Death to World Imperialism

This poster by Dmityr Moor was created in 1919.

The poster above reads "Death to World Imperialism" and is a rally cry soon after the Russian Revolution. It depicts a serpent wrapped possessively around the city and industrial buildings. We can tell they are industrial buildings due to the smoke being emitted from chimneys at the top. The serpent wrapped around them signifies that imperialism has a hold of the country's economy and is preventing progress. The aggressive beast has its mouth open, ready to attack the civilians gathered to fight it. The civilians are wearing different clothes, alluding to their different occupations. Those include sailors and farmers, with other wearing red and representing communist. In addition to just clothing signifying the communist nature of the poster, some are carrying communist flags as well. The men are surrounding the serpent holding up what could be bayonets. The propaganda poster portrays the central message that capitalism can be fought off if all workers unite against it. 

This message about unity and the need for different people to come together is also prevalent in the writings of Dada Amir Haider Khan, in his book Chains to Lose. His chapter "Break with the Old World" tells his tale of travelling to Moscow and participating in an Academy run by the Communist International (comintern). Alongside people from all around the world, Dada studied subjects like economics, geography, anthropology, and Russian. The cominterns always emphasized representation and collaboration. The people were divided into different groups based on their background; Dada was in the Indo-American group. They would also have assemblies critiquing other groups. The purpose of this was not to attribute the action of a few group member to the whole group but instead to let the group know what to improve upon, such as the fraternizing with women. So in this case the group functions as a unit and is responsible for correcting all of its members' behavior. This concept relates back to the poster portraying the need to work together towards a common goal of fighting imperial capitalist powers. 

Later in the chapter, Dada describes a summer camp in which each group had to elect one representative for the comradely tribunal. This again enforces the need for representation and the need to be unified and on the same page in regards to making sure all efforts are directing correctly. In addition to just collectivization, the poster also suggests the need to be able to physically challenge such a threat as a serpent or imperialism. The same need is also reflected in Dada's accounts of the physical training given at the summer camp. The cominterns train to prepare for to become "professionally competent revolutionaries" in case they should need to organize an armed insurrection such as that portrayed in the poster (554).

In conclusion, the propaganda deloyed by the Soviets effectively portrayed the values they ascribed to and those same values can be seen in Dada's experience with the Communist International. The communist ideology is consistent in its message regarding the importance of unity and preparedness. All people must come together and learn from each other and fight beside one another against the insidious forces of capitalism and imperialism (although the poster excludes other races and women).