Recent Russian Historiography on Housing Reform during the “Khrushchev Thaw”

This article focuses on analyzing specific recent works by Russian scientists that have made a significant contribution to studying the housing reform of the late 1950s – early 1960s. In their writings, they proved the historical significance of the implementation of the social program in the era of the “Khrushchev thaw”, unprecedented in scope for all the years of the existence of the Soviet state, which partially eliminated the housing crisis. The considered latest historiographical sources give grounds to draw a number of conclusions. Modern Russian scientists fairly objectively assess the reasons that predetermined the “shock” build-up of the housing stock in the era of the “Khrushchev thaw”, which made it possible for millions of Soviet citizens to get personal housing by moving from communal apartments and barracks to separate apartments with all amenities. Researchers generally do not biasively characterize the content and focus of housing reform implemented in a team-planned manner. They express original ideas regarding the institutional foundations of the coexistence of the implemented economic practice of the “mass-gross” approach in housing construction with the desire of the socialist state to develop housing construction for the benefit of the Soviet people, and also demonstrate important value judgments on a number of other controversial issues that have not received comprehensive scientific understanding.