Socialism without Politics: Garden Cities of the Future in the Present. First and only edition.

This urban planning concept was conceived by the English town planner Ebenezer Howard in 1898. It emerged as a response to the imperative need to enhance the quality of urban life, which had evolved significantly since the Industrial Revolution.
Notably, serfdom endured in Russia longer than in any other major European country and was not abolished until 1861. Consequently, in the years preceding the First World War, Russia underwent a gradual process of modernization. A relatively small percentage of the population resided in cities, with the majority concentrated in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Urbanization began to gain momentum after 1870. Interestingly, it was in Russia that the concept of the garden city garnered the most significant interest and exerted the most enduring influence.
Early Soviet projects for planned communities displayed a remarkable continuity with pre-revolutionary ideas. In 1909, following a visit by a group of Russians to English Garden cities, the first Russian edition of Howard's 'Garden Cities of Tomorrow' was published. In 1913, the Russian Garden City Society was established. 'Though its charter required it to stand "outside parties", most of the membership came from the Social Revolutionary party, which, despite its name, was far from radical… A tract published by the Russian Garden City Society in 1913, Socialism Without Politics: Garden Cities of the Future and Present, advocated a nonrevolutionary path to socialism based on municipal land acquisition and housing schemes built by the cooperative movement aided by enlightened capitalists' (Buder, S. Visionaries and Planners: The Garden City Movement and the Modern Community. Oxford, 1990).
Furthermore, the author proposed the utilization of unemployed workers, primarily freed peasants, in city construction projects. He envisioned these cities as 'an El Dorado for small business', where everyone could find their place and contribute according to their abilities.
The book features concepts from English and German Garden city projects, including Letchworth Garden City (the world's first), Hampstead Garden Suburb, Bournville, Hellerau (the first garden city in Germany), and Ulm. Russian initiatives are also presented, including Russia's inaugural Garden City of Prozorovka (now Kratovo, located 40 km from Moscow) designed for the employees of the Moscow-Kazan railway, and the garden settlement at Khodynka Field (which remained unexecuted).
The book is richly illustrated with city plans and rare photographs showcasing streets, houses, factories, and boulevards.

OCLC locates two copies of this edition only: in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and La Contemporaine Library (Nanterre, France).

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