Tram service as a factor of everyday life in the Soviet city of Magnitogorsk

The tram service in Magnitogorsk is one of the main means of transportation. This study substantiated the causeand-effect relationships of the tram service development, the industrial progress and the culture level of Soviet citizens. The authors determined the choice of Magnitogorsk as a case study by the fact that it was a pilot project of a socialist city during the period of industrialization under Stalin. Due to the retrospective analysis of the transport infrastructure development the authors singled out the tram service as a significant factor in the cultural formation of an industrial society. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the authors analyzed the tram as a communicative space used by the authorities to shape the culture of citizens. By means of an abstract-logical method, based on factual historical evidence, the authors established that the authorities actively used trams to form the culture of citizens, to influence the nature of their social behavior. The authors elicited the set of propaganda, control and punitive methods. The authors provided the periodization of the evolutionary change in people's behavior under the influence of the authorities when using trams to develop a positive attitude towards the industrialization of society. The deviations in passenger behaviour demonstrate that urban everyday life in the USSR was far from the idealistic propaganda image of the socialist city. The obtained results can be useful for the municipal authorities of Magnitogorsk to reassess the importance of tram service for modern society as well as for the specialists in Soviet studies.