Politbureau ZKVKP(B) (Central Committee of the All Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) thumbnail 1
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Politbureau ZKVKP(B) (Central Committee of the All Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)

Poster
1935 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Gustavs Klucis's design uses graphic scale to indicate political importance, hence Joseph Stalin's prominence in the composition. The device was inherited from Russian icon painting. The rest of the figures are key members of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party in 1935 including Molotov and Kalinin. All were on the brink of having their loyalty tested in by Stalin's so-called 'Great Purge' to remove dissenters of all ranks. The victims probably exceeded a million, some were executed on the spot or sent to the gulags, while the fate of others remains a mystery. Censorship campaigns saw perceived traitors in the government airbrushed or inked out of photographs. Here, the deleted man is Jānis Rudzutaks, a one-time member of the Politburo with an apparently clean record of service to the party. Klucis himself later met a similar fate. He had once been a member of the Latvian Rifles and had defended Lenin during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He too, after years of loyal service to the Soviet regime, was executed at a training ground near Moscow in 1938.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePolitbureau ZKVKP(B) (Central Committee of the All Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph on paper
Brief description
Gustavs Klucis. Politbureau ZKVKP(B) (Central Comittee of the all Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). Political poster, USSR, 1935
Physical description
Poster
Dimensions
  • Height: 52.2cm
  • Width: 75.7cm
Production typeMass produced
Production
Reason For Production: Commemorative
Subject depicted
Summary
Gustavs Klucis's design uses graphic scale to indicate political importance, hence Joseph Stalin's prominence in the composition. The device was inherited from Russian icon painting. The rest of the figures are key members of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party in 1935 including Molotov and Kalinin. All were on the brink of having their loyalty tested in by Stalin's so-called 'Great Purge' to remove dissenters of all ranks. The victims probably exceeded a million, some were executed on the spot or sent to the gulags, while the fate of others remains a mystery. Censorship campaigns saw perceived traitors in the government airbrushed or inked out of photographs. Here, the deleted man is Jānis Rudzutaks, a one-time member of the Politburo with an apparently clean record of service to the party. Klucis himself later met a similar fate. He had once been a member of the Latvian Rifles and had defended Lenin during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He too, after years of loyal service to the Soviet regime, was executed at a training ground near Moscow in 1938.
Collection
Accession number
E.1267-1989

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Record createdMarch 11, 2003
Record URL
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