Art, Propaganda and Soviet "new man" (1920 - early 1930s)

After the October Revolution of 1917, hundreds of years of tsarist authority were overthrown. According to Jessica Bastian, amidst the confusion of anarchy, the Bolsheviks established their own legitimacy and credibility by extensive propaganda. These propagandas promoted “Homo Sovieticus” or the “New Soviet Man” who placed complete, unconditional faith in the Bolshevik Communist ideals. He would sacrifice his gain and would control his impulses to serve the “greater good”. From 1917 to 1930, reflecting the aim to transform the Russian spiritual culture, the propagandas illustrating Bolshevik ideas were avant-garde. However, the avant-garde art only catered to the tastes of the artistic elites. In order to inculcate all of Russia’s diverse groups with the faith in Bolsheviks, the propaganda efforts incorporated both religious elements and style and sentiment of the avant-garde. The amalgamation of religion with new soviet avant-garde art gave religious characteristics to the Bolshevik image and thus, gave Bolsheviks a legitimate spiritual authority. More specifically, propaganda from 1917 to 1930, or the first forms of new “opium of the people”, heralded Lenin as a new Christ and later, Stalin as his Apostle, and/or redefined “good” as productivism in order to transform Bolshevik ideals into axioms and thus, the Russian people, into Soviet “new man”.

The propaganda poster, “A Spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism 1920” is a good example of how the government used religious sentiments to substantiate its ideals. It is a Productivist art made with a montage of Lenin, a factory, and two flags one of which is a Bolshevik flag and the other, a white flag with a picture of a sun. Lenin is pointing in the direction of the factory and the white flag while the platform on which he stands bears the slogan. The slogan, “A Spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism” is a direct quotation from the first line of “Communist Manifesto” written by Marx and Engel in 1848. While the montage is certainly an avant-garde art and the message, a vanguard of socialist economy, this poster is not free from traditional, religious sentiments. Lenin is illustrated as a messenger or a prophet, pointing in the direction of industry and ultimately, promoting production as a purpose of soviet community. Also, the factory looks like a church because of its high smokestacks and intricate carvings. Thus, Lenin’s lead towards centralization of industry alludes to Jesus’ legacy, in which, he created the organisation of Christians, the church. In this way, Lenin is heralded as a new Christ and “good” is redefined as productivism even if it is dreadful. The purpose of the propaganda and its allusion to Russian Orthodox religion is to legitimatize War Communism despite its failures. From 1918 to 1921, War Communism replaced the system of state capitalism with a series of harsh economic measures. Although it served the Bolshevik ideals by centralizing the industry, eradicating private ownership and persecuting the peasants through requisitioning, its effects were disastrous: it caused severe industrial disruption, inflation and it was met with great peasant resistance.  Measuring the effectiveness of this propaganda poster by the aftermath of the discontent and the nature of the soviet posters, it can be concluded that the poster was not successful. First of all, because of the massive discontent, War Communism was replaced with New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921. The NEP strayed from the Bolshevik ideals because it combined socialism with capitalism. Secondly, although the propaganda posters in general were “central to defining the iconography of the period until 1927...”, it was not the most effective medium for advertizing Bolshevik policies because much of the Russian population was illiterate even until 1930. Therefore, “A Spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism 1920” is a good example of the government’s attempt to stifle disagreements against War Communism and subsequently against Bolshevik ideals but it was not the most effective propaganda medium to create a new “Soviet Man”. Instead, one of the most successful propaganda in this era was film.

