Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

Within a year, the situation in the Taiwan Strait went from calm to turbulent, and then gradually calmed down.

The pacification does not mean the disappearance of the fundamental contradictions. The contradictions between China and Japan, and between the Soviet Union and Japan, are escalating. The United States' increased military presence in Southeast Asia will inevitably force the Warsaw Pact to increase its power projection into Asia. Meanwhile, India, an ally of the Soviet Union, is facing a major problem. With the situation in South Asia unstable, the United States clearly wants to stir up trouble.

All the contradictions are now like reefs on the seabed, waiting for the next receding tide.

Chapter 142: Raising a Large Number of Socialist Scoundrels

Let's turn the clock back to the third year of the 13th Five-Year Plan.

The Soviet Union was changing at a visible pace. In the 13th Five-Year Plan, transportation infrastructure was listed as one of the highest priorities, because no matter how intelligent the national automated management system was, or how precise the production plans were, everything was in vain if goods couldn't be transported and people couldn't arrive!

The efficiency of computerized planned economy, which is based on cybernetics, is ultimately constrained by the transportation capacity of the physical world.

Yes, the algorithm can calculate in 0.1 seconds that timber from Siberia should be shipped to a furniture factory in Ukraine, but if the railway from Siberia to Ukraine is a single track, the bridges have weight limits, and there are three-week shutdowns due to blizzards in winter... then the algorithm is just a pretty number.

Railways are of paramount importance.

1992年末苏联的铁路网是全世界最长的，目前超过18万公里，差不多相当于老钟（5.3万）印度（6.2万）加拿大（8.1万）三国的总和。

After the construction and renovation of the 13th Five-Year Plan, all trunk and branch railways have been electrified, and the average electrification level of railways built by local governments or constituent republics has reached 70%.

Electrification significantly improves transportation efficiency, and its reliability is superior to that of diesel locomotives under normal circumstances, with lower maintenance costs and shorter maintenance cycles.

After collaborating with the leading French company Alstom, the Soviet Union acquired advanced French technology and, in cooperation with Finland, absorbed experience in operating large-scale electrified lines in cold regions. They also introduced the GLONASS navigation system, which greatly improved the transportation efficiency and punctuality of the new railways.

While electrifying the railways, the Soviet Union was also expanding its railways. Many main lines, especially several bottleneck sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway, had very limited transport capacity and had to be converted to double tracks!

The Soviet Union spent nearly three years digging roadbeds, laying tracks, and building bridges and culverts in Siberia. This was the largest part of the earthwork and would take several years to complete. However, once completed, the main line's transport capacity could double.

The rapid development of the Soviet Far East and the establishment of border economic development zones have made Vladivostok the second largest East Asian trade center after Hong Kong, with a large amount of goods being transported from here to the Soviet Union or Europe every day.

Before China built the China-Europe freight train service, the Trans-Siberian Railway was the largest artery connecting East Asia and Europe.

In terms of highways, urban areas have been prioritized in the past two years. The Soviet Union's highway network has always been weak compared to its railways. Many highways built during the Brezhnev era were of questionable quality—the road surface was cracked, drainage was poor, and some highways between republics were even gravel roads, causing trucks to be jolted and their parts to loosen after a single trip.

For the annual vegetable basket plan, smooth roads can greatly reduce the damage to fruits and vegetables when they are transported to the city.

Therefore, the strategy for highways in the 13th Five-Year Plan was to first improve the roads in the suburbs of major cities, especially those connecting agricultural production and research consortia, while leaving the renovation of urban roads for later.

However, some major cities are exempt from this policy. Moscow, for example, is known for its strict road maintenance policies. As a result, major cities like Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, and Tashkent have seen newly paved asphalt roads, the implementation of automated traffic management systems, and the construction of new overpasses and elevated highways...

Just as everything was flourishing, a major earthquake struck the Susanmer region of Kyrgyzstan at the end of September 1992.

The earthquake struck at 4 a.m., measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, and has killed several hundred people.

This number is abnormal. In a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, if buildings are sufficiently robust and meet earthquake-resistant design standards, the death toll should not be this high. Japan has experienced much stronger earthquakes, and the death toll was far lower!

The problem lies upstairs from Khrushchev.

Those five-story buildings, constructed from precast concrete slabs like building blocks, were strictly speaking temporary housing, built on a large scale by Khrushchev to address the Soviet Union's housing crisis. Their designed lifespan was twenty-five to thirty years.

Khrushchev promised in his party program to achieve communism by 1980, which happened to be the time when his term as president of the Khrushchev House expired.

This is just a temporary place to stay. When the communist era arrives, there will be bread, milk, big houses, and beef stew with potatoes!

