May 18, 2019

The Pull of Stalin's Riviera


The Pull of Stalin's Riviera
Source: David Levine

Have you ever been to the Soviet Riviera?

Well, neither has anyone else. At least, it is not clear where the Soviet Riviera might actually be. But, in 1959, if you were reading a French magazine, you might have chanced across an ad beckoning you to visit such a place, promising golden beaches, lush greenery and chic fellow vacationers.

This, of course, was the version of the Soviet Union advertised by Intourist, the Soviet agency which marketed the country to foreign tourists.

Tours to the USSR
Let's Go Russia! (Source: David Levine)

Intourist was founded in the 1929, the year Joseph Stalin called a "great break," as the new Soviet regime was desperate for global recognition and, more importantly, foreign hard currency. Intourist immediately became a monopolist in the field of foreign tourism, and was responsible for bringing one million foreigners to the Soviet Union in the first decade of its existence, which happened to overlap with Stalin's worst purges.

Tours to the USSR
Signed A. Salensky '31. (Source: David Levine)

The images created by Soviet artists to market the new Soviet state abroad ran in western magazines, and of course did not mention any such atrocities. In fact, they ran against all aesthetic canons of the Soviet state, which by the late 1930s embraced socialist realism and declared avant-garde artists unpatriotic. 

These artists were asked to use the officially discredited style to produce extremely stylish ads portraying a parallel reality on the Soviet tourism posters. Some of these are on show at the Museum of Moscow this week.

"They tried socialist realism and realized that this won't attract tourists," says exhibit curator Yekaterina Popova. "The theme of the working man was unattractive, it didn't work in the West."

Instead, out came images of impeccably stylish women with flowing hair, shiny cars on perfectly smooth highways, white yachts and sandy beaches. The sandy beaches are prominently featured on posters of Crimea (perhaps this is meant to be the "Riviera"?), which in fact has no sandy beaches at all: the coast is exclusively made up of small pebbles, a strange inconsistency remarked by a New York Times reporter who described her fancy Intourist tour in 1979.

Sample posters and marketing (most from the site of David Levine)

The images construed an "ideal image of the country," says Popova. They look "bourgeois" and blend perfectly with the context of the magazines in which they were placed.

Once in the country, the foreigners were chaperoned by trained Intourist guides, who were provided with propaganda training and even clothing that vastly surpassed anything regular Soviet citizens could access or afford. Tourists only went on designated tours where Intourist facilities were available. Venturing somewhere outside this quite limited range of accommodation and politically-acceptable hospitality required ditching the Intourist guides, which some daring travelers managed to accomplish. For instance, US economist Frank Whitson Fetter created a fascinating photo archive made in 1930 Kazan, where he lived in secret, never recording the names of people he associated with.

The government invested large sums into bringing in visitors from America and Western Europe after 1934 and up through WWII, even offering trips to the Arctic and eventually hunting trips geared toward Americans (something modern tour agencies in Russia continue to offer).

The Intourist legacy is now in shambles. Most of the posters are in foreign private collections. The agency's central hotel in Moscow was demolished in 2002. The agency was then bought by Thomas Cook and now, 80 years later, is providing package tours for Russians who want to travel abroad. 

You Might Also Like

Russia on a Thousand Rubles a Day
  • March 01, 2004

Russia on a Thousand Rubles a Day

Or perhaps we should say, “Russia on the Cheap.” We asked a long-time expat in Russia to report on how travelers are seeing an intimate and unexpected side of Russia, and doing it inexpensively.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Russia Rules

Russia Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Steppe / Степь

Steppe / Степь

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955