The Soviet social poster is a very ambiguous and multifaceted phenomenon, its content changed in accordance with the main milestones of the socialist past. Therefore, when considering this topic, it becomes necessary to divide the long Soviet period into time periods. Below are the works of Saltsman and Kustodiev in 1917.

In the first years after the Revolution, when the country was in ruin and decline, the main task of the Bolsheviks was to instill in the newly minted Soviet citizens a new system of values, drawing a hard line between them and the citizens. Western countries who were squeamishly called the "bourgeoisie". Therefore, contrast becomes a characteristic technique in the works of many poster artists. Of course, the bourgeois were portrayed grotesquely - all possible shortcomings were exaggerated. Such, for example, are the posters of the artist Denis “Capital” and “Comrade. Lenin cleanses the earth of evil spirits. If the caricature of a flabby gentleman sitting on a pile of gold does not yet raise questions, then the appeal to the theme of evil spirits in the second work leads to bewilderment. The disproportionate image of Lenin gives the impression that he is flying on a broomstick. I wonder if the poster artist had any idea about this funny effect.

The encouragement of workers is another common theme of this period. At the same time, a large array of social posters was devoted to the condemnation of bad habits and irresponsible attitude to work. Universal education was also promoted, with special emphasis on the education of women. Characteristic is the work of the artist Iznar “Woman, literacy is the key to your emancipation” in 1920.

Work by Kudryashov 1920

Mayakovsky's 1920 work

During the Civil War, Soviet poster artists tried to support the Red Army with relevant work. Noteworthy is Denis' poster "On the Grave of the Counter-Revolution" of 1920.

Separately, it is worth dwelling on the work of Moor "Help" in 1921, dedicated to the famine in the Volga region. The image of an emaciated figure with arms thrown up against a plain black background makes a strong impression. The emotional image did not even need additional details, with the exception of a thin spikelet behind the figure.

Another poster on this topic is the work of Simaov "Remember the Starving" in 1921.

New types of Soviet citizens were also widely reflected in posters: workers (both men and women) were depicted in characteristic clothes and with appropriate paraphernalia: a hammer, a scythe, red scarves, work overalls, and so on. With their posters, the artists sought to stop, discourage the viewer, inspire him with a certain way of thinking.

A political poster as a type of printed artistic graphics is a large, bright, symbolic image, with a brief text, made for propaganda, propaganda, advertising or educational purposes, known in Europe from late XIX V. Posters appeared in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The style and imagery of the popular print and the spectacular poster were the basis for the artistic solutions of the Russian political poster, which arose and took shape during the First World War of 1914-1918. and the revolutionary events of 1917.

Revolutionary time always involves the active involvement of the broad masses in the political life of the country, inducing in the minds and hearts of people an emotional response to ongoing events. Campaign printed graphics affect the mind of the viewer by artistic techniques and allows you to achieve this response.

The February Revolution of 1917 was enthusiastically received in Russia as the beginning new era in the history of the country. All political forces of the country understood the importance of artistic agitation and propaganda in the battle for the minds of compatriots.

The first Russian political posters are an invaluable historical and artistic source. They reflect the course of events in 1917 in the country, as well as the emergence and formation of the main genre and stylistic features of the art of the national poster, in which the first attempts were made to generalize the types and images of the era, presented to the viewer for admiration or anger.

satirical poster

Since ancient times, humor has given people strength and helped in difficult trials. The most popular component of laughter culture is caricature. Therefore, in times of serious internal and external upheavals, it becomes one of the main propaganda tools and is given Special attention. During the revolutionary events of 1917, satire became a means of mass propaganda, the main direction of which was to discredit the representatives of the overthrown monarchical system - the tsar, his entourage, ministers and senior officials.

The first revolutionary popular prints were published in March 1917 by the Petrograd publishing house Parus. To create luboks with satire on the collapsed system, Vladimir Mayakovsky, who had previously gained fame as the author of several vivid military pictures published by the Segodnyashny Lubok publishing house, and the popular cartoonist Alexei Radakov were invited. Their work became a kind of predecessor of the ROSTA Windows.

Campaign poster

Until October 1917, representatives of almost all political movements declared the need to continue the war until victory and loyalty to Russia's allied obligations. The government needed cash contributions from the population to finance the fighting. The pre-revolutionary War Loan has now become the Freedom Loan.

