Russian Propaganda Posters

What is a Propaganda?
A propaganda is a way to spread one's idea into the media (newspaper, television, radio) to promote a doctrine, ideology, or practice. Most of the time, propagandas don't allow people to think for themselves. Instead, they tell people things to believe and act. Because of this, propagandas usually contain informations that are untrue and will not benefit the people, but instead benefit the propagandists. By studying propagandas, we can learn how people in the past think and how and how they try to convince others to think in the same way.

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Workers to Arms! You are needed by the Red Army, 1920

(www.internationalposter.com/ru-text.cfm)

This poster shows a red army soldier playing a trumpet with a red bow tied to it. The soldier is trying to get attention from people so that more people will support and join the red army. The message of this poster is that the red army needs support from the people, and that they should support the red army because idea of communism will benefit everyone. People needed to support and join the red army to make sure that Russia will be a communist country. The background shows a scene from the war, with red being the background color. The use of red color in the background captures people's attentions. Red also represents communist, so it is everywhere in the picture - the soldier's hat and the bow tied to the trumpet. The red color is very effective in this poster. It shows exactly which side the soldier is in, and what the group support.

(http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/big/0651.jpg)

This poster shows Stalin as a fine leader, with good will to his country. He is holding a newspaper in his hands, which makes him look like he works really hard. The message of the poster is that people have to support Stalin. The poster wants people to think that Stalin is a very nice guy and will be an excellent leader for Russia. The use of red color in the background captures attention well. It also symbolizes communism. The portrait of Stalin dressed nicely is very effective in making people believe that he is a splendid leader whom everyone should support.

Fight lazy workers! 1931

(www.internationalposter.com/ru-text.cfm)

This poster shows three workers doing their work. The triangle in the middle shows small clock. I think this clock represents the hours that the workers had to work. The workers were very tired, so they tried to hammer the clock. The message of the poster is that the workers had to spend all day working. They were very tired. However, the government during the time is a communist, so there were many of them who were lazy to work. The government was trying to make these lazy ones work harder. This poster is very effective in showing how hard the workers had to work when there was a time limit.

Remember, love and study Lenin, 1954

(www.internationalposter.com/ru-text.cfm)

This poster shows a writing which states that everyone should love and study Lenin. The message of the poster is that Lenin's ideas are always good for Russia, so everyone should love and support Lenin. The layout of the writing is similar to a letter. It symbolizes the way people in Russia were made to believe propagandas. The letter is written to the population of Russia, and the people were told, in the letter, to support Lenin. The frame of the writing is also in red, the communist color. The letter format is very effective to show that people were told to support Lenin.

How have you helped the FRONT? 1940

(www.internationalposter.com/ru-text.cfm)

This picture shows a soldier in red. The gun he is holding creates a feeling of fearfulness. The message of this poster is that a lot of people didn't care about the war. It is trying to get people to join the army in 1940. The soldier is pointing at us, making the people feel that they had to join the army. The color of this poster is, again, red, so it is very effective in catching attention. The soldier is dressed all in red. In addition, the factory in the background is also in red.

Long live the Communist Councils!, 1921

(www.internationalposter.com/ru-text.cfm)

This poster shows a man holding a red banner saying 'Long Live the Communist Councils!'. He is the leader of the army. The message of the poster is that communism is the best way to rule a country. The poster is trying to gain more support from the people. The use of red color on the banner symbolizes communism. The leader is effective in convincing people to believe in communism because he was the leader of the whole army, so what he thought was good should be the best for everyone.

Most of these posters show how the government supported communism. This is because during the period, Russia is a communist country. The posters show that the Russian government needed more people to support them. A lot of people still didn't believe in the government, so propagandas were used as a tool to gain support from the people.

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1990s - The decade of Changes

I. Important Events :

a) Dissolve of the Soviet Union - In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. Twelve republic signed the European Energy Charter, a treaty agreeing to combine the energy sectors of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe into the European and world markets. The 15 republics that were separated are now independent. Since then, maps were changed.
Sources:
http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p4255.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Energy_Charter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1985-1991)

b) Gulf War - Iraq was in debt with several countries from the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq was allied with Kuwait and therefore caused a $14 billion debt with Kuwait. Iraq wished to repay its debt, by increasing the oil prices. But Kuwait increased the oil production, lowering the prices. Iraq began accusing Kuwait of stealing oil from Iraq. This caused a war where 19 countries were involved with over 900,000 troops.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#Causes

c) Olympic Park Bombing - On July 27, 1996, a bomb exploded in Atlanta, Georgia during the hosting of the Olympic Games. Two people were dead, and 111 were injured. This is an important event because a lot of people were affected. It was a world-wide event because it happened during the Olympics.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing


