Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This 7th episode discusses the "urbanist" and "anti-urbanist" city planning trends in the 1920s & 30s USSR.
Playlist with all episodes in this series:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbnLysSug0vTTYxx76kBZcN8ZLNCNdEZl
Script:
mltheory.wordpress.com/2025/07/06/history-of-soviet-architecture-and-city-planning-part-7-urbanism-and-anti-urbanism-1920s-30s
SOURCES*
N. Ya Kolli, Tasks of Soviet architecture, 1937
tehne.com/library/kolli-n-ya-zadachi-sovetskoy-arhitektury-osnovnye-etapy-razvitiya-sovetskoy-arhitektury-moskva-1937
Hugh D. Hudson, Blueprints and blood: the Stalinization of Soviet architecture, 1917-1937
James H. Bater, The Soviet city: ideal and reality
L. Perchik, The Reconstruction Of Moscow
archive.org/details/PerchikL.TheReconstructionOfMoscow.--Moscow1936/mode/2up
Moscow. The General Plan for the Reconstruction of the City, Union of Soviet Architects
archive.org/details/moscow.-the-general-plan-for-the-reconstruction-of-the-city/mode/2up
Engels to J. Bloch, September 21, 1890
marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_09_21a.htm
A. I. Mikhailov, Groups of the architectural front and the tasks of proletarian architects, 1932
tehne.com/event/arhivsyachina/i-mihaylov-gruppirovki-arhitekturnogo-fronta-i-zadachi-proletarskih-arhitektorov-1932
Christina E. Crawford, Spatial Revolution: Architecture and Planning in the Early Soviet Union
Andreĭ Vladimirovich Ikonnikov, Russian architecture of the Soviet period
Mikhail Tsapenko, On realistic foundations of Soviet architecture
archive.org/details/tsapenko_mp_o_realisticheskikh_osnovakh_sovetskoi_arkhitektu/page/224/mode/1up
Danilo Udovicki-Selb, Soviet Architectural Avant-Gardes: Architecture and Stalin’s Revolution from Above, 1928-1938
S. Frederick Starr, “Visionary town planning during the cultural revolution” in Sheila Fitzpatrick ed., Cultural revolution in Russia, 1928-1931
*Hudson, Starr & Udovicki-Selb are anti-communists. I generally wouldn't recommend their work. Bater & Crawford are also anti-communists, though their books are somewhat better, especially Crawford. Perchik, Kolli, Mikhailov & Tsapenko are good communist authors, and Engels of course. Ikonnikov is a brezhnevite revisionist and the quality of his work varies.
---------------------------------
My patreon
patreon.com/TheFinnishBolshevik
My discord
discord.gg/88JwkF5UhK
My blog
mltheory.wordpress.com
My Email
thefinnishbolshevik@gmail.com
This 7th episode discusses the "urbanist" and "anti-urbanist" city planning trends in the 1920s & 30s USSR.
Playlist with all episodes in this series:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbnLysSug0vTTYxx76kBZcN8ZLNCNdEZl
Script:
mltheory.wordpress.com/2025/07/06/history-of-soviet-architecture-and-city-planning-part-7-urbanism-and-anti-urbanism-1920s-30s
SOURCES*
N. Ya Kolli, Tasks of Soviet architecture, 1937
tehne.com/library/kolli-n-ya-zadachi-sovetskoy-arhitektury-osnovnye-etapy-razvitiya-sovetskoy-arhitektury-moskva-1937
Hugh D. Hudson, Blueprints and blood: the Stalinization of Soviet architecture, 1917-1937
James H. Bater, The Soviet city: ideal and reality
L. Perchik, The Reconstruction Of Moscow
archive.org/details/PerchikL.TheReconstructionOfMoscow.--Moscow1936/mode/2up
Moscow. The General Plan for the Reconstruction of the City, Union of Soviet Architects
archive.org/details/moscow.-the-general-plan-for-the-reconstruction-of-the-city/mode/2up
Engels to J. Bloch, September 21, 1890
marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_09_21a.htm
A. I. Mikhailov, Groups of the architectural front and the tasks of proletarian architects, 1932
tehne.com/event/arhivsyachina/i-mihaylov-gruppirovki-arhitekturnogo-fronta-i-zadachi-proletarskih-arhitektorov-1932
Christina E. Crawford, Spatial Revolution: Architecture and Planning in the Early Soviet Union
Andreĭ Vladimirovich Ikonnikov, Russian architecture of the Soviet period
Mikhail Tsapenko, On realistic foundations of Soviet architecture
archive.org/details/tsapenko_mp_o_realisticheskikh_osnovakh_sovetskoi_arkhitektu/page/224/mode/1up
Danilo Udovicki-Selb, Soviet Architectural Avant-Gardes: Architecture and Stalin’s Revolution from Above, 1928-1938
S. Frederick Starr, “Visionary town planning during the cultural revolution” in Sheila Fitzpatrick ed., Cultural revolution in Russia, 1928-1931
*Hudson, Starr & Udovicki-Selb are anti-communists. I generally wouldn't recommend their work. Bater & Crawford are also anti-communists, though their books are somewhat better, especially Crawford. Perchik, Kolli, Mikhailov & Tsapenko are good communist authors, and Engels of course. Ikonnikov is a brezhnevite revisionist and the quality of his work varies.
---------------------------------
My patreon
patreon.com/TheFinnishBolshevik
My discord
discord.gg/88JwkF5UhK
My blog
mltheory.wordpress.com
My Email
thefinnishbolshevik@gmail.com
