“Let's Smash It!” Mobilizing the Masses against the Demon Drink in Soviet-Era Health Posters

Abstract

The problem of drink and the consumption of alcohol, especially vodka, and its consequences in prerevolutionary and Soviet Russia have been well documented. Furthermore, historians of Russia have also analyzed the role of posters as a form of propaganda or as a means of generating support for the policies of the Soviet state. However, with the exception of Laura Bernstein and Tricia Starks, very few specialists on the Soviet era have explored the link between the two. This article aims to fill the gap by using visual illustrations to analyze the anti-alcohol health text and messages in Soviet posters from the 1920s to the end of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The issues explored include: the historical context and other factors and how they shaped the content of the posters; the way posters were employed by the Ministry of Public Health and Soviet leadership to create a new way of life (novyi byt); how far and in what way these posters are a sign of the key health problems highlighted by the Soviet state and medical profession; and the types of appeal made. Finally, a critical assessment will be undertaken of the impact and effectiveness of these posters as part of a broader campaign of Soviet health promotion in relation to drink and alcoholism in Soviet Russia

Political Posters, the Soviet Enlightenment and the Construction of a Learning Society, 1917-1928

“…Several types of Soviet 1917-1920s era posters have been studied to date, but none focus on posters for adult education. Oushakine (2016), for example, examines how the ideas of Communism were represented in children's books and posters; Dobrenko (2009) looks at how 'the enemy' as 'Other' was constructed in Bolshevik political posters; Williams (2012) analyses health posters designed to mobilise the masses against chronic alcoholism; Starks (2017) examines how Soviet health authorities used posters to promote health care innovations and 'sanitary enlightenment' to the public; still other researchers have studied the broad historical sweep of posters as public education in the Soviet Union (Bonnell, 1999;White, 1988). This paper explores the role of posters related to adult learning or education during the establishment of a Soviet educative state during the first decade following the October Revolution.…”