The power of ideas

The pipe of Stalin
V. Deni, 1930

Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don't allow our enemies to have guns, why should we allow them to have ideas?

Joseph Stalin

Stalin was an avid smoker. But unlike Winston Churchill who was a cigar man, Stalin liked pipes. They say he was not fond of the special pipe tobacco, but was filling his pipe with contents of “Gertsegovina Flor” cigarettes. Apparently these cigarettes were very different from those available for general public, so the overall quality of the Stalin’s tobacco was quite good.

On this poster tobacco smoke has another function besides pleasing Joseph Stalin. Used as a metaphor it blows away those who according to the official position were harming the development of the soviet society and state. The first one is the Saboteur, who slows down the fulfillment of the First Five Year Plan. Joseph Stalin upon seeing the draft of the First Five Year Plan (which already was an overestimation of the Soviet capabilities of the time) ordered to complete it in four years instead of five. Not only this could intensify the development, but also gave him a good excuse to punish for deliberately poor results.

The other one is Nepach or Red Merchant or NEPman. New Economic Policy launched by Lenin in an attempt to revive the economy implied permission of small businesses. But NEP was a forced temporary measure needed only to restore the country after the Civil War and the WW1. In the thirties NEP was already cancelled as “NEP contradicted with the communism values”.

And the last one is “Kulak” – an independent peasant who was “exploiting poorer peasants”. The policy of dekulakization (raskulachivanie) was one of the measures to strip the agriculture in order to fund the industrial development.

Stalin is portrayed as a stern leader with a piercing stare, who looks for those, who hinder the arrival of communism.

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Down with kitchen slavery!

Down with kitchen slavery! Let there be new household life!
G. Shegal, 1931

In 1917 the majority of laws of Russian Empire were repealed. Instead the first Soviet Constitution of 1918 declared full rights of women in divorcements, private property, children wardship, work and profession opportunities, choosing of place of living, education and suffrage. A decree which was stating the equal payment for men and women was also issued that year. Finally woman has got the same rights as men. The flip side of the coin was that woman had to work as hard as men as well.

At the same time the reforms of the economy were hampered no only by the Civil War but also by the runaway inflation. To give payment to the workers the Government had to print more money, which only made the situation worse. So the commodity-money relations were partly abolished: instead of wages workers were receiving rations, necessities, canteen coupons. Rent and transport fares were cancelled as well as payments for other public utilities. Free trade of food and goods was prohibited. The state was mobilizing the workers and was giving them full allowance (sort of).

The thirties perfectly utilized this experience. The country needed as much workforce as possible to complete the first Five Year plan, so women who were nursing children at home and did the cooking seemed to be a waste of resources. A great many of day nurseries, large-scale mechanized canteens, kindergartens were being built to free soviet woman from household routine and make them work on the machines instead. For many of soviet woman who had just arrived from the country this was a significant step forward, as it implied getting certain education and hopes of better living in future.

The poster above is an illustration of this trend. The woman dressed in red working overalls and a kerchief opens a large window showing a woman exhausted by laundry a bright perspective with new modern buildings with signs saying: “Club”, “Mechanized Canteen”, “Nursery”.

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Another brave new world

Let Pluralism Live Long!
Author unknown, Eighties

Those who hope that we shall move away from the socialist path will be greatly disappointed. Every part of our program of perestroika […] is fully based on the principle of more socialism and more democracy.

“Perestroika - New Thinking for Our Country and the World”, Mikhail Gorbachev, 1988

“Pluralism of opinions” was one of the main slogans in the “Glasnost” campaign, which took place in Russia in the eighties. After the WW2 the internal contradictions in political life, social life and economy kept piling up for years. Stalin was cutting the knot with force, Khruzchev was improvising, but with no significant long-term effect, Brezhnev’s rule was called “Stagnation”, Andropov and Chernenko were too old not only to make any changes, but to live at all (Andropov – 68, Chernenko – 72, when elected), so only the relatively young Gorbachev admitted that the Soviet Union has got so many problems, which had to be solved.

But unfortunately no one knew what to do to solve the problems right. Anyway, the process was called “Perestroika” – “Restructuring”, and implied “Uskorenie” – “Speed up” in economy, “Glastnost” – “Openness” in politics and “Pluralism” in social life. “Pluralism” was to give the citizens freedom of speech and opportunities to express their own point of view, even if it contradicted with the “official” position, or positions of other citizens.

This poster is a brilliant illustration of this principle. It shows the four “Hammer and Sickle” icons which form the word “СССР” – USSR in Russian. The last “Hammer and Sickle” is inverted forming the Russian letter “Р” (and Latin letter “R” at the same time!). This creates the desired effect, as if one person (“Р”) opposes the majority (“CCC”). The slogan says: “Let Pluralism Live Long”. The choice of words is also deliberate – a great many of the communist slogans began with “Long Live…”, and this slogan although similar in meaning sounded fresh due to simple replacing of a word in it.

This poster gives an idea, that it is possible to improve the old regime and change the life of people for the better. Unfortunately, due to many reasons including incompetence of the leaders, painless switch to capitalism never happened and the initial enthusiasm died in a flow of social and economical distress of the nineties.

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Telling fish stories

Purity – to Seas!
V. Karakashev, L. Levshunova, 1973

Only the gamefish swims upstream,
But the sensible fish swims down.