II. Important People of the Decade :

a) Princess Diana - In August 31, 1997, an unexpected event had occured. Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident in Paris. Some sources had said that Prince Charles, Princess Diana's husband, had planned the accident. Princess Diana had done a lot of things to help people. She showed the world that HIV is not passed on from contact. When she died, many AIDS foundations worldwide would be short of money. Some wouldn't even exist. Princess Diana had made the world a very different place.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales#Charity_work
http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol63/14/OpEd2/1491297/1491297.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/august/31/newsid_3186000/3186299.stm

b) Nelson Mandela - In the year 1990, Nelson Mandela is freed after spending his previous 27 years in political prison. However, by 1994, Mandela is elected as president in the first South African election in which everyone have the right to vote. He is the first black president of South Africa. He encouraged nationalism in South Africa because before Mandela became a president, South Africa's presidents are whites.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

c) Benazir Bhutto - She became the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1993. This was the starting point of woman in politics. Woman should now have equal rights as men. She stood up for all the women for what is right.
Sources:
http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A085


III. Important technological improvements :

a) MP3 - Both the MP3 Players and the files were invented during the 1990s. MP3 is an audio compression that makes the file smaller without any quality loss. It is an important invention because it is more convenient than audio CDs, which are hard to carry around from place to place. MP3s are now very popular.
Sources:
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/MPThree.htm

b) Zip drive - Zip drive is a removable disk-storage system, which, in the first time they were invented, has the maximum storage of up to 100MB. But, the newer versions have up to 750 MB. Zip drives are now not very popular because thumb drives have replaced them. However, without the invention of Zip drives, thumb drives would never exist.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_drive


IV. Famous Piece of Art :

a) Titanic - Titanic is a major movie in the years 1997-1998. It had been in theatres for 38 weeks. It had made $1.8 billion. It won 11 Oscar awards and had 14 Oscar nominations. Titanic stayed at number 1 for 15 weeks before moving down to number 2.
Sources:
http://www.casenet.com/movie/titanic.htm


This is the picture of the front cover of 'Titanic'. Titanic is a popular film. It still is today.
(http://city.udn.com/v1/city/forum/article.jsp?no=3309&aid=1640927)


V. Famous Musician :

a) Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey is the best selling female singer of the 1990s. 'Hero' and 'Dream Lover' hit the top spots on the chart, while in 1997, she had sung a duet with Whitney Houston in a song 'Prince of Egypt (When you believe). She is still very popular today.
Sources:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?JSESSIONID=Ghx3JrJTjg6C8gB4Zhd13sygm4JcVltJVvyDysL2GJ4zLgpZB3Tx!105292534&pid=48340


This is a picture of Mariah Carey from her album 'I don't wanna cry'. This is her first album in 1990.
(http://rateyourmusic.com/list/ericandy/my_collection__c/)


VI. Popular Consumer Product :

a) Pokemon - First released in 1997 in Japan, Pokemon became famous in both adults and children. People (both adults and children) would line up for hours just to get a single pokemon card. Up until today, people are still crazy about Pokemon. Many Pokemon games and cartoons are still popular today.
Sources:
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/decade/1990.htm#fads


This image is an example of a Pokemon Card. There are many kinds of Pokemon Cards.
(http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/decade/1990.htm#fads)


VII. Famous Book :

a) Holes - Holes, a book written by Louis Sachar, was published in 1998. It had won a tremendous amount of awards including National Book Award, Newbery Medal, Best Book of the Year from Publisher's Weekly, The New York Times, and School Library Journal.
Sources:
http://www.kidsreads.com/features/010314-holes.asp


This image is the front cover of the book 'Holes'. Holes had now been made into a movie!
(http://www.kidsreads.com/features/010314-holes.asp)


VIII. Scientific discovery :

a) Cloning - Cloning was first discovered in Scotland in 1997. The first animal to be successfully cloned is a sheep named Dolly. Scientists first thought that by cloning animals, the meat production could be increased. It is expected that cloning could be use on human by 2010.
Sources:
http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/decade/1990.htm#fads

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