stalin poster of the week 119: unknown artist, komsomol political education system mid-volga organisation vlksm for 1930-31, 1931

Unknown artist, Komsomol political education system mid-Volga organisation VLKSM for 1930-31 (Система комсомольского политпросвещения средне-волжской организации В.Л.К.С.М на. 1930-31 г.), 1931

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

Stalin gained control of the Politburo at the Fifteenth Party Congress on 18 December 1927 demonstrating that not only had he been a close companion and confidant of Lenin, but that he had always supported Lenin’s political positions and was a devoted adherent to his dogma.

In his interview with the German author Emil Ludwig, Stalin stated modestly:

“As for myself, I am just a pupil of Lenin’s, and the aim of my life is to be a worthy pupil of his.”*

The first appearances of Stalin with Lenin in a poster occur in the year 1930. This poster by an unknown artist was published in Samara** by the Propaganda Department and Theoretical Studies Regional Committee of Middle-Volga Komsomol.

 

Although smaller than the full-length portrait of Lenin, Stalin also sports a sacral red aura

 

The poster promotes the value of political education. Lenin and Stalin appear outlined in a sacral red Bolshevik aura on either side of the poster, although as a full-length figure, Lenin is larger and therefore more prominent than the smaller bust of Stalin.

Both Lenin and Stalin are quoted, along with Engels, and their authoritative texts are depicted around the page. Circles containing text may reference the underground ‘circles in which Stalin and the other Old Bolsheviks cut their ideological teeth as they fomented revolution.

Lenin is presented in a characteristic rhetorical pose in suit and tie

 

These circles, which Stalin joined while he was still in the seminary in Tiflis, circulated illegal literature of a political and ideological nature. They were places of lively and often heated discussion and morphed into the secret cells that actively sought to undermine the tsarist regime.

The larger text on the posters is in the form of recognisable catchy slogans:

Achieve the five-year plan in four years.
Without revolutionary theory there is no revolutionary practice.
You must learn in one of these forms.
Our teaching is not a dogma, but a guide to action / F. Engels.
The purpose of political education is to educate true Communists / Leninists

This poster is typical of posters of the very early 1930s in which a great deal of text is reproduced and there is an assumption that people will spend a lot of time examining the poster.

Later posters capitalised on the strength of the medium by presenting shorter and punchier captions with arresting images, able to be taken in quickly as people bustled about their daily activities.

* J. V. Stalin, ‘Talk With the German Author Emil Ludwig’, December 13, 1931, Transl. by Hari Kumar, J.V. Stalin, Works, 13, (Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1955), pp. 106-25,  http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1931/dec/13.htm.

** From 1935 to 1991 Samara became known as Kuibyshev.

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 117: gustav klutsis, shock workers of the fields engage in fighting for the socialist reconstruction of agriculture, 1932

Gustav Klutsis (Густав Клуцис), Shock workers of the fields engage in fighting for the socialist reconstruction of agriculture (ударники полей в бой за социалистическую реконструкцию сельского хозяйства), 1932

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

This 1932 poster by highly acclaimed photomontage artist Gustav Klutsis focuses on agriculture and references the six conditions outlined in Stalin’s speech of 23 June, 1931.

The shock workers (udarniki), people who performed exemplary and extraordinary feats of labour, were the predecessors of the Stakhanovites. From the 1950s, the shock worker of communist labour (udarnik kommunisticheskogo truda) was an official title, awarded along with a badge, certificate and cash.

 

Stalin is a force of nature, absorbing the relics of the old methods and making way for the new.

 

In Klutsis’ poster, Stalin rises solid from the earth, forged to the motherland and presenting a fortress of protection for the work beneath him.

Immediately beneath him and literally heading into his body is a wedge-shaped scene of the old, labour-intensive farming methods – horse and plough, and manual tilling.

 

Collectivisation is the way to go

 

In another of Klutsis’ characteristic diagonals, a modern scene occupies the foreground in which a huge paddock is ploughed by an enormous tractor and only a handful of agricultural workers. The tractor flies an impossibly large red banner.

