Reproduction Soviet Posters

These colourful pieces of propaganda art can bought individually or as a set. Collections are designed around conceptual or aesthetic themes such as space, travel or Constructivism.
Where? Available in bookshops and the specialist shops in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary History, where you can also buy authentic memorabilia. For great collections and originals, check out http://www.antikbar.ru/
How much? Individual posters cost about 100 roubles. Collections from 500 roubles.

Activists Denounce Stalin in Station

The freshly renovated Kurskaya metro station reopened this week as the newest front in a bitter controversy over the legacy of Soviet leader Josef Stalin, whose name was returned to the facade after more than 50 years.
The entrance hall of the Circle Line station once again bears a verse from the 1944 version of the Soviet anthem: “Stalin raised us to be loyal to the nation; He inspired us to work and be heroic.”
Human rights activists condemned the reference to Stalin as distasteful and said it was part of broader effort to soften history’s depiction of him, while the Moscow metro maintains that it was just trying to be faithful in its restoration of a historical monument.
“Recreating the original station with Stalin’s name is the same as restoring a Nazi memorial with Hitler’s name on a swastika,” Oleg Orlov, head of human rights organization Memorial and an outspoken critic of the Stalinist terror, told The Moscow Times.
Stalin ordered mass executions during the Great Terror in the 1930s and beyond. The disputed inscription — penned by Soviet poet Sergei Mikhailkov, who died Thursday at the age of 96 — was removed after Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, launched a campaign against his personality cult in the mid-1950s.
The verse was replaced by another from the anthem: “The sun of freedom shone through thunder, and great Lenin lit up our path.”
Alexander Cherkasov, also from Memorial, said Stalin’s return to the station might have been encouraged by the current political establishment. Last year, the Education and Science Ministry approved a new history textbook for Russian schools, which argues that Stalin’s terror was justified as an “instrument of development.”
Metro spokesman Pavel Sukharnikov said such accusations were flimsy. Metroinzhrekonstruktsiya, the company that managed the renovation, merely sought to restore the station’s original appearance, he said.
“We went by the project that was used in 1949,” he said. “We wanted to stay true to history.”
Although controversial, Stalin is a part of Russia’s past, said Sergei Obukhov, a Communist State Duma deputy, who does not see Stalin’s role as outright negative.
“It would be wrong to compare him with the Nazis, as we did not have an equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials, where Nazi crimes were recognized by the international community,” he said.
The Kurskaya metro station, Obukhov said, should be protected like any other historical monument.
Sergei Nikitin, head of the Moscow branch of Amnesty International, argued that restoring the citation was a curiosity more than a scandal.
“I understand that some people are outraged, but I also think that it was important to preserve the original architecture with all the decorations,” he said. “After all, references to Stalin and also Lenin can be found at many other stations of the metro, not just Kurskaya.”
While Stalin’s name returned, a statue of the Soviet leader did not. Sukharnikov said the original was lost in the 1950s. The station had been closed since July 3, 2008, for a thorough renovation and reconstruction.