In August 1917, the Special Meeting under the Provisional Government published the Regulations on the elections to the Constituent Assembly - the body of power that was supposed to decide the fate of the state structure of Russia. The first general election campaign in the history of Russia began - a fierce and uncompromising struggle for the votes of the Russian people. Several dozen parties and associations, both political and national, participated in the elections. The largest of these were the parties of Socialist Revolutionaries, Social Democrats (Bolsheviks and United), and Constitutional Democrats (Party of People's Freedom). The election posters of these parties are the forerunner of the world-renowned "brand" - the Soviet political poster.

The last poster dedicated to the Constituent Assembly was published at the end of 1917. It called on citizens to come out to a manifestation in defense of the legally elected authority. Its first meeting, held on January 5 (18), turned out to be the last.

information poster

The poster, as one of the main means of communication, has an informative function, informing about the fundamental changes in the country. The abdication of Nicholas II on March 2 (15), 1917 and the formation of the Provisional Government marked a new page in the history of Russia. In connection with traditional personification historical events and the need to popularize new faces in power, portraits of the leaders of the revolution began to be published.

Great importance was attached to the artistic embodiment on paper of popular sentiments during the period of the great turning point. So the Moscow Printing House of the Partnership I.D. Sytina released a series dedicated to the days of the February Revolution in the regions of the country.

Here is what the American historian Matt Hayes writes about this book.

As a man who taught history from a Western point of view - Soviet Union was often incomprehensible to me at best and distrustful at worst. This book gave me the opportunity to look beyond the ideological line.

No matter how strong the difference between "them" and "us" may seem, you can always find evidence that there are no significant differences in the way people different peoples think and feel. These posters seem to be a clear confirmation of this.

Victor Denis created this poster two years after the end of World War I while watching the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference.

Neither Germany nor the new communist government of Russia was invited to this conference. Parisian peace conference gave rise to the League of Nations, which Victor Denis severely ridiculed in this poster.

According to the red text at the bottom of this anti-capitalist poster, also by Victor Denis, "Anyone who rips off this poster or sticks it up with a poster is committing a counter-revolutionary deed."

This poster contrasts two ways of raising children: the left column shows the way children live in adverse conditions, and the right column shows the right ones.

Although Alexander II in 1861 abolished serfdom, in 1925 in Russia is still mainly in countryside there were many uneducated people.

Therefore, most of the Soviet propaganda was devoted to education, especially in such an important area as health care. The revolutionary babies in the bottom right column are a testament to the benefits of modern medicine.

4 Tatar woman! Join the ranks… Artist unknown, 1920

"... Together with the Russian proletarians, you will break the last fetters."

Ethnic groups living on the outskirts of Russia, such as the famous Cossacks, have always played a big role in its defense. In fact, Tatarstan is not far from the cultural center of Russia, but it has managed to preserve its Islamic culture and Turkic language over the centuries.

This poster depicts two women, a Russian urges a Tatar woman to throw off the "shackles" of traditions in favor of working in factories and factories.

Through this propaganda, the government tried to assimilate the Tatars and change the traditionally secondary role of women. Gender equality flourished in many aspects of Soviet life (although there were no women in high government positions).

"Machine and tractor station - the lever of collectivization." Buy Tractor Commitments! We will double and triple the number of MTS.”

Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) were part of Stalin's efforts to collectivize farms across Russia.

Wealthy peasants - who with great difficulty accumulated more land than necessary - were attacked by communist policies and propaganda as friends of the capitalists and enemies of the true peasants.

Notice the workers reading the newspaper together during their break: literacy and the desire for learning were encouraged, especially among the working class. Of course, literacy did not allow workers to read everything they liked.

"Long live our beloved, great Stalin"!

Five years later, during the war, Stalin's face began to appear less on posters.

The Russian people could not forget the harsh policies, radical purges of personnel and harsh coercion that he introduced between 1935 and 1940.

The posters featured barely disguised images of a utopia like this one.

"Let's eradicate spies and saboteurs, Trotskyist-Bukharin agents of fascism"!

Stalin personally led the process, which was called the Great Purge, and later the Great Terror.

According to the propaganda of the time, there was a purge of rotten elements in his government. But in reality, he systematically suppressed the voices of those who threatened his power.

Such propaganda posters were used very effectively and kept the loyalty of the population despite the bloodshed.

On the eve of World War II, the Spanish Civil War broke out, the Nazis supported the fascist government that came to power.

England and France did not support the Spanish Republicans.

Many Western left artists and writers such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway volunteered to fight for the Republicans.