Behind Stalin, there is another typical Klutsis motif – the sea of people, in this case peasants – streaming in as a surging tide towards the inevitable socialist future.

Stalin is lit by a red ray from the heavens, containing a quotation of his own words:

“At the end of the Five-Year Plan, Soviet collectivisation should be mostly finished. “( I. Stalin)
“The working class of the Soviet Union firmly and confidently leads the cause of the technical re-equipment of its ally – the labouring peasantry. “(I. Stalin)

The green side bar contains a series of slogans:

For organisational and economic strengthening of the collective!
Resolutely enhancing the productivity of farm fields!
For carrying out the six guidelines of Comrade Stalin, the conditions for our victory!

 

stalin poster of the week 116: unknown artist, six historical conditions of comrade stalin, undated

Unknown artist, Six historical conditions of Comrade Stalin (шесть исторических условий Т. Сталина), undated

 

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

Yet another ‘six conditions’ poster on cheap paper, this time unsigned and undated. As the speech by Stalin from which the six conditions are taken was delivered on June 23, 1931, the poster post-dates this speech.

 

A dapper, slightly shifty-eyed Stalin appeals directly to the viewer

 

The poster appears to have been created in the early 1930s, as both the style and the Stalin portrait are of that time. The cameo format of the portrait places this poster within the tradition of informative and statistical posters of early Stalinism.

 

Agricultural workers were often depicted as female. This woman is identified as a new Soviet woman because she is driving a tractor, is coloured red, and wears a red headscarf tied behind the neck in the Bolshevik fashion (in contrast to the old babushkas who tied their scarves under their chins)

 

The poster shows scenes of industrialisation at the top and agricultural collectivisation at the bottom. The use of red fill denotes the socialist nature of this progress.

Strong diagonals among the industrial construction lead the eye to the medallion photographic portrait of Stalin. Stalin gazes directly at the viewer, appealing to them to adopt his six conditions.

The text of the poster reads:

1. Recruit manpower in an organised way, by means of contracts with the collective farms, and mechanise labour

2. Put an end to labor mobility, do away with wage equalisation, organize the payment of wages properly, and improve the living conditions of workers

3. Put an end to the lack of personal responsibility at work, improve the organisation of work, arrange the proper distribution of forces in our enterprises.

4. See to it that the working class of the USSR has its own industrial and technical intelligentsia

5. Change our attitudes towards the engineers and technicians of the old school, show them greater attention and solicitude, and enlist their cooperation in work more bravely

6. Introduce and reinforce financial accountability and increase the accumulation of resources within industry

 

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 115: unknown artist, the path to victory – implementation of the six conditions of comrade stalin, 1932

Unknown artist, The path to victory – implementation of the six conditions of Comrade Stalin (путь к победе – выполнение шести условий т. сталина), 1932

 

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

 

This 1932 version of the six conditions poster by an unknown artist prioritises text over image. This sort of poster with simple design on cheap paper was often used as a way to publicise important messages from the leader.

 

This standard approved image of Comrade Stalin is used across the ‘six conditions’ posters

 

The text reads:

The path to victory – implementation of the six conditions of Comrade Stalin.
1. Recruit manpower in an organised way, by means of contracts with the collective farms, and mechanise labour
2. Put an end to labour mobility, do away with wage equalisation, organise the payment of wages properly, and improve the living conditions of workers
3. Put an end to the lack of personal responsibility at work, improve the organisation of work, arrange the proper distribution of forces in our enterprises
4. See to it that the working class of the USSR has its own industrial and technical intelligentsia
5. Change our attitudes towards the engineers and technicians of the old school, show them greater attention and solicitude, and enlist their cooperation in work more bravely
6. Introduce and reinforce financial accountability and increase the accumulation of resources within industry.

