Featured Poster of the Week
“All-Russian Subbotnik-The Way to Revival of Water Transport”.
This poster highlights subbotniki (Saturday Volunteers) of the transportation workers. The word subbotnik is a combination of the Russian word subbota (Saturday) and the word nik, a suffix used for a person associated with something. In this case it is a laborer working without pay for the betterment of society. Subbotniki worked for free on Saturdays during the period just after the October Revolution to help speed public improvement projects. The first subbotnik occurred in April 1919 when rail workers of the Sortirovochnaya Depot in Moscow volunteered to repair Soviet trains during the Russian Civil War. The first subbotnik with Lenin in attendance was held in Moscow on May 1, 1920 with over 400,000 participants. Additional subbotniks were held for decades to follow. During World War II subbotniks boosted morale and aided the war effort but in peacetime, demanding workers to labor on Saturday without pay served to erode the original subbotnik ideal.
About The Collection
Poster Plakat is a private collection of Soviet and Eastern Bloc political ephemera spanning 1916 to 1991. The collection contains over 1,000 original posters, poster maquettes and political leaflets from windowpane-sized posters up to large, multi-panel broadsides. Numerous artists are represented such as Gustav Klutsis, Victor Deni, Nikolai Dolgorukov, Vladimir Stenberg, the Kukryniksy, Viktor Koretsky, and hundreds more. All posters are linen backed and ready for display.
If you are interested in using images from the Collection or exhibiting posters from it, please visit the Contact Us page for more information. You can also email info@posterplakat.com and include the name of your organization, the name of the contact person and provide your phone number. In addition, please provide a general description of the exhibit you are considering or the poster you would like to use.