Stalinist Propaganda Posters (Idle Words)#

12.30.2002

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year was a set of vintage Polish propaganda poster calendars from my mother, who found them on sale on a visit to Warsaw last month. My mother was born a year before the war ended, and remembers crying when Stalin died in 1953, so some of these posters bring back a lot of memories for her. To judge by her reaction, there's a lot of satisfaction to be had in outliving a nasty little regime like that.

You know your country's in good shape when the totalitarian calendars sell for laughs, not because you're forced to buy them. And the paper is better, too. Happy birthday to all those new democracies in Central Europe that become teenagers this year. And good luck!