Socialist Spaces

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What were Socialist Spaces? The Eastern Bloc created distinctive environments shaped by ideological templates, such as monumental parade grounds and factory cities with towering chimneys. However, it also included less glamorous aspects, like communal apartment toilets and war ruins. This book delves into the representation, meanings, and uses of space in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1991. Through essays from various disciplines, it examines how actual spaces aligned with the prevailing political order. For example, the emergence of private spaces like the Russian dacha and Czech chata raises questions about whether these were acts of appropriation against the collective or state-sanctioned 'gifts' for compliance. While public monuments aimed to convey official ideology, they also became sites of dissent during the Bloc's decline. By exploring the multifaceted uses and perceptions of space within socialist society, this work significantly contributes to Eastern European and Soviet Studies, offering fresh insights into the factors that led to socialism's eventual collapse.