 

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 114: ** SPECIAL NEW YEAR EDITION** nina vatolina, nikolai denisov, vladislav grigorevich pravdin, & zoia rykhlova-pravdina, thank you comrade stalin for our happy childhood!, 1938

Nina Vatolina, Nikolai Denisov, Vladislav Grigorevich Pravdin, & Zoia Rykhlova-Pravdina (Ватолина, Н., Денисов, Н., Правдин, В. и Правдина, З.), Thank You Comrade Stalin for our Happy Childhood! (спасибо товарищу Сталину за счастливое детство!), 1938.

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

Although the 1938 poster ‘Thank you Comrade Stalin for our happy childhood!’, by Nina Vatolina, Nikolai Denisov, Vladislav Pravdin and Zoia Rykhlova-Pravdina features a similar colour scheme and several of the same objects as the Viktor Govorkov poster of 1936, significantly, the action in this poster takes place in front of a New Year tree.

The New Year Tree had been banned in the Soviet Union since 1916, and was only reinstated in 1935. Pavel Postyshev, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, wrote a letter to the newspaper Pravda (meaning Truth) in 1935 calling for the installation of the New Year tree in schools, homes, children’s clubs and at Pioneers’ meetings.

Much fuss was made over the re-institution of the New Year tree by the newspaper  Izvestiia (meaning News). On 1 January 1937, Izvestiia reported:

‘On New Year’s Eve nearly A QUARTER OF A MILLION HOLIDAY TREES were lit up in the capital alone. The spruce tree has come to symbolise our country’s happy youth, sparkling with joy on the holiday … The clinking of glasses filled with champagne. At the stroke of midnight, hundreds of thousands of hands raised them in a toast to the health of their happy motherland, giving tribute in the first toast of the year to the man whose name will go down through the ages as the creator of the great charter of socialism.’*

 

New Year tree decorations include red stars, parachutes and aircraft, all speaking to the promising futures awaiting these Soviet children

 

The tree in the 1938 poster is decorated with traditional candles and garlands, but also with small aircraft, parachutes and red stars.

The model aeroplane and ship are typical Soviet toys, inspiring boys to emulate Soviet heroes in aviation and exploration. Catriona Kelly notes that official New Year tree ceremonies, which in practice were open to a fairly limited elite group, ‘were in part a way of tutoring the offspring of the Soviet elite in new roles (hence the giving of telephones as gifts …)’**

By including these toys in the poster, oblique reference is also made to the great Soviet achievements in these fields. Stalin is not only providing a happy childhood, but also offers the children the potential for happy and fulfilling futures.

 

Stalin is a paternal, benevolent figure looking protectively over Soviet children

 

In the 1938 poster, Stalin is surrounded by fair-haired Russian children who are situated on the same level in the picture plane as he although, by virtue of his status as adult male, he looks down on the children protectively.

The scene is relaxed and informal, with four of the children gazing up at Stalin with affection while a fifth child has his back turned to Stalin and gazes directly at the viewer.

 

How joyous to be spending Christmas with Stalin whilst waving your red flag

 

The poster implies that a Soviet childhood is a time of sacred innocence, unbounded joy, and material abundance. The flowers in the bottom right-hand corner are a further indication of material wealth, fertility, and the blossoming of the Soviet Union.

As the slogan suggests, all of this bounty is provided by the dominating paternal presence of Stalin, who is the equivalent of a kind of secular Father Christmas.

This was not the first time that Stalin had been depicted in this role. On 30 December 1936 Stalin appeared on the cover of the newspaper Trud (meaning Labour) as Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost), making literal his role as mythical children’s benefactor.

*Translated in Thomas Lahusen, Véronique Garros, Natalia Korenevskaya, Intimacy and Terror: Soviet Diaries of the 1930s, p. 12.

