According to dictionary.com, propaganda means "information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause". In this project, propaganda is basically the ideas that people were allowed to think, but was told what to believe. Many nations in history used it to get people to belive in ideas, or practices.This also happened in the period of time where Stalin was in power. Stalin used propaganda to get people to believe in his powerfulness and that people should follow the Karl Marx's idea, Communism. In education, people were taught that Communism is the best type of government in the history. Propaganda were mostly controlled by the state and parts of it taught that Stalin was all-knowing and all-powerful. Propaganda were spreaded in many types of media such as newspapers, posters, radios, and films. During Stalin's reign, propaganda were mostly controlled by the state.
Poster # 1
Stalin was holding the PRAVDA, the Communist newspaper in the poster. The title of the poster was Stalin's full name, Josef Vissarionovich Stalin. The picture basically showed the powerfulness of Stalin and how he was looking ahead to the light by raising his eyebrows as if he was waiting for the great things to come. As we can see, he was holding the communist newspaper and along with the red background labeled VKPB, communist party, which represents revolution, and communism. This means that he was trying to get people to believe and accepted the concept of communism and made it on a positive side. The color red, represent blood, revolution, strength, and communism. Stalin's expression also means that he was so confident about what he was doing, and never think the changes he will make is wrong. The color and the looks in the face of Stalin made the poster became very effective because it shows the strength and the importance of his powerfulness and so people must respect him.
Sources: http://v4valentine.tripod.com/SPP/MA0102_Index.htm4valentine.tripod.com/SPP/MA0102_Index.htm
Poster # 2
This propaganda shows that Stalin had came up with the Five-Year-Plan to improve Russia's agriculture and industrial production and this plan had happened, but was unfavoured by many rich farmers, kulaks. All the lands were collected to form a large farm where workers worked together, but the kulaks didn't like this because they originally owned the farm by themselves before. There were some force against this especially the capitalist which was saying "fantasy, nonsense, and utopia" in the picture. There's 2 point of view for this poster. First is to get people to think that the Five-Year-Plan will work. Other one is also to say that it wouldn't work because it's nonsense and is only a dream. It used the picture of machinery to represent the industrialization, and banners which says collectivization farm. The color, orange, made the poster became attractive. The picture of industrial area is effective in a way that it shows how the town would looks like if the plan works and the 2 men represent people who wouldn't like the plan that Stalin had came up with.
Sources: http://v4valentine.tripod.com/SPP/MA0102_Index.htm
Poster # 3
This poster was trying to convey the people that life under Communism was happy and life was getting better everyday. The caption in the poster said, "Repeat after me: I'm happy...". It persuaded the people to believe that communism was the best way out of their current economic and industries problems. The women in the picture was looking ahead to the light that life will be better if the communism came in control. Farm land in the background shows how the town would improved from an unfertilize land to a productive land. The poster showed its message by making the women looking ahead for a better life and used of twilight to make it seemed like the new day was starting. The poster was effective in a way that the woman in the picture looked very happy, not faking, so it convinced the people to believe its message.
Sources: http://v4valentine.tripod.com/SPP/MA0102_Index.htm
Poster # 4
In this poster, Stalin was sailing a ship with a big red flag at the back of him. The red flag obviously symbolized communism. The caption reads, "The captain of the land of the Soviets leads us from one victory to the next", which means that Stalin controlled many aspects of life because the caption represents the leader of the particular thing, but in this case it was the Soviet Union. The caption showed that Stalin will lead the lives of the Russain to be better. If Stalin wanted to turn the ship to the either direction, he may do so. The message of the poster was that Stalin was looking ahead at the light for a great future of the USSR that he was about to bring. It was trying to tell people that Stalin will make a success for the country. CCCP is the Latin term which stands for USSR. The ship represented USSR under the hand of Stalin. The color, red, of the flag also shows that communism is the best and it represents the strength of the leadership. The effective thing about this poster was the fact that Stalin was controlling the navigation wheel which means that he was holding the country future and his face showed that he'll make it as good as possible.
Sources: http://www.oph.gov.au/images/petrov/pictures/PTV-i1424_l.jpg
Poster # 5
The poster showed that Stalin was making a plan for something huge for the country. He was having the plan set by looking at the map he had. This picture showed that he had everything planned before he actually do it so it means that he was organized. It also proved that he was doing things that was perfect and things were checked carefully by him. In the picture, he was making some changes to the plan to improve it. Stalin's face looked serious which means that the plan was also serious for him and for the country as well. The poster conveyed its message by making Stalin holded the pencil and looking serious at the plan ahead of him. The plan looked professional which represents the profession of Stalin. The effectiveness of this poster was the fact that Stalin was making some changes to the plan ahead of him which showed how careful he was with the plan.
Sources: http://www.cynical-c.com/archives/002313.html
Poster # 6
In the picture, it shows that Stalin gained alot of support from the people of the USSR and many of them respected him. Many people were holding his picture and smiled at him. The caption below the picture reads, "Beloved Stalin--Happiness of the people". This mainly said that with Stalin's government, it will lead a better life in which people will become happy and enjoy their life. The picture was trying to get people to be believe that Stalin was powerful and a bunch of people did respect him. It presented its message by making a crowd of people clapping for Stalin and showing the red flags which represents powerfulness and communism. The effectiveness of this poster was the way it showed all the people looking, smiling, paying attention, and clapping for Stalin which means that they loved what he was doing.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin
Final part!
In conclusion, Propaganda was mainly used to convince people to believe or to do something. It was a powerful force during many periods in the history including Stalin's ruling period of the USSR in 1917 to 1955. The Russia government used propaganda to control people's believe towards many things because the government didn't want to have any opposition against the communism. All the posters used almost the same concept which were communism was the best type of government, Stalin was all-powerful and all-knowing, and it told people what to believe. These caused the people to lose their freedom of thoughts because they were told what to believe. The Russia government used propaganda to promote what they thought is best for them. Since people were told what to believe, they didn't have much courage to go against the communism. If looking closely at each poster, we can see that the posters leaned on one side which in Stalin's side!
