Racial harmony in a Marxist utopia: how the Soviet Union capitalised on US discrimination
by
ARx Contributor
Calvert 22 is a not-for-profit institution dedicated to the presentation of contemporary culture from Russia and eastern Europe. Currently hosting an extremely interesting exhibit chronicling the cultural relationships between Africa and the Soviet Union that flourished during the Cold War.
Red Africa and its marquee gallery presentation Things Fall Apart runs from 4th February through 3rd April 2016.
‘Workers from all countries and oppressed colonies raise the banner of Lenin!”; “All hail the world October revolution!” extol the slogans. But what makes these 1930s Soviet propaganda posters different is the inclusion of African people, marching arm-in-arm with other races towards a Marxist utopia. At the time, few Russians would have seen a black person in the flesh, including the artists who created these images.
The posters are included in the new exhibition Things Fall Apart, at Calvert 22 in London. It examines the connections between Africans and the Soviet Union, and it’s a fascinating, almost forgotten history. Africans and African-Americans did indeed come to the Soviet Union, even in the 1930s, says Russian-born, New York-resident artist Yevgeniy Fiks. Having scoured the mass of Soviet propaganda images, Fiks has brought together about 200 images to create the Wayland Rudd Archive. It is named after an African-American actor who, frustrated by the racism of the US entertainment industry, emigrated to Moscow in 1932. He lived and worked there until his death 20 years later. Had he seen this year’s all-white Oscar nominations, Rudd might have felt he made the right move.
Soviet poster from 1920.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint
“African-American intellectuals were seduced by Soviet ideology,” says Fiks. “Their experience on the ground, how life was structured in the US, proved this ideology right.” Black people were still disempowered, exploited and discriminated against in the US. As the posters suggested, those who came to Moscow really were treated as equals, says Fiks. A few dozen chose to stay.
Soviet poster from 1948. The captions read ‘Under capitalism’ and ‘Under socialism’.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint
The Soviet Union made great capital out of US racism at the time, regularly bringing up the issue on the international stage. One poster in the exhibition juxtaposes a shackled, bloodied black man beneath the Statue of Liberty with an image of a cheery rainbow nation. The respective captions read “Under capitalism” and “Under socialism”. Undoubtedly, this contributed to the civil rights movement. The American Communist party was the first fully racially integrated political party in the US.
‘Do not extinguish the dawn of freedom!’ says this African-solidarity effort from 1967.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint
A second wave of Africans came to the Soviet Union in the late 50s and early 60s, from the “oppressed colonies”. Again, the continued presence of European colonial powers in postwar Africa played into Soviet propagandist hands. As well as providing military and diplomatic support to countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Egypt and Congo, the Soviet Union brought African students to study at Moscow’s new Patrice Lumumba University.
Soviet poster from 1967.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint
Some of them chose to remain in Moscow; others went on to high office in African governments.
Looking at today’s Russia, that post-racial idealism is difficult to locate – judging by recent reports of football racism and a Duma MP’s comparisons of Barack Obama to a monkey. Could it be that these posters – and the state-enforced anti-racism behind them – papered over the cracks of Russia’s underlying race problems? Or could it be that racism has risen anew as a consequence of the individualist post-Soviet landscape? Maybe it’s capitalism’s fault after all.
Soviet poster from 1969. The slogan reads: ‘In unity, strength!’Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint‘For the solidarity of women of the world!’ says this poster from 1973.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint‘All hail the world October revolution!’ – a poster from 1933.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint‘I’ll never forget a friend, if I befriend him in Moscow!’ claims this poster from 1964.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/FlintThis 1957 poster extols the virtues of Moscow sightseeing.Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint
• Things Fall Apart, part of the Red Africa season at Calvert 22, London E2, runs from 4 February – 3 April 2016. Details: calvert22.org
Soviet poster from 1932, reads: ‘Workers from all countries and oppressed colonies raise the banner of Lenin.’Photograph: Wayland Rudd Archive/Yevgeniy Fiks/Flint
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Racial harmony in a Marxist utopia: how the Soviet Union capitalised on US discrimination
Calvert 22 is a not-for-profit institution dedicated to the presentation of contemporary culture from Russia and eastern Europe. Currently hosting an extremely interesting exhibit chronicling the cultural relationships between Africa and the Soviet Union that flourished during the Cold War.
Red Africa and its marquee gallery presentation Things Fall Apart runs from 4th February through 3rd April 2016.
‘Workers from all countries and oppressed colonies raise the banner of Lenin!”; “All hail the world October revolution!” extol the slogans. But what makes these 1930s Soviet propaganda posters different is the inclusion of African people, marching arm-in-arm with other races towards a Marxist utopia. At the time, few Russians would have seen a black person in the flesh, including the artists who created these images.
The posters are included in the new exhibition Things Fall Apart, at Calvert 22 in London. It examines the connections between Africans and the Soviet Union, and it’s a fascinating, almost forgotten history. Africans and African-Americans did indeed come to the Soviet Union, even in the 1930s, says Russian-born, New York-resident artist Yevgeniy Fiks. Having scoured the mass of Soviet propaganda images, Fiks has brought together about 200 images to create the Wayland Rudd Archive. It is named after an African-American actor who, frustrated by the racism of the US entertainment industry, emigrated to Moscow in 1932. He lived and worked there until his death 20 years later. Had he seen this year’s all-white Oscar nominations, Rudd might have felt he made the right move.
“African-American intellectuals were seduced by Soviet ideology,” says Fiks. “Their experience on the ground, how life was structured in the US, proved this ideology right.” Black people were still disempowered, exploited and discriminated against in the US. As the posters suggested, those who came to Moscow really were treated as equals, says Fiks. A few dozen chose to stay.
The Soviet Union made great capital out of US racism at the time, regularly bringing up the issue on the international stage. One poster in the exhibition juxtaposes a shackled, bloodied black man beneath the Statue of Liberty with an image of a cheery rainbow nation. The respective captions read “Under capitalism” and “Under socialism”. Undoubtedly, this contributed to the civil rights movement. The American Communist party was the first fully racially integrated political party in the US.
A second wave of Africans came to the Soviet Union in the late 50s and early 60s, from the “oppressed colonies”. Again, the continued presence of European colonial powers in postwar Africa played into Soviet propagandist hands. As well as providing military and diplomatic support to countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Egypt and Congo, the Soviet Union brought African students to study at Moscow’s new Patrice Lumumba University.
Some of them chose to remain in Moscow; others went on to high office in African governments.
Looking at today’s Russia, that post-racial idealism is difficult to locate – judging by recent reports of football racism and a Duma MP’s comparisons of Barack Obama to a monkey. Could it be that these posters – and the state-enforced anti-racism behind them – papered over the cracks of Russia’s underlying race problems? Or could it be that racism has risen anew as a consequence of the individualist post-Soviet landscape? Maybe it’s capitalism’s fault after all.
• Things Fall Apart, part of the Red Africa season at Calvert 22, London E2, runs from 4 February – 3 April 2016. Details: calvert22.org
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