Social and Political Paradigm of Totalitarianism in Poster Art of the USSR and Communist Poland during the Period of Late Stalinism

Keywords: poster art, communist regime, post-war period, paradigm of Totalitarianism

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to analyze poster art as a tool for imposing communist ideologemes in Soviet and Polish societies during the period of late Stalinism, to identify the paradigm of Totalitarianism in the subject matter of posters, as well as the ways of its conveying through form and content, and to show the similarities and differences in the semantic and artistic tendencies of poster art of both countries.

The scientific novelty is in the comparative analysis of the subject matter and content of Soviet and Polish political posters during the period of late Stalinism (the mid-1940s – the first half of the 1950s) in terms of their use by the ruling regimes as tools of totalitarian propaganda.

Conclusions. During the post-war period, Stalin regime actively continued to use the poster as an important means of communist propaganda in order to create specific ‘memory markers’ in the mass consciousness of the population. The poster played not only the role of a channel for conveying information, but also influenced the mental, emotional, and behavioral state of a person living under the pressure of the totalitarian system.

The poster art of both states was under the absolute control of the Party and the government, its content and subject matter were determined by official documents. The visualization of slogans and images officially permitted by the authorities, enhanced by the appropriate color scheme, was intended to create a myth about the exceptional importance of the Party’s policy and to promote the implementation of Communism ideology in the mass consciousness.

A characteristic feature of a totalitarian system is the presence of a cult of the leader, who personifies the state, nation, and progress and is a sacred value for society. By means of poster art, the majestic, even monumental, image of J. Stalin was deliberately imposed on the population of the USSR in order to legitimize his stay in power. Unlike the USSR, in communist Poland, the cult of the leader was not developed significantly, which, accordingly, was reflected in poster art, although Polish artists were also forced to work in the framework of the artistic method of socialist realism imposed on them by Stalin’s regime.

One of the main subject matters of the USSR and Poland’s political posters during the Cold War period was the struggle for peace and criticism of the aggressive policy of the ‘imperialists,’ primarily the USA. The image of the ‘other’ (enemy) visualized in the communist poster contributed to the establishment in the public consciousness of a matrix of perception of the outside world in a bipolar coordinate system, at the opposite pole of which was absolute evil, which posed a potential threat to the existence of the socialist bloc.

References

Adamek, А. (1998). Review: Dydo, К. Masters of Polish Poster Art. Material Culture Review, 47 (1), 89-93 [in Polish].

Andreikanich, A.I. (2012). Anthology of the Ukrainian poster of the first third of the twentieth century. Kosiv: Vydavnychyi dim ‘Dovbush’ [in Ukrainian].

Avramenko, A.V. (2010). Soviet poster of the 1920-1930-ies as a means of propaganda. Naukovi zapysky NaUKMA. Vol. 101: Teoriia ta istoriia kultury, 66-72 [in Ukrainian].

Barman, М. (1948). «Kongres Jedności Klasy Robotniczej. Warsawa 8 grudnia 1948». URL: https://przystanekprl.pl/lyk-historii/powstanie-pzpr/#iLightbox[gallery-1]/0 [in Polish].

Bieczyński, М. (2022). Historia autonomizacji plakatu. Postawy, кierunki, trendy. Wrocław [in Polish].

Bonnell, V.E. (1999). Iconography of power: Soviet political posters under Lenin and Stalin. University of California Press [in English].

Briskin, V. (1949). «Proch z dorogi podzhygateli voiny!». URL: https://www.litfund.ru/auction/342/256/ [in Russian].

Bryan, А. (N.d.). Introduction to Soviet Propaganda. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/4a4MIe4 [in English].

Cylwik, А. (2022). Referendum 1946 r. na Pomorzu w świetle odtajnionych raportów amerykańskich [Referendum of 1946 in Pomerania Based on Declassified American Reports]. Studia Gdańskie. Wizje i rzeczywistość, XIX, 169-187. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0053.6071 [in Polish].

Dydo, K. (1995). Masters of Polish Poster Art. Bielsko-Biala: Buffi [in English].

