Soviet Propaganda
The Bolshevik Era (1917-1921)
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Lenin emphasized the use of “agitprop”. This was a combination of
propaganda and agitation in order to win the support of both the intellectuals
and average worker
Struggle of Ideology, battle from within
Over 3,600 posters were created during this time
As The Civil War intensified in 1919, the Bolsheviks set up a new LiteraryPublishing Department to coordinate propaganda efforts.
– Dimitri Moor and Viktor Deni were the main cartoonists of the era.
Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA)
– Stenciled posters that summarized the news.
– Displayed in shop windows across Moscow.
Era ended when Bolsheviks defeated the Whites.
Never buy in a Private Shop when you can buy in a
Cossack - Who are you
with, them or us?, 1920
cooperative,
Universal War Training Education is
the Key to Victory. The worker's hand
is powerful with a rifle a, c.1919
Rosta Window
#216 (No
Bureaucracy) 8 panels, 1921
Only the Red Army can bring peace
to your farms and villages.
Peasants, join your workers' and
peasants’, 1920
The New Economic Policy (1921-1927)
• Small farms and businesses flourished, while the State kept control
of heavy industry, transport and foreign trade.
• “Roaring Twenties” of Russia.
• Mayakovsky and Rodchenko known as "advertising constructors" for
State-run businesses. They developed an ‘agitational’ style of
advertising in which shrill slogans and aggressive compositions
were used with strong diagonals and color
– became the peacetime equivalent of the revolutionary poster.
• State poster production was headed by Yakov Ruklevsky
• Other Famous Artists
– Stenberg brothers, Georgii and Vladimir
– Nikolai Prusakov
– Mikhail Dlugach who created more than 500 posters
Sailors- Buy in the Cooperatives, 1925
The Horror of Future War, 1924
No
Knowledge=No
Bread.
Knowledge
Lies in Books.
Books are on
the
Cooperatives.,
1925
Be ready to
defend
October,
1927
The First and Second Five Year
Plans (1928-1937)
• First Five Year plan
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Upon assuming complete control in 1928, Stalin immediately put an end to the New Economic Policy and
embarked on a new course to full communism with the Five Year Plan. Intended to turn the USSR rapidly
into a powerful industrial nation. Stalin demanded an increase in production and wide scale construction
Created strictly controlled propaganda
Posters appeared everywhere, in factories, farms and all public spaces, in vast quantities and variety
Messages of Propaganda: ": fulfill the plan, exceed quotas, defend the USSR”
• Master of this message was Gustav Klutsis
• Used mostly red and black All designed to stress the monumental and heroic aspect of the age.
• His propaganda attacked the enemies of the State both within and without, always portraying the
Soviet Union as the victor of peace and social justice
• Second Five Year Plan
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Beginning in 1934, Stalin embarked on a thorough purge of the Party, then the army. Anyone remotely
suspected of opposition or even lack of enthusiasm was exiled to the camps or shot
Purges claimed the lives of many artists even Gustav Klutsis
Literature, art and posters of this period overwhelmingly stressed the role of the infallible Leader, Joseph
Stalin.
Terror, drove out originality and spontaneity in not only propaganda, but in art until the death of Stalin in 1953
Greeting to those who have
joined the work at the worldwide giant Dneprostroi DGES
(Dnieper Hydroelectirc Dam),
1932
A Country should know its Heroes, c.1930
The
Komsomol
Fleet greets
the great
Stalin!, 1939
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, 1936
The Great Patriotic War (1939 1945)
• The forces unleashed in the crisis of the Civil War were
rekindled, and Soviet artists rose to the challenge.
• The themes of Soviet propaganda shifted dramatically as
the threat of the Nazis grew. Patriotic themes began to
overshadow communism and class struggle.
• Speeches and posters were populated by references to
great pre-Soviet heroes.
• Two most famous phrases, both by Moor.
– “How have you helped the Front”
– “Have you enrolled as a volunteer”.
Liberate them!, 1942
Liberate!, 1942
How have you Helped the
Front?, 1941
Let's give a hand
of brotherly help
to the inhabitants
of villages and
towns freed from
the fascists, 1942
A blow to the
enemy.
There will be
a celebration
even on our
street., 1944
The Cold War (1946 - 1984)
• Return of “Social Realism” and other Utopian Views
• Up until his death in 1953, posters focused on the glory
of Stalin
• The middle years of the Cold War depicted the Vietnam
War and the great strides taken in the Space Race
• Denounced the aims and goals of Capitalism, viewed as
the main threat of communism
• Denounced religion as a threat to the communist ideals
– 12,000 churches closed by Krushchev in 1959
Under Lenin's
banner, with Stalin's
leadership - ahead
toward Communism,
1948
Religious rites - Young
and old, Tear these
strings!, c. 1966
The Republic of the Free The Hammer & Sickle forever
forge the shield, 1966
Pledge to the
Motherland and
Communist Ideas,
1978
Stop U.S. Agression in Vietnam, 1974