Tractor and Labor

In 1922, at the former estate of Princess Maria Obolenskaya in the village of Ira, Kirsanov District of Tambov Province, 65 re-emigrants from America, Australia, and Great Britain arrived at the invitation of the Soviet authorities. The commune members were able to organize a successful economy, and their ideas had a significant impact on the further development of the entire USSR.

The dream of collective prosperity attracted many people — five years after its establishment, the population of the Ira commune reached 350 individuals. However, reality turned out to be much harsher than the commune members had expected. In 1938, the commune, which had attracted notable visitors such as writer and playwright Bernard Shaw and the first female MP in the House of Commons of the UK, Lady Astor, was merged into the collective farm named after V.I. Lenin, and some members of the commune were repressed.

The Ira commune is one of the social experiments of the Soviet government aimed at “reshaping” humanity and building a socialist “paradise” in a specific village. Leninskoe has a unique history: its revival and flourishing during the USSR era and its abandonment in the 1990s.