“October! – The Storming of the Winter Palace” directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1920, propagandized the “rightful” Bolshevik victory and authority. The film inaccurately depicted the capture of the Winter Palace at 2am during the October Revolution of 1917. In the film, the workers were met with fierce resistance that was historically absent. The workers confiscated loots, arrested the provisional government and lauded the victory of the “Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolution which the Bolsheviks have always deemed necessary”. One of the most interesting scenes in the film was when a worker advanced into the empress’s room and found religious icons and paintings (approximately 2:45 to 3:15). He found a half-naked statue of the Virgin Mary and a painting of Jesus Christ before the ex-tsar Nicholas II, his wife and his only son. The Russian Orthodox religion was ridiculed with the ungraceful depiction of Mary. Also, the ex-tsar, who was believed to have divine right to rule over Russia before the February Revolution, was illustrated as an ordinary man by using Jesus Christ as a foil to the tsar’s pathetic self. Angered by the paintings and the icons, the worker burned the empress’s room and metaphorically, he obliterated the tsarist authority along with the religious one. After the Provisional Government was overthrown and the Bolsheviks took power, Lenin was welcomed to the altar with applause and the congregation of people were excited by his words and policies. Even a man who fell asleep in the congregation woke up and was enlightened. The burning of the traditional religious and tsarist icons and Lenin’s ascension to the altar and his authority over the congregation, illustrated Lenin as the new Christ and the dawn of new faith or opium. As it is evident in the metaphorical scenes and the secular milieu of the film, Eisenstein’s film was aligned with the Bolshevik policy in January 1918, Decree on Separation of Church and State that sought to break the hold of clergy and undermine the religious faith of peasants. Eisenstein’s film was very successful because of the montage of brief scenes that made complicated stories simple to understand and influenced the audience in a way that art and literature never could. Also, the inaccurate account of history added to the drama and moved people to believe in “Bolshevik victory” because, film itself “like photomontage, presented an illusion of reality”. Therefore, “October – The Storming of the Winter Palace” by Eisenstein in 1920 was one of the successful propagandas that helped to create a Soviet “new man”. On the other hand, other propagandas were more explicit in their anti-religious messages and their attempt to promote the Soviet “new man”.

A propaganda poster, “Beware! Religion is poison for the mind. 1920” explicitly discouraged religious beliefs and promoted the Soviet “new man”. In the poster, a little girl is dragged by a witch-like old woman by her braids towards the “religious and capitalist” setting with a crooked crucifix, a fat capitalist man, crows and graves. On the other side of the “religious and capitalist” setting is the “communist” background with straight, high buildings, a man blowing a trumpet and a plane. Not only is the religion and capitalism grouped together as archaic and corrupted, but they are compared with the “communist” setting that is innovative and upright in architecture and, as it is implied, in spiritual culture. Thus, the most obvious message that the poster promotes is that religion and capitalism is evil while communism is good. However, the most important message can be found in the extent the “communist” setting emulates the “religious and capitalist” setting: The plane soars as high as the crucifix pierces the sky, the “communist” building is built as high as the churches and while the bell is the instrument of the church, the trumpet is the instrument of a communist. As Lenin replaced Jesus Christ in “October! – The Storming of the Winter Palace” directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1920, the spiritual culture of the Orthodox Church is directly replaced and emulated by that created by the Bolsheviks. The purpose of this propaganda poster is the same with that of Eisenstein’s film. It seeks to steal the legitimacy of religious icons for that of Bolsheviks. In the process of doing so, in the poster, the “communist” society that embodies innovation and production is defined as “good”. The propaganda poster of course is not as effective as the cinema whose drama can influence the emotions of its audience. However, it has played a better role in visualizing the iconography of good and bad. Therefore, “Beware! Religion is poison for the mind. 1920” was a more explicit anti-religion propaganda that sought to create the Soviet “new man”.

Propaganda targeting children were in the form of children’s books. Through the children’s books, the government dedicated itself to vospitanie, a Russian word for teaching, more specifically, upbringing and molding of personality. The vospitanie of children into Soviet “new man” was even emphasized publicly. “As early as 1918, the newspaper Pravda (the truth), the official voice of the Russian Communist Party, proclaimed, ‘The children’s book as a major weapon for education must receive widest possible distribution’”. An example of one of this major weapon is a children’s book called “Fishing 1930” by B. Inozemtsev. I. “Fishing” is a series of illustrations of fishery workers working together to bring in the catch, prepare it and send if off to the cooperative to feed the nation. In a particular page of the book, a lone fisherman and a group of fishermen are illustrated. The lone fisherman does not catch many fish but the group of fishermen do in order to feed the nation. Collectivism and productivism is strongly emphasized in this page not only through the story itself but also through the drawing. The people drawn in this children book do not have a face and in fact, there are not much distinct characteristics that differ one from the other. The artist had used an avant-garde style purposely in order to represent people as a class rather than an individual. The class will work together to make greater yield of fish and feed the nation. Ironically, despite the government’s dedication to productivist avant-garde art and its desire to eradicate all religious faith in young peoples, “Fishing” also contains some subtle religious sentiments. The class working together to feed the nation is like Jesus’s disciples who have been fishers and have been commissioned by Jesus with words, “I will make you fishers of men”. The class, like the disciples, have a holy mission to feed everyone. The only difference is that for the class this is achieved through collectivization and productivism not religious faith. Unfortunately for the Bolsheviks, this message was not effectively communicated to the targeted audience. Although the government understood very well the potency of vospitanie of children, it had overlooked the poor state of Russia. Not only was a large portion of the Russian population illiterate but there were overwhelming number of bespirzornye. Bespirzornye were orphans and abandoned children who lost their parents during the series of revolutions. In 1920, “Contemporaries estimated their number at between 7 million and 9 million, three quarters of them under age thirteen and three quarters of them children of workers and peasants.” Since bespirazornye were not even granted the most basic parental care, and even many children with parents were illiterate, the government had failed to choose the most effective medium to target children. Therefore, although children’s books like “Fishing” dedicated itself to vospitanie of children into the Soviet “new man”, the medium failed to do so because of the poor conditions in Russia from 1917 to and after 1930.

