Spiritual leaders of the Soviets!

Courageously and irresistibly we fight and stab,
We are Suvorov’s grandchildren and Chapaev’s sons.
Kukryniksy, 1941

Here is a good one. This poster is dated 1941, when the Fascist Germany was attacking Soviet Union, and the Russians could hardly stop the offensive.

Joseph Stalin quickly realized the propaganda potential of cinema. He personally supervised all the movies, which were produced in the country. In the late thirties the chances of war were high and Stalin ordered a number of large-scale movies based on historical events to be filmed. Among them there were three keystone biopics, which rapidly became part of Russian culture.

“Alexander Nevsky” (1938) - a masterpiece created by Sergei Eisenstein (a revolutionary Soviet film director and film theorist) was about Alexander Nevsky - a talented medieval Russian military leader and politician, who managed to smash well equipped German invaders in 1242 at The Battle of the Ice.

“Suvorov” (1941) depicted life of Alexander Suvorov (1729-1800) who was a brilliant Russian general and strategist, reportedly not loosing a single battle.

“Chapaev” (1934) was about Vasily Chapayev – a hero of Russian Civil War, who did a great job of defeating the Whites. Due to this film Chapaev became a cultural phenomenon and a hero of thousands of jokes, which are still popular in Russia.

You can see these three historical figures in red inspiriting soviet soldiers on the poster.

Of course all these historical events were heavily edited to bring forward the main idea: Russian army is truly invincible, guided by “the great helmsman” Joseph Stalin.

The poster was created by a caricaturist group “Kukriniksy”, which were extremely popular in the Soviet Union. “Kukriniksy” is a collective name of three artists – Mikhail Kupriayanov, Porfiri Krylov and Nikolai Sokolov. Their satirical works bashing fascist leaders received international acclaim during the WW2.

P.S. I have just started another poster blog: Posters of Cuba - The Crimson Dawn Island. It will be updated 2 or 3 times a week. You can subscribe here. Cuban posters are not as known as the Soviet or, say, German propaganda, but in no way they are less inspiring. They are bright, colorful, energetic. I am sure you'll like Posters of Cuba project.

And many thanks for coming! It is a pleasure that you all like this beautiful poster art! ;)

Here we come again!

Come along with us to the new lands!
Seleznev V. P., 1954

In 1953 Stalin died. After a short race Nikita Khrushchev came to power. By 1954 the country was an industrial state with 70% of all population working in heavy industry. Agriculture on the other hand was in rather poor shape. So Khrushchev proposed developing of new virgin lands as the main means of boosting the agriculture of the Soviet Union. As always the great plans were implemented by the heroic work of soviet people.

In 1954 30 000 of party members and 120 000 of farmhands were sent to the virgin and wild lands. And it took more than 5 years to develop 42 mln hectares of land, resulting in 34% increase in agricultural production.

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.

Check these vintage posters at Allposters.com!

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.

Check these vintage posters at Allposters.com!

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.

Check these vintage posters at Allposters.com

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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