**Catriona Kelly, Children’s World: Growing Up in Russia, 1890-1991, p. 112

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 112: unknown artist, 6 conditions of stalin, 1938

Unknown artist, 6 conditions of Stalin (б условий сталина), 1938

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

This 1938 poster by an unknown artist is one of the later of several posters outlining ‘Stalin’s six conditions’. Posters were published on this theme as early as 1931, the year in which Stalin gave the speech from which they are extracted, New Conditions — New Tasks in Economic Construction, delivered at a conference of business executives on June 23.

Each poster features a large body of text to spell out the six conditions:

A new way to work in a new direction.
… Recruit manpower in an organised way, by means of contracts with the collective farms, and mechanise labour…
… Put an end to labour mobility, do away with wage equalisation, organise the payment of wages properly, and improve the living conditions of workers …
… Put an end to the lack of personal responsibility at work, improve the organisation of work, arrange the proper distribution of forces in our enterprises.
… See to it that the working class of the USSR has its own industrial and technical intelligentsia …
… Change our attitudes towards the engineers and technicians of the old school, show them greater attention and solicitude, and enlist their cooperation in work more bravely …
… Introduce and reinforce financial accountability and increase the accumulation of resources within industry…

 

Stalin is the centre and the solid rock behind Soviet innovation and progress

 

The poster shows Stalin as central to, and actually melded to, Soviet industrialisation and agriculture. He is surrounded by grain silos and scenes of construction. Industrial products are moving above his head, along with an aircraft and a dirigible.

 

Tatars ride tractors instead of horses and send their grain off to the state

 

Towers and a massive dam flank the text, while scenes of agriculture run across the bottom of the poster. The banner on the tractor reads ‘Bread to the state’. Collectivisation meant that tractors replaced horses and that produce became the property of the state.

 

Education is the key to further progress. It is no longer okay to kill people in traditionally bourgeois occupations.

 

The bottom left shows a scene of a teacher giving instruction to children at a board, while on the bottom right is a charming little country schoolhouse. Thus, all areas of Soviet achievement under Stalin are graphically represented and the need for an educated citizenry is highlighted.

In earlier times, the Bolsheviks had waged class war against the bourgeois and the wealthier farmers (kulaks). In his speech, Stalin now suggests that the intelligentsia, the educated and the highly skilled worker be embraced into the socialist fold as the new leaders in the push forward to catch up the western world.

The poster was published by the mid-Volga Regional Council, League (Union) of Militant Atheists.  The League of Militant Atheists was an atheistic and anti-religious group of workers and intelligentsia that formed in 1925. The league, which had a presence in work places, collective farms, educational institutions and youth organisations, aimed to extinguish religious belief in the Soviet populace and to replace it with an emphasis on science.

The League of Militant Atheists was disbanded in 1941 when Germany invaded the USSR and Stalin opened the churches, allowing believers to flock back to religion in their millions.

 

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 111: gustav klutsis, with the banner of lenin…, 1933

Gustav Klutsis (Густав Клуцис), With the banner of Lenin we were victorious in the battle for the October revolution. With the banner of Lenin we were victorious in attaining decisive achievements in the struggle to build socialism. With the same banner we will be victorious in our proletarian revolution throughout the world (со знаменем ленина победили мы в боях за октябрьскую революциюю со знаменем ленина добилиь мы решаюших успехов в борьбе за победу социалистического строителства. с этим же знаменем победим в пролетарской революций во всем мире), 1933

 

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

Gustav Klutsis uses sweeping diagonals and a photomontaged sea of people to create a dynamic representation of the tide of change brought on by socialism.

This 1933 poster uses hieratic scale to depict the Bolshevik leadership. Klutsis begins with the apotheosised Lenin, the largest figure cast in stone set against the red banner. Lenin’s immortality is symbolised by the fact that he is treated differently from the living and is seen as foundational and monolithic.

 

Lenin is the dead founding father, cast in stone. Stalin is the living embodiment of Leninism, perfectly aligned and ready to lead the leadership and populace alike to the envisioned destination

 

In front of Lenin and mimicking his pose is Stalin, the General Secretary of the Central Committee. The first rank of leaders features Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Kliment Voroshilov, and Sergo Ordzhonikidze.

