You play to win the game

USSR is a mighty sports power!
B. Reshetnikov, 1962

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard for all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.

George Orwell, Collected Essays

After the WW2 the attitude to sport in USSR changed greatly. Before the War training was about building a better citizen and soldier. Now it became professional. The Cold War was at full swing and Stalin considered sport achievements as a perfect way to show the advantages and power of the communist state. The pressure was hard – to take part in the international competitions abroad the Sports Committee Head Romanov had to submit an application with the names of the athletes and personally guarantee their perfect results.

In 1952 the USSR first took part in the Olympic Games, held in Finland, Helsinki. The debut was lost – Soviet Union took home 71 medals (22 Gold) less then the USA’s 76 medals (40 Gold). Next year Stalin died, but the hatched of sports war was dug up already. Next Games (Melbourne, Australia, 1956) were won by USSR - 98 (USSR) to 74 (USA) overall medal score; 37 to 32 Gold medal score. The 1960 Games in Rome, Italy strengthened Soviet victorious reputation as the overall medal count was 103 to 71 and 43 to 34 in Gold count. The superiority was significant, - for instance, soviet gymnasts won 15 of 16 possible medals in women's gymnastics. The Games in 1964 were lost; the competition between the USSR and the USA continued, but the early sixties were always considered to be the golden era of Soviet sport.

The poster above shows a giant man, whose face was painted in a way to resemble the Olympic Torch. His hair is waving like fire. On his chest there are large letters saying “USSR”. The background is composed of the golden medals won in several sports disciplines: skis, weight-lifting, running and rowing. The slogan and the very dominating curve of the image add to the slogan at the bottom: “A Mighty Sports Power!”

Buy these sports posters at allposters!

Homo Homini...

A man is a friend, comrade and brother to a man!
B. Soloviev, 1962

This cheerful poster goes back to 1961. During the XXII Convention of Communist Party of the Soviet Union the Moral Codex of Communist Builder was adopted. This was a significant event, as the previous XXI Convention declared that socialism had been finally built in the Soviet Union. Now the new program was approved, with the new main goal of building communism. The deadline was set at 1980, and there were numerous tasks to complete, including the material and technical bases required for becoming the world number one in production of goods and the quality of life of the citizens. The other features of communist society yet to be implemented were the communist self-government and the advanced personality of soviet communists. The qualities needed for the latter were specified in the 12 points of the “Moral Codex of Communist Builder”.

Some of the points say: “Adherence to communism, devotion to the socialists Motherland and the socialist countries” (1), “Constructive and productive work for the society: the one who does not work – does not eat (2), “Mutual respect in family life, care of children” (7), “Irreconcilability to unfairness, laziness, lies, careerism, money-grubbing”(10), “Intolerance to the enemies of communism, peace and people’s freedom” (11).

This poster illustrates the point six of the Codex, which says: “Humane relations and mutual respect among people: a man is a friend, comrade and brother to a man!”

In Russian “A man is a friend…” sounds really ironical, as it resembles the famous Latin proverb “Homo Homini Lupus Est”, written by Plautus, meaning “A man is a wolf to a man”. English philosopher Thomas Hobbes popularized it in his Leviathan, mentioning that before creation of government everybody was at war with everybody, hence “Homo Homini Lupus Est”.

Check beautiful Soviet Posters at Allposters:

It’s the Hero’s heart who fights the fight

Glory to heroes of Brest Fortress
O. Savostjuk, B. Uspenskiy, 1969

This is a poster created to commemorate the great defense of Brest, performed by Soviet soldiers in 1941. The poster shows a soldier holding a RPG-40 antitank grenade ready to make a throw. The contrast red and black image along with the slogans form the Red Star. The slogans go clockwise starting from 9 o’clock: “I swear”, “Viva Motherland”, “No step backward”, “Never retreat from the fortress” and finally “Death to fascism”.

Brest Fortress was actually attacked two times – in 1939, being a Polish fortress, it was assaulted by German general Guderian, who according to the secret protocols of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union was partitioning Poland. Later that year, Brest Fortress was given to Soviet Union according to that pact.

On June 22, 1941 the fortress and the city of Brest was attacked by Nazi Germany at the beginning of the surprise war – this was its second and the most famous siege. According to Operation Barbarossa (blitzkrieg or flash war) Brest Fortress was to be taken by 12 o’clock the first day the war broke out. But German generals, who had been planning the operation, certainly underestimated the devotion of Russian soldiers, who managed to defend the fortress for almost a whole month – surrounded and not knowing that the front line had been moved hundreds of kilometers deep into the Soviet territory. Finally, the defendants perished, and became one of the icons of Soviet WW2 Heroic Propaganda. Upon getting into the demolished fortress Nazis found writing on the part of the wall which said: “I die but never surrender. Farwell, Motherland. 20th of July, 1941”.

Check the beautiful fortress images at allposters!

