Greetings from the Barricades: Revolutionary Postcards in Imperial Russia

by Tobie Mathew

"Tobie Mathew’s magnificent book testifies to Russia’s unrepeatable two years of free-ranging political satire." –Donald Rayfield, Literary Review Amid the chaos and violence of the 1905 Revolution in Russia, the Tsar’s opponents printed and distributed vast quantities of picture postcards. Easy to share, hide and smuggle, postcards were a way to beat the censor and spread a message of defiance.

Produced by a diverse set of revolutionaries, liberals and opportunists, the content of these cards is equally from satirical caricatures directed against the government to rare photographs of revolutionary demonstrations. Many of the cards are darkly humorous, combining laughter with a sense of raw indignation at the injustices of Imperial Russia.

Assembled by Tobie Mathew, a writer and historian specializing in Russian graphic art and propaganda, Greetings from the Barricades is the first major study of the design, production and distribution of these cards, featuring more than 200 images. Together, they form a rich body of political art that illustrates the danger of opposing the regime during this turbulent era.

479 pages, Hardcover

Published February 19, 2019

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal history of the 1905 Russian Revolution told entirely from the lens of political postcards. Mathew goes into the history of the postcard as a medium (invented in 1869 in the Hungarian empire), its rise as a populist collectors' item (the average person could see artwork and landmarks long reserved for the rich), and ultimately its development into a propaganda and revolutionary device.

Part political narrative, part art history, the book is gorgeously illustrated with postcards, primarily from the years 1905 and 1906. The visuals are vibrant, engrossing and genuinely fascinating. Many bare the hallmarks of political cartoons, animating controversial figures as animals or other metaphors, while others are violent and bloody recreations of real life massacres. One chapter is dedicated to the memorialization of revolutionary terrorists, whose portraits served as religious-like promotions of their martydom. Other postcards featured photographs of the victims of pogroms while many more just railed against the Tsarist state.

I discovered it from the publisher online by chance and just had to have it. Can't recommend this book enough.

[b · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gorgeously illustrated visual history.