People and the party are undivided.
Luk'janov M. V., Karakashev V. S., 1978
“People and the party are undivided” – this is a famous soviet slogan. It appeared in “Pravda” on the 8th of March, 1953, 3 days after Joseph Stalin’s death. Later it was widely used in propaganda. This is probably the most creative illustration of this phrase. The face of Lenin shows through the rows of banners, carried by soviet citizens who take part in a march or a parade. No matter what you do, Lenin’s maxims and ideology exert influence on you.
But this poster was created in 1978, when stagnation was in every part of the soviet life. Brezhnev’s was 73 already and not in best shape, planned economy exhausted itself, the iron curtain was preventing information exchange with the western countries.
So, common folk used to joke like “People and the party are undivided indeed, except for the things they eat” implying that many goods were in shortage and the party officials could get them in special stores without problems.
