Propaganda Posters

Propaganda

What is propaganda? Propaganda is the way to create a personality cult. Propaganda can be in many different forms, such as in radios, televisions, or in posters. Basically, propaganda is using for the telling about your goods, even though it might not real. For an example, Hitler used the propaganda to convert the people to his side; nevertheless, some of the Russians still didn’t agree with him. As I said in the beginning that propaganda creates a personality cult, due to the facts that were telling in the posters etc. We can use this information as a guide line for political problems in our period time (if we have one).

The Tsar, the Priest and the Rich Man on the Shoulders of the Labouring People, coloured lithograph by A. Apsit, 1918.

This is the poster that represents Russia in the time of WWI. On the floor, there is some dead bodies and bones, which I think it shows the time of WWI that many people died. Then there is a group of people being a trasportation for the Tsar. Some of them are exhausted, and nearly died. Their bodies are thin and bony, which means that they hasn't get enough foods. Also their clothes are old, and some of them are tear apart, which I think it represents the economy problems in that time. Next is the King, and the priest who sit on the transportation, which has the soldier for their controller. This represents the idea that the Tsar didn't do anything for the people, except for using them as a transportation. The background of this poster is black, and contains lots of birds/bats. I think it means that the Tsar is evil.

Trotsky on Guard

This is the image of Leon Trotsky, who was the leader of the October Revoultion. In this picture, Trotsky is defending Russia from the White during the Civil War. On the back of Trotsky is the map of the Russia, which is being attack by the Wihte army, who against Trotsky. On the left of the map are three little men, which represent Estuania, Latvia, and Lithuania. Below the little men are those Russians who still supported the provisional government, the survivors of the privileged classes under the Tsar, and other groups that wanted a government to be less radical than communism. I think that this picture try to make people feel impress of Trotsy as a leader of the country, because he is defending the country.

Imperial Russia's social structure derided in an anonymous cartoon of 1900 issued by the Union of Russian Socialists.

This picture represents the time during the Tsar controlled all the power. He’s on the top of all the Russian, follow by the nobles and the priests, who were in the Tsar Controlled. At the bottom level is all the workers and the farmers. As you see in, the picture had a shape like pyramid, because most of the people is at the bottom. The lower you are, the harder work would be. At the bottom, the workers need to hold all the people. On the other hand, the highest point, the King, just sits there and relaxes. This picture shows the separation of levels quite well.

St George (Leon Trotsky). Poster by Victor Deni, 1920

This picture represents the time during the Civil war, which has Leon Trotsky as a leader riding on the horse fighting with the dragon. This picture represents Trotsky as Saint George slaying the counter-revolutionary dragon. It’s kind of a Christian imagery and mythology to present a revolutionary message. This is the poster that creates a personality cult to Trotsky, and made the Russian thought that they had the best leader. The uses of colors in this picture are colorful for the people to see clearly.

V. I. Ulianov (Lenin)

This poster was published after the death of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union., and the one who had originated most of the Soviet policies. In this poster, Lenin is pointing toward, and the group of soldiers follows his order. This means that he’s a leader that everyone must follow his commands. At the top is the time period during Lenin’s life. This poster was made for the Russian to remind them, that once a time Lenin was the leader of the country. The uses of colors in this picture are plain, nothing much, just read, black, and white. I think the reason for this is to put Lenin and his soldiers stand out, because they’re only red in the picture.

To Horse, proletarian! Two coloured lithograph by A. Apsit, 1919
This poster represents Leon Trotsky on the horse leading the Bolsheviks, and recruited the soldiers. After this event, Trotsky formed the Red Army, and controlled Russia. He swung his sword up to lead his army, the Bolsheviks. The uses of colors in this poster is nothing much, just red, black, and white. I guess that the red flag is for the Red army.

In the conclusion, I must say that during the Russian Revolution, there are lots of complicate events. The use of propaganda is all over the places, which looked normally in that time. It’s so normal that it could be a part of Russian’s life in that time. However, the use of propaganda is very useful in that period of time. You can see most of the propaganda users were successful, such as Hitler, Stalin etc.

Source:http://www.fbuch.com/posters.htm