In the cold war era Russian and American
hegemony for power resulted in a conflict that embarked both
nations into an agenda involving sophisticated methods to challenge
and eradicate the adversaries ‘way of life.’
Countries like the United States and the Soviet Union launched
Massive advertising campaigns promoting socio-political
ideologies. Historically, advertising has been an
effective means to promote political dogmas. The Nazi party
and the fascists in Italy used aggressive campaigns to lure public
opinion in their favor. The United States and the Soviets
bombarded each other with negative propaganda to win the approval
of other nations. The propaganda wars of the cold war period
were in essence a non-violent form of aggression. Propaganda
was an important resource for the Communists at the time of the
revolution; Lenin considered propaganda the Bolshevik Revolutions
primary weapon of dissent.
Poster design from the former Soviet Union
reflects the official ideology promoted by the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union. The content and techniques used in Soviet
propaganda enable scholars and researchers to comprehend the
purpose and role of propaganda and its connections to global power
shifts. To an extent, the messages that are exploited by the
Soviet Administration are also deeply connected to the local taste
and sensitivity to appreciate certain thinking standards, and thus,
rejecting the ideals of western culture. These posters
advocated messages such as revolution, socialism and social
responsibility. Posters were used to shape and direct mass
consciousness in accordance with Communist Party objectives.
Symbolic images of Soviet leaders, soldiers, workers, and peasants
were common heroic motifs; images of machinery symbolized
productivity in industry and farming. Locomotives, sputniks
and rockets suggested progress and achievement. This highly
idealized patriotic information was communicated to the public
through dynamic compositions that combined figures, text (often
poetry) and geometric blocks of color.
In the dawn of the Cold War fear of nuclear
attacks Soviet poster design targeted the west. Posters
communicated the alarming necessity to protect and prepare citizens
from an imminent nuclear catastrophe; illustrating how to take
preventive measures in case of such a disaster. Propaganda
images also filtered down into homes and daily lives of people. All
schools, shops, factories, apartment building and public spaces
were splashed with Soviet images. In lieu of technology such
as television and a low rate of literacy in the Soviet Union after
the Bolshevik revolution justified the use of stoic imagery and
simple poetic verses in poster design as the official method of
advertising used by the Soviet government. In this closed
society, there were no competing images; people were exposed only
to what was seen as fulfilling goals of the Party. Common
objects such as postcards and even children’s books had to
reinforce Communist objectives. Many of these Soviet posters
have been systematically destroyed since the early 90’s and there
are presently few posters remaining. The examination and study of
these images reveal an insider’s perspective into life in a
totalitarian society.
In the 2006-fall semester the St. John’s
University Art Gallery will be hosting the traveling exhibition
know as “Darker Shades of Red: Official Soviet Propaganda from the
Cold War.” This exhibit The Department of Languages and Literature
of Notre Dame University has installed and curated “Darker Shades
of Red,” from the perspective of poetics and language in September
28, 2004. In an ongoing initiative to extend resources to the
other departments on campus the gallery has made an effort to bring
exhibits that can be studied from multiple perspectives. The
afore mentioned
Since its creation in 1993 the St. John’s
University gallery has served as a cultural venue for the campus
and its diverse local communities. Annually the gallery
exhibits five to six shows that are open to the public for an eight
to nine week period. The University Gallery has gradually
gone from being an obscure campus gallery to a nationally
recognized institution. Exhibitions such as “Images from the
Atomic Front,” curated by Prof. Denisse Rompila; and “Marshall
Arisman’s-Power Animals,” “Commissioned Non-Commissioned,” curated
by Prof. Joseph Adolphe have been reviewed favorably by Newsweek
and The Chronicle of Higher Education.