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Vintage “Soviet Santa” Postcards Were Propaganda for the Space Race (2018)
- foxyv 8y agoOnly the good communist children get coal in their stockings! The naughty bourgeoisie children freeze to death.
- ordu 8y agoDed Moroz is not strange enough to place gifts into stockings, what a stupid idea? Why limit himself with stockings, why do not use underpants as a gift container? ;) The right place for gifts is under a christmas tree.
- mc32 8y agoIt's interesting that their Santa looks a lot like the US/UK version of Santa designed by Nast, later popularized by the Coca-Cola Co.[1], and not a continental Santa. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_suit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_suit
- eveningcoffee 8y agoIt kind of makes sense. If they had to appeal to the western image then they had to chose between capitalist Santa Claus and catholic Saint Nicolas. Considering that Christmas was not officially celebrated in the Soviet Union and private celebration was repressed to a various degree then they were left with a single option.
- aasasd 8y agoThose cards are for the domestic market (pretty obvious from Russian writing), and that's ‘native’ Ded Moroz, not Santa. He just does look that way, possibly due to earlier cross-pollination.
- eveningcoffee 8y agoObviously it is for the domestic market and it is Ded Moroz. The question was that why does it look more like a Santa Claus than Saint Nicolas. It looks here even more than the Santa than in the earlier version.
- js8 8y agoIt is supposed to be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz, not Santa. (The article somewhat implies that Ded Moroz was a communist invention based on Santa Claus, but in fact this is not true.) And you can see even in the postcards and the article that he doesn't necessarily has a red dress, although I suspect (maybe some Russian can clarify) that the red dress is the influence of the West.
- petre 8y agoI suspect it has something to do with the communist revolution rather than the influence of the West
- ordu 8y ago> The article somewhat implies that Ded Moroz was a communist invention based on Santa Claus, but in fact this is not true. It is true to some extent. I'm not sure, but it seems to me that before communist revolution Ded Moroz was not an essential part of christmas. It was mostly fiction and lore character representing winter and cold, and was not connected with christian holidays. It is communist's work to make a strong connection, and it seems as an imitation of Europe and US traditions. > he doesn't necessarily has a red dress, although I suspect (maybe some Russian can clarify) that the red dress is the influence of the West. He have no strong preference for a dress color. Though red and blue are the most frequent. Maybe just because soviet industry made only red and blue dresses for actors playing Ded Moroz. A lack of variety is a known Soviet industy trait.
- aasasd 8y agoRussian Wikipedia says Ded Moroz is a merger of earlier folk and literary characters in Pagan-like tradition, with Saint Nicholas who was imported in the mid- to late 19th century. E.g. this card is Saint Nicholas from sometime before the 1917 revolution: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ded_Moroz_Snegurochka_Christmas_card.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ded_Moroz_Snegurochk... while this is an interpretation of the old Moroz character in traditional garb, by Victor Vasnetsov: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%B4_%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B7.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%B4_%... White coat seems to be more in line with the tradition, but frankly I dunno if Ded got much of graphic development before Nick swooped in, as he seems to be more of a figure of fairy tales and some literature. It's left to dig up why the card above depicts a Nicholas of Nast's design.
- ordu 8y agoIt is not Santa Claus. It is "Ded Moroz"[1]. An old bloke from the times before christianity came to Russia. Orthodox priests always (for a ~1k years) opposed such characters, trying to extinguish any lore except christianity, but never fully succeeded. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz
- acqq 8y agoThanks. Wikipedia has the drawing from 1885, i.e. more than two decades before the Soviets existed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%B4_%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B7.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%B4_%D0%9C... Anybody knows even older?
- aasasd 8y agoIt's curious how Russian (or Slavic?) people never abandoned remnants of pagan traditions despite calling themselves Christians. Fairy tales and merchandise galore, dozens if not hundreds of superstitions. Plenty of older people still believe in folk magic practiced by ‘gifted’ individuals (pretty much witches), though apparently with God's blessing. The same happened with religion and socialism: bolsheviks didn't hold back on killing priests, but the religion went strong (though it's said that the opposition to religion was abandoned in the light of unifying rhetoric of '41–45). Basically, people don't seem to care about ideological purity as long as the rhetoric is attractive.
- gbear605 8y agoWhat do you think Santa Claus is? He’s certainly not in the bible.
- aasasd 8y agoI'm pretty sure saints aren't from paganism.
- hobgoblin1234 8y ago
- StavrosK 8y agoIf NASA put out these postcards, we'd call them "marketing". Why is everything Russian "propaganda"?
- zozbot123 8y agoAll marketing is propaganda, but not all propaganda is marketing.
- StavrosK 8y agoExactly my point. This is just marketing.
