stalin poster of the week 11 (SPotW11)

Vladislav Pravdin, Long Live the Bolshevik Party, the Lenin-Stalin Party, the Vanguard of the Soviet People Forged in Battle, the Inspiration and Organizer of Our Victories!, 1950

Vladislav Pravdin (Правдин), Long Live the Bolshevik Party, the Lenin-Stalin Party, the Vanguard of the Soviet People Forged in Battle, the Inspiration and Organizer of Our Victories! (За здравствует партия большевиков, партия ленина-сталина, закаленный в боях авангард советского, вдохновитель и организатор наших побед!), 1950

Many Stalinist propaganda posters depict huge red banners that fill the sky and hover protectively over the crowds below them. The text on the posters specifically invokes the banner as a protective and inspirational object, whether protecting the troops going into battle, inspiring citizens to further sacrifice in the name of the victory of communism, or even protecting and legitimating the leadership.


A 1950 poster by Vladislav Pravdin features two red banners that dominate the sky. The largest of the two, which occupies almost all of the top half of the poster, is intensely red and decorated with gold braid — it ripples as if in a gentle breeze.

Lenin, already dead for 26 years, is a protective saint

It is emblazoned with the head and shoulders of Lenin in fleshy tones, associating Lenin with eternal life, as in the icon, and also acknowledging his sacrifice for the sake of the people – Lenin survived an assassination attempt in 1918 and, despite dying of natural causes, was still viewed as a martyr to the cause by many.


Lenin looks out to the viewer’s left, his eyes focused on a distant vision of the past. Beneath him, the figure of Stalin dominates the foreground, his head jutting up into the red field created by the banner, with Lenin hovering over his right shoulder like a protective ‘good angel’.


Stalin’s gaze mimics that of Lenin and he partakes of the implication of eternal life already bestowed upon Lenin.

Nikita Krushchev, Georgii Malenkov, and ‘Iron Lazar’ Kaganovich – key Soviet leader figures under Stalin

Behind Stalin, and also underneath Lenin’s banner, are the figures of the Soviet leadership although it is interesting to note that this was not the membership of the Politburo at the time.
The other leaders are differentiated from Stalin by appearing smaller and their gazes turn in a number of directions, with Andrei Andreev and Anastas Mikoian looking directly at the viewer.


Behind the first banner is a second large banner that hovers over the anonymous faces of ‘the masses’, carrying text which reads: ‘Under the banner of Lenin, under the leadership of Stalin — forward to the victory of communism!’, making literal the well-worn slogan.


We can read Pravdin’s poster as an icon, replacing Russian Orthodox iconography with Soviet iconography. The apotheosised Lenin floats in the upper part of the poster, contained within an implicit aureole.


His red banner spreads over the Party leaders, guiding and protecting them as they lead the people forward to victory.

Nikolai Shvernik, Lavrentii Beria, Nikolai Bulganin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Aleksei Kosygin, Anastas Mikoian – key Soviet leader figures under Stalin

Stalin, the largest figure in the poster and, therefore, the most important, is the chief saint, while the other leaders flanking him fill the ranks of the minor saints.


The common people follow behind Stalin and are also guided and protected by a Lenin banner.


Like the icon, the poster is a primarily visual medium which relies on the impact of the image to deliver its message. By visually referencing the characteristics of the Russian Orthodox icon, the posters encouraged the viewer to respond in a spiritual manner to the form and content of the poster, and to draw parallels, both conscious and unconscious, between the central figure in the posters and the key spiritual figures of the Orthodox faith.


This was facilitated by Russian traditions of leadership in which the tsar held both secular and spiritual powers and was viewed as the sacred protector of the people.