Khrushchev didn't live to see the day communism was realized. Comrade Brezhnev put forward the theory of advanced socialism to make up for it. Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev all failed to achieve the goal. Slava served as General Secretary for five years and is still cleaning up the mess left by his predecessors!

The pressure of 300 million people and tens of millions of square kilometers rests on his shoulders. He also has to carry the bombs made up of promises and empty promises from his predecessors, while simultaneously unraveling the threads and using his brain to liberate his thinking and boldly put things into practice.

After all, the predecessors chose to trust the wisdom of the successors, and as a successor, he can only use his wisdom to solve the problems left by his predecessors.

If he were to pass the bomb to the next person in a game of musical chairs, then it would only lead to future generations suffering the same fate.

It is now 1992, more than 30 years since the Khrushchev buildings were completed. Many of the Khrushchev buildings have been in service far beyond their intended lifespan. The joints between the precast slabs are connected by weak welding and grouting, and they have become severely fatigued by decades of thermal expansion and contraction and settlement.

The concrete is weathering, the steel bars are rusting, and the walls of some buildings have cracked—residents are covering the cracks with newspapers and mud, and in winter they put on a layer of plastic sheeting to block the wind.

When an earthquake strikes, these severely aging prefabricated buildings will naturally collapse. This was the case in last year's devastating earthquake in Georgia, and even more so in the 1988 Armenian earthquake that killed tens of thousands!

Every time the death toll was abnormally high, the reason pointed to the same thing: Khrushchev's building.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

News of the earthquake reached Moscow. Upon seeing the casualty figures, Slava immediately ordered his subordinates to retrieve the inventory statistics for all Khrushchev buildings in the Soviet Union.

Data shows that the total area of ​​Khrushchev-era buildings in the Soviet Union exceeded 300 million square meters, housing approximately 80 million people. If we include the later Brezhnev-era buildings and other older buildings, 180 million people in the Soviet Union did not have safe housing.

The Soviet Union had an urban population of approximately 220 million and a rural population of 90 million. As of the end of 1992, more than 10 million people were still waiting for state-allocated housing.

Yes, many buildings in the Soviet Union were not located in earthquake zones, so earthquakes were not a concern. However, the living conditions in those older buildings, built decades ago, were extremely poor: leaks, seepage in walls, aging heating pipes, outdated electrical wiring, extremely poor sound insulation, and very small apartment sizes...

When Khrushchev built these buildings in the 1950s and 60s, his goal was to provide housing for everyone. The Soviet people successfully moved out of dormitories and basements into apartments with private kitchens and bathrooms, which was a huge step forward at the time.

But that was thirty years ago!

Many families had to squeeze into Khrushchev's apartment building, which was only about 30 square meters. Even when Slava and Nian Dao were assigned double apartments by Andropov, their rooms were only about 40 square meters.

Slava still vaguely remembers the excitement he felt when he learned that the Soviet Union offered free housing, after all, he had just traveled back in time from the era when housing prices were at their peak. But now, as he recalls that small, dilapidated house in 1980...

Sigh, is this dilapidated house even fit for human habitation?

In short, the progress of thirty years ago has now become a burden. While sending volunteer relief teams to Kyrgyzstan, local Soviets across the Soviet Union began discussing a question: Shouldn't our Khrushchev-style buildings be renovated?

You, Ivanov, promised everyone you'd achieve socialist modernization! How can living in these dilapidated, dangerous buildings be considered modern socialism? Does that mean Khrushchev's era was considered modern?!

The proposal quickly reached the General Secretary's desk.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

October 1992, Moscow Kremlin

Slava convened a special meeting. Participants included the Minister of the USSR State Construction Committee, several experts and academicians from the Academy of Construction and Architectural Art, and representatives from the construction departments of various constituent republics.

Slava cut to the chase: "Comrades, I think the issue of the Khrushchev building can no longer be delayed. I need you to give me a solution."

The discussion split into three directions.

The first option is renovation.

Some believe the most economical approach is to reinforce the existing Khrushchev Building with earthquake resistance. This would involve adding a steel frame to the exterior walls, more securely connecting the precast panels, replacing aging pipes and wiring, and adding insulation.

The advantages are low cost, no need to relocate residents, and short construction period.

The downside is that it only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause. The fundamental problems of the Khrushchev-era buildings—too small apartment sizes, illogical layouts, lack of parking spaces, and no community amenities—cannot be solved by renovation!

The second option is to demolish and rebuild.

Another group of people believe that the Khrushchev Building was originally a prefabricated building, so it could be demolished quickly. They suggest tearing down the old building and building a new one on the same site.

The advantage is that it's a one-step solution. The new building can be designed according to new standards, just like the Brezhnev Building, which was an upgrade of Khrushchev's foundation.

