Socialist Propaganda Art
Immerse yourself in a curated selection of propaganda materials from the socialist era, including posters, photography, songs, movies, statues, stained glass art, street art, and more. These resources are meticulously gathered to provide insight into historical propaganda techniques and their impact on society.
Our goal is to make these resources readily accessible to the public, fostering critical thinking about propaganda in the past. By exploring this collection, you have the opportunity to compare historical propaganda with contemporary efforts to influence public opinion and combat misinformation. Join us in examining the power of propaganda throughout history and its relevance in today's world.
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
At home with metalworker Ivan Kartashev of the Economizer plant
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
pilot Alexei Maresyev with his wife and son
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
Pilot and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin at home with his wife Valentina
February communist coup in Czechoslovakia
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
"Life has become better, It has become more fun..."
Photography
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
Electrotherapeutic treatment at the Samarkand hospital
The Stalin Collective Farm in Tajikistan
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
On cotton plantations of Uzbekistan
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
steel smelting in open hearth furnaces at the Uzbek Iron and Steel Plant
At home with Vasiliev. All adults are war veterans.
Chess match between G. Lisitsyn and M. Taimanov
Bolshevik propaganda train
Stained glass windows
DPOH - Bratislava
Hammer and Sickle
DPOH - Bratislava
Emblem of LSSR
Emblem of LSSR
DPOH - Bratislava
DPOH - Bratislava
Statues
Workers Attributed to Alina Szapocznikow
One of the most outstanding Polish sculptors of the second half of the twentieth century, Szapocznikow (1926-1973) used her personal experience of the war and her fight with terminal illness to create a personal language that reflected the changes that occur in the human body.
The Soviet
War Memorial
The Soviet War Memorial in Berlin's Treptower Park commemorates 7,000 fallen Red Army soldiers from the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945. Designed by Soviet architect Yakoy Belopolsky, it opened on May 8, 1949, serving as East Germany's central war memorial.
Jan Ślusarczyk, Dance, Work, Cultivation
After World War II, Jan Ślusarczyk created many works in the spirit of socialist realism. These include the sarcophagus for General Świerczewski in Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery, the Monument of Thanks to the Soviet Army in Bialystok, and sculptures in the Park of Culture in Chorzów.
Sculptures on the Green bridge in Lithuania
The bridge used to feature four sculptures in the Soviet realistic style. Each comprised two people representing a social class idealized by the Communist authorities. In 2015 this and the other sculptures has been removed from the bridge.
Alyosha (Soviet Army Monument in Plovdiv)
The "Alyosha" statue, named after an unknown Soviet soldier from WWII, stands at 11 meters tall and was erected between 1954 and 1957. Located atop Plovdiv's Bunardzhika hill, it honors the Red Army's victory and supports the establishment of Bulgaria's communist regime.
Lenin statue
in Bishkek
Bishkek's iconic Lenin statue stands tall as the sole major Lenin monument in Central Asia, anchoring the capital's ceremonial center. Despite occasional debates in the media and parliament, the Kyrgyz have upheld its significance, enacting a special law for its preservation.
Tank on bottom
of the hill
The tank symbolizing the gift from Mongolians to Russians, has been replaced by a monument to Soviet soldiers due to the construction of an entertainment center. Access to the top is either by climbing approximately 600 stairs, or through a glass tunnel from the entertainment center.
The Zaisan Memorial
in Ulaanbaatar
The Zaisan Memorial is a massive show of appreciation for the Soviet Union, from the Mongolian people. Seeming to promote good relations between the two states, it was actually created by the Soviet Union to depict just how much they had done for the lowly eastern communist state.
Memorial Complex Siberian Convict Way
The monument to the Political Prisoners of Tsarist Siberia, located in Krasnoyarsk, is a poignant tribute to those who suffered under the oppressive regime of Tsarist Russia. Designed by sculptor Yuri Ishkhanov and architect Areg Demirkhanov, it stands as a solemn reminder of the resilience.
Street Art
Street art in Almaty
Vladimir Tverdokhlebov graduated from the Mukhina Institute in Leningrad in 1967 and was dispatched to Almaty, where over the next decade he worked on a number of mosaics, murals and stained glass windows to adorn prestigious newly constructed buildings.
The first Soviet mosaics
Soviet mosaics emerged in the 1930s, gracing landmarks like Stalinist train stations, theaters, and Moscow metro stations. Although they faded in the 1950s, they experienced a resurgence under Brezhnev in the late 1960s and 1970s, particularly in Central Asian cities.
Tale of Kings
In the late Soviet era, socialist realism was allowed to give way to a more abstract "modernism", but the content of that modernism still had to be pro-Soviet. Even a politically-neutral work could have landed an artist into trouble.
path of enlightenment
This unique Soviet-era mosaic strays, quite surprisingly, far from the realm of traditional Socialist Realism. Dream-like figures of men and women, some dressed in traditional Kyrgyz hats, emerge from the sky, looking towards a central ghostly shape.
A mosaic in Semey
Inside the Kazakh Academy of Sciences, Tverdokhlebov designed a huge Lenin that dominates a conference room, in the so-called “Florentine mosaic” style, which uses precious stones and marble. Today, the mosaic is covered with tarpaulin due to its ideological inappropriateness.
mural. late Soviet period
A mural in a government building depicting cosmonauts. Topics such as cosmonauts were often chosen by Lithuanian artists as they were acceptable to the regime as showing off the „Soviet achievements“, yet they did not directly glorify the perpetrators of the Soviet Genocide.
Posters
Songs
Movies
Contact us
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Phone
+36205725972
institute@culturalrelations.org
Collective Memories for Democratic Values (CoMeDeVa), 617470-EPP-1-2020-1-HU-EPPKA2-CBY-ACPALA is co-financed under the Erasmus+ Programme
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