75 years ago General Secretary for the Communist Party in the USSR, Joseph Stalin signed the resolution which started so-called "Big Terror". People of different ranks, positions and occupations were arrested for some fantastic and baseless reasons and then tortured in the NKVD (Stalin's secret police) cells, sent to prison-like labour camps in Siberia and the North of Russia. Among them were writers, poets, artists, scientists and scholars, doctors and factory directors, priests and descendants of former Russian aristocracy and merchants. One of most popular accusations was espionage for some capitalist countries adversary to the USSR. Many prisoners of the GULAG were disclosed to the police by their neighbors and friends.
Thus, these years of "Big Terror" can be considered the real tragedy of the Russian people. Not only privileged classes and intellectuals suffered; many ordinary people, peasants and workers were arrested and tortured too. The reasons for such unprecedented measures can be numerous - Stalin suspected that there would be a treason against him among his fellow Party members (so, many of those who were arrested weren't anti-Soviet at all; they were ardent Communists and hoped till the end that they had been sent to the labour camp for some terrible mistake and they would be released as soon as Stalin would be informed of that); that there were really some profound reasons to look for foreign spies in the young, but thrivingly developing industrial state as the USSR was in those times. People who idealize Stalin (as it's fashionable among some Russian people today) say that severe measures and repressions were necessary for "keeping everything in order". But still, there is the issue of great controversy. Although the cult of Stalin's personality and his repressive activities were given a negative estimation of politicians and Communistic activists as early as in the beginning of the 1960s (to such extent that Stalin's monuments were destroyed, his portraits and posters with his face on them which had been in abundance earlier were banned and the Soviet anthem with lines about "great Stalin who has lit the way for us" was rewritten), many people felt that they couldn't accuse Stalin in all sins of those times. The charm of Stalin's personality is still very strong. Nowadays, some Russian people have even started to romanticize his image. If you have a look to the Russian internets, you'll find a lot of Stalin's fans.
The Russian Non-Profit Organization for Victims of Illegal Political Repressions is warned by this fact. Its activists say that the reasons for increasing of Stalin's popularity among young people is that they are not informed about the extent of Big Terror and think that it was long time ago and all sources lie. Moreover, teenagers and youngsters don't see any links between the 1930s events and their own lives.
So, activists have invented an original way to tell the history for the new generation who has grown up with the Internet. The series of social prints "Stalin - he is like..." has appeared recently and immediately grabbed my attention. Here are some of them.
Thus, these years of "Big Terror" can be considered the real tragedy of the Russian people. Not only privileged classes and intellectuals suffered; many ordinary people, peasants and workers were arrested and tortured too. The reasons for such unprecedented measures can be numerous - Stalin suspected that there would be a treason against him among his fellow Party members (so, many of those who were arrested weren't anti-Soviet at all; they were ardent Communists and hoped till the end that they had been sent to the labour camp for some terrible mistake and they would be released as soon as Stalin would be informed of that); that there were really some profound reasons to look for foreign spies in the young, but thrivingly developing industrial state as the USSR was in those times. People who idealize Stalin (as it's fashionable among some Russian people today) say that severe measures and repressions were necessary for "keeping everything in order". But still, there is the issue of great controversy. Although the cult of Stalin's personality and his repressive activities were given a negative estimation of politicians and Communistic activists as early as in the beginning of the 1960s (to such extent that Stalin's monuments were destroyed, his portraits and posters with his face on them which had been in abundance earlier were banned and the Soviet anthem with lines about "great Stalin who has lit the way for us" was rewritten), many people felt that they couldn't accuse Stalin in all sins of those times. The charm of Stalin's personality is still very strong. Nowadays, some Russian people have even started to romanticize his image. If you have a look to the Russian internets, you'll find a lot of Stalin's fans.
The Russian Non-Profit Organization for Victims of Illegal Political Repressions is warned by this fact. Its activists say that the reasons for increasing of Stalin's popularity among young people is that they are not informed about the extent of Big Terror and think that it was long time ago and all sources lie. Moreover, teenagers and youngsters don't see any links between the 1930s events and their own lives.
So, activists have invented an original way to tell the history for the new generation who has grown up with the Internet. The series of social prints "Stalin - he is like..." has appeared recently and immediately grabbed my attention. Here are some of them.
Stalin - he is like Foursquare: he showed who belongs where.
Stalin - he is like Yandex: he used to send search enquiries.
Stalin - he is like Facebook: he called for sharing information
Stalin - he is like Twitter: he was brief.
Stalin - he is like YouTube: he allowed loading and sending.
Stalin is like VKontakte: he captivated millions.
The common slogan for this social ad campaign is: "Big Terror 1937-1938. 75 years are not the time to forget".
As you pay attention you'll also see the very good job of graphic designers. They have played with logos of social networks and their interfaces in order to blend modern features with historical content. Twitter's bird becomes Stalin's mustaches; Facebook's sign for "Like" is completed with the famous Stalin's pipe; and features of VK's interface (function buttons) are rewritten with "To send a telegram", "To add to comrades", "To declare a people's enemy". In the left corner one can read some historical facts and figures about Big Terror.
I think that is the well-done job; ads are not very pathetic and sentimental, but rather quirky and even funny (a sort of black humor). And they really make you thinking of Big Terror and its tragedy.
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