The collapse of the socialist Spanish Republic and the suffering of its citizens during the war worried many Russians.

By 1941, not only Spain, but also France, Belgium and the Netherlands had fallen under the fascist regime.

This poster contrasts tragic fate Western countries with a strong, stable and prosperous society, established in Soviet Russia under Stalin.

For Soviet people Second World War was a great national

Six months after this poster was printed, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Most of eastern front Germany in the next three years took place on Soviet soil.

10 My son! You see my share ... Fedor Antonov, 1942

The Red Army knew that if they lost the war with Germany, they would lose everything. Behind this old woman, the smoldering remains of a house are visible; she begs her son to save the country.

One can only imagine how powerful this poster was for the Soviet soldiers when most of the country was invaded and destroyed by the German army.

This image forced even peaceful men to go to the front.

If you look at the posters presented above, you can understand why many people went to the front.

Ordinary soldiers did not fight for ideological loyalty, they defended those they loved.

The frightening images were not meant to show what might happen if the war was lost, they showed what had already happened.

The images on WWII posters are simpler than the propaganda campaigns of the 1920s and 1930s.

The propaganda posters were meant to indoctrinate people to convince them of something they don't believe.

But to get the desired effect, these types of images do not have to be complicated.

Koretsky received letters from soldiers from the front, in which they wrote that they kept this poster folded in the left pocket of their uniform, next to their hearts, as their fathers once kept icons there.

Many people covered their windows with these posters for propaganda purposes.

Despite initial friendship with the Axis during the war, Hitler's surprise invasion of the Soviet Union led to an alliance with the US and England.

15 CPSU - Glory! Boris Berezovsky, 1962

This poster celebrates the feats that launched the space race and changed the course cold war. On the left, Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut.

To his right, German Titov is the first person to spend a full day in space. They are depicted next to other astronauts.

The achievements of these two astronauts shocked people in the United States and played important role in Kennedy's decision to send a man to the moon.

I believe we will meet the hundredth anniversary (Yu. Bondi, 1920)

On February 23 (N.S.), 1918, the appeal of the Council of People's Commissars of February 21 “The socialist fatherland is in danger” was published, as well as the “Appeal of the Military Commander-in-Chief” N. Krylenko, which ended with the words: “<…>All to arms. All in defense of the revolution. The general mobilization for digging trenches and the expulsion of trench detachments is entrusted to the soviets, with the appointment of responsible commissars with unlimited powers for each detachment. This order is sent as an instruction to all councils in all cities. Subsequently, a myth was composed about the victory won that day over the Germans near Pskov and Narva. Thus began the Civil War.

The White movement was defeated not only on the battlefields. The Whites suffered a crushing defeat on the propaganda front as well. For propaganda, it doesn’t matter at all whether the information on the poster or leaflet corresponds to reality (however, you shouldn’t go too far with false information either). Only one thing is important - a leaflet, a poster, a newspaper should be believed by the "target audience". And how it really is there - it does not matter. White propagandists could offer their audience elections for the Constituent Assembly and United Russia (there was no party of the same name yet, but the slogan already existed). The Reds offered: land to the peasants, factories to the workers, and peace to the peoples. And who won in the end? And the notorious terror was both red, and white, and green, and simply terror without political slogans. Civil war without "excesses" is not complete.

And we offer you a selection of propaganda posters of those years, both red and white.

Red posters.

Poster with Trotsky "Be on guard"

A very unusual poster - a Jew, a Bolshevik and a fighter against the church, Trotsky in the role of the Christian Saint George the Victorious.

Join the militia.1920

We will not give up Petrograd! (D. Moore, 1919)

What gave October Revolution working people (1919)

Are you among the volunteers? (D. Moore, 1920)

Wrangel is coming! (N. Kochergin, 1920)

White posters

Why are you not in the army? (1918?)

For a united Russia (1919)

A happy worker in the Soviets (1919)

Your relatives and friends are groaning under the yoke of the Bolshevik commissars, they are dying from violence and hunger, they are calling you. Go save them! (1919)

What Bolshevism Brings to the People (1918)

My Russian friends! I, an Englishman, in the name of our common allied cause, ask you: hold out for a little longer such good fellows as you have always been. I have delivered, and will continue to deliver, endlessly, everything you need, and, most importantly, I will deliver you a new weapon that will exterminate these disgusting, bloodthirsty red monsters.

Motherland is calling.