Soviets

by Danzig Baldaev

Soviets features unpublished drawings from the archive of Danzig Baldaev. Made in secret, they satirize the Communist Party system and expose the absurdities of Soviet life. Baldaev touches on a wide range of subjects, from drinking (Alcoholics and Shirkers) to the Afghan war (The Shady Enterprise), via dissent (Censorship, Paranoia and Suspicion) and religion (Atheism as an Ideology). He reveals the cracks in the crumbling socialist structure, describing the realities of living in a country whose leaders are in pursuit of an ideal that will never arrive. The drawings date from the 1950s to the period immediately before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, with caricatures exposing communism's winners and losers: the stagnation of the system, the corruption of its politicians and the effect of this on the ordinary soviet citizen. Baldaev's drawings are contrasted with classic propaganda-style photographs taken by Sergei Vasiliev for the newspaper Vercherny Chelyabinsk. These photographs depict the world the Communist leaders dreamed of: where the local factory produced its millionth tractor and heroic workers fulfilled their five-year plans. It is impossible to imagine the daily reality of living under such a system; this book shows us--both broadly and in minute detail--what it must have been like.

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published April 30, 2014

Reviews

[David Ebsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The satirical sketches and cartoons of Soviet dissident Danzig Baldaev and the photos of Sergei Vasiliev hold up an unusual mirror to life within the former USSR. Baldaev's illustrations present a rarely seen internal view of Russian life: the invasion of Afghanistan and the betrayal of their Afghan veterans; food shortages; payment systems for workers; the Soviet leaderships; the curse of alcoholism and much more. The harshest threads, however, are those depicting anti-semitism. The counter-point comes from Vasiliev's photographs - satirical also, often pictures which could have been "official" images of the way the USSR would have wished to be portrayed to the outside world. More here about the complexities of everyday Soviet life than I could have absorbed from a dozen other books.

[Galatea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not an easy book to get through. The meat of this is Baldaev's illustrations, searing satire that exposes both the severe hypocrisies of the Soviet state, as well as the personal hypocrisies of the artist himself. Ending each chapter are a few photographs by Vasiliev, a sort of palette cleanser that paints a rosier, utopian view of the USSR.

In these drawings, Baldaev's antisemitism and misogyny are unfiltered. These were never meant for publication, so we see an intensely personal, private view of one man dissatisfied with the stupidities, inadequacies, and repressions of the post-Stalin era to the fall of the USSR. Everything is portrayed, warts and all.

My only complaint is that the book has most of its commentary on rather small (around 11 point) font, with the footnotes being even smaller (around 9 point). That, coupled with the text justified, makes the body of the text extremely hard to read, especially for those with visual impairments or very bad eyesight (like me).

However, the text is essential to understand the full context of the illustrations, providing necessary historical, cultural, and at times linguistic notes that give key context. The scholarship is extremely welcome and I wish other art books had the same level of rigor, it's just a pain that such text was rather hard to read.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations (by Baldaev) and photographs (by Sergei Vasiliev) of life under the Soviet regime illustrate internal dissatisfaction with Soviet life and politics. Baldaev began documenting this internal dissent as a warden in one of the USSR's prison, by photographing, classifying, and defining tattoos common among the prisoners. Complicating this bit of anthropology, however, and what the the editors at Fuel avoid directly confronting, is Baldaev's frankly anti-Semitic tone throughout this volume. Strongly anti-Soviet, yes; blaming almost all of Russia's woes on Jews (the rest on Hitler—go figure), yes, too. The anonymous editors silently amend this appalling denunciation of an appalling system with footnotes of quotes and explanations by more measured minds. Because the publisher(s) at Fuel emphasize design over content, editorial redundancies are ignored.

[James Crabtree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danzig Baldaev's illustrations are awesome and he pulls no punches when it comes to life in the Soviet Union: Russian chauvinism, rampant alcoholism, fossilized bureacrats, worker inefficiency, mass shortages, perestroika, and the fate of the Soviet Afghan vets. The drawings can be ugly at times (especially when depicting many of the communist leaders as "zionists") but that is an unfortunate effect of totalitarianism: when the state lies about so many things EVERYTHING it says is suspect. The photos are a nice counterpoint to the illustrations, showing the Soviet's self-image.

[Ewout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good drawings, not as many penises as in the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia though. More photographs would have been nice.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book, would have been much improved by dates of publication of the cartoons.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

entertainingly disturbing*****

[Lisa Hayden Espenschade · Rating 4 out of 5]

For readers like me (you know, the ones who have difficulty getting through book-length nonfiction) Soviets is a great way to get some background on sociopolitical and sociocultural aspects of the Soviet era. Baldaev's caricatures and Vasiliev's photos, all in black and white, along with quotes from other books and annotations, combine for a sharp and darkly humorous look at things.

(There's more about Soviets on my blog, here.)