World: Home, Sweet Private Home

For years—even under Stalin—the outstanding exception to Communist collectivization was the privately owned Russian home. Anyone who could build one could own one. Last week the Kremlin finally got around to abolishing this flourishing capitalistic institution.

Until recently, the government encouraged Soviet citizens to build their own homes because of the acute housing shortage. By 1960, 31% of all living space in Soviet cities was privately owned. But building materials were in such short supply that last year Khrushchev's new Communist Party program hinted at a reversal of the home-building policy. Nikita's Utopian...