Dydrov, A. (2016). Image of the Builder of Communism in the Soviet Posters. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, VIII (4), 169-180 [in English].

Efimov, B. & Dolgorukov, M. (1947). «Podzhigateliam novoi voiny sledovalo by pomnit pozornyi konets svoikh predshestvennikov! (N. Bulganin)». Retrieved from http://surl.li/nhtww [in Russian].

Epplbom, E. (2017). The Iron Curtain. The Taming of Eastern Europe 1944-1956. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].

Fedosov, E. (2018). Dialectics of the Sacred in Soviet Visual Propaganda of the 1920-1960s. Vestnik PSTGU. Seriia II: Istoriia. Istoriia Russkoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi, 81, 91-104 [in Russian].

Friedrich, C.J. & Brzezinsky, Z.K. (1962). Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy. New York: Frederick A. Praeger Inc. [in English].

Govorkov, V. (1952). «Frazy i…. Bazy». Retrieved from http://surl.li/ngtbz [in Russian].

Harder, J. (2015). Polnische Plakatkunst als Medium transnationaler Kunstkontakte und Kulturpolitik im Ost-West-Konflikt. Themenportal Europäische Geschichte. Retrieved from https://www.europa.clio-online.de/essa [in German].

Hridina, I.M. (2010). Pictorial sources in the study of the spiritual life of the population of Ukraine during the Second World War. Gileya, 34, 135-144 [in Ukrainian].

Iraklii, T. (1947). «Ozariaet Stalinskaia laska budushchee nashei detvory». URL: https://www.techpedia.pl/index.php?str=tp&no=12477 [in Russian].

Ivanov, V. (1946) «10 fevralia 1946 goda Vybiraite v Verkhovnyi Sovet SSSR luchshikh synov i docherei nashego naroda!» Retrieved from http://surl.li/nhuzp [in Russian].

Ivanov, V. & Burova, O. (1946). «Vse na vybory!» Retrieved from https://ru.pinterest.com/pin/487936940860688114/ [in Russian].

Jacek, W. (2017). Figura wroga w ideologii i propagandzie XX-wiecznych totalitaryzmów – przyczynek do dyskusji [The enemy figure in ideology and propaganda of the 20th century totalitarian systems – foundation for the debate]. Media – Biznes – Kultura. Dziennikarstwo i komunikacja spoleczna, 1, 47-63 [in Polish].

Jaworski, Ł. & Strembski, Р. (2007). Plakaty propagandowe z lat 1945-1989. Retrieved from https://www.lodz.ap.gov.pl/art,59,plakaty-propagandowe-z-lat-1945-198 [in Polish].

Kalpakcian, V. (2005). Art as a Political Means: Socialist Realism in the USSR in the Stalin Period. Stalin, his time and ours. Irish Slavonic Studies. Yearbook of the Irish Association for Russian and East European Studies, 98 [in English].

Kazmierczak, J. (2009). The Community That Never Was: The European Defense Community and Its Image in Polish Visual Propaganda of the 1950s. Journal of Cold War Studies, 11 (4), 118-141 [in English].

Kenez, P. (2009). The Birth of the Propaganda State Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization 1917-1929. University of California [in English].

Kosiv, V. (2018). Soviet Ukrainian Poster from 1945-1989: Stylistic Changes of National Identification. Mystetstvoznavchi zapysky, 34, 89-95 [in Ukrainian].

Kruzhkov, I. (1950) «Materi vsego mira! Budte v avangarde bortsov za mir! Borites protiv podzhigatelei novoi voiny!». Retrieved from https://permartmuseum.com/exhibit/20847?& [in Russian].

Kuzina, K. (2019). ODPU/NKVD in the Soviet poster and caricature (1930s and early 1940s). Z arkhiviv VUChK-HPU-NKVD-KHB, 1 (51), 220-263 [in Ukrainian].

Livanova, V. (1946). «Den vyborov v Verkhovnyi Sovet SSSR!». Retrieved from http://surl.li/nhusi [in Russian].

