Atheism – a worldview that rejects religion – was not formally proclaimed as an element of state ideology in Soviet Russia or the USSR; nevertheless, it was actively supported by party and state authorities until 1988.

Lenin once remarked on the struggle against religion: “We must fight against religion. This is the ABC of all materialism, and consequently of Marxism. But Marxism is not a materialism that has stopped at the ABCs. Marxism goes further. It says: one must know how to fight against religion, and to do so, one must provide a materialist explanation for the source of faith and religion among the masses.”

Propaganda was actively employed for this purpose. Below are examples of anti-religious posters that could be seen during the Soviet era.

1. There is no God! (1975)

religion is poison?

Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past

A squadron of ships from the Imperial Russian Navy visited the United States in the spring and summer of 1893 to express gratitude for the large-scale food aid provided by Americans during the Russian famine of 1891-1892, and to participate in the celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America (the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago).

The Russian squadron in the Atlantic Ocean was commanded by Vice Admiral N. I. Kaznakov. The squadron included the armored cruiser “Dmitrii Donskoi”, the armored cruiser “General-Admiral”, the armored frigate “Admiral Nakhimov”, and the armored corvette “Rynda”.

The armored frigate “Admiral Nakhimov”.

more photos of this unique event

Tags: Russian Empire

During the NEP (New Economic Policy) of the 1920s, Soviet moviegoers could enjoy not only domestic films but also a wide range of foreign ones. Most of these were purely entertaining, and ideological films had not yet come to dominate the repertoire as they would in later years.

The movie posters of these years hold particular fascination. They were a continuous celebration of the avant-garde, marked by endless experiments with color, form, and imagery. This bold, flashy language of bright colors stood in striking collision with the black-and-white world of the silver screen.

Battleship Potemkin (1925).
During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin rises up against the harsh, oppressive rule of their officers. The ensuing street protest in Odessa triggers a violent police massacre.

amazing movie posters

Tags: posters · Soviet past

This series of eight futuristic postcards from 1914 was created by an unknown artist for the Moscow confectionery factory “Einem.” The illustrations on the cards depict what the artist envisioned Moscow to look like in the 22nd and 23rd centuries. The postcards were included in a package of candies entitled “Moscow of the Future” and were distributed as a supplement to the confectionery.

They depict such famous landmarks as Red Square, Teatralnaya Square, Lubyanka Square, and Petrovsky Park. Notably, one of the cards featured an image of Moscow’s Central Station, which was proposed for construction in the early 20th century but subsequently lost its relevance.

Moscow of the Future

Tags: Moscow city · Russian Empire

Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1956) was a Russian and Soviet painter, graphic artist, poster artist, sculptor, photographer, theater and film designer, and correspondent. He was one of the founders of constructivism and a pioneer of design and advertising in the USSR.

Rodchenko is perhaps the most famous Russian photographer; almost everyone in Russia has seen at least a couple of his photographs. Let’s take a look at some of his works. Source: humus.

On the corner of Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow (1920s).

people in the early Soviet Union

Tags: Soviet past

It is widely believed that Stalin’s Soviet Union was a country almost completely closed to foreigners. However, advertising for “Intourist” (the organization responsible for foreign tourism in the USSR), founded in the 1930s, offers a somewhat different assessment.

The country desperately needed foreign currency for industrialization, so every means possible was used to attract wealthy foreign tourists to the USSR. And this wasn’t limited to the major cities of Moscow and Leningrad.

Welcome to the USSR

Tags: Moscow city · posters · propaganda · Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

During the Soviet era, a widespread myth circulated that Russia (the Russian Empire) before 1917 was a backward peasant country without developed industry or technology. However, the situation was not so clear-cut, and here is one example.

Russia was one of the first in the world to begin developing a submarine fleet. On March 19, 1906, by decree of Emperor Nicholas II, the Russian Navy received a new type of weapon – military submarines. By August 1914, the fleet had approximately 15-22 combat-ready submarines. By 1916-1917, the total number reached about 50-60 units (including those under construction).

An AG-class submarine on one of the Baltic Shipyard’s piers.

unique photos of the first Russian submarines

Tags: Russian Empire

Today, if you ask Russians what a “belyana” is, it’s unlikely anyone would be able to answer. But these giant ships plied the Volga and Vetluga rivers just about a hundred years ago.

Belyana is a wooden, unpainted, flat-bottomed barge used for rafting timber along the Volga and Kama rivers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These ships were perhaps the most unique river vessels in the world.

unique giant Russian wooden ships

Tags: Astrakhan city · Volgograd city

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) was a Russian photographer, chemist (a student of Dmitri Mendeleev), inventor, publisher, teacher, and public figure. He made significant contributions to the development of photography and cinematography. He was a pioneer of color photography in Russia and the creator of the “Collection of Landmarks of the Russian Empire.”

Between 1909 and 1916, Prokudin-Gorsky traveled across a significant portion of the Russian Empire, photographing old churches, monasteries, factories, towns, villages, and a variety of everyday scenes.

The town of Zubtsov (Tver Oblast) on the Volga River (1910).

the last years of the Russian Empire

Tags: Russian Empire

Major Martin Manhoff spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s. He served as assistant military attaché at the US Embassy, ​​located near Red Square.

Manhoff, a talented photographer, captured hundreds of scenes from everyday life in the Soviet Union, both in Moscow and in other regions of the USSR.

The construction of the hotel “Ukraine” from the roof of the US Embassy on Novinsky Boulevard. The Church of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus (1954) is visible on the left.

Moscow in the early 1950s

Tags: Moscow city · Soviet past