

100% private ownership

House

Socialist cities
Stalingrad

The Collective House

The Communal

Beautiful story about the ideal city that emerged and disappeared on the shores of
the Great Russian River.
Stalingrad was founded in 1589 as Tsarstyn (Yellow Island) which later got named as
Stalingrad under the socialist leader Joseph Stalin in 1925 and later in 1956 was
changed to Volgograd.
Stalingrad city planning was traditional linear planning along river Volgo with
regular street grid pattern and communal housing. Stalingrad was completely
destroyed after the second world war in 1943, and hence Stalin called for
reconstruction of the city where in the new city would showcase the rich history and
victory of the city which in turn called up for a competition in which different
architects participated. It was won by Karo Alabyan who designed new city, with
wide perspectives and neo-classical architecture. This city shouldve been become a
symbol of victory and represent bravery and power of soviet people.

Stalingrad

Volgograd

Magintogorsk
Between the mountain and the Ural river, was the Stalin Magnitogorsk metallurgical
complex erected by the workers. This made the city an industrialized and socialist
society in 1930, Moscow enlisted the help of German architect Ernst May who
drafted a plan for a linear city, with a green belt between bands of residential and
industrial areas. The planning of the city consisted of monotonous rectangular 4-5
storey building blocks with huge open areas, as time passed the city turned into a
failure because of various reasons.

Conclusion
Did socialists reach their ideas of perfection? Did the architects achieve in
transforming the socialism ideas in the city planning? The states idea of social and
economic equality envisioned the cities to be perfect driven by industrialization. So
came the popping up of new cities. But was there a demand for the city? According
to communist ideas everyone are equal but they are subservient to the society. The
state decides the needs of the city and not the people.

Bibliography
Berki R.N 1975. Socialism, 184 pp. London.
www.investopedia.com
Minqi Li 2012. Socialism , The 20th and 21st century
https://thecharnelhouse.org/2012/09/21/ernst-may-and-the-may-brigade-in-thesoviet-union-1930-1937/
https://thecharnelhouse.org/2015/08/09/bauhaus-director-hannes-meyersadventures-in-the-soviet-union-1930-1936/
http://www.thepolisblog.org/2009/12/imagining-socialist-city.html