Comments on: Proletarians of All Lands, Unite!

Proletarians of All Lands, Unite!

madamjujujive — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:01:23 -0800

Peasant! Free your pregnant wife from work, don't allow her to pick up heavy items since this will harm her and the child. An excellent collection of vintage soviet propaganda, public health, and infographics posters from 20s to 30s, many with full translations.

By: orme

orme — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:10:13 -0800

We don't want to trust the wisewoman anymore! Down with the wisewoman! Who is the wisewoman?

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:18:26 -0800

Baby-0, Flies-1.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:31:24 -0800

orme, I think wise women were healers, herbalists, medicine women - sometimes witches. There is a recurring reference to them in these posters - I took it as "midwives."

By: infini

infini — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:41:18 -0800

midwife - pretty cool historical overview (western civ) in wikipedia otoh, via The wise woman is called the Svakhina, a most peculiar type, to be found all over the North of Russia. She is somewhat related to the midwife by temperament and character. One glance at her face would suffice to tell you that she knew too much.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:52:06 -0800

wow, that second link leads to a treasure trove called Undiscovered Russia - thanks, infini! Also - oops - I should have given a via to the excellent coisas do arco da velha

By: availablelight

availablelight — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:01:36 -0800

Can anyone explain "the black window"?

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:23:56 -0800

availablelight, I'm assuming it's the black market.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:25:44 -0800

Actually, that doesn't make sense- sorry. So are they chastising the people who make their money selling alcohol? I don't know.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:41:45 -0800

maybe "Shame on those who squander their paychecks on booze?"

By: infini

infini — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:01:30 -0800

you're welcome madamjujujive, and tbh didn't even realize it, thanks for pointing it out!!

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:03:31 -0800

Man, I used to have one of these posters! My high school Russian teacher gave it to me. It said, "Students! Protect [i.e. be careful with/take care of] your schoolbooks! Schoolbooks must be passed down to the next generation of students!" Very cool illustration of a schoolboy in a red kerchief holding his schoolbook proudly and staring up at the sky. Lost it years ago in a move. Drat.

By: orrnyereg

orrnyereg — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:29:53 -0800

This is awesome--thanks for posting!

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:37:53 -0800

Yeah I'm glad to see the Americans are completely "peasant-free" these days.

By: kldickson

kldickson — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:40:10 -0800

Russian inwentions!

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:45:07 -0800

Can anyone explain "the black window"? Not "window" but "cash register" or "till." "Черная касса" (chornaya kassa) is defined as the possession and use of funds not declared or known to the tax officials, in Soviet times often part of the black market but also used for all sorts of purposes that were made difficult or impossible by Soviet laws. You can read about their use in "informal associations" here.

By: TheophileEscargot

TheophileEscargot — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:21:17 -0800

Excellent. Also, Soviet Posters.

By: potsmokinghippieoverlord

potsmokinghippieoverlord — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:54:04 -0800

How to Breast-feed a Baby At the bottom, I get "What a Nursing Mother is Not Allowed to Eat and Drink (Homebrew, beer, wine and liqueur)" but it also looks like onions, a large parsnip (?) and maybe mushrooms (???) are out of line as well? And weird lumpy sticks?