The downside is the resettlement of residents. Where will people live during the demolition? Temporary resettlement is extremely costly, and building a new building on the same site means that the new building will be located in the same area as the old one—the original site selection for the Khrushchev building was problematic, with little consideration given to transportation, commerce, and public services.

The number of cars in the Soviet Union today is not what it used to be. During Khrushchev's era, it was considered good if 20 out of 1,000 people owned a car. Now, during Ivanov's era, nearly 150 out of 1,000 people own a car. As the Soviet Union annexed a large number of Japanese industrial enterprises and began to mass-produce new cars, the per capita car ownership will continue to increase.

As for the third direction—

The third direction was proposed by an academician from the Institute of Construction and Architectural Art.

This academician is 70 years old. He has worked in the Soviet construction industry for decades, experiencing the large-scale construction during the Khrushchev era, the stagnation and shoddy workmanship during the Brezhnev era, and the new construction that began in recent years after the economic recovery.

He had a love-hate relationship with the Khrushchev Building. He hated its quality, but understood that it solved the housing problem for tens of millions of people at that time.

"Comrade General Secretary, renovation is only a temporary solution, and demolition and reconstruction cannot solve the planning problem. I think we should address the entire community!"

He explained.

"The Khrushchev buildings were constructed in clusters, with dozens of buildings in one area, each five stories high, arranged in rows. When they were first built, the entire area was planned with residential purposes in mind."

The design did not consider commercial areas because consumer goods were scarce and commercial demand was minimal during Khrushchev's era; a small shop was sufficient. There were no parking lots or community service facilities, and virtually no kindergartens, cultural activity centers, or sports fields. The roads were narrow—only for buses and pedestrians.

My suggestion is to replan the entire community. Demolish the old Khrushchev-style housing complex and build a completely new, fully functional community on the same site that meets the needs of modern socialist life in the Union.

He drew a new plan on the blackboard.

"The new community should include: residential buildings, underground and surface parking facilities, commercial areas, community health stations, kindergartens and nurseries, cultural activity centers, sports facilities, green belts and community parks."

We want to create a complete, self-sufficient space where residents can meet most of their daily needs without leaving the community.

He put down his pen.

"With the rapid development of material life in the Soviet Union, people's needs are constantly increasing. I think we should let the vast number of Soviet people personally experience what the 'socialist modernization' mentioned by the General Secretary really looks like."

Slava listened to the academician's proposal and thought about it for a while.

"Hey, what you're talking about is a bit like the production-research consortium we have in agriculture!"

The academician nodded: "They are essentially the same. Agricultural cooperatives improve efficiency by concentrating planting, processing, research and development, and training in a large complex. Housing cooperatives improve the quality of life by concentrating residence, commerce, services, and culture in a community."

“I think it could be called a housing consortium,” Slava gave it a definition.

He likes the concept.

What Slava didn't know was that in the future it would be given a more affectionate name by the people—Ivanov House.

"Well, that sounds wonderful, but my dear comrade, what about the budget?"

"The budget is definitely much more expensive than a simple renovation," the academician said frankly. "I still insist on long-term benefits. An excellent community can greatly improve people's happiness, satisfaction, and sense of gain, and can also gain cohesion and a lot of cultural soft power. These more valuable assets cannot be measured by one or two rubles!"

As inheritors of our mentors' ideals and successors on the path of communist construction, we should continue to strive in that direction.

Comrade General Secretary, I was born after the founding of the Soviet Union. I lived through the eras of Comrades Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Andropov. I firmly believe that we can take our mentors' communist ideals a giant leap forward.

Slava nodded: "Then let's do it! The design institute will come up with a plan. The budget can be more generous; we don't need to be as extreme in our consideration of practicality and space utilization as we were during the Khrushchev era. The design can be more flexible, but it should reflect aesthetics and artistry."

Soviet citizens shouldn't live in purely functional boxes; they should live in communities where they feel, "This is a place worth living in for a lifetime." As for those buildings in earthquake zones... you need to develop a reinforcement plan, prioritizing the replacement of Khrushchev's buildings in earthquake zones.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In December 1992, the design institute submitted the proposal. The proposal was titled "Standard Scheme for Modernization of Urban Residential Communities in the Soviet Union".

It's a thick book containing drawings, renderings, technical parameters, cost estimates, and construction schedules.

Slava turned to the first page.

The new residential buildings are no longer Khrushchev-style five-story prefabricated houses. Instead, they feature prefabricated frame structures with replaceable enclosure systems.

The precast reinforced concrete columns and beams of the main frame are cast in the factory, transported to the site, and connected using grouting sleeves. Secondary grouting is performed at the joints to form a unified structure. The frame bears all vertical loads and horizontal seismic forces.

The floor slabs are still precast composite slabs, which are cast in the factory for the base slab, laid on site, and then the surface layer is cast, balancing construction speed and strength.

