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A book is nothing else but a man addressing the public.

Poster Number: PP 126
Poster Notes: This poster propagates Likbez (likvidatsiia bezgramotnosti) a campaign to liquidate illiteracy in the U.S.S.R. It began in 1919, when Vladimir Lenin signed the decree "On eradication of illiteracy among the population of RSFSR". All Soviet citizens aged 8 to 50 years were required to be literate in their native language. Pictured on the poster in the crowd are the slogans: ‘The book is the light of communism’, ‘Long live the revolutionary union of people and labor!’, ‘You need to read to overcome enemies of the working class!’ This poster is from the early period of the Likbez campaign.
Media Size: 30x22.5
Poster Type: Lithograph
Publishing Date: 1920
Sources & Citation: Soviet Posters of the era of the Civil War 1918-1921 by B.S. Butnik-Siverskii (1960), page 491, poster 3317
Catalog Notes: PP 126 Education & Literacy
Artist: Ivanov, Sergei Ivanovich — Иванов, Сергей Иванович
Printer: A.F. Marks Lithography Workshop — Типография Адольф Фёдорович Марксъ
The A.F. Marks'' Partnership Artistic Printing Office was located in St. Petersburg at 29 Izmailovskii Avenue. Founded in 1881 by the printer and publisher, Adolf Fedorovich Marks (1838-1904), the firm published the weekly journal Niva in addition to other literature. In 1916, Moscow publishing mogul Ivan Sytin purchased a controlling interest in its ownership. The Partnership was nationalized (in late 1920) and placed under Gosizdat, the state publisher. In 1922, the printer was placed under Petropechat', a state-owned trust ...
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Publisher: State Publishing House, Peterburg [St. Petersburg, Russia] — Государственное издательство, петербург
The State Publishing House had its origins in Imperial Russia as the Royal Print Yard in St. Petersburg. The Soviets nationalized the print yard in 1917 and requisitioned its presses. Out of the requisitioning emerged the Publishing House of the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) Soviet formed in the winter of 1917 by the Literary and Publishing Department of People's Commissariat for Education.
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