Ukraine Cafe Glorifies Anti-Soviet Fighters

LVIV, Ukraine -- The popular Kryivka (secret place) cafe in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv celebrates the deeds of a wartime anti-Soviet guerrilla group.
"Are there Russians or Communists amongst you?" barked the grey bearded man at the entrance, clutching an old sub-machine gun.The man, dressed as a soldier, offers visitors a glass of honey vodka -- "poison for the Moskals", he cackles -- before leading them to the cafe which seeks to imitate a Ukrainian nationalist hideout.The controversial Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) are still revered as heroes in western Ukraine for fighting Soviet forces up to the early 1950s in the hope of creating an independent Ukrainian state.But their detractors accuse them of collaborating with the Nazis and taking part in deadly ethnic cleansing operations against local Polish citizens.Almost everything in the cafe is a reference to the UPA: the waiters are dressed in khaki, the crockery is metal and wartime weapons and photos adorn the walls.You can even fire a plastic bullet into the portrait of Soviet wartime leader Joseph Stalin, something Ukraine's First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko lost no time in doing when she visited."Before, we had a plaster head of Lenin to fire at. But it was completely destroyed in about two weeks of shooting and we still haven't purchased a new one," said senior waitress Anna Garbar.The existence of such a restaurant would be unimaginable in the east of Ukraine, where daily life is conducted mostly in Russian rather than Ukrainian and memories of the Soviet Union are fonder.For centuries part of the Polish Kingdom and then an important town of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the beauty of Lviv's UNESCO-listed mediaeval centre is in stark contrast to the urban landscapes of most ex-Soviet cities.The city of Lviv and its region were only annexed into the Soviet Union during World War II and the city has grown into a Ukrainian nationalist stronghold since the country won independence.After the hopes of the 2004 Orange Revolution that ousted a corrupt old regime from power, political unity remains elusive in Ukraine partly because of the country's linguistic and cultural division.The divisions show no sign of becoming smaller. This month, the Freedom movement of Oleh Tyahnybok, known for his populist Ukrainian nationalist rhetoric, won a shock victory in local elections in a region neighbouring Lviv."Some Russian speakers are scared of coming in, while others try and speak as little as possible," laughs Garbar, who has worked as a waitress at the Kryivka since its opening in August 2007. "But once they see that no-one means them harm they relax," she said.For the cafe's founder and co-owner Yurko Nazaruk the aim is to "tell the true history about the UPA, which fought for the independence of western Ukraine."But he emphasises that this is done with a sense of humour and a light touch. "We wanted to stick the myth about our city -- that we kill Russians, that it's illegal to speak Russian in a street -- on its head."The UPA remains deeply controversial today and not just amongst historians.Moves by Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko to rehabilitate its leaders have caused consternation in Moscow, which sees such groups as enemies in the fight against Fascism.In 2007, Yushchenko bestowed the title of Hero of Ukraine on the group's overall leader Roman Shukhevych, who was killed in 1950 in a shoot-out with Soviet security forces.Western Ukraine had again been part of Poland in the inter-war period, until Soviet troops ousted Polish forces in 1939. Nazi forces then took over the region two years later.Formed in 1942, the UPA initially welcomed the arrival of German troops as liberators from Communist oppression although Ukrainian historians insist the group then declared war on the Nazis.The group fought Soviet forces from its foundation up to the 1950s and is also blamed for killing thousands of Polish civilians in its conflict with the Armia Krajowa (Home Army, AK) non-Communist Polish resistance.The UPA's hatred of Communism is reflected in the cafe's menu, which includes delicacies like a "grilled KGB agent" or a fish speciality called "drunken Russian"."We are trying to show history as it is, and in no way do propaganda for Nazism," said the co-owner Nazaruk.And for most of the satisfied clientele, the cafe's references are more of a joke than anything else. For Vitali Tolstoy, one of the few native Russian speakers in Lviv, it is precisely the place where old enemies should meet."We need to sit down at table so that this war finally finishes after so long," said the retired doctor over dinner.

