REVOLUTION OF ILLUSIONS STALIN AND THE ART OF DECEPTION

WALKING WITH THE COMMISSAR Stalin with Nikolai Yezhov Photographs can lie. Stalin's agents routinely arrested and killed as "enemies of the people" anyone who disagreed with his politics. Communist Party workers then tried to remove any trace of these people from the photographic archives, and so from the media. By the 1930s Communist "truth" circulated worldwide in party approved books.

THE COMMISSAR VANISHES Stalin with Yezhov removed Stalin's bloody reign was not without irony. Nikolai Yezhov, the young man strolling with Stalin, was shot in 1940. It seemed appropriate that when Yezhov was removed from the photograph he was replaced by the waters of the Moscow-Volga Canal – Yezhov had been Commissar of water transport.

A CHANGE OF SCENERY 1917 Postcard stating ‘watches - gold and silver’ replaced with slogans In the Soviet Union, distorted images were used to further the cause of communism and to boost the reputations of those in power. If photographs were usually considered factual, what happens to the truth when the facts are altered? In the original photo, the sign on the building says, "Watches, gold and silver.” In the altered copy it reads, "Struggle for your rights." Likewise the flag being waved says, "Down with the monarchy - long live the Republic!" but had no visible words in the original photo.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Trotsky reading Pravda Pravda started as an underground revolutionary Bolshevik newspaper. After the revolution, it became the official newspaper (with Izvestia) for the Communist Party. Its name stands for the word "truth.” This is a case of self-censorship where the owner of the book this photo appeared defaced Trotsky because he wasn’t suppose to exist.

REINVENTING THE BOLSHEVIK PARTY Lenin and Trotsky celebrate the second anniversary of the revolution in Red Square, or do they? Soviet Photographs were purged of the image of anyone who had fallen from official favor, especially those murdered for political reasons. Trotsky and Lenin (top centre of stairs) in 1919 photograph of a Red Square celebration is of the anniversary of the revolution. To make it suitable for a 1967 book of Lenin Photos, Trotsky was removed.

THE FAMOUS PHOTO Lenin addresses the troops, May 5, 1920 This is one of the earliest and most famous examples of Stalinist retouching. Trotsky appears with Lenin in front of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre in 1920 as he rallies the troops to fight Poland. This photograph came to be a symbol of revolutionary Russia, but after Trotsky's downfall he had to go. His image was removed from all widely distributed reproductions.

Stalin and his image Stalin the lover of children and friend of the workers. Stalin saw himself as the "great leader and teacher of the Soviet people." He wished the media to picture him as the true friend, comrade and successor of Lenin. This "official image" had a dark story behind it. Sorrow lurked behind the happy smiles in this 1936 photograph on the front page of Izvestia, which became a famous icon titled "Friend of the Little Children." The child is Gelya Markizova, whose father, Ardan, was shot for allegedly plotting against Stalin and whose mother, Dominica, was murdered mysteriously. Even the little people could disapear from photogrphs. In a display of Stalin's contempt for ordinary workers, a man who gave street directions to "The Boss" at a party congress in 1930 is replaced by architecture. In the version printed in Projector magazine, Stalin doesn't need any help.

IS THAT A GUN OR… Lenin, his wife and the ‘gun’ Lenin's sister, who took this photo in 1922, apparently did not notice the thing that looks like a gun pointed right at the head of Lenin's wife, Nadezhda. It's a telescope, but it becomes even more sinister-looking (right photo) after doctoring for a Lenin album published in 1960. At the close of Soviet Rule in the late 1980s, retouchers finally eradicated the ‘threat’.

THE SOVIET MESSAGE Klustis photomontage with people cut out of the original Beginning in 1928, Latvian artist Gustav Klustis employed militant typography and montage to promote Soviet messages using posters. His main mission was to glorify Stalin, which he did by making his image large and always in command. But when Stalin's purges claimed the reputations and the lives of the once-loyal comrades, Klustis reworked his material, as he does with this photomontage, beginning by hacking two army marshals from Stalin's side. Marshal Yegorov, who remains in the poster, was tortured to death in 1939. Klustis also suffered under Stalin's regime; he was arrested in 1938 and was eventually killed.

DEATH IS NOT THE END Original newspaper, Stalin’s Banner, March 3, 1953 Stalin, even in death reaped the benefit of photo manipulation. A simple photo of Stalin lying in state was not sufficient. So after his death, in March 1953, a photomontage was manufactured for use in the Soviet press.Politburo members have their image taken from previous photos and pasted in to this mourning scene. Why did the communists do such a rough job retouching Soviet books and journals? Did they hope such eliminations will be noticed, and thus send an ominous warning?

Gallery of deception A collection of Soviet propaganda from the revolutionary days through to the post-Stalinist era.

CULT OF LENIN? Comrade Lenin cleans the earth of scum

What the October Revolution gave worker and Peasant women - Yes,what?

To Collective Work!

Women feature Strongly in Collective Farm Propaganda WHY?

Under Lenin’s Banner toward Socialist Construction - Would Lenin Have approved Of Stalin’s ideas?

The Five Year Plans - how realistic were they? Fight Lazy workers Steel Factory What are the motives behind the propaganda? Who is the target audience?

We must catch up in ten - -What was the ideology underpinning the five year plans?

Under lenin’s banner Lenin featured prominently as a source of inspiration in Stalin’s propaganda but did he betray Lenin’s ideas? Do it for Lenin! It was obviously safe and beneficial for Stalin’s rule to promote the cult of Lenin since he was dead.

Full speed ahead for the fourth and final year of the five year plan

‘We do like Stakhanov!’ What impact did The Stakhanovite Movement have on workers and Industry?

‘Stalin in the Kremlin cares About each one of us’ - Describe the main features of the cult Of Personality.

‘Under the leadership of the great Stalin - forward to communism’

Socialist realism – Art in Stalin’s Russia How truthful was social realism in portraying life in the Soviet Union?

Two different boxes Who is in the ‘box’? Kirov.

Soviet Pavilion: Paris World Fair 1937 - Why were other Art forms banned?

To Great Stalin - Glory How effective was Stalinist propaganda?

After Stalin All to the elections! 1956 Democracy?

Hybrid seeds- A guarantee of high corn crops

For the further Development Of industry - Same issues; Same solutions?

Heroes of the Soviet Union 1966

‘May there be more and more produce for the people year after year’ Why was the cult of Personality and Stalinism condemned after Stalin’s death?