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So many people love to shit on these "commie-blocks" for no real reason. (feddit.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Kennystillalive@feddit.org to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[-] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ok im gonna try typing out some of the observations of living in commie blocks from personal experience as well as some stories from my friends. Im also spoilering it for anyone who doesn't want to read the list.. also also.. not a comprehensive list of everything, just what I can think of on my lunch break

here goes

  • The first thing to point out in my opinion is the construction: The construction of these were often rushed so at best they require expensive renovations and at worst they collapse, see tofu dreg in china
  • Safety: This is something I remember from my safety classes back in school. We had to make a fire escape plan for our houses, with at least 2 exits.. which I really struggled with cause I lived on a high floor, so no jumpimg out the window, and no fire escapes only meant I could do 1. So the commie apartments don't meet our modern safety standards
  • Location: A lot of this down to the economic collapse of various commusist countries, but many of them are quite literally in a middle of nowhere, in terms of finding a job. This is something I struggled with a lot, cause any job I could find would require a car to commute
  • Parking space: The commie blocks were often designed with green space in mind which would be nice, if they weren't also not designed with the idea of every household having a car, so when you have 16 parking spaces and the rest of the 40 cars in the mud that was once grass they start to look a lot more depressing
  • Accesability: The majority of commie blocks had no elevators, with the exception of quite tall ones. And even then the elevator usually started at the first floor rather than ground floor. This means if you're disabled and the only available social housing is commie blocks.. tough shit cause you're not getting in. I know someone who's a single mother with a disabled adult daughter who's she the primary caretaker off. She would have to carry her daugher up and down a flight of stairs everyday, and then also drag the electric wheelchair up
  • Renovations: Pretty simple - the apartments are usually owned by individuals, rather than a housing company, and getting all 60 or so people to agree to renovate the outside of the building is imposible, with both poorer people and older people stubborn to change, as well as alcoholics and the like
  • Utilities/equipment: Many of the commie blocks in my area didn't have city gas, that means for cooking anything you either had to have an electric stove, or more commonly from what I've seen buy big gas tanks and lug them up to your floor. They also lacked extractor fans, so I hope you like greasy walls
  • Insulation: Have you seen soviet wall carpets? It's cause even with the windows closed you could feel the breeze through the walls. The winters there meant multiple jackets indoors, and the summers were unbearably hot too
  • Insulation pt 2: With high humidity it also meant mold. Fun right?
  • Insulation pt 3: No noise insulation either. At least meant the cops got called a lot for all the spousal abuse

Just to name a few :3.. im gonna go eat now

[-] Demdaru@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Hey there, also lived in commie block (ground floor of the 10 level (+ground) one), wanna add few things!

  1. Ants and cockroaches. Always found they way in, even on higher levels! And once they are in, done, they ain't going out.
  2. Outside look. Dunno how yours looked, but mine were all gray with corrugated steel at sides and a few stripes top-bottom of paint that was of unsaturated yellow, red or blue.
  3. But also good sides. We had pre-school, primary and middle school pretty much encircled with our commie blocks (lucky to be in town). Also a trading centre with bunch of small shops, one market, few services and post office. And a lot of small local shops.
  4. A lot of green and playgrounds. ^^
  5. Spoopy windows. I believe I lived with the original windows, when it was windy, they tried to be spoopy (oooooOoooOooooo). Good luck sleepin during thunderstorm.

Also, bonus point for specifically my neighbourhood - it was built on cementary. We had a lot of weird phenomena, I learnt where it was built much later after moving out.

Now, miracle happened as they renovated these! Got proper insulation and paint, and they look nice now. They also moved down some green space outside the circle and made more parking, leaving inner greenery intact.

[-] Justas@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

My small addition to the list is that the surrounding green spaces were usually poorly lit and created lots of opportunities for muggers to hide once it got dark. In winters it gets dark early, so winters were a dangerous time.

[-] uis@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

We had to make a fire escape plan for our houses, with at least 2 exits.. which I really struggled with cause I lived on a high floor, so no jumpimg out the window, and no fire escapes only meant I could do 1.

The roof. If yours flat. And even modern housing doesn't have two sets of stairs per entrance(?).

  • Accesability: The majority of commie blocks had no elevators, with the exception of quite tall ones.

Got it. You are talking about very old 4-5 story buildings.

EDIT:

  • Renovations: Pretty simple - the apartments are usually owned by individuals, rather than a housing company, and getting all 60 or so people to agree to renovate the outside of the building is imposible, with both poorer people and older people stubborn to change, as well as alcoholics and the like

Wierd. It is much easier to get 50%+1 in "small" 60-appartments building, than in same in new housing with over 10k people living in 3708 flats.

[-] Machinist@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Woah! Thanks for this, interesting hearing a firsthand account. Very similar to trailer park life in the US, in my experience. Public housing/the projects are also similar but I never spent much time in them, strong racial divide in most of the US between trailer parks and projects.

I'm assuming a fair amount of drugs/addiction, small scale petty crime, and domestic violence? Cookouts and parties? Is there pride in being from a commie block? Is there a culture and music? Also, while I'm blasting you with questions, any chance you know a good documentary or book/article?

this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
51 points (88.1% liked)

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