So hard to break apart

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.

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Welcome to Soviet Marlboro Country!

Smoke Captain’s Cigars!
Sakharov S. G., 1939

This is another distinctive tobacco poster. Dated 1939, right before the WW2, it promotes smoking of “Glavtabak” tobacco products. By this time all separate tobacco factories got consolidated under the “NarkomPischeProm” Ministry (National Food Industry Ministry), which was forming state orders to produce certain quantities of goods. It were the governmental officials, who were defining what soviet citizens could eat, drink, wear and smoke.

In 1935 Stalin declared that “It is people who are the most valuable asset”. This give way to the petty-bourgeois pleasures, like dancings, jazz, flowers on streets. Several recreational parks were opened, with the Gorky Park (named after famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky) in the center of Moscow. They were called “Parks of Culture and Recreation”, reminding that they are not about recreation only.

Nevertheless, the soviet society was heavily stratified. The majority was working in kolkhozy and on factories for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for the wages which weren’t enough to buy ample food and to get rid of shabby clothes. On the other hands, the officials, trusted folk and young professionals were allowed to get goods at low prices or for free and visit resorts.

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Liberation War

Soldier of the Soviet Army, save us!
Koretsky V. B., 1942

This is a very famous poster by Victor Koretskij. It captured the soviet people’s attitude to the Fascist aggressors after the start of WW2.

In June 1940 Nazis started developing the Operation Barbarossa plan. It was based on Blitzkrieg doctrine (also called Lightning war or flash war). According to Operation Barbarossa, Russians were to be caught by surprise, its main economical and political centers captured within 4-6 weeks from the start of the operation. This was a very ambitious plan, which was altered by the heroic actions of the Soviet Army.

Soviet soldiers did have something to fight for. German Generalplan “Ost” implied not only making the country a German economical colony, but also ethnical cleansing of the population. According to the Generalplan “Ost” more than 120 mln of Russians, Ukrainians, Poles and Lithuanians were subject to resettlement and genocide.

Run, Forrest, Run!

The finishing ribbon says: all world records must to be ours.
Govorkov V. I., 1935

In the thirties Russia finally became a totalitarian state. The Communist Party was imposing regulations on all the political, social, cultural aspects of life.

One of the main means of soviet citizen’s unification was creation of numerous public organizations. People were guided from childhood to the old age by consecutively enrolling in Pioneer organization, Komsomol, Communist Party.

Trade unions played significant role in the ideological education of the soviet people. Everybody had to work, and every worker had to be a member of a trade union, which did not bother representing his rights, but was organizing various activities and providing political education instead. This was obligatory, of course.

This poster announces the Second Soviet Trade Union Sports Event. Joseph Stalin initiated building of sports training organizations and clubs all over the country, making sports extremely popular among the soviet people. Athletes, record holders, football players all were heroes of the time.

These sports clubs were an excellent selection system for sportsmen, which were to represent the country in international events. In 1936 there were held XI Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Because of the increasing tension between Soviet Union and the Fascist Germany (War in Spain of 1936) Russian sportsmen boycotted the Games. Instead, in 1937 in Antwerp the III World Workers Olympic Games started. The antifascists were arriving from 15 countries, with about a 100 of sportsmen only from the Soviet Union. No wonder, this was a triumph of the soviet sports training system, with a number of world records set during the event.

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Fast train coming!

The train goes from the Socialism Station to the Communism Station

Sokolov-Skalja P. P., 1939

Powerful allegories are a distinctive feature of the poster art. This poster is aimed at general audience including the most down-to-earth people.

The header says “The train goes from the Socialism Station to the Communism Station”. Below there is a slogan “The experienced driver of the Revolutionary Engine – Comrade Stalin”. On the left margin there is a schedule of the Bolshevist Train with stations passed though: Iskra (official newspaper of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, established in 1900), Russian Revolution of 1905, Pravda (the chief newspaper of the Soviet Union, established in 1912, note that the name is written in the same font as the original newspaper’s header), the October Revolution of 1917 and Socialism – no year specified. To the right there is another schedule showing the way the train is currently covering – moving from Socialism to Communism stations.

The interpretation of original Marxism and works of Vladimir Lenin have been altered by every political leader of the Soviet Union. This was due to the impossibility of carrying out the main Communism principles. In the Soviet times the country was living in two dimensions – the real one, where people were working hard, making industrialization a reality, and the fiction other – where the bright future life has almost worked out well. This is why the Socialism and the Communism stations on the poster have no year of arrival. No one dared asking about the exact time, because the goal was still far ahead.

