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stalin poster of the week

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This blog was first published on the properganderpress website https://properganderpressblog.wordpress.com/category/stalin-poster-of-the-week/

Stalin poster of the week 9 (SPotW9)

24/3/2017

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Viktor Koretskii, Beloved Stalin is the people’s joy!, 1949

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Viktor Koretskii (Виктор Корецкий), Beloved Stalin is the people’s joy! (Любимый сталин – счастье народа!), 1949
1949 was the year of Stalin’s massive official 70th birthday celebrations, and this poster by Viktor Koretskii shows him being greeted and applauded by a sea of festive people crowding into Red Square. The Soviet masses bear flowers, and carry banners and portraits of Lenin and Stalin – significantly, there are two portraits of Lenin in the crowd, but three of Stalin.


Stalin stands on the tribune on top of Lenin’s Mausoleum, which raises him above and separates him from the crowd. While each member of the crowd gazes at him, Stalin makes eye contact with no-one.

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Who exactly is Stalin applauding? Himself?
Although Stalin may appear to be acknowledging the applause of the crowd by applauding them as well, he does not actually engage with his audience, looking above and beyond them. It is unclear precisely what he is applauding …  perhaps joining in with the crowd to applaud himself.


The presence of flowers and children in the crowd is reminiscent of posters thanking Stalin for providing a happy childhood and this poster appears to belong to a long-standing genre of posters that depict the reciprocal obligation between the leader and the citizens. This genre includes posters that:


  • highlight the debt owed to Stalin for a happy childhood
  • highlight the debt owed by women for their new equality in society to Stalin and the Party
  • thank Stalin, the Party and/or the Red Army for winning the war
  • acknowledge Stalin as the benefactor of all humankind
  • associate Stalin and the Party with great Soviet achievements
  • acknowledge and encourage those who strive to do their duty and
  • appear to acknowledge that obligation is a two-way street
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Stalin, in his white Marshal’s uniform, does not make eye contact with the crowd
However, closer examination of both textual and visual cues within the posters reveals the one-sidedness of the relationship and this poster ultimately reinforces the notion of Stalin as the bestower of all bounty and the source of all achievements. The caption removes any possible ambiguity: ‘Beloved Stalin is the people’s joy!’


Citizens can never hope to reciprocate these gifts adequately in any tangible manner, having only their eternal gratitude and well-crafted birthday gifts to offer, and thus remain in a condition of permanent indebtedness to their leader.


The text on the banner on the building opposite Stalin reads: “Hail to our great homeland – the stronghold of friendship and glory for the peoples of our country!”

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    Dr Anita Pisch

    Anita’s new, fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

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BLOG ARCHIVE - STALIN POSTER OF THE WEEK
SPotW1 Toidze 1947
SPotW2 Klutsis 1930
SPotW3 Chronicle 1938
SPotW4 Podobedov 1940
SPotW5
Deni 1930
SPotW6 Klutsis 1933
SPotW7 Efimov 1933
SPotW8 Govorkov 1936
SPotW9 Koretskii 1949
SPotW10
Foreign policy 1940
SPotW11 Pravdin 1950
SPotW12 Karpovskii 1948
SPotW13 Mizin 1934
SPotW14 Klutsis 1931
SPotW15
Koretskii 1943
SPotW16 I.V. Stalin 1930
SPotW17 Volkova/Pinus 1938
SPotW18 Toidze 1941
SPotW19 Stalin's affection 1949
SPotW20 Berezovskii 1947


SPotW21 50 Years 1929
SPotW22 Petrov 1948
SPotW23 Arakelov 1939
SPotW24 Ivanov 1952
SPotW25 Solomyanii 1952


SPotW26 Belopol'skii 1952
SPotW27 Kaidalov 1940
SPotW28 Mytnikov 1950
SPotW29 Yang 1938
SPotW30 Golub' 1950


SPotW31 Vorontsov 1951
SPotW32 Belopol'skii, 1951
SPotW33 Deni 1931
SPotW34 Madorskii 1938
SPotW35 Leader, teacher, friend 1941


SPotW36 Al'menov 1951
SPotW37 Deni 1937
SPotW38 Cheprakov 1941
SPotW39 Enemy, 1941
SPotW40 Zotov, 1934

SPotW41 Grinets 1937
SPotW42 Vatolina 1939
SPot
W43  Zhukov 1940
SPotW44 Fedotov 1943
SPotW45 Golub' 1949

SPotW46 Vatolina 1950
SPotW47 Solov'ev 1950
SPotW48 Mel'nikova 1951
SPotW49 Kokorekin 1951
SPotW50 Ivanov El'tsufen 1952

SPotW51 Unknown 1952
SPotW52 Klutsis 1932
SPotW53 Printing 1950
SPotW54 Lukhtein 1951
SPotW55 Toidze 1946

SPotW56 Litvinov 1949
SPotW57 Serov 1942
SPotW58 Pinchuk 1943
SPotW59 Petrov 1952
SPotW60 Podobedov 1939

SPotW61 Babitskii 1944
SPotW62 Pen Varlen 1942
SPotW63 Bayuskin 1942
SPotW64 Belopol'skii 1950
SPotW65 Belopol'skii 1952

SPotW 81 Koretskii 1950
SPotW 82 Pravdin 1950
SPotW83 Vatolina 1938
SPotW 84 Deni 1938
SPotW85 
Koretskii 1945


SPotW66 Dlugach 1933
SPotW67 Zhitomirskii 1942
SPotW68 Toidze 1949
SPotW69 Mikhailov 1937
SPotW70 Cheprakov 1939

SPotW 86 Kazantsev 1944
SPotW 87 Civil War 1938

SPotW 88 Kun 1937
SPotW 89 Spirit 1941
SPotW 90 Ryvkin 1939

SPotW71 Deni 1935
SPotW72 Deni 1935
SPotW73 Defence 1938
SPotW74 Elkin 1939
SPotW75 Zarnitskii

SPotW 91 Moor 1938
SPotW 92 Ivanov 1948
SPotW 93 Govorkov 1951
SPotW 94 Denisov 1941
SPotW 95 Ledby 1942

SPotW76 Toidze 1943
SPotW77 Futerfas 1936
SPotW78 Mukhin 1945
SPotW79 Golub' 1948
SPotW80 Karpovskii 1948

SPotW 96
SPotW 97
SPotW 98
SPotW 99
SPotW 100

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