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The first anniversary of the Red Army 1918-1919. "I am a farmer, the son of a worker, and I will be a soldier of the Red Army as long as I can hold a gun in my hands, against the hatred of the enemies of the workers." [Partial translation]

Poster Number: PP 025
Category: Civil War
Poster Notes: Top of poster: The hammer and plough inside a red star signifying unity of peasants and workers. It is the earliest emblem of the Soviets and was first used as a badge for the Red Army in 1918. It was officially approved on April 19, 1918. In August 1918, the hammer and sickle replaced the hammer and plough; the right side of the poster contains a broken crest for the House of Romanov (chains added) and the left depicts a stylized, broken Romanov coat of arms.
Media Size: 31x23.5
Poster Type: Lithograph
Publishing Date: 1919
Sources & Citation: Russian Revolutionary Posters by V. Polonskii (1925), page 75, poster 1; page 144, poster 300; Gill, G. J. (2011). Symbols and legitimacy in Soviet politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hammer and plough); Stites, R. (1991). Revolutionary dreams: Utopian vision and experimental life in the Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press. (hammer and plough)
Catalog Notes: PP 025 Civil War
Artist: Apsit, Aleksandr Petrovich (Apsītis, Aleksandrs) — Апситис, Александр Петрович
Alexandr Petrovich Apsit grew up amidst dire poverty and yet he received free instruction under the tutelage of the Saint-Petersburg painter, Lev Dmitriev-Kavkazskii.  By 1902, Apsit was noticed by the popular journals, including Rodina [Motherland], Zvezda [Star], and Niva, for which he produced sketches. He also illustrated the publications of writings by A.M. Gorkii, N.S. Leskov, and A.P. Chekhov, as well as those by D. Bedny, I.S. Nikritin, and M.E. S...
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Printer: Printer not indicated —
Publisher: All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars, Agitation and Education Department — Всероссийское бюро военных комиссаров (VBVK)
The publishing arm of the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars (VBVK) is historically considered to be the Bolsheviks' first centralized political organ for the Red Army. It was formed in April 1918 when the People’s Commissariat for Military Affairs issued a decree on the creation of military councils (soviets). This action established commissariats for military matters at the rural, provincial and district levels, and it also formed the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars that became th...
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