After Lenin’s death, Stalin developed a cult of personality of Lenin in order to elevate his image. In many propaganda posters, Stalin was illustrated alongside of Lenin, who, as it has been elaborated previously was heralded as a new Christ after the October Revolution of 1917. In these posters, Stalin appeared like Lenin’s closest confidant, political ally and the medium which Lenin’s spirit can work through. In doing so, “Stalin positioned himself to become the Big Brother [of the revolution]”. In late 1920s, in the advertisement of Bolshevik policies, like the Five Year Plan 1928, Stalin was illustrated behind Lenin, so that he is not too forefront and is not met with disfavor of the population. Nevertheless, Stalin was omnipresent. Unlike Lenin who wanted to modest profiles, “Stalin wanted just the opposite – though, he too, purported to be modest”. The propaganda poster, “Socialist Construction Under Lenin’s Banner 1930” is a good example of how Stalin used Lenin’s iconography in order to develop his own. In the poster, the faces of Lenin and Stalin loom over a montage of construction sites. Stalin’s face is behind Lenin’s but Lenin’s face is slightly transparent. Lenin’s transparency gives him a spirit-like character watching over Russia and working through Stalin. Lenin is then, Jesus in spirit and Stalin, his Apostle continuing his work. The purpose of this poster was to take credit for the successes of the Five Year Plan 1928 in the cities. The Five Year Plan 1928 was a policy that collectivized the peasants into a state run farm in order to facilitate the process of rapid industrialization. At the exorbitant cost of millions of lives of the peasants, from 1928 to 1940, the Five Year Plan 1928 helped to make USSR a leading industrial nation. The poster for this type of propaganda was effective because posters established iconography; it best presented the milieu of the era rather than an event or a policy. In the aftermath, Stalin was able to add economic achievement to his list of accomplishments. Eventually after World War II and his military feat, he was able to stand alone in propagandas. Another example of this type of productivist propaganda is “Let’s build a fleet of airships in Lenin’s name 1931” by Georgii Kibardin. In this poster, Kibardin combined drawing and photography in order to illustrate the air fleets invading the sky, Lenin above the masses of cheering people, commissioning these air fleets and piercing radio tower. The largest air fleet read, “Lenin” and the second largest, “Stalin.” Again, “Stalin” is in close proximity of “Lenin” and it is behind the “Lenin” fleet. Also the skies that are often associated with heaven, God’s dome are invaded with air fleets of Lenin and Stalin. It is as if it is Stalin and Lenin that looks over the people of Russia from the sky instead of God. Therefore, posters like “Socialist Construction Under Lenin’s Banner 1930” and “Let’s build a fleet of airships in Lenin’s name 1931” successfully created a cult of personality with religious sentiments that helped create the Soviet “new man”.

Therefore, propaganda from 1917 to 1930, or the first forms of new “opium of the people”, heralded Lenin as a new Christ and later, Stalin as his Apostle, and/or redefined “good” as productivism in order to transform Bolshevik ideals into axioms and thus the Russian people into Soviet “new man”. First of all, “A Spectre is haunting Europe – A Spectre of Communism 1920” attempts to create a Soviet “new man” by heralding Lenin as the new Christ and promoting productivism of War Communism. Secondly, Eisenstein’s film, ““October! – The Storming of the Winter Palace” heralded Lenin as a new Christ to replace the Orthodox religion. On the other hand, “Beware! Religion is poison for the mind. 1920” did so by promoting productivism as “good”. Thirdly, B. Inozemtsev. I.’s  “Fishing” attempted to “mold” the children into Soviet “new man” by promoting productivism. Fourthly, Stalin creates a Soviet “new man” by positioning himself as the Apostle of Lenin in propaganda posters such as “Socialist Construction Under Lenin’s Banner 1930” and “Let’s build a fleet of airships in Lenin’s name 1931”. The spiritual culture of Soviet “new man” was political opium that manipulated people to believe that Bolshevik policies and ideals were indisputable and must be obeyed like God’s Word.