Stalin poster of the week 91 (SPotW91)

Dmitrii Moor (Orlov) and Sergei Sen’kin, Long Live Our Dear Invincible Red Army!, 1938

Dmitrii Moor (Orlov) and Sergei Sen’kin (Дмитрий Моор и Сергей Сенькин), Long Live Our Dear Invincible Red Army! (Да здравствует наша родная, непобедимая красная армия!), 1938

Throughout the 25 years of his leadership of the Soviet Union, Stalin frequently appeared in posters alongside the image of Lenin. In ‘Long Live Our Dear Invincible Red Army!’ by Dmitrii Moor and Sergei Sen’kin, Stalin and Lenin are both featured in large individual black-and-white photographic portraits, each under a red aircraft, and above scenes showing battle-ready armed forces of all branches.

Stalin and Lenin appear as equals. Stalin is no longer portrayed as the disciple and student of Lenin, but as a leader and thinker in his own right.

Under each of the leaders is a quote from them that stresses the popular nature of the Soviet armed forces as an army for the people – that is, the workers and peasants.

Lenin: “For the first time in the world an army has been created, an armed force that knows what it is fighting for.”
Stalin: “Our army is the only one in the world that has the sympathy and support of the workers and peasants. Therein lies its strength, that is its stronghold.”

Lenin and Stalin face inwards, their faces in three-quarter view, neither of them engaging the eye of the viewer. They appear almost as sentries over the flags of the armed services, and the text of Article 132 of the 1936 (Stalin) Constitution of the USSR:

“Article 132. Universal military service is law. Military service in the Armed Forces of the USSR is honorable duty of citizens of the USSR.”

Everything else in the poster faces out – soldiers, airplanes, guns, turrets, tanks, horses and ships. Stalin and Lenin protect the homeland from within, while the armed forces are ever-vigilant and demonstrate their preparedness to go out to war if necessary.