Stalin poster of the week 20 (SPotW20)

stalin poster of the week 20: boris berezovskii, we stand for peace and we defend the cause of peace. i. stalin, 1947

Boris Berezovskii (Березовский, Б.), We stand for peace and we defend the cause of peace. I. Stalin (Мы стоим за мир и отстаиваем дело мира. И. Сталин), 1947

Once post-Second World War victory celebrations in the USSR had quietened, the task of rebuilding the devastated nation and getting back on track to the ultimate goal of communism moved to the forefront of propaganda.


Alongside this, from 1947, was an attempt to merge Stalin’s Warrior archetype, appropriate for the crisis of the war years, into that of the Saviour of the nation by presenting him as the bringer of peace.


This 1947 poster by Boris Berezovskii shows Stalin uncharacteristically out of military uniform and back in his earlier tunic as he proclaims the Soviet desire for peace — ‘“We stand for peace and we defend the cause of peace.” I. Stalin’.


This quotation is taken from Stalin’s report to the Seventeenth Party Congress on the work of the Central Committee, 26 January 1934, many years prior to the onset of war in Europe, and suggests that Stalin has ALWAYS been a man of peace.

A soft, gentle avuncular Stalin in front of a plain red backdrop appears as a man of peace and the saviour of the nation.

Stalin appears softer, rounder and more genial than in most of the contemporaneous posters and, by wearing his pre-Victory plain tunic, plays down the Warrior archetype that is so prevalent in other posters of this time.


Engulfed by an undefined red backdrop, and with the poster caption in gold, the Russian Orthodox icon is invoked through colour symbolism, engendering a subconscious association of Stalin with the revered saints of the church for the initiated beholder.