
If the Red Flag appears, if people reach enlightenment, this is thanks to the Red Army soldier – the first support of the Soviet.
Text by Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovskii (1893-1930) a Soviet poet, playwright, artist and actor.
[At poster top] Club Section of the Extramural Department of the Commissariat of Public Education.
[On the flag] Workers of all countries, unite! RSFSR
[On building in background] Palace of Literacy
The artist's name on the poster is not indicated. By assigning Artist Unknown to a poster it also could mean the artist used a chop mark whereby no signature is seen thus rendering the artist's identity anonymous.
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 created in the early 1920s to aid in the centralization of the printing industry. Thereafter, it became the 26th State Typography Workshop named for Evgenii Sokolov, a St. Petersburg-based printer and Russian Revolution participant who died while on a military assignment for the Red Army. By the late 1920s, the Communist International published their multilingual journal at the 26th State Typography.
The People's Commissariat for Education (Narkompros) was formed in 1918 and it encompassed the former Imperial Ministry of Public Education, the State Education Committee, and the former Palace Ministry (an entity that managed theaters, the Academy of Arts and the royal palaces). Overseeing Narkompros was the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK). As the main educational branch of the government, Narkompros carried out a compliment of programs such as the combating of illiteracy, professional education, adult education, and increasing public arts through its Proletkult (proletarskaya kultura) division. In 1922, state censorship was regulated via the office of Glavlit (Main Administration for Literature and Publishing of the People's Commissariat for Education)-- the censorship authority over Narkompros. Referred to as "control"; all publishing, live performances and public speeches were scrutinized by Narkompros editorial boards for potential security risks. Anatoli Lunacharskii, an art critic, author and journalist, headed Narkompros until 1929. In 1946, Narkompros was re-organized as the Ministry of Education.