This logical dissonance was well masked by the train itself. This is a famous JS-series (IS) train, named after Joseph Stalin. This was a powerful and fast engine with 3500 horsepower and cruising speed of 115 km/h. In 1932-1942 642 of these gorgeous machines were built. In 1938 an experimental aerodynamic train based on JS-model reached 155 km/h speed mark.

The fast-moving train on the poster not only showed the progress the country had made, but also promised great achievements to come. And according to the soviet propaganda it was the only man who could guide the country forward - Joseph Stalin, along with the great theorists of Communism - Lenin, Engels and Marx (pictured on the red flag).

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Free love - and the communists too.

Emancipated woman – build up socialism!
Strakhov-Braslavskij A. I., 1926

In the Romanov’s times Russian Orthodox Church was part of the state, not only being one of the biggest landlords of the country, but also imposing various restrictions and customs on the everyday life. In 1918 Lenin signed a decree, which declared state independence from the Church. This resulted in drastic changes in the society, especially for the those, whose rights were traditionally limited. Besides gaining the right to vote, women took advantage of the civil marriage institution, because in the monarchy times the Church allowed divorces only in extreme cases.

The early Bolsheviks tended to taking all new ideas to the extreme. A popular theory called “Glass of Water Theory” completely denied the marriage institution and proclaimed that a communist woman should throw off all the traditional gender relations, killing uncontrolled emotions, but promoting free love and sexuality based on mutual respect both to the woman’s and men’s needs and desires. This was a complicated concept, which implied serious changes in mentality, and of course the common folk simplified the whole thing, taking out the only idea, that in the communist times having sex would be as easy as taking a glass of water. Hence the “Glass of Water” Theory.

Later after Lenin’s death in 1924, all the social experiments were cut down. Joseph Stalin was a far more pragmatic person and got rid of all the utopians and theorists. Every soviet woman’s goal was to be the same as the men’s: to make communism a reality, to build factories, refineries and shipyards.

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Shine on, you crazy diamond!

Exhibition of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Works
Alexei Gan, 1931

I shine with all my might -
and once more day is trumpeted.
Shine all the time,
forever shine.
the last days' depths to plumb,
to shine - !
spite every hell combined!
So runs my slogan -
and the sun's!

An Extraordinary Adventure by Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Vladimir Mayakovsky (pictured on the poster) is one of the most notable Russian poets of the yearly 20th century. He was a member of Russian Futurism movement and was constantly exploring the boundaries of poetry. His famous works include “Listen!”, “A Cloud in Trousers”, “My Soviet Passport”, “Left March!”, "Conversation with Comrade Lenin", “But could you?”.

The October revolution brought new trends not only in politics but also in art. Many artists worshiped Communism ideology, as it was so fresh and new, compared to contemporary art of the past. Very soon Mayakovsky became the poet of the revolution. His distinctive style was based on brisk and energetic verses which were ideal for propaganda.

In the twenties Mayakovsky was one of the few soviet artists who were allowed to travel freely, so his voyage across the world, including a trip to the USA, was a great inspiration for him. However in the late twenties Mayakovsky’s disappointment grew as the avant-garde movements in art were moved aside by socialist realism and Joseph Stalin’s cult of personality. The revolutionary values got buried under bureaucracy and formalism. All this along with a series of failures in his personal life led him to shooting himself in 1930. Later speculations arised that Mayakovsky was in fact murdered by Stalin’s order.

Mayakovsky’s poems were full of catch phrases which quickly became widely used. Even now almost 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union everybody recognizes his: “Say your word, comrade Mauser” (meaning shooting of a mauser gun) and “I pull out of my wide trouser-pockets duplicate of a priceless cargo. You know: read this and envy, I'm a citizen of the Soviet Union!” (people always modify the first verse like “I pull out something resembling a long cannon barrel.”)

During the soviet times popularity of Mayakovsky’s works was skyrocketing. In 1935 Stalin said: “Mayakovsky has always been the best, the most talented poet of the soviet era. It’s the indifference to his works and heritage, which is a crime.” This canonized Mayakovsky, entering his poems in all the school books of the country. And children still study his poems, because despite the communist propaganda, Mayakovsky’s works are bursting with energy and life.

This poster was created by Alexei Gan, a close friend of constructivism classic Alexander Rodchenko. In fact Alexei Gan was the man who introduced the term itself by publishing his book “Constructivism” in 1922. Gan’s life turned out to be as tragic as Mayakovsky’s. Although he was not subjected to Stalin’s repressions, the drinking habits which he desperately fought during his lifetime, finally undermined his health and brought him to the grave in 1940.