I'm so crazy I don't know this isn't possible

Let's conquer the virgin blue!
V. Gorlenko, 1964

Sometimes the ideas for Soviet Posters seem to be quite hilarious. Take this one from the sixties. It shows a great number of ducklings, who carry slogans which say: “Let’s conquer the virgin blue!” They are proceeding from a giant egg, moving in a horde like soviet workers at an October demonstration. Their main goal according to the slogans is to live and increase its weight on the water.

In reality lots of soviet young people were cultivating the virgin soils which were considered to be the main source of extensive development of agriculture. At that time lots of “advanced” means were tested like planting of maize corn everywhere including areas near the polar circle, general breeding of rabbits or in this very case the duck farms building, which was considered to be a perfect way of getting plenty of cheap meat for the people.

Needless to say that all the efforts were in vain: the corn didn’t seem to grow according to forecasts, and moreover Soviet people were not eager to choose it instead of wheat bread. The rabbits and ducks although breeding well and fast were prone to epidemics and required lots of food to grow. These were some of the failures in agricultural development which lead to Khrushchev’s forced retirement in 1964.

Check the duck posters at allposters:

Here’s our profit!

Here’s our profit!
V. Koretsky, 1965

By 1964 Khrushchev’s reforms in industry and agriculture were not quite successful. Growth was slowing down, erection of Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crisis damaged greatly the image of USSR in Europe and worsen the relations with USA. The political course which implied renewal of the party staff received hostile reception in the Communist Party, which was enjoying relative peace after death of Stalin in 1952.

So Khrushchev was dismissed and Leonid Brezhnev came to power. To cope with the problems the economic reforms were announced in 1965. They implied giving industrial enterprises more control over their own production and some flexibility over wages. The reforms were aimed at turning the enterprises' economic objectives toward making a profit, allowing them to forward some of the profits either to motivate personnel or self-financing. Prime Minister Alexsey Kosygin believed that these moves could lead to significant increase in production output and to fundamental changes in the country’s economy in future.

But the political system and the planned economy remained unchanged and the suggested measures were partly buried into bureaucracy or just not carried out all. And although the growth did happen, the country was advancing on the momentum of the past, using up the previously built resources.

The poster shows a hand with a Soviet Ruble – in the sixties this was a monetary unit of a significant value. The coin reflects block-of-flats with signs like “Kindergarten” being constructed, factories and electric lines being built and some machinery. The message is quite clear – now it is the economical effectiveness in a form of money, which is the main goal of work.
Buy coin posters at allposters:

If we don't end war, war will end us

Victory!
O. Savostjuk, B. Uspenskiy, 1969

This poster was created in naive manner which resembled children’s drawings. Hammer and Sickle on the red flag above celebrates the victory over the fascist regime in a form of thrown down black German banners at the bottom of the poster. The soldier holds his hand high in a gesture of joy because the long lasting War is finally over. He is not an ordinary private – on his chest there is a Hero of the Soviet Union star medal meaning that he obtained the highest honorary title after performing a truly heroic deed. Also he is holding a sub-machine gun PPSh-41 – the predecessor of AK-47. The famous war slogans and mottos written in chalk form the five-pointed Red Star – a symbol of communism. During the War people were often putting chalked notes and slogans on walls of the places they were passing by.

The slogans say (counter clock-wise, starting from 5 o’clock): “Have gone from Moscow to Berlin” (the Germans managed to get 30 km near Moscow and only after the Battle of Moscow in 1942 were thrown back), “The war way from Leningrad was complete on May 9, 1945” (The Siege of Leningrad, also known as The Leningrad Blockade of 1941-1944 is one of the most dreadful events of the WW2, with more than 1.2 mln of Leningraders starving to death there), “Kursk-Berlin” (The Great Battle of Kursk in 1943 won by Soviets despite the outnumbering Germans and leading to the final counteroffensive), “1945 – we have won”, “From Volga to Berlin” (The Battle of Stalingrad on Volga River, which being the bloodiest battle in human history exhausted the Germans and led to the Victory) . The soldier’s head is crowned with “Hurrah! Victory” words. And the last phrase to the right is written with no inclination and is actually the message of the poster: “Be free and happy – forever”.

How to raise a child like Lenin

Don’t you lie – ever!
G. Shubina, 1965

Truth will triumph. It always does. However, I figure truth is a variable, so we're right back where we started from.

Galloway Gallegher, in "The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner

What a wonderful water-color poster it is! It gives a perfect opportunity to understand what Soviet educational system was about. Education is not only a social institution with kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities. These are the places where knowledge is passed on, but schoolbooks can not give an impression of what ideas all young soviet citizens were absorbing from the youngest age.

Honesty was one of the basic virtues. According to the point 7 of Moral Codex of Communism Builder approved at the 22 Soviet Party Convention in 1961, every Soviet Citizen was to be “Honest and sincere, was to be moral, was to be plain and modest in social and private life”.

