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.

Nobody has died because of not smoking, but why take a chance?

Tobacco is a poison. Quit smoking!
Ignat'ev N., 1957

This is a very famous soviet poster dated 1957. It already became a part of Russian culture and launched a powerful meme known to everybody.

The bold yellow letters say: “Tobacco is a Poison. Quit Smoking!” The small information block in the center declares: “Nicotine extracted from 4 cigarettes kills a rabbit, and it takes only a 100 cigarettes’ worth of nicotine to kill a horse”. Images of dead animal bodies complete the heartrending picture.

Immediately after the release of the poster numerous jokes were born. They involved animals consuming various substances with deadly consequences, like “A drop of nicotine kills a horse, or blows a hamster up to infinity”.

The pack of cigarettes in the right upper corner is one of the major tobacco brands popular in the Soviet Union: “Kazbek”, named after the Kazbek Mountain on the Caucasus. The pack layout features distinctive horseman and the mountain’s background. This is another truly brilliant graphical work, which could easily compete with the famous “Gitanes” design… if only the tobacco was good. But it was not, as at that time rural population was smoking home-grown tobacco of an awful quality and even in the cities filters were not common until 80s.

The big burning cigarette on the poster is a typical cigarette design of the era – small tobacco fill and a large empty tip made of cardboard. A smoker had to crumple the tip in a certain way so that tobacco grits did not get into his mouth while inhaling.

And now this poster has new life, as many smokers, who dream about quitting the deadly habit nowadays, often hang reprints of this poster at their workplaces because of its humorous nature and historical background.

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Every strike of hammer - hits the enemy!
V. Deni, A. Dolgorukov, 1941

Due to the attack of the Nazi armed forces, which could not be stopped at the moment, a great many of Soviet industrial works and factories had to be evacuated to the east, so that the invader could not make use of it and increase its power, which was already ample due to the capture of French and Polish industry and resources. The task was unbelievable – more than 1500 of works and factories with machinery along with the 10 mln of personnel had to cover thousands of kilometers to the new places where there was no infrastructure at all. And they had to start operation there as soon as possible, as the battle-front was in great need for the arms and munitions. Adults and children were working 12 hours a day without weekends, in order to protect the Motherland.

This incredible efforts paid off well: although in the second half of 1941 gross industry output dropped down 2.1 times, in the beginning of 1942 it started to grow at fast pace, fully eliminating the industry superiority of fascist Germany in 1943.

I sell guns to every army but the Salvation Army!

A still of the Soviet trade and industry exhibition in Colombo Litvinov N. K., 1972

In the Seventies Russia was not only providing financial and technical help for countries, loyal to communist ideology (like Cuba, Yemen, Vietnam, etc), but was also entering world industry markets with the products and machines, which were sometimes based on the technologies from the defense industry. These were new alloys, precision machinery, high-tech materials. But the competition was fierce and the main source of hard currency income has always been and still is the raw stuff – like oil, gas and timber.

On May 22 1972 Ceylon was declared the Sri Lanka Republic. The country being a British colony for a long time had always been economically dependent and now was seeking new markets and trends. The soviet officials well realized that Sri Lanka had a perfect strategic position in the East-West and could become an outpost of communism in the region. So the new trade preferences were opened for Sri Lanka: now there was excellent Ceylon tea present on the shelves of every soviet store and there it matched well the cigars imported from Cuba due to the USA embargo.

Another thing was organizing an international Trade and Industrial Exhibition in Colombo in November 1972, right after the Sri Lanka Republic was established. The event was to show all the advances (military and industrial) which Sri Lanka could get if it only stuck to socialism and communism. To Sri Lanka’s credit they got the most of the situation: without making firm commitments on ideology they purchased some of the soviet arms and established very profitable trade relations.

Trust me, I know what I'm doing!

A. Hammer. American Industry Concession. Pencils and Pens. Moscow – New York.
Unknown artist, 1927

In the early twenties Soviet Union desperately needed ample funding to restore the economy. The hopes for foreign investments were vague, as gross nationalization had been only three years before. Moreover the process of international recognition had just started and there were only a few countries the diplomatic relations were established with.

But as the large international consortiums were cautious about doing business in the USSR, those young and ambitious were trying to snatch a roll. The Soviet Government was selling out masterpieces of art, furs, jewelry, caviar. Armand Hammer – a young businessman from New York had huge plans for purchasing some of those valuables for cheap. He came to Soviet Union with medical supplies for soviet citizens and made several deals with Lenin for importing of furs. Later he moved to Russia to supervise those operations, opening his most famous venture – a pencil factory. Although these factory products made him quite famous as every pupil in the country dreamt about getting Hammer pencils, which were of excellent quality, Hammer’s main source of income was in oil and coal. Somehow, he managed to talk Lenin into granting him exclusive rights to develop several asbestos and coal mines.

He returned to USA in the early 30s but his business ventures in the USSR remained. Although it is not known how Bolsheviks and Hammer shared expenses and profits later, but Hammer was the one and only multimillionaire, who had personal acquaintances with all the leaders of the Soviet Union starting from Lenin (died 1924) up to Yuri Andropov (died 1984) – 60 years of successful business in Russia.

Note the way the Armand Hammer's logo is emblazed on the red flag on the poster above. Instead of the original “Hammer and Sickle” is has got colors of the Star Spangled Banner and the Statue of Liberty image. This was quite a familiarity doing such things with a national anthem, but nevertheless Hammer could get away with it, as his enterprises were too valuable for the Soviet Union.

Visit the Zoo!

The Zoo has received a big lot of new animals
Bulanov D. A., 1930

The ad on the elephant’s forehead says: “The Zoo has just received a big lot of various animals, the Zoo is improved and expanded, the animals now live in new cage-houses, shows for children are performed at holidays”. The bar held by elephant’s trunk below gives a profound description of services offered for the grown-ups: “Public cinema with season thrillers is available in the Zoo, tickets 30-60 kopeeks, admittance to the Zoo included, “Petroraihrabkoop” (Petrograd’s Workers Society) bar – hot and cold lunches, snacks and refreshments, string band”.

All men are created equal...

Say “No to Fascism!”
V. Koretsky, Year Unknown

As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy.

Abraham Lincoln
Letter to longtime friend Joshua F. Speed (24 August 1855)

The topic of fascism was frequently taken up in the soviet poster art after WW2. No surprise, the victorious Soviet Union could not tolerate this ideology based on suppressing ethnical and racial social groups. But unfortunately some of the actions of the soviet political leaders could be considered fascist in essence. Lenin being a revolutionary idealist of some sort did think that the leaders of national minorities should be picked out in their communities, as they really understood the needs of their fellow citizens. Stalin on the contrary thought that the power should be consolidated in his own hands, so all the officials had to obey his orders only.

After the war great many people from the occupied territories were deported to new places so that no nationalist and separatist movements could show up. These were thousands of Lithuanians, Letts, Estonians, Ukrainians, Chechens, Kalmyks, Volga Germans, Tatars, Ingushes and Russians as well.

During the War Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was set up. It was organizing political and material support for the Soviet fight against Nazis and played significant role in forging of victory. After the war JAFC became the center of national unification and put forward the idea to create a Jewish autonomy in Crimea or on Volga. Immediately JAFC was called a “Jewish proamerican conspiracy” and very soon its leader Solomon Mikhoels – a famous Soviet Jewish actor, died in car crash framed up by the MGB (a predecessor of the KGB). Other members of the Committee were arrested and convicted. This started the anti-Semitic policy in the Soviet Union.