Early Soviet Posters of the Revolutionary Era

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946)
Poster: Pomogi (Help!), 1921
Lithograph, 41 x 26 1/2” (104.1 x 67.3 cm)

This iconic poster was a plea for international relief from the Povolzhye famine that devastated Russia in 1921–22. It was reproduced frequently in European publications of the 1920s and 1930s.

This week we draw your attention to a subsection of our extensive Russian holdings. The publication Early Soviet Posters of the Revolutionary Era, 1917–1927, was conceived of and prepared in 2019 by Alla Rosenfeld, Ph.D., our Research Consultant for Russian and Eastern European Collection. The book contains Dr. Rosenfeld’s richly illustrated introductory text and over 180 plates reproducing works by artists including Deni, Kozlinsky, Lebedev, Maliutin, Mayakovsky, Moor, and numerous anonymous artists.

Above and below are a selection of posters featured in this publication.

Click here to view the publication online

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946)
Poster: Smert’ mirovomu imperializmu (Death to World Imperialism!), 1919
Lithograph, 42 x 28 1/8” (106 x 71.4 cm)

Nikolai Kochergin (1897­–1974)
Poster: Militsionnaia armiia—armiia truda (Army of Labor), 1920
Lithograph, 30 5/16 x 21 5/16” (77 x 54.1 cm)

Dmitrii Ivanovich Mel’nikov
Poster: Po kopeechke s krest’ianina sobralos’tserkvei ubranstvo--serebro i zoloto. Chto zh vy stali chernym stanom? Vsedolzhny otdat’ krest’ianam, umiraiushchim ot goloda. (The silver and gold church decorations were obtained with peasants’ hard-earned money. Why are you–monks and other religious figures– protecting the church’s wealth? You should give all church’s wealth to the peasants dying of hunger), 1922
Lithograph, 42 1/8 x 28” (107 x 71.1 cm)

Designer unknown
Poster: Podpisyvaites’ na ezhednevnuiu gazetu Izvestiia, ezhenedel’nyi zhurnal Krasnaia Niva, ezhemesiachnyi zhurnal Novyi mir (Subscribe to the daily newspaper Izvestiia, weekly journal Krasnaia Niva, monthly journal Novyi mir), c. 1920s
Lithograph, 13 7/8 x 20 3/4” (35.2 x 52.7 cm)

Anton Mikhailovich Lavinsky
Poster: Papirosy “Klad” i Premiia
(Poster advertising Treasure cigarettes and the prize), 1924
Lithograph, 42 x 28” (106.7 x 71.1 cm)

El Lissitzky (1890–1941)
Poster: Istoriia VKP (b). XIV Vsesoiuznaia konferentsiia RKP (b), 1925. Industrializatsiia SSSR. (1925: XIV All-Union Conference of the Communist Party. Industrialization of the USSR. Poster No. 26 from “The Bolsheviks History in Posters” series), 1927
Lithograph, 28 1/8 x 21 1/8” (71.4 x 53.6 cm)

Sergei Chekhonin (1878–1936)
Poster: Chitaite izdaniia gazety Pravda: Bednota; Pionerskaia Pravda; Komsomol’skaia Pravda; Bol’shevik; Revoliutsiia i kul’tura (Read the Publications of the Newspapers Pravda: Bednota;  Pionerskaia Pravda; Komsomol’skaia Pravda; Bol’shevik; Revoliutsiia i kul’tura), 1927
Lithograph, 21 5/8 x 28 7/8” (54.9 x 73.3 cm)

November 10, 2026