 

Stalin is flanked by great white men

 

Marching behind them are Mikhail Kalinin, Sergei Kirov, Valerian Kuibyshev, and Stanislav Kosior. The only identified figure in the third row is Vlas Chubar (second from the left), and Anastas Mikoian and Pavel Postyshev are the couple in the rear.

The poster caption features on several posters of 1933, and had appeared as early as 1931:

With the banner of Lenin we were victorious in the battle for the October revolution.
With the banner of Lenin we were victorious in attaining decisive achievements in the struggle to build socialism.
With the same banner we will be victorious in our proletarian revolution throughout the world.

The caption is taken from the Political Report of the Central Committee to the Sixteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.), delivered by Stalin on June 27, 1930 and published in Pravda on June 29.

This mammoth speech includes the following sections:

• The Growing Crisis of World Capitalism and the External Situation of the USSR
• World Economic Crisis
• The Intensification of the Contradictions of Capitalism
• The Relations Between the USSR and the Capitalist States
• The Increasing Advance of Socialist Construction and the Internal Situation in the USSR
• Successes In Industrialisation
• The Key Position of Socialist Industry and Its Growth
• Agriculture and the Grain Problem
• The Turn of the Peasantry Towards Socialism and the Rate of Development of State Farms and Collective Farms
• The Improvement In the Material and Cultural Conditions of the Workers and Peasants
• Difficulties of Growth, the Class Struggle and the Offensive of Socialism Along the Whole Front
• The Capitalist or the Socialist System of Economy
• The Next Task
• The Party
• Questions of the Guidance of Socialist Construction
• Questions of the Guidance of Inner-Party Affairs

 

Stalin concludes that all achievements have been possible because “we were able to hold aloft the great banner of Lenin,” before finishing with the rousing quotation that forms the poster text.

Like many of Stalin’s speeches, this report consists of the relentless presentation of statistical information to drive the points home. It must have been quite a marathon performance and a feat of outstanding endurance for the speaker and audience alike.

The poster was published in a large edition of 300,000 and would also have served to familiarise the populace with the faces of the leadership in the early years of Stalin’s rule.

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 110: viktor deni and nikolai dolgorukov, results of the first five-year plan, 1933

Viktor Deni and Nikolai Dolgorukov (дени и долгоруков), Results of the First Five-Year Plan (итоги первой пятилетки), 1933

 

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

This 1933 poster by graphic art duo Viktor Deni and Nikolai Dolgorukov shows a worker joyfully holding a copy of the newspaper Pravda announcing the results of the first five-year plan.

The worker and the industrial construction and agricultural silos surrounding him, are all coloured the sacred red of the Bolshevik revolution.

 

The red worker, who looks superficially like Stalin, is quite happy with the good news about the five-year plan

 

Sporting a Stalin-like moustache, the worker’s broad smile is emphasised by the contrast of his white teeth against the red fill of his figure.

Pravda reports Stalin’s speech of January 7, 1933 in which he revealed the results of the first five-year plan and discussed future directions for industry, agriculture and class struggle.

The first two sections of the speech are reproduced in full under the two section headings:

I. International significance of the five-year plan

II. The fundamental task of the five-year plan and the way to its fulfilment.

 

Beneath this ‘socialist’ section of the poster is a dividing band containing a paragraph of text in red. The text is a highlighted quote from the speech by Stalin:

The results of the five-year plan have shown that the capitalist system of economy is bankrupt and unstable; that it has outlived its day and must give way to another, a higher, Soviet, socialist system of economy (I. Stalin)

 

Capitalism is in its dying days

 

Filling the bottom quarter of the poster beneath this is a segment illustrating this divide between the capitalist and socialist systems.

An overweight and ugly white male capitalist in top hat reels backwards, away from the encroaching banners of the red front. Buildings appear to be collapsing around him and a skull with the word ‘crisis’ emblazoned across its forehead looms menacingly.

