March 29, 2019

The Final Frontier of Communism


The Final Frontier of Communism
1961 painting В космос (To the Cosmos). Artist: N. F. Surin

“We’ve inspected the sky inside and out. No God or angels were detected,” reads a couplet from Mayakovsky’s poem, “The Flying Proletarian.” These lines (which are far pithier in Russian) are printed below Yuri Gagarin’s smiling face in a futuristically designed 1964 Soviet poster. Above Gagarin’s head soar the names of famous cosmonauts: Tereshkova, Bykovsky, Popovich, Nikolaev, Titov. Multiple ideas converge in this one poster: state atheism, space exploration, glorification of the cosmonauts, and — lingering in the title of the quoted poem — celebration of what was to be considered a proletarian achievement.

Poster with Gagarin, cosmonaut names, and Vostok rocket. "Nebo osmotreli, i vnutri, i naruzhno. Nikakikh Bogov, ni angelov ne obnaruzheno."
The above mentioned poster. / Artist: I. Radunskii

This is just one of many Soviet propaganda posters celebrating space achievements. Many more are findable through the Twitter account Soviet Visuals, which tweets photos, film clips, and propaganda photos from all periods of the Soviet Union and has uploaded an especially large collection of space-related propaganda. Their collection is by no means comprehensive and leans towards items that are easily duplicated and shipped, since the account often reprints and sells posters. But it gives the average social media user a sense of how pervasive propaganda about space was, at least for one decade before, according to historian Slava Gerovitch, “failures of space technology and cosmonauts’ errors began to chop away at the mythological perfection of the space program.”1

Soviet Visuals’ collection of propaganda can be divided into five parts. The first paints a public image of cosmonauts as proletarians in every sense of the word. On the one hand, the cosmonauts are everymen (or in Tereshkova’s case, an everywoman), ordinary people who do everyday activities. Gagarin, for example, cared for his baby and goofed off (within appropriate limits) in school, like everyone else.

Gagarin with wife Valentina and newborn Galya, 1961
Left: Gagarin with his wife and newborn daughter in 1961. Right: Gagarin with a friend and model skeleton at school in 1950s. / Photographer: Yuri Abramochkin, unknown photographer.

On the other hand, cosmonauts publicly represented the “New Soviet Man,” an ideal that Khrushchev sought to promote in the early 1960s. The New Soviet Man was to make up a “new historical, social, and international community of people with a common territory, economy, and socialist content; a culture that reflected the particularities of multiple nationalities […] and possessing a common ultimate goal: the construction of communism.”2 So the cosmonauts were supposed to see their work as achievements of a Communist society. They weren’t just aviators and scientists; they were part and parcel of the project of spreading Communism abroad while solidifying it within the Soviet Union.

Indeed, the next category of propaganda within Soviet Visuals’ collection focuses on international collaboration and competition. The U.S.-Soviet space race was, of course, a site for great power competition. The Soviet government created a space program called Interkosmos to train cosmonauts and host joint missions with Warsaw Pact countries, in an effort to demonstrate the strength of the Communist alliance against the capitalist West. In addition to aiding Warsaw Pact countries, Interkosmos facilitated space flights for Third World countries. The stamp and poster below commemorate collaborations with Vietnam and Syria, sending a message that the most influential Communist country was best equipped to bequeath developing countries with scientific knowledge.

1980 stamp commemorating USSR-Vietnam cooperation through Interkosmos1987 poster commemorating USSR-Syrian joint spaceflight
Left: 1980 stamp commemorating USSR-Vietnam cooperation through Interkosmos. Right: 1987 poster commemorating joint USSR-Syrian space flight. / Unknown artists

Perhaps ironically for a Communist country, successes in space became consumable. Gerovitch describes how Gagarin became a “consumable commodity,” appearing on chocolate wrappers and in lifestyle photo sessions.3 It wasn’t just individual cosmonauts, but the whole idea of the cosmonaut that became something one could buy. Porcelain figures of generic cosmonauts proliferated in the 1960s. These generic figures enabled Soviet citizens to place themselves in the figures’ shoes (or suits) and feel that even if they were not cosmonauts, the cosmonauts’ achievements were achievements of the entire socialist society, including themselves.

1970s porcelain figure of spacegoing family
1970s porcelain figure of spacegoing family. / Unknown maker

Most of the previously discussed propaganda centers around Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, but a decent amount features Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. Soviet Visuals does not have much propaganda featuring Valentina Tereshkova, but given what they have posted, it seems fair to say that a lot of propaganda featuring Tereshkova turned her space flight into an achievement primarily of women’s equality, as opposed to an astronautic feat in its own right. And even then, the propaganda was quick to relegate Tereshkova to the more traditional roles of wife and mother, especially after her marriage to fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev.4

Nevertheless, some propaganda gave due recognition to the original purpose of Tereshkova’s mission. In combination with Valery Bykovskii’s flight aboard Vostok 5, Tereshkova’s mission was intended to provide insights into human biology in space and test improvements in rocket systems. The below poster commemorates their joint mission.


1963 poster commemorating Vostok 5 and 6. / Artist: V. Viktorov

In short, Soviet space propaganda is totally fascinating. Browse Soviet Visuals’ collection, but also feel free to probe the depths of space propaganda yourself. Get out there and explore!

 


Citations

[1] Gerovitch, Soviet Space Mythologies, 152.

[2] Quoted in Soboleva, “The Concept of the ‘New Soviet Man,’” 79.

[3] Quoted in Gerovitch, Soviet Space Mythologies, 159.

[4] Sylvester, “She Orbits Over the Sex Barrier,” 197.

Further Reading

Gerovitch, Slava. Soviet Space Mythologies: Public Images, Private Memories, and the Making of a Cultural Identity. Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015.

Soboleva, Maja. “The Concept of the ‘New Soviet Man’ and Its Short History”, Canadian-American Slavic Studies 51, 1: 64-85, doi: https://doi-org.stanford.idm.oclc.org/10.1163/22102396-05101012

Sylvester, Roshanna P. “She Orbits over the Sex Barrier: Soviet Girls and the Tereshkova Moment." In Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture, edited by James T. Andrews and Asif A. Siddiqi, 195-212. Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011.

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.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
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.
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.
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. 
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.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
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.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

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