EU Urges Members To Provide More Aid To Ex-Soviet Nations

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The EU Commission has called on EU nations to provide more aid for Ukraine and four other ex-Soviet states as part of a proposed "Eastern Partnership" program aimed at making the bloc's Eastern doorstep more stable.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Monday, Feb. 23, that the European Union has a "crucial strategic interest" in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.Unveiled by the European Commission last December, the "Eastern Partnership" foresees granting some 350 million euros ($448 million) in extra help between now and 2013 to the EU's ex-Soviet neighbors.Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Ferrero-Waldner said the bloc's so-called "Eastern Partnership" had gained urgency in the wake of the August conflict between Georgia and Russia and January's gas standoff between Russia and Ukraine."The 'Eastern Partnership' is a very timely initiative that needs to be implemented," Ferrero-Waldner said, adding that problems in Eastern Europe "affect us directly."Eastern Europe has been hard hit by the global slowdown with many countries facing rising popular anger as cash-strapped governments cut spending.Ukraine, which received billions in aid from the International Monetary Fund last year, has seen widespread demonstrations as its economy crumbles and savers rush to pull out money from banks.Democratic progressThe plan aims to promote economic and political stability in the countries and reduce Russia's influence in the region. It includes free trade agreements, visa waivers, financial aid and economic integration with the EU.In return, the eastern neighbors are expected to step up progress toward economic modernization, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.The "Eastern partnership" scheme is to be approved at an EU summit next month and launched in May.But some EU member states have expressed reservations about the proposal.France, which pushed the EU's Mediterranean Union project last year, is reported to fear that increasing funding to the bloc's eastern neighbors would shift the EU's strategic focus away from North Africa and the Middle East.

Don’t Expect Service, With Or Without Smiles

KIEV, Ukraine -- Here’s a joke dating back to the times of the U.S.S.R.: In the metro, a woman says to a man: “Can you take your glasses off. You’re going to tear my stockings.”
I think only the Japanese can understand this sort of humor among all people from capitalist countries. I have never visited Tokyo, but I read that their metro is just as busy as ours.To be able to laugh at this joke one has to imagine oneself in the middle of a Kyiv metro carriage in a peak hour when people travel to or from work. People are pressed against one another as if they are fish in a can. There used to be jokes that one could get pregnant in the metro and not know by whom.Here is another curious phrase from the same sort of humor. A woman says to a man in a metro carriage: “Excuse me! Can you take your hand off!” Then to another man: “Not you, you’re ok.” People had to survive with this sort of service and it was easier to endure with laughter.Service remains bad in the metro. But it wasn’t just service that was bad, it was the whole philosophy of service back then. Unfortunately, these attitudes persist today.We ironically called it “unobtrusive Soviet service.” It wasn’t tactful or considerate. It existed for its own sake and could easily survive without the consumer. It didn’t care about the needs of its hypothetical clients in shops or wherever else transaction with the public took place.Foreign visitors to Ukraine rebelled against such a state of affairs. They did want to accept it, leading to funny situations.In the early 1990s, I worked in the press service of Narodniy Rukh political party. I worked with American Irene Jarosewich. One day we went to drop off some documents at a Kyiv hotel where parliament members lived. Afterwards, Irene felt tempted to dine in the hotel’s restaurant. I tried to delicately dissuade her, because I knew what restaurants were like, and suspected that it could not have a happy ending. But she insisted.We entered the restaurant’s great hall that was completely empty. Not a single visitor was to be seen at any of the tables. The waiters told us they will not serve us because they have a reception in a couple of hours. “We won’t eat for two hours. We’ll eat quickly and go,” she tried to persuade them.They advised us to talk to the administrator. He was sitting in a corner and writing something. He barely looked at Irene and continued his writing. He shook his head to all her arguments, with his eyes still fixed on the paper. “Soviet boor!” she exclaimed in the end. The administrator did not even so much as move his head to these words.But it didn’t end there. She poured out her frustration on to that parliament deputy in whose room we had left our coats. He put on his jacket with a parliament member’s badge on it, came down to the restaurant and firmly asked the administrator to feed us.Such impudence made the administrator stop writing and lift up his astounded eyes. When he saw the parliament member’s badge, he ordered the waiters to feed us. They were all afraid of authorities back then. Irene felt as if she were a World War II Red Army fighter who had set the Soviet flag atop the roof of Berlin’s Reichstag.At that time we, Soviet citizens, had an ironic attitude to foreigners who hoped to receive the same level of service in our country as they were accustomed to at home. We joked that they did not understand our realities. They couldn’t understand why a plumber cannot immediately come over to fix a leaky tap. They couldn’t understand why, in a shop with almost empty shelves, a sales assistant can just stand there and chat with her colleague, or even disappear for 10 minutes. They couldn’t understand why someone is being rude to them when you bring them money, i.e., contribute to the profitability of their establishment.But now I realize that I probably couldn’t explain the logic of Soviet service to the generation that was born after the U.S.S.R. These young people have a hard time believing this sort of thing.They have become foreigners to the U.S.S.R. They will hardly be able to imagine that if you said to someone then that “I’ll take my money elsewhere,” you would be ridiculed. There were few restaurants; there were queues in them. They didn’t have to care about their reputation and fight for clients.But Soviet people should thank former Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev for having any service and any service industry at all. Until he came to power in 1960s, there was no such thing. The Soviet people had to be jacks of all trades and service themselves in everything. They had to repair their own flats, fix their own bathroom equipment and so on. There had been some restaurants. But they were meant for people with high incomes; in other words, for party and state bureaucrats.It seems that today we can exhale with relief. And even though the service industry is not flawlessly smooth, at least its philosophy is changing. It’s trying to satisfy the client. Former Soviet citizens should be able to rejoice.However, their joy is sometimes cut short by old habits that die hard. Last summer I visited a small town called Katerynopil in Cherkasy Oblast. When it was time to come back home, I came to the bus station. I had to squeeze myself inside the building between several refrigerators and a wall. It looked like a part of the bus station was rented out to someone selling household appliances, and they left it right in the middle of the passageway.I came to the cash desk. There was no one there, inside or outside the booth, not even a queue. Suddenly a woman sprang up from her chair and started sprinting. It turned out she was running towards the cash desk. When I realized that, I felt happier -- someone is hurrying to serve me. But I was about to get disappointed.When she got to her work station, the lady quickly grabbed her ringing cell phone. It was the phone call that made her hurry. She did not want to miss the call. For three or four minutes she talked on the phone, paying no attention whatsoever to me.Having said goodbye to her interlocutor, she sold me a ticket. I took it without looking. It wasn’t until I got inside the bus that I realized she charged me an extra fee for an early booking that I obviously had not made. This was yet more proof to me that Soviet service is still alive and well.

