Stalin poster of the week 74 (SPotW74)

Vasilli Elkin, Long live Comrade Stalin – banner of invincible Soviet aviation!, 1939

Vasilli Elkin (Елкин, В.), Long live Comrade Stalin – banner of invincible Soviet aviation! (Да здравствует товарищ сталин – знамя непобедимой советской авиации!), 1939

Vasilii Elkin’s aviation-themed poster celebrates Stalin far more conspicuously than it does aviation.

Stalin looks down from the heavens protectively over the USSR’s finest pilots

The centre of the poster is dominated by a large red banner with a three-quarter view of Stalin’s head, sketched in black-and-white. Stalin is positioned so that he looks down over the celebrated pilots and two of the three globes on the poster, as well as some of the aircraft and the red silhouette of the Kremlin.

The large red banner hovers protectively over all. The sky is full of aircraft, all heading up to the left of the poster, as does the string which anchors the banner, which also has the appearance of a line marking a flight route and a line on a graph.

Transparent globes show the routes of record-breaking Soviet flights

The three semi-transparent globes in the top of the poster show the routes of epic Soviet flights, while the text in the top right-hand corner gives the precise factual data regarding these flights including the dates of the flights, route taken, class of aircraft, and the names of the crew. Each globe is also encircled by text giving details of the flight it depicts.

The text makes it clear that it is Stalin who deserves credit for these achievements, not the aviators themselves. The use of maps, graphs, photographs and a barrage of facts lends a documentary verisimilitude to the poster material.