Russian Revolution Posters

Imperial Russia's social structure derided in an anonymous cartoon of 1900 issued by the Union of Russian Socialists.

Late in the nineteenth century, when Lenin and Trotsky were young, the Russian tsar was on top of a class society, and the majority of the Russians were poor and struggling just to survive.  The food supply was limited and sometimes sporadic, and the people felt crushed by the burden of the upper classes.  This was fertile grounds for revolutionaries...

The Tsar, the Priest and the Rich Man on the Shoulders of the Labouring People, coloured lithograph by A. Apsit, 1918.

The heavy burden on the Labouring People shows clearly in this poster from 1918.   By this time the war (WWI) had really messed up the food supply.  Soldiers were fighting, and not tending the land, and a lot of property and supplies were burnt in the war effort.  In addition, the transportation system was lacking.

To Horse, proletarian!  Two coloured lithograph by A. Apsit, 1919.

The Bolsheviks, in control after the 1917 Revolution, formed the Red Army, led by Leon Trotsky, and recruited soldiers...

St George (Leon Trotsky).  Poster by Victor Deni, 1920.

This Civil war poster by Victor Deni depicts Trotsky as Saint George slaying the counter-revolutionary dragon.  Using Christian imagery and mythology to present a revolutionary message was common in the Soviet propaganda.

Trotsky on Guard!  Coloured lithograph by D. S. Moor, 1920/1.

The image of Leon Trotsky, the leader of the Red army, was on several of the posters.

LENIN

Founder of the Soviet Union

V. I. Ulianov (Lenin)  Coloured Lithograph by A. I. Strakhov, 1924.

With Lenin's death in 1924, he became the star of many of the posters, as the founder of the Soviet Union, and the one who had originated most of the Soviet policies.  In spirit, Lenin remained the Soviet Leader!  As such, Lenin was celebrated in 1927, for the ten year anniversary of the October Revolution, and in 1929, five years after his death.

Ronald Hingley, RUSSIA a concise history, Thames and Hudson, p133, 1996

Stephen White, The Bolshevik Poster, Yale University Press, p32, p31, 1988

King et al, Trotsky, Basil Blackwell, p121, 1986

Stephen White, The Bolshevik Poster, Yale University Press, p90, p119, 1988

Memorial Poster to Celebrate the five year Anniversary of Lenin's Death.