The posters were everywhere. Down alleys, outside factories, and especially adorned in communist opposition cities. Their simple red and black prints made a bold stance against the backdrop of hardened faces trudging to daily jobs and black smoke pummeling toward the dim sky. This is 1934. Stalin’s five-year plan has wiped out millions of farmers, and the worst hasn’t even come yet. The Great Terror is on the rise. Suspicion, starvation, and suffering were the only things Russia knew.

 

   Newspapers were not prominent yet, nor were the country’s literacy levels. Posters, then, were the time’s masters of manipulation. The visual messages played an important part in influencing workers and soldiers, evoking sentiments of heroism and strength. They inspired the people to mobilize and support an ideology, for better or worse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   One poster sits in a town square. It was one of 100,000 distributed across the country. Some of the edges have frayed, swirling in the constant wind of movement. But the message remains: “Workers of the world, unite!”

 

   Karl Marx sits atop the upper left corner, looking up toward a better future. In front of him stands Vladimir Lenin. His arm is outstretched, fingers outstretched as he directs his vanguard party to attack. The red words around him command, “Let us convert the imperialist war into a social war.”
 

  A jutted map of industrialization covers the bottom half with the letters CCCP, a cryllic abbreviation of the Soviet Union. Dressed in his military hat and jacket, Stalin stands tall over his revolution. Bold black letters leave a lasting impression. Underneath his figure, it spells out “We want peace and defend the acts of peace, but we are not afraid of threats and are ready to counter the blows of the beginners of war.”

 

  Posters were particularly effective around war time. Political enemies were demonized, calling for support from the people. Soldiers became larger than life heroes hoping to inspire men to gear up for war. Historic figures such as Lenin and Stalin were commonly included, sweeping expressive gazes over busy urban crowds.

 

   Throughout the world wars, posters encompassed a global commentary of the home front, war, and hopeful quotes. The Brits had Lord Kitchener and the Americans had Uncle Sam-familiar figures launching out of the parchment and hitting citizens in the chest with a pointed finger. Will you join the war efforts? The Soviet Union adopted its own battle cry: For the Motherland, for Stalin!

 

   To this day, Russian propaganda posters from the Soviet era are still sought after. Some want to share their Russian pride. Some want to display the nostalgia. Some want to acquire as part of a bigger collection, as the Archives at the Rohrbach Library has done. Regardless, it captures a snapshot of history. The edges may curl, the colors may fade, but the image lives on forever.