Lubchynskyi, A. (2018). Poster art of the USSR during the German-Soviet war. Visnyk Kamianets-Podilskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Ivana Ohiienka. Istorychni nauky, 11, 289-301 [in Ukrainian].

Maievskyi, O. (2018). Political Poster and Caricature as Means of Ideological Struggle in Ukraine in 1939-1945. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].

Nehring, M. (1952). «Przyjaźń polsko-radziecka to pokój, niezawisłość, szczęśliwe jutro naszej ojczyzny». Retrieved from https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Plakat--Przyjazn-polsko-radziecka-to-pok/3D836808EC7C8F45 [in Polish].

Opulski, R. STALIN! STALIN! STALIN! Kult przywódcy Związku Sowieckiego w komunistycznej Polsce. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/4a0AMu4 [in Polish].

Pisch, A. (2016). The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929-1953: Archetypes, inventions and fabrications. ANU Press, Acton A.C.T. DOI: http://doi.org/10.22459/PCSSP.12.2016 [in English].

Pleskot, Р. Wokół kultu Bieruta. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Retrieved from https://przystanekhistoria.pl/pa2/tematy/propaganda/82051,Wokol-kultu-Bieruta.html [in Polish].

Pocheptsov, H. (2019). The USSR: a country created by propaganda. Kharkov [in Ukrainian].

Serebriakovskii, A. (1954). «Vse v tochku! Golosuite za blok kommunistov i bespartiinykh!» URL: http://surl.li/nhujk [in Russian].

Shablovska, A. (2008). Polish poster school. Mystetstvoznavchi studii, 3, 118-127 [in Ukrainian].

Shaikan, V.O. (2012). The Soviet political poster as a of means the ideological struggle in during the Great Patriotic War. Naukovi pratsi istorychnoho fakultetu Zaporizkoho natsionalnoho Universytetu, 32, 263-266 [in Ukrainian].

Shalyhina, D. (2008). Poster propaganda in Ukraine during the Second World War. Aktualni problemy vitchyznianoi ta vsesvitnoi istorii, 11, 192-202 [in Ukrainian].

Shmarinov, D (1945). «Golosuite za kandidatov komun stov i bezpartiinykh». Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3PlV8Eq [in Russian].

Siedziako, M. (2016). Głosowanie w cieniu represji. Trudne referendum 1946 roku. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3BQYzA2 [in Polish].

Trepkowski, Т. (1952). «Nie». Retrieved from https://bid.desa.pl/lots/view/1-36DF71/tadeusz-trepkowski-plakat-nie-1952 [in Polish].

Trepkowski, Т. (1953). «Sztandar Stalina w mocnych i pewnych rękach». Retrieved from https://artinfo.pl/dzielo/sztandar-stalina-1953-r [in Polish].

Vatolina, N. (1950). «Deputat – sluga naroda! Sovetskoi zhenshchine slava!». Retrieved from https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-society/3122128-bufet-i-tanci-abo-ak-prohodili-vibori-v-srsr.html [in Russian].

Vatolina, N. (1950). «Spasibo rodnomu Stalinu za schastlivoe detstvo». Retrieved from http://surl.li/ngswg [in Russian].

Vladych, L. (1981). Ukrainian political poster (album). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].

Wrona, G. (2010). Język plakatu politycznego jako językwładzy Główne motywy na polskim plakacie propagandowymw latach 1945-1956. Kraków [in Polish]

Yakymenko, L.M. (2013). Soviet poster of the Cold War period as a means of visual propaganda. Svit sotsialnykh komunikatsii, 9, 134-137 [in Ukrainian].

Published
10.01.2025
How to Cite
Starodubets, G., & Stasiuk, O. (2025). Social and Political Paradigm of Totalitarianism in Poster Art of the USSR and Communist Poland during the Period of Late Stalinism. Eminak: Scientific Quarterly Journal, (4(48), 96-115. https://doi.org/10.33782/eminak2024.4(48).753
Section
Contemporary History