Living conditions and communal services of residents of Vinnytsia in the 1920s

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the state of the communal economy of the city of Vinnytsia in the historical period of the 20s of the 20th century, in particular, the formation of such components as housing, electricity supply, water supply, sewage, transport, and the organization of urban space. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, scientificity, objectivity and systematicity, as well as the application of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (problematic-chronological, specific-research, historical-comparative, critical) methods. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that, based on the analysis of available documentary and empirical material, the study of a wide range of scientific works, the authors made a comprehensive analysis of the situation of the communal economy of Vinnytsia during the period of the formation of Soviet power, taking into account the specifics of the Podilsk region. Conclusions. In the period of the 1920s, the communal economy throughout Ukraine was in a state of crisis and needed almost complete reconstruction. This was explained not only by the consequences of the revolutionary events of 1917-1921 and the civil war, but also by the Bolshevik policy of "war communism". The problems of improving housing and living conditions for the population were particularly acute in Podillia and, in particular, in Vinnytsia, due to its border location and the conduct of hostilities in the region. The gradual improvement of the city's communal economy began with the introduction of a new economic policy. The main task of the government was to restore the housing stock, economic facilities, city communications and infrastructure. Thanks to the steps towards decommunization, reforms of the management structures of the communal economy, the formation of local budgets, certain positive developments took place in its development: the solution to the "housing crisis" began, favorable conditions for the normal economic operation of buildings began to be created, the reconstruction of electric companies and city transport was carried out, and the communal infrastructure was improved , which contributed to the improvement of the life of the population and the well-being of the city. However, despite these positive trends, there were a number of problems faced by city dwellers - lack of housing, unsanitary conditions of residential premises, incomplete operation of electricity and water supply, insufficient number of communal baths, deficiencies in the organization of fire protection. A number of problems of the improvement of the city originate from the 20s of the 20th century. and is not fully resolved even in modern conditions.