Downplaying Stalin,Russia avoids it's Soviet past

Russia’s attitude towards the past has changed dramatically since Vladimir Putin first took office as president in 2000. The official position, once leaning towards openness about the brutal repression of the Communists, quickly turned to secrecy. Criticizing the Soviet leadership, including Joseph Stalin, became synonymous with disrespecting Russia’s history and disregarding the positive accomplishments of the Soviet regime.
The latest word on the topic,coming from the New York Times, chronicles the growing difficulties historians face in documenting the county’s past. Historian Archives, particularly those with damning information concerning the KGB and the country’s other secret services, have now become closed or redacted to the point of uselessness.
Russia has still largely not dealt with the violence inflicted by Soviet authorities, instead voicing an official stance that apologies should not be made for the past.
“Russia positions itself as a completely different democratic country with democratic values, but at the same time, it does not reject, it does not disassociate itself and does not condemn the regime that preceded it,” said Vasily Khanevich, a historian interviewed by the Times. “On the contrary, it defends it.”
Attitudes at Russian schools have also changed. Authors of controversial new history textbooks, which have been accused of justifying Stalin’s repressions, openly admit that the texts seek to teach a "modern ideology". The intent, they say, is to “foster a civic and patriotic viewpoint in the young person.”
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov has written his own book,titled “Stalin and the Modern Age,” which jumps on this resurgent image of Stalin and the Soviet Union, especially among younger Russians.
“It is no secret,” a press-release about the book writes, “that now, during a growing rift in society, people tired of hoping for positive changes in the country are more than ever remembering Stalin with kind words.”
“Time,” the release continues, “is sweeping away the trash thrown by detractors on Stalin’s grave.”