Ogden Nash, When You Say That, Smile

Here is a social poster which relates to the United Nations Conference held in London in 1973. During the conference the New Directions in the Law of the Sea were introduced. They were to prevent the pollution of the seas by ships. From now on every ship no mater the home port, should have had a certificate, which proved that no mechanics, hull or anything else could pollute or harm the sea or its inhabitants. Before that tankers were just dumping hundreds of tons of waste and oil right into the neutral waters. Other major pollutants were the sea-based oil derricks.

The poster shows pink salmon or humpback salmon which is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon – making it quite popular in Russia because of its relative affordability. It is very sensitive to the quality of water it lives in. The interesting thing about pink salmon is that during the life time it lives in the salty water of seas and then comes to fresh river water for spawning. As most of the rivers flow into seas and may cause the pollution if poisoned, the choice of a poster symbol, which is familiar with both saltwater and freshwater habitats is quite smart. Another interesting thing is that during the migration in quest for the right place for spawning, pink salmon cover tens of miles upstream often jumping out of the water. This is why the fish is flying high on this poster.

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Making no bones

All start with “Г”
D. Moor (Orlov), 1941

I want war. To me all means will be right. My motto is not "Don't, whatever you do, annoy the enemy." My motto is "Destroy him by all and any means." I am the one who will wage the war!

Adolf Hitler

This is a poster made in a form of political cartoon. Four distorted faces belong to Nazi officials: Heinrich Himmler (Minister of Internal Affairs, he controlled SS and security forces including Gestapo), Hermann Wilhelm Goring (minister of aviation and one of the most prominent political figures of the Third Reich), Adolf Hitler (the leader of Nazi Germany) and Paul Joseph Goebbels (Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda - known for his zealous oratory and virulent anti-Semitism). These are the Nazi politicians who were responsible for the WW2 and the war crimes which took place in its course.

In Russian all the four names (Himmler, Goring, Hitler and Goebbels) start with the same letter “Г” (pronounced “Gh”). In the right column of the poster these four letters consecutively form right-faced swastika - the symbol of Nazi Germany, and say “First Г.”, “Second Г.”, “Third Г.”, “Fourth Г.”.

The slogan says “All start with “Г”. It seems to be pretty irrelevant unless you know that in Russian “Г” with a dot is an abbreviation of “Говно”, or “Shit”.

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If the shoe fits, it's too expensive

Resintrust Galoshes
V. Bayuskin, 1925

Galoshes are waterproof overshoes made of vulcanized rubber. In the last century they were worn over boots and shoes to protect them in rough conditions. Nowadays in Russia they are used only with valenki (a traditional winter footwear) – to prevent them from getting wet in slush.

Galoshes were a popular accessory. The roads were often dirty, so when coming to an office or a house a respectable man had to take the muddy shoes off. Galoshes eliminated the need of a second pair of shoes and reduced changing time.

Before the Revolution tanning and shoe industries were hugely underdeveloped in Russia. There were only few shoe factories, and there were no machinery there – only manual labor. 90% of all shoes were made by individuals and small cooperation manufactories.

The situation after the Revolution did not change, so cheap galoshes which could protect expensive shoes were always in demand. Besides, those who could not afford proper shoes always had an option of wearing galoshes alone or with socks.

The poster shows a woman-worker in her holiday clothes. The advertisement says: “Resintrust. Moscow. Galoshes with Triangle trademark. Every cooperative store should have Resintrust galoshes on sale”.

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Death to world imperialism

Death to world imperialism
D. Moor (Orlov), 1920

We must bear in mind that imperialism is a world system, the last stage of capitalism — and it must be defeated in a world confrontation. The strategic end of this struggle should be the destruction of imperialism. Our share, the responsibility of the exploited and underdeveloped of the world, is to eliminate the foundations of imperialism: our oppressed nations, from where they extract capital, raw materials, technicians, and cheap labor, and to which they export new capital — instruments of domination — arms and all kinds of articles, thus submerging us in an absolute dependence.

Che Guevara

Communism is the antonym of Capitalism and Imperialism is its worst implementation - that was one of the key Bolsheviks' ideas in the twenties. Basically Imperialism is the domination of people over other people. This domination may be economical or political; it may be territorial or national. Generally Lenin put forward several distinct features of that very Imperialism which was ruling the world in the beginning of 20th century. First of all the concentration of production and capital (which was necessary for industrial revolution) led to monopolization of economies: and this had nothing to do with free market, as always the most advanced and powerful multinational monopoly swept the board leaving nothing to the local manufacturers. And another thing was that now it was the financial capital and not industrial capital which was feeding these monopolies giving them enough power for rapid expansion and economical conquests. These two trends always provided plenty of opportunities to intensify the exploitation of workers, who were the second most powerful force in the country, Lenin’s support was based on. The main force was of course the peasants – they were promised property of land.

The poster personifies Imperialism as a giant serpent, which does not allow the workers to take control over production means – the factories and plants. In reality the nationalization was running wild starting from 1918, when “Nationalization” Decree was issued. All the major enterprises were already under direct control of Bolsheviks. The poster however relates not only to the internal affairs. One of the basic Lenin’s ideas was that the Socialist Revolution in Russia would spark the fire of worker’s revolutions in other countries, thus leading to the World of Communism without boundaries. So this poster gives the workers an idea that soon they would have to help their fellow comrades abroad.

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