In 1940 a talented Soviet writer Mikhail Zoschenko published his “Stories about Lenin” – a set of fiction short-stories abridged for children, with Vladimir Lenin as the main character. Every short-story was illustrating a virtue – kindness, courage, will, intelligence. The very first short-story called “Decanter” went back to Lenin’s child years. Once young Volodia went to his aunt where he occasionally broke a decanter. When asked neither Lenin nor the children he played with admitted the fault. Fortunately no punishment followed but Lenin’s remorse was torturing him for the next two months until he finally confessed to his mother. And only after that he managed to have a good sleep. A naive story told in a language simple enough for the young to read and comprehend it. So after the War “Stories about Lenin” became obligatory reading in all schools of the Soviet Union. The message was quite clear – Soviet leaders are the most honest and sincere people of the world and every Soviet child should do his best to be like them. Unfortunately in those schoolbooks there was no mentioning of the author of the “Stories”, as in 1946 Zoschenko was called the “most vulgar writer of all the Soviets’” for the humorous short-stories he was brilliant at writing, and got in disgrace. Again the bright fiction had loose connection with reality. Zoschenko was exonerated only after Stalin’s death in 1953.

The more bombers, the less room for doves of peace.

Long live everlasting, indestructible friendship and cooperation between Soviet and Cuban nations!
J Kershin, S Gurarij, 1963

The diplomatic relations between Cuba and Russia were established in 1902. They were terminated only during Fulgencio Batista’s rule, but were soon reestablished when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Soviet attitude to new Cuban government was neutral, until the Bay of Pigs invasion (1961), when USA tried to attack Cuba in order to overthrow the revolutionary regime and retain control of its property nationalized by Castro. This attempt was in vain as it did not spark the rising against Castro - the attacking forces were easily scattered by the trained Cuban army. This generated even more tension in Cuban-American relationships. Now in case of an embargo, the USA-oriented economy of Cuba had to find support somewhere (also see a Cuban Poster on the topic). Soviet Union grabbed the opportunity as this was a good way to establish a military base in a close firing range of its main foe – the USA, which in its turn had previously set up a number of nuclear missiles in Turkey, covering many potential targets in the Soviet Union. The following confrontation is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), when the world was as close to the nuclear WW3 as ever.

In 1963 after the Soviet Missiles had been removed from Cuba Fidel Castro paid a visit to the Soviet Union. For a month he was traveling across the country observing the achievements of the soviet regime. The photo the poster above is based on, was made during one of the demonstrations (supposedly on the Red Square), where all the Soviet officials were present. It shows Fidel Castro, the President of Cuba, and Nikita Khrushchev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union holding their hands in a greeting gesture. During this visit Fidel Castro was awarded “Hero of the Soviet Union” - the highest possible decoration in the country. On the photo above Nikita Khrushchev has one “Lenin Prize" medal and three “Hammer and Sickle” star medals (“Hero of Socialist Labor” decoration) on his chest. The irony is that Khrushchev received his “Lenin Prize” for “Strengthening of Peace in the world” in 1959, two years before the Cuban Missile Crisis took place.

What a sad look!

Have you laid up the fodder?
Govorkov V. I., 1965

Almost 60-odd years ago in Canada. I was studying agriculture, how to produce better chickens, better cattle, better horses — horses in those days — better fruit, better vegetables. This was in the early years of the Great Depression, and the thoughts crossed my mind that there wasn't a hell of a lot of use producing better crops and better livestock if you couldn't sell them, that the real problem of agriculture was not efficiency in production but the problem of whether you could make money after you produced the stuff. So I shifted from the technical side to, first, the study of agricultural economic issues and then on to economics itself.

John Kenneth Galbraith

In 1965 the land reform started. Khrushchev’s agricultural policy which implied extensive farming and no personal commitment of the peasants forcefully made the country to purchase the grain abroad.

So in 1965 several crucial measures were introduced: the government increased purchasing prices for the grain and goods, the 6 years procurement plan was given to the kolkozi along with 50% bonus for over-delivery. But most important was that peasants were allowed to do their personal farming, on a very small scale, of course.

But all those measures were useless, until the free trade could be introduced. And the government was constantly imposing new regulatory instructions for the peasants, like limiting the amount of strawberry crops one could plant on his small plot of land. So on one hand the profitability of kolkozi reached 34% in 1970, and on the other all the huge investments (more than 400 bln. of rubles in 1966-1980) did not bring significant gain in total agricultural output.

Lenin forever!

Lenin
V. Briskin, 1970

The author of this poster is Veneamin Briskin - a brilliant illustrator and a graphic artist, whose best works included Maxim Gorky and Mark Twain books. He created a series of posters called “Europe after the War” and illustrations to “Vasili Tyorkin” – poem about a soviet soldier by famous poet Aleksandr Tvardovsky.

This poster was created for international exhibition “Satire Fighting for Peace”, held in 1971 in Moscow. In the early seventies War in Vietnam was raging and the relations between USSR and USA was tense, so Soviet Union kept propagating positive image of the Soviet Union. One of the means was taking part and organizing of various events, which despite being politically biased, did exhibit many modern works of art.

The poster’s style is laconic. It was designed for European audience, bearing no slogans or sayings by soviet leaders. The red word «Lenin» refers to the first leader of Soviet Socialist Republic – Vladimir Lenin, whose ideas and works formed the basis for communist ideology in Russia.