Bezdomność w Związku Radzieckim: Przyczyny, Polityki i Przepisy w Latach 1961-1991

-Homelessness as a social issue today is relevant as ever. In the past five years the number of homeless people keeps increasing, and this phenomenon is not unique to the post-Soviet urban areas only. Globalisation and urbanisation processes drive people into the urban areas in search of decent living conditions and employment opportunities, while the housing market and the ever increasing dwelling rent prices are driving the whom the system had failed, to the streets. Homelessness is considered to be the symptom of a failing capitalist system since the priority of the housing market is on growing the profits rather than ensuring that everyone’s housing rights and living conditions are met. The fact that the Soviet Union was not a capitalist state, yet still was challenged by homelessness and other social issues opens a plethora of questions on what exactly were the reasons behind Soviet Union failing to accommodate all its citizens and what conclusions can be drawn from these findings in relation to the modern world. While this paper aims to provide an overview of the Soviet approach of homelessness, the majority of the analysis is based on the 1961-1991 time frame. The reasoning behind this frame lies in the issue of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 4, 1961 "On intensifying the struggle against persons who evade socially useful work and lead an anti-social, parasitic lifestyle". According to this decree, vagrancy was defined as "existence for unearned income, evasion of socially useful work, lack of a fixed place of residence, homeless living". The thesis of the "Moral Code of Communist Builder" which was established at the XXII Congress of the CPSU in 1961, echoes with "intolerance of parasitism". As the process of the USSR collapse started in the end of 1980s leading to a complete dissolution in 1991, the last 30 years of Soviet regime have fallen under the primary focus of this research paper