Resolving Housing and Living Conditions for Railway Workers on Russia's Central Main Lines in the Mid-1940s – Early 1950s

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-4-1217-1233

For citation

Golovin, Evgeny A., Korovin, Vladimir V. (2025). Resolving the Housing and Living Provision Problems of Railway Workers on Russia's Central Main Lines in the Mid-1940s – Early 1950s, Herald of an Archivist, no. 4, pp. 1217-1233, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-4-1217-1233

Golovin, Evgeny A., Korovin, Vladimir V., Southwestern State University, Kursk, Russia

Resolving Housing and Living Conditions for Railway Workers on Russia's Central Main Lines in the Mid-1940s – Early 1950s

Abstract

This article explores key issues related to creating favorable housing and living conditions for railway workers in the 1940s and early 1950s. Despite the existence of several publications on the history of Soviet housing policy in the postwar years, primarily based on regional data and taking into account modern advances in historical scholarship, issues related to the construction and distribution of housing, as well as the provision of consumer services to railway workers, remain understudied. The chronological framework chosen for this study was driven by the need to draw on domestic experience in addressing housing issues under the extreme conditions of wartime and the postwar restoration of devastated public utilities, a need highlighted by current events unfolding in Russia's border regions. The primary sources for this study were archival documents reflecting the specific implementation of state and departmental social policy, as well as the role of trade unions in the process of housing distribution and the creation of favorable living conditions for railway workers. In the archives of the Moscow-Kursk Railway Administration of the Central State Archives of the City of Moscow, the authors discovered protocol and office records of the Railway Workers' Trade Union's Road Council, revealing its role in resolving everyday issues, as well as the dynamics of housing construction and repairs on one of the country's leading highways. These documentary sources, combined with reports from the South-Eastern Railway, found in the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Voronezh Region, and publications in the transport press, provide a clear picture of the difficulties in implementing the departmental housing program, including regular delays in repair and construction work, its poor quality, and the unsanitary conditions and insufficient amenities of dormitories. An analysis of the sources reveals that the unresolved problems were long-term and systemic, due to the negative impact of human error. At the same time, the measures taken quite quickly met the housing needs of workers involved in train operations and who conscientiously carried out their work assignments. Overall, summarizing the experience of implementing Soviet housing policy in the workplace is a promising area of ??scientific and historical research.

Keywords

Rail transport, departmental housing, dormitories, living conditions, housing construction, housing stock restoration, trade unions.

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About authors

Golovin Evgeny A., PhD in History, Southwestern State University, Faculty of Law, Department of Constitutional Law, Associate Professor, Kursk, Russia, +7-471-222-24-49, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Korovin Vladimir V., Doctor of History, Southwestern State University, Faculty of Law, Department of Constitutional Law, Professor, Kursk, Russia, +7-471-222-24-49, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

This work was completed within the framework of the State Assignment "Legal Measures to Ensure Strategic Priorities to Counteract Threats to National Security" (FENM-2025-0010). Registration number 1024031900131-7-5.5.1.

The article was received in the editorial office on 25.02.2025, recommended for publication on 20.09.2025.