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

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Russian Rules

Russian 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.
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.
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.
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.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
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