October 16, 2021

A New Spin on an Old Painting


A New Spin on an Old Painting
Yes, they even made it a postage stamp in 1969! (Note the missing ship cut out of the image to emphasize the downtrodden workers.) Wouldn't a letter with this stamp in your mailbox just brighten your day? Wikimedia Commons user Kroton

Ilya Repin's famous Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870-1873; Russian Museum) was used as a convenient Soviet tool to show how the tsars had exploited the people. The desperate looks on the faces of downtrodden men literally dragging a ship with their bodies are haunting.

But the internet is awash with stories of the barge haulers having a much better life than Repin depicted. Think of it as a twenty-first-century effort to prove the Soviets wrong. These internet posts allege that nineteenth-century barge haulers earned a salary equal to that of a middle class doctor or teacher at a gimnaziya (advanced university-bound school). The haulers replaced their regular clothes with rags so as not to ruin their nice outfits. Their meals were provided, including black caviar, and many could buy land with their earnings quicker than men in many other industries could.

It is a nice story – of the kind the internet loves – but it does not add up. It turns out that "boatmen," as in the "Song of the Volga Boatmen," is too generous of a translation; "barge haulers" more accurately depicts what they really had to do.

A journalist correcting the internet myths explains that barge hauling was common, necessary, and not at all a unique form of exploitation invented by the tsars: "From time immemorial, up to the mass appearance of steamships in Europe, Russia, America, Asia, and Africa, loaded ships were pulled by people with ropes against the current. Less commonly, horses." In Russia, these haulers were peasants, mostly illiterate, and were fed something closer to rancid bread than black caviar. They surely were not buying their own land after hauling for a few years.

In Soviet schools, pupils repeated this verse: "Go out to the Volga, whose moan is heard / Over the great Russian river? / This moan is called a song / So the barge haulers are on the line!" That moan really was justified.

It turns out that a picture is worth a thousand words, and no further explanation is needed for Repin's masterpiece. The internet may dislike the extent to which Repin's giant painting was used as a propaganda instrument, but the Soviets were right about the grueling life of the unfortunate barge haulers. They were wrong, however, in citing it as a uniquely Imperial Russian problem.

You Might Also Like

Distorted Portrait of an Artist
  • July 01, 2014

Distorted Portrait of an Artist

Ilya Repin was one of Russia's most famous, prolific and talented artists. So why was he dismissed by some in the Soviet era?
Searching for St. Nicholas
  • January 01, 2021

Searching for St. Nicholas

A town on the Turkish coast preserves the memory of one of Russia’s most venerated saints.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
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.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

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.

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