The Great Depression had begun in the West in 1929 and in 1933, just days before the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States was gripped by a banking crisis. The banks were closed for a period extending from March 2 to March 13th, halting panicked withdrawals by customers.

Although ultimately preserved, the capitalist system was unstable and appeared to be under threat. Thus, Stalin had some evidence to back his claims that the socialist system was in the ascendent.

 

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Visit Anita Pisch’s website at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 109: nina vatolina, glory to the great friend of children!, 1952

Nina Vatolina (ватолина, н.), Glory to the great friend of children! (слава великому другу детей!), 1952

 

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

This 1952 poster by renowned poster artist Nina Vatolina employs serene pastel tones and lush foliage to represent the advent of the imminent communist utopia.

Stalin appears grandfatherly with a protective hand supporting the young boy as he stands atop a podium. The symbolism is obvious and works on a few levels.

 

Stalin appears as a protective symbolic grandfather, adopting the mantle of Grandpa Lenin

 

In one sense, Stalin, now in his 70s and only a year away from death, is passing the baton to the new generation – those born after the war in a time of comparative peace.

In another, the child is symbolic of the fledgling communist regime, joyously taking its place in the world with a promise of peace and abundance in the future. The child is identifiably Russian and, with his little red flag aloft, leads the union of republics into the future.

In contrast to the 1930s when Stalin was often pictured with female children (passive and grateful), the children taking the USSR into the future are male.

As a symbolic grandfather, Stalin moves away from the role of father of the nation and occupies the niche formerly held by ‘Grandpa Lenin’. Stalin has thus moved beyond the role of disciple and occupies the role of master, an equivalent status to the deified Lenin.

 

The little Russian boy joyously leads the way into the future

 

Both Stalin and the child wear white. This symbolises purity and clarity, but Stalin is also dressed in his Marshal’s uniform, emphasising his role as the saviour of the nation in the Great Patriotic War. On his chest, Stalin wears the Gold Star Medal, awarded to heroes of the Soviet Union for exceptional feats in combat.

The Spassky tower in the background soars into a benign blue sky. The hands on the clock are visible and show that it is late morning. Two aspects of this depiction of the Spassky tower are slightly unusual.

The top of the tower with its familiar red star is out of the picture frame. The Spassky tower usually functions in posters as something of a Bolshevik place of worship, the star paralleling the Christian cross.

And the crenellated walls of the Kremlin are visible close behind Stalin and the child. The Kremlin is being depicted here as a protective fortress, enclosing the pair in a lush and verdant garden that is safe, but separated from, the outside world.

Nina Vatolina created hundreds of posters over a long and illustrious career. Many were created in partnership with her husband, Nikolai Denisov, who was the son of legendary graphic artist Viktor Deni. Vatolina frequently dealt with themes related to Soviet childhood, although she was also responsible for some of the most iconic war posters during the Great Patriotic War.

She had two solo exhibitions of her work in 1957 and 1968, and died in Moscow in 2002.

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Dr Anita Pisch’s website can be found at www.anitapisch.com

stalin poster of the week 108: konstantin vialov, “the party has succeeded in converting the ussr from a country of small-peasant farming into a country of the largest-scale agriculture in the world…,1933

Konstantin Vialov (Вялов, K.), “The Party has succeeded in converting the U.S.S.R. from a country of small-peasant farming into a country of the largest-scale agriculture in the world.” “In a matter of three years we have created more than 200,000 collective farms and about 5,000 state farms, i.e., we have created entirely new large enterprises which have the same importance for agriculture as large mills and factories for industry.” Stalin (“Партия добилась того, что СССР уже преобразован из страны мелко-крестьянского хозяйства в страну самого крупного сельского хозяйства в мире”. “В каких-нибуд три года мы создали более 200 тысяч колхозов и около 5 тысяч совхозов, т. е. Мы создали совершенно новые крупные предпрятие, имеющие такое же значение для сельского хозяйства, как заводы и фабрики для промышленности”. И. Сталин), 1933

 

 

Stalin poster of the week is a weekly excursion into the fascinating world of propaganda posters of Iosif Stalin, leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

Here, Anita Pisch will showcase some of the most interesting Stalin posters, based on extensive research in the archives of the Russian State Library, and analyse what makes these images such successful propaganda.

