VII
PLACARDS AND POSTERS
Machine-guns played their part in the Revolution. But a bigger part was played by the printing-presses. The Soviet waged a mighty battle with ink as well as lead. Every crisis, every important event, produced its corresponding placard or poster. They were pasted on walls and kiosks—one on top of the other—in some places 20 and 30 deep. Arranged in order, they would tell a complete story: The History of the Revolution in Posters from the Walls of Petrograd and Moscow.
Six of these posters appear in the foregoing text. Five more are printed in the following pages. (On the left hand page, a facsimile of the original Russian; on the right hand page, in English.)
1. To all Workers of Petrograd (page 303). An appeal to celebrate the success of the November Revolution—not by strikes and demonstrations, but by quietness and work.
2. The Commission on Public Education (page 305). The Bolsheviks had the majority in the newly elected Petrograd Duma. They sought to arouse public sentiment in protest against the teachers' strike.
3. Pravda (Truth) (page 307). Two half-pages of the official Bolshevik newspaper, calling the people to arms against the Germans and Japanese. In issue No. 33, February 23, the price is 25 kopecks. In issue No. 45, two weeks later, the price is 30 kopecks. The two issues show likewise the change of name in the Party. Note also the double number in the date line, "23 (10) February." By Soviet decree the old Julian calendar—13 days behind the rest of the world—was replaced by the Gregorian calendar.
4. From the Samara Federation of Anarchists (page 309). In order to blacken the Anarchists, it was said that they had declared for the Nationalization of Women. Infuriated at this slander, they put out this hot repudiation. The so-called "Decree for the Nationalization of Women," of course, had no existence anywhere in Russia. Even the most extreme groups never considered the idea. It was a monstrous canard invented by the enemies of the Revolution.
5. The Cry for Bread (page 311). This is an appeal of the cities to the peasants of the Ukraine and the Volga in 1918. Now it is this Volga region that is stricken with drouth—the worst since 1873. These peasants in turn are appealing for bread.
301
