CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/12/2014

Propaganda! Russian and Norwegian Posters 1920-1939

Featured image, El Lisitsky and Vladimir Akhmetjev's 1931 poster promoting Moscow's Central Culture and Recreation Park, designed in the late 1920s by Lisitsky, is reproduced from Propaganda! Russian and Norwegian Posters 1920-1939, published by Oslo-based Forlaget Press. "All work is part of the struggle for the plans for the third decisive and the fourth concluding year of the Five-Year Plan," it reads, metaphorically linking the skier's role as a model of athleticism and the spirit of competition to the state sponsored Five Year Plan of 1928–1932, which aimed to accelerate industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture. "Many posters spread the optimistic message that the plan would be fulfilled within four years. Key themes were socialistic competition, the education of persons to work in the new technical occupations, and the entrance of women into the workforce. There was a strong belief in technological progress, which would make the socialist dream a reality. At the same time, the farmers who opposed forced collectivization, the so-called kulaks, were deported to Siberia, and the changes in agriculture led in 1932–33 to one of the most catastrophic famines ever. This reality stood in stark contrast to the propaganda about leisure parks, new child-care centers, and the Party's concern for 'green' workplaces."