Illustrations to the second volume of “History of the 20th Century through the Eyes of “The Crocodile” Magazine”.
“History of the 20th Century through the Eyes of “The Crocodile” Magazine” is a 12-volume edition that is based on caricatures and sketches from the main Soviet satirical magazine “The Crocodile" (1922-1992). The goal of this edition is not only to show the long forgotten comic images and essays, but also to initiate a serious discussion about the century we grew in and the events that changed the world.
Each book featured several galleries of caricatures and genre scenes picked from the magazine's archive and dedicated to a certain topic. In this volume we collected galleries about the main characters of the Soviet propaganda of the 40s.
Each image presents 'anatomy' of a character (Capitalist, Pauper, Dictator, Soldier and Partisan). The images reflect the cliché notions about these characters, fostered by the Soviet propaganda - i. e. as they were seen through the eyes of the Soviet people of the era.
I have translated the captions into English, but a lot of puns get lost in translation, so I leave the Russian version for the native speakers (please, scroll down).
THE ENGLISH VERSION
ANATOMY OF THE CAPITALIST
After the revolution of 1917 'rotten capitalists' and 'imperialistic sharks' have kept the #1 place in the Soviet propaganda's list of external enemies for decades.
ANATOMY OF THE PAUPER
Of course, it's not about the Soviet life. There were no paupers in the USSR, even during the war, according to propaganda at least. This is how life of a multitude of poor people abroad was depicted.
ANATOMY OF THE DICTATOR
In the forties Hitler was predictably in the focus of Soviet hate propaganda.
In the forties Hitler was predictably in the focus of Soviet hate propaganda.
ANATOMY OF THE SOLDIER
Again predictably, Soldier was in the heart of propaganda during World War 2. In "The Crocodile" magazine the Soviet soldier is always depicted as strong, healthy, well-equipped and undoubtedly brave, while the German soldier is always wounded, beast-like, cowardly and often wearing women's clothes due to poor equipment and foul deeds (stealing from women and children)
ANATOMY OF THE PARTISAN
Another positive hero of the World War 2 - the partisan fighting fashists in the rear fronts
THE RUSSIAN VERSION
