Gallery of Soviet Propaganda posters

June 30, 2006 1:30 PM

Gallery of Soviet governmental posters
posted by jonson (31 comments total)

Interesting, although some wider context would be nice. It does make you think, though: imagine if one were an archeologist and all one knew of Soviet life and culture were the material products of the Soviet regime. I wonder what conclusions one would come to?

"Clearly in this culture, the man with the largest moustache was considered a God!"
posted by yoink at 1:48 PM on June 30, 2006

На Здоробье!
posted by blucevalo at 1:57 PM on June 30, 2006

wow. these are nice.
thanks.
posted by I, Credulous at 2:03 PM on June 30, 2006

i think the western powers circle jerk is my fav.
posted by nola at 2:04 PM on June 30, 2006

Svoboda po-amerikanskii!
posted by dilettante at 2:04 PM on June 30, 2006

one could just as easily call this one "the nightly news" as "propaganda" :)
posted by I, Credulous at 2:08 PM on June 30, 2006

Those posters are ridiculous. Where is all the backwardsdom and hatred I was brought up learning abotu the Russians?
posted by subaruwrx at 2:12 PM on June 30, 2006

They appear to be from the immediate post war period.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:24 PM on June 30, 2006

Propaganda posters from all over the world have always fascinated me.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:41 PM on June 30, 2006

The feminist ones are my favorites.
posted by bardic at 2:42 PM on June 30, 2006

Anyone have a translation for this one?
posted by weston at 3:31 PM on June 30, 2006

That poster weston pointed out is my favorite by far.
I'm guessing that the artist suffers in a capitalist society but in a communist state he is supported to make his contribution.

Brilliant and seductive.
posted by ArsncHeart at 4:22 PM on June 30, 2006

I swear I've seen an American (or, possibly, British) poster from WWII that looks just like this one. Can't find it right now, though...
posted by mr_roboto at 4:23 PM on June 30, 2006

Fun, propaganda posters! :D
I'd be curious about what the one mr_roboto posted says.
posted by notnamed at 4:35 PM on June 30, 2006

notnamed,
boltat' - vragu pomogat'!
Gossiping - helps the enemy!
posted by dilettante at 5:54 PM on June 30, 2006

Dont forget, although these posters are pretty, Stalin was a VERY evil man. I know you all you guys know this, I just felt the need to say it.
posted by BillsR100 at 6:22 PM on June 30, 2006

i think it's great that they're not shy at all about using exclamation points. i can't read russian, so it seems to add a certain air of jauntiness to the posters. "stalin fever - catch it!"

i would love to see some translations to go with these posters.
posted by the painkiller at 6:35 PM on June 30, 2006

Weston: Goofus lives in a capitalist society, Gallant loves Stalin.

Also, for more posters, as well as music, check out sovmusic.ru
posted by Hal Mumkin at 7:05 PM on June 30, 2006

(also, jonson, [these are good] thanks)
posted by Hal Mumkin at 7:06 PM on June 30, 2006

Isn't that the Governor of California in that first one?
posted by Eekacat at 7:08 PM on June 30, 2006

I don't know why, but these posters remind me of this...
posted by sporb at 8:20 PM on June 30, 2006

Ah, I love this stuff. Soviet artists produced some crazy work in the 20's. Here are some more posters, and this place has a very large collection of Soviet and early 20th century Russian.
posted by GalaxieFiveHundred at 9:00 PM on June 30, 2006

It's fascinating to see a Soviet picture of Mao, since it doesn't have to follow the PRC rules that would require his face to be done entirely in shades of red, for example. I remember reading a speech by Mao where he mentions that the Soviets would always portray him as a few inches shorter than them. It was clear it always got his goat (the speech is available somewhere at the MIA, I think).

Now, that is Mao, right? And also, what does the Russian say? And what is that book (nice to see a book and Mao before the Little Red Book)? Languagehat (or any speaker of Russian), please hope me!
posted by Gnatcho at 9:51 PM on June 30, 2006

The book says "Lenin." The caption translates roughly as "may the unbreakable friendship and cooperation between the Soviet and the Chinese peoples thrive and strengthen."
posted by kickingtheground at 11:29 PM on June 30, 2006

Anyone have a translation for this one?

Something like this

"In a capitalist country, street talent"

"In a socialist country, valuable talent"

it's a play on doroga (street) and doroga (valuable/expensive). The words are distinguished by stress.

Too lazy to type the real russian. People who really understand Russian can correct me, I just live here.
posted by fake at 2:36 AM on July 1, 2006

Somebody's got a Napoleon complex. Jude Law was perfectly cast in Enemy at the Gates. I think this one is Russian for "Shaz-ayam!"
posted by kirkaracha at 7:16 AM on July 1, 2006

Uncle Joe looks awesome!
posted by ArunK at 11:53 AM on July 1, 2006

Something like this
"In a capitalist country, street talent"
"In a socialist country, valuable talent"
it's a play on doroga (street) and doroga (valuable/expensive).

Nope, no play on words. They're just two different case forms of the word for 'road,' дорога [doroga]; on the left, in the capitalist countries the path of (i.e., open to) talent [is playing fiddle on the streets], whereas on the right, in the socialist country [we open/provide] a path for talents.
posted by languagehat at 2:40 PM on July 1, 2006

Hmm, this one must be circa the "doctor's plot" period.
posted by dgaicun at 3:08 PM on July 1, 2006

Ooooooh. Wow.
posted by zoinks at 4:42 PM on July 1, 2006

Спасибо
posted by fake at 2:48 AM on July 3, 2006