Living space of a country town in NEP period (new economic policy) (on materials of Izhevsk)

On the basis of both published and unpublished sources the main components of living space of Izhevsk which in the 1920-s had typical features of the Urals factory settlement are considered. Private wooden buildings prevailed in the town. All houses had personal plots with outbuildings, kitchen gardens and located nearby wells and bath-houses. House owners - aboriginals of Izhevsk were engaged in tilling, growing vegetables in their kitchen-gardens, keeping small cattle and livestock. Absence of water-supply and sewage systems, roads and lighting problems created additional difficulties and complicated the life of towns- people. Since the late 1920s the pace of industrialization accelerated and the industrial construction expanded that had led to growth of the population of Izhevsk: from 45 228 people in 1920 to 63 088 in 1927 and 92 790 in the beginning of 1930. The share of the Udmurts increased from 1,9% in 1923 to 2,3% in 1926 and 8,2% in 1933. Most of them worked on smallarms factory and steel works. Those who came from rural areas, workers-Udmurts felt household disorder, social discomfort and expressed a strong desire «to integrate» into already formed urban environment. Having no their own houses, they were compelled to rent rooms or to occupy temporarily empty and dilapidated municipal houses and board barracks without utilities. Individual, state and cooperative house-building became the important direction in overcoming of the acute housing crisis.