Long Live the World October
G. Klutsis, 1933
The International Communist Revolution was an idea by Karl Marx mentioned in his Communist Manifesto. He thought that the class struggle would wipe the borders and all workers and peasants would finally live happily in a classless communist society.
The idea of Revolutionary War, which would lead to International Communist Revolution, was based on the assumption that the communists of Russia would be helping their mates abroad to start the fight with world imperialism. At first the plan was as follows: Soviets were suggesting the democratic peace treaty which would end the WW1 to all the parties, and in case it had been turned down the war would have to become Revolutionary War, leading to establishing of communist regimes in Europe.
However, when the peace treaty proposal was rejected by every country except Germany (it agreed to start negotiations), Lenin was to start the War. But he didn't as the army was in poor shape and the economy was collapsing. Certainly Bolsheviks would have lost recently acquired power, as both the workers and peasants would have turned against them in case of another armed conflict, when so many internal problems had yet to be settled.
So despite the opposing Bolsheviks headed by Buharin, the idea of World Communist Revolution had to be postponed.
This poster goes back to 1930, when the chance to spark the Revolution was certainly slipped. However Soviet Union was supporting local communist parties abroad, which were united under Comintern.
The brilliant poster by Gustav Klutsis (who was one of the victims of the Great Purge of the later thirties) shows the Earth with several workers standing with Red Flags in their hands. The Earth image and the workers’ figures are photomontage. Also, the Earth is part map, part another photograph showing the heads of workers at a march. The standing figures represent various countries – holding flags with the slogan “Long Live the World October” written in different languages including hieroglyphs, meaning that the October Revolution would happen no only in Russia, but in all other counties of the world.
Get the astonishingly beautiful Earth space images below:
2 comments:
More than 10 years has past, and here in the so called occident we referred
Russia as former-Soviet Union.
That is as we wanted to reaffirm a fact what we don't have safety in your certainty,
this is truly an irrational fear.
I believe that the reason of this irrationality is much more than ideological but a distant echo of the one of the invasions Mongols that came from the east in the medium age.
I am not a graphic designer, but I admire the concept contained in the Soviet (Russian) art and exposed in this blog. I would like to give the congratulations for the originality of this idea!
Love the idea of your blog. I have this poster on my office wall I bought it in Moscow some time ago & often wondered what it meant. Great graphics.
Is there an old Soviet Poster that says 'Stop staring at Propaganda and get on with your work!' .. it might help my output :)
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