Stalin poster of the week 1 (SPotW1)

Iraklii Toidze
Stalin’s kindness illuminates the future of our children! 1947

Iraklii Toidze (ираклии тоидзе) Stalin’s kindness illuminates the future of our children!(озаряет сталинская ласка будущее нашей детворы!) 1947 61 x 43 cm Russian State Library, Moscow

This 1947 poster by Georgian-born artist Iraklii Toidze combines the themes of childhood, victory in the Great Patriotic War (Second World War), and the bright Communist future in one powerful image in which Stalin is visually compared to Christ.

Stalin is depicted in the uniform of Marshal of the Soviet Union, holding a toddler aloft. At first glance, Stalin’s kindness illuminates the future of our children!  appears to step back to the Stalin iconography of the mid-1930s, in which Stalin was surrounded by happy and affectionate children, all thanking him for their happy childhoods.

But the contact here is not fatherly, intimate or affectionate.

Stalin holds the child away from his body, at arm’s length, his hands placed in the same manner as those of Christ in icons of the Dormition of the Virgin, the child in the position of the soul of the Virgin which is held by Christ.

Icon of the Dormition by Theophan the Greek, 1392. The Theotokos is depicted lying on a bier, surrounded by the Twelve Apostles. At centre, Jesus Christ is shown in a mandorla, swaddling the soul of the Virgin Mary (a red seraph is shown above his head). To either side of him are depicted the Hieromartyrs Dionysius the Areopagite and Ignatius the God-Bearer who, according to tradition, are responsible for transmitting the account of the dormition. Image in the public domain

The feast of the Dormition commemorates the ‘falling asleep’ (natural death) of the Virgin, her salvation by Christ, and her acceptance into paradise.

Unlike the ‘happy children’ of the 1930s, the little blond Russian boy does not look at Stalin, but off to the right. He holds a bunch of flowers and a little red flag over his head, sacred symbol of the revolution and blood sacrifice, protection and intercession.

Detail of Dormition icon by Theophan the Greek, 1392

The boy wears white, as does the soul of the Virgin in Dormition icons. Stalin stands in the position of Christ in the icon. In the icon, the Virgin’s soul is held by Christ who conveys it to an angel who carries it to Heaven.

By showing Stalin in his Marshal’s uniform, reference is made to his role as Russia’s saviour in The Great Patriotic War. Russia has endured much pain, bloodshed and sacrifice.

However, from this sacrifice, the pure Russian soul has emerged, was placed into the hands of Stalin and thus conveyed through the passage of worldly suffering to the waiting gates of paradise.

In a socialist reading, this paradise exists here on earth – it is the long-promised land of the Communist utopia. The text of the poster associates Stalin with light and makes it clear that it is Stalin’s care and kindness which has enabled the Russian people to survive the war and emerge into the Communist paradise.