The exterior walls use non-load-bearing three-layer sandwich insulation panels, which are hung on the outside of the frame and can be removed and replaced independently. When the insulation layer ages, the exterior wall panels can be replaced without affecting the main structure.

The interior partitions are made of lightweight, non-load-bearing materials, allowing residents to adjust the interior layout without affecting the structure.

The design institute estimates the main frame's lifespan to be 50-70 years. The exterior wall panels and internal pipelines are replaceable. When the entire structure needs to be dismantled at the end of its design life, the grouting sleeves can be directionally cut—much easier to handle than a purely cast-in-place continuous monolithic structure. The exterior wall panels and interior partitions can be directly removed and transported away.

Slava does not want to build purely reinforced concrete high-rise buildings because the demolition is too difficult. As the lifespan of the buildings gradually expires and the city continues to expand, the cost of demolishing high-rise buildings will become terrifying, ultimately leaving only problems for future generations and causing the old city to gradually become hollowed out.

He would never pass on a problem that could be solved by his predecessors to his successors!

In terms of apartment layouts, there are many types, including classic one-bedroom apartments for single people or young couples—nearly 50 square meters, 50% larger than Khrushchev's apartment building; two-bedroom apartments for families of three—70 square meters; three-bedroom apartments for "standard families" with two or three children—110 square meters; and a small number of four-bedroom apartments for special circumstances such as three-generation families—130 square meters.

Slava explicitly demanded that priority be given to building three- and two-bedroom apartments, and that housing be prioritized for families with children or married couples, solely to encourage young people to marry. Later, a policy was introduced stating that if families with only one child wished to have more children, the Union could directly upgrade their housing for free and provide additional subsidies, as the Soviet Union was severely short of population.

To be honest, Slava sometimes couldn't understand why the Soviet Union's population growth rate was so slow, because education was entirely free, finding a job was never a problem as long as you graduated, housing was always provided for free, and basic necessities were kept very inexpensive through planned price reductions by the state...

Perhaps everyone is pursuing eugenics and optimal childbearing. Raising a child and nurturing them into a mature successor to socialism requires considerable effort. A family needs two children to prevent population decline, and three children to achieve positive population growth...

He couldn't simply open his arms to welcome everyone to the Soviet Union, as the Soviet Union's cradle-to-grave welfare system couldn't withstand the influx of a large number of low-quality, lazy foreigners.

It seems that the Soviet Union's population problem will persist until Slava's death.

...

After the building design was completed, the Soviet Union immediately began renovations, and community planning was carried out simultaneously. The Soviet Union made full use of the characteristics of Soviet democracy, collected a large number of suggestions from the grassroots, and finally came up with a new community plan.

The Soviet Union's principles for community planning were not inherently bad—pedestrian accessibility, complete functionality, and high green space ratio. The standard configuration was 5000-10000 residents per community, with public transportation stations within 500 meters, grocery stores within 300 meters, and schools within 500 meters. There was one kindergarten for every 1000 residents and one school for every 8000 residents, with shops, canteens, and cultural facilities allocated proportionally.

However, the problems left over from the Brezhnev era lie at the implementation level: the buildings are all the same, the commercial facilities are inadequate for a long time, the public space design is rough, and there are no parking spaces.

The new plan introduces the concepts of residential areas and communities, with 4-6 Ivanov buildings enclosing a semi-enclosed courtyard space, which is enclosed but not completely sealed off, leaving visual corridors and pedestrian passages.

The community features a children's playground, a rest area for the elderly, fitness equipment, green spaces, and surface parking spaces.

Then, 4-6 smaller groups form a complete community, serving 8000-12000 residents. The micro-community centers are very well-equipped, almost equivalent to a small town.

In terms of education, kindergartens and primary and secondary schools will be established, covering education courses from grades 1 to 11. Schools will include playgrounds and gymnasiums, and various interest classes will be set up to cultivate teenagers.

The Soviet Union's higher education system was not located within communities; technical education schools and universities were not included in the planning.

In terms of commercial services, each residential area has convenience stores, pharmacies and other convenient places, while the community center has comprehensive commercial facilities such as food supermarkets, daily necessities stores, barbershops, laundromats, restaurants, and service points for shoe repair, watch repair and key repair.

Medical care, culture, and other infrastructure such as heating, garbage collection, and communications are all provided. Even higher-level districts have larger facilities such as stadiums, children's palaces, and libraries.

Slava believed that this plan was sufficient to satisfy the Soviet people for at least the next thirty years.

As for the cost... the construction cost of a standard community of about 20,000 people is about 80 million rubles. There are tens of thousands of communities in the Soviet Union that need to be renovated, and even just counting the Khrushchev buildings, there are several thousand.