Soviet Poster Art

I am not sure what exactly to say. It seems like the Soviet Communists were pretty successful in appropriating the already-loaded visual vocabulary and syntax of Russian Orthodox icons to to establish new icons and "saints." Given the importnace of the Church in the lives of most Russains and professed-aetheist regime would have to find images to replace the religious ones. Most Russians at the time of the Revolution were illiterate so the Church relied heavily on spectacle, ritual, sung services, and images galore. The cellings and walls of an Orthodox Church ususally tell picture stories not unlike the four-pannel lubok. Like in Orthodox iconography, Soviet posters made their "saints" much larger than the other characters in the icon (if there were any). They used the color red, which represnted holiness in Orthodox iconography to mark the new saints of the Soviet ear.

Although I do not know much about Russian or Soviet history, I would venture a guess that the ideas of Soviet Communism may have even falied to take hold in the fabled hearts and minds of the people under Soviet rule if they had not used such strong images that could talk to the traditional Russian Orthodox icons.