- intopieces 8y agoPropaganda is meant to convey or reinforce an ideology. Since, at this time in history, there was a real “hearts and minds” battle between East and West, these kinds of campaigns can safely be considered propaganda. Similar postcards made by NASA at this time would certainly be propaganda as well. A similar example in the West today is those ads for the US Army they sometimes show before movies.
- fouc 8y agoJFK's famous "we choose to go to the moon" speech would be propaganda also.
- chapium 8y agoI'll just add to what has already been said, that this is part of a broader campaign and is not just imagery used to promote the USSR's space agency. Also, literally every company in the USSR was state owned, so its hard for a marketing campaign to not be associated with them.
- chapium 8y agoAlso, checkout this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
- deanCommie 8y agoAs someone who grew up in the Soviet Union/Russia, this brings back a TON of nostalgic memories. The entire aesthetic is triggering (in a positive way) I don't take a jaded approach to the idea that there is an intersection between my childhood innocence and state propaganda. Plenty of North American traditions I see my wife and friends feeling nostalgia for are also based on church or state "ideals" that become beloved traditions over time. You only call the Soviet ones "propaganda" because the USSR was the enemy.
- cedex12 8y ago> The entire aesthetic Do you have any other examples matching such an aesthetic? I quite like it too.
- c-smile 8y agoHere is collection of Soviet post cards for International Women's Day celebrated in USSR as Mother's day. https://kulturologia.ru/blogs/080315/23587/ https://kulturologia.ru/blogs/080315/23587/ https://swalker.org/other/1342-sovetskie-otkrytki-na-8-marta.html https://swalker.org/other/1342-sovetskie-otkrytki-na-8-marta...
- Fins 8y agoYou probably meant "celebrated in lieu of Mothers' Day" -- March 8th has always been advertised, as it were, as "women's holiday" in USSR, there were no Mothers' (or Fathers') day per se.
- c-smile 8y agoInternally this was precisely Mother's day. As 23rd of February, "defender of the Fatherland Day" was Father's day as all us, men, were liable for military service. I am for example Lieutenant-reserve of USSR's Strategic Rocket Forces ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Missile_Troops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Missile_Troops )
- kstenerud 8y agoSo does that mean that these are also propaganda? https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/First_man_on_the_moon.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/First_ma... http://cconnect.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2011-Topps-American-Pie-Base-Card-First-American-in-Space.jpg http://cconnect.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/... https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/RV-AD398_VISUAL_G_20110701032530.jpg https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/RV-AD398_VISUAL_G... Is celebrating your achievements propaganda?
- myth_drannon 8y agoAny art form that was created by the Soviet artists will be considered propaganda since it was state sanctioned. And they were pretty vocal and straightforward about that, art was to educate the people. In US, art many times is just away to make money. But I actually prefer the propaganda art. My favorite propaganda movies are by Tarkovsky - Mirror and Stalker....
- kstenerud 8y agoEverything done by the Soviets was state sanctioned. Making toothbrushes was state sanctioned (and centrally controlled, poorly). So if a cultural piece is produced by, under the direction of, or with the sanction of a government entity, does that make it propaganda? If so, this would make it impossible for any centrally controlled populace to create anything not propaganda.
- throw2016 8y agoI love these vintage posters and artwork. In current times they are less propaganda and beautifully capture the essence of a certain time and culture. They are equally interesting posters this side of the 50s onwards that could be looked on as propaganda but also again capture an essence. Communism was a response to the incomplete transformation from feudalism to democracy, for history buffs its easy to understand its context and its incredible that something so radical and egalitarian in its objectives was actually put into practice, that this was even possible in a time filled with feudal instincts, interests and attitudes itself is astonishing. The rest is history. Future generations can learn from the multi dimensional failure in practice and learn to recognize how the significant gaps between ideals and reality came into being and use the same understanding to also recognize the significant gaps between our ideals and reality of current power structures and how the world works and is. That is our propaganda.
- boomboomsubban 8y agoThere's an exhibit at The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis about Winter Holidays in Russia that highlights both the state and the church's celebrations from about 1900-1970. Though celebrations started coming back in 1935, they displayed contemporary newspapers showing how the state truly embraced it to help with the hardships during WWII. It was a great exhibition, I went a few years ago but it seems to be running again if anyone is interested.
- pgtan 8y agoNot even a single Снегурочка on this cards? No concept of women in the bright space future!?
- opencl 8y agoThere aren't any on this page but the Soviets definitely had space posters/postcards with women too. Especially since the first woman cosmonaut predated the first woman astronaut by 20 years. Example: https://66.media.tumblr.com/cb254106ab11f89194fc172c1948f897/tumblr_mq9sdu6BeH1sq5s0qo1_640.jpg https://66.media.tumblr.com/cb254106ab11f89194fc172c1948f897...
- UncleSlacky 8y agoLots more of this kind of thing here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SPACECOMMUNISM https://www.reddit.com/r/SPACECOMMUNISM