Russian Propaganda

Propaganda is a way in carrying out a message that is aiming to influence huge amount of people to think in the way that it wants them to think. Most people are easily influenced by the media because they think it brings out the most truthful facts. However, propagandas are not meant to be that way. Propagandas mostly bring out selected facts that are biased to encourage the people to believe the idea. Propagandas are not only found in media like newspaper and posters, but are also found in school and governments. Schools teach the kids the untruthful things while the media present biased information to the adults. During the Russian Revolution, there were various propagandas supporting the communist government and also many propagandas aimed at attacking its opponent. It is one of the main factors that influenced the people to support the revolution.

“Stop and punish harshly the lovers of the unearned rouble!”

The message of this poster is that the opponent of the state should be punished. In this poster, it particularly points out to the Kulaks, which are the rich farmers who didn’t want to give their land away in for the planned economy. This poster is trying to get people to think that the Kulaks are traitors and are making the country’s economies worse. It conveys its message by showing a big red hand representing the state and clutching the arms of the kulaks not letting them take the money. The part that is effective about the poster is the size of the powerful red hand against the small and weak kulaks.

Our era calls - forward! The five year plan calls - forward!

This poster is saying that the government needs workers to work on agriculture and industries for the five years plan. It is trying to get people to think that the five year plan is really going to making the economy of the country better if everyone worked according to the plan. It convey its message by showing a big strong man wearing a soviet worker suit and carrying a red flag which means it needs a lot of strong workers. It is effective because of the physical feature of the man showing that they need strong workers and also the soviet worker suit which represents working for the country.

The homeland, the [communist] Party and time call:"Communists, forward!"

The message of this poster is to carry on the ideas of communism and to work with to follow on the ideas of communism in Russia. It is trying to get people to think that everything is improving under communism and they should further carry on this idea. It conveys its message by having many workers around and pictures of industries and farms. This represents the NEP which was aimed to better the economy of Russia both by agriculture and industry. The effective part about this poster is the background which shows the site of a construction representing the increase in industries.

"Our work will ripen to become our country's strength"

The message of this poster is that the country needs the worker to work hard to strengthen the country. It is trying to get people to think that the country’s strength depend on how hard they work so people would work even harder. It conveys the message with the picture of the hammer and the sickle which represents the soviet and the barley in the background which represents the agricultural work needed to be done by the workers. The effective part of this poster is the hammer and sickle, and the red stripes in the background representing power.

There is nothing more superior than the term "working man"!

The message of this poster is that every worker should work hard because it is very honorable to be known as a working man. It is trying to get people to think that they should work very hard to be honored. The poster conveys its message by having a strong worker wearing a suit with a soviet flag indicating that he is working for the Soviet Union and is smiling to represent that he is happy of his status. The physical feature of the man is effective because he looks to be a strong worker which supports the quote saying that everyone should be a working man like him.

Peace to the world. Peace in many languages. Lenin. We promise to the workers and to the peasants to do everything for peace - and we will do it.
The message of this poster is that if you support a communist government, it will bring peace to everyone including all the peasants and workers. It is trying to get the people to think that a communist government is more peaceful than any other type of government, and they will bring peace to everyone if supported. It conveys its message by having a picture of Lenin in the middle which symbolizes communism and also the word “peace” in different languages written around the poster. The effective part in the poster is the word peace in many different languages because it strongly says that communism is here to bring peace no matter where.




Conclusion

Throughout the course of history, propagandas were used to make people change how they think. During the Russian Revolution, propagandas were used both to gain support from the people and to get rid of enemies. When the communist government had power, they brought out propagandas supporting its government such as the NEP and the five years plan. Leaders such as Stalin used propagandas to attack its opponent such as the Kulaks. In school, students are taught that communist is the best and most peaceful form of government. Adults are also influenced by the propagandas in the media every day. If there were no propagandas, the communist government might not have been able to hold power and the Russian government might not be the way it was back then.