Anita’s fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

 

This early poster of Stalin contains a substantial slab of text, taken from Stalin’s speech at the Joint Plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the CPSU (b) on January 7, 1933.

This lengthy speech, delivered in Stalin’s usual style of a relentless bombardment of facts and statistics, announces the results of the first Five-Year Plan and sets the direction for the next one.

Stalin begins by listing examples of international disbelief that the Five-Year Plan could succeed. Dismissing these utterances from a bourgeois press, he then quotes from international press items that report that the plan is indeed a success.

Having concluded that the Five-Year Plan is internationally significant, Stalin then moves on to detail the plan, examining its purpose and aims, before providing exhaustive detail on the results of the plan in the spheres of industry, agriculture, improvement in conditions for the working class, trade turnover between town and country, and the struggle against the remnants of the hostile classes.

Lenin is quoted extensively to both provide direction and to provide legitimacy for actions already taken. The Five-Year Plan is deemed fulfilled in four years.

Stalin concludes by admitting to numerous mistakes and shortcomings, but choosing to focus on victories. He attributes success to “the activity and devotion, the enthusiasm and initiative of the vast masses of the workers and collective farmers, who, together with the engineering and technical forces, displayed colossal energy in developing socialist emulation and shock-brigade work”, to the Soviet leadership and to the merits of the Soviet system.

Although the caption text is clearly taken from this well-known speech, and is identified as such on the poster, Stalin is not depicted as giving a speech.

Instead, his giant head (this poster is over one metre tall) captures viewers and holds them in his piercing gaze.

 

The first Five-Year Plan has seen a hive of activity and, achieved in only four years, can be deemed a success

 

Behind Stalin’s right shoulder (the virtuous side) are scenes of socialist success – wagons overflowing with agricultural produce being delivered to huge silos, workers filing in to commence work, and aircraft in the sky. The development of an aeronautical industry was an achievement that post-dated Lenin and hence could be counted as Stalin’s own.

Aircraft, wagons and some of the workers are coloured red, designating them as sacrally socialist.

 

Churches are bad!

 

Over Stalin’s left shoulder (the devil’s side) are the golden onion domes of an Orthodox church beside a little timber home and bare tree. Only birds circle the domes. This inappropriate relic of the past is annihilated by a big red cross through it.

This graphic representation of right and wrong, us and them, with the legitimating presence of Stalin, ensured that those who were either unable, unwilling or perhaps too busy to read the text could still easily grasp the poster message.

The poster was created by prolific Muscovite artist Konstantin Vialov. Vialov had an amazing artistic career continuing into the mid-1970s. He was taught at GSKhM (State Free Art Studios) and VKhUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Studios) by Vassily Kandinsky, Vladimir Tatlin, David Shterenberg, and Aristarkh Lentulov.

Vialov’s oeuvre also included film posters, magazine and book covers and illustrations, abstract paintings, Constructivist sculptures and theatrical sets. His works can still be found in major collections like that of the Tretiakov and have been featured in exhibitions in the United States and London over the past few decades. Vialov was married to fellow graphic artist Elena Mel’nikova.

 

Anita Pisch‘s book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 – 1953, is now available for free download through ANU Press open access, or to purchase in hard copy for $83. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring reproductions of over 130 posters, examines the way in which Stalin’s image in posters, symbolising the Bolshevik Party, the USSR state, and Bolshevik values and ideology, was used to create legitimacy for the Bolshevik government, to mobilise the population to make great sacrifices in order to industrialise and collectivise rapidly, and later to win the war, and to foster the development of a new type of Soviet person in a new utopian world.

Dr Anita Pisch’s website can be found at www.anitapisch.com