Failure of Russians to Take Care of Spaces around Where They Live has Multiple Causes, Semendayeva Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 19 – Visitors to Russia are frequently struck by how much energy Russians devote to taking care of the insides of their apartments or houses in contrast to how little they give to taking care of the land just outside their front doors, Mariya Semendyaeva points out.

            In fact, the journalist who runs the podcast “Russia Too” says there are multiple reasons for this pattern, one that has been in place for centureis and that sets Russia apart from other countries where people typically devote far more attention to taking care of the spaces beyond their homes than Russians do (cherta.media/interview/pochemu-v-rossii-stolko-razrukhi/).

            At the top of the list, she says, is Russia’s harsh and long-lasting winter climate. It is simply impossible to maintain spaces outside of one’s home and places that aren’t residences or places of business are not looked after and fall into ruin far more quickly than in places with more moderate climates.

            The second factor which plays a role in this arises from Russian history, she says. “For the greater part of that history, from the 16^th century until 1861 when serfdom was abolished, people lived in houses that did not belong to them and on land that was not their own … How could this fail to affect their attitude toward the surrounding land?”

“Then came the Revolution, giving rise to a multitude of displaced persons. Some remained in the villages, while others migrated to the cities,” Semendyaeva says. “The experience of communal living—so often depicted in satirical sketches—was, in reality, quite traumatic and born not of choice, but of dire necessity.”

She continues: “During that same period, old buildings and churches were dismantled, as people had no access to bricks and nowhere else to procure them. This, too, was a matter of infrastructure and cost. The Soviet government had different priorities: it preferred to pay an American engineer than to concern oneself with the housing needs of the populace.”

“Forcible collectivization also left its mark,” she says, and then “the next monstrous upheaval was the deportation of entire peoples.” All these things have contributed to a still powerful sense that “you own nothing in your surroundings and that your life is utterly unpredictable” – and that has led Russians to take less care of the land around them.

But these are far from the only factors at work, the journalist continues. Many Russians are poor, and they have long been accustomed to thinking that the state will take care of things outside their homes, an attitude the flows from both traditional deference and the attitudes the state itself seeks to inculcate.