Watch Animated Soviet Propaganda – Part 4 – Communism (2007) Documentary Online


Unearthed from Moscow’s legendary Soyuzmultfilm Studios (est. 1935), the 41 films in ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA span sixty years of Soviet history (1924 – 1984), and have never been available before in the U.S.

The set is divided thematically into four discs, all dealing with different subjects of the Soviet propaganda machine.

PART 4 – ONWARD TO THE SHINING FUTURE: COMMUNISM

FORWARD MARCH, TIME! (1977)
This one is elaborate but very confusing … and uses rock music as well. It is “based on ideological poems written by Vladimir Mayakovsky in the 20s, as well as advertisements Mayakovsky created during the New Economic Policy with avant-garde artist Alexander Rodchenko.” I couldn’t follow it.

SOVIET TOYS (1924)
An early attempt to sway public opinion on a specific issue, in this case against party bosses allowed to function as old-style entrepreneurs to help the economy shift into a socialized pattern. The same old images dominate — a fat, spoiled Capitalist eats everything he sees. The Red Army eventually forms a Christmas tree. Stubborn types (Churchmen, fat cats, bourgeois women) are executed and hang from its branches, while the workers place a Red Star on top. Ho Ho Ho.

SAMOYED BOY (1928)
An early, weird animation that shows an Inuit Eskimo rescued from the ice and brought to study in Moscow.

THE MUSIC BOX (1933)
Another weird early animation poking fun at pre-revolution Russia. A town needs a new mayor, so the royal authority sends a moron with a clockwork brain to run things.

LENIN’S KINO PRAVDA (TRUTH IN CINEMA) (1924)
Supposedly directed by the famous Dziga Vertov, this is a baffling parade of odd images and Communist claims. Difficult to understand.

RESULTS OF THE XII PARTY CONGRESS OF COOPERATION (JOIN THE COOPERATIVE) (1925)
Simple animation urges strength through solidarity — little farmers unite to compete with the big outfits. Also criticizes profiteering “company private shops.”

VICTORIOUS DESTINATION (1939)
Ugly Western Capitalists object and obstruct, but Stalin’s economic miracle triumphs anyway.

WAR CHRONICLES (1939)
Foreign powers dream about dividing up the new Soviet Union for their own profit, but all attempts are turned back! This one even depicts Japanese hostilities in the East. Once again, smoky factories and bold worker-soliders lead the way.

A HOT STONE (1965)
Excellent animation can’t quite make the moral lesson of this one stick. A boy finds a magic stone that will allow people to live their lives over again. His bearded, noble Grandfather prefers his life of hardship, revolution and Communist victory to remain just as it is.

SONGS OF THE YEARS OF FIRE (1971)
A nostalgic, expensive-looking ode to the Red Army using bold revolutionary designs to illustrate four or five songs of the civil war years. Beautifully orchestrated music; all so we can sing along to a peppy tune about “My happy machine-gun cart.”

PLUS ELECTRIFICATION (1972)
This looks like it was originally in 70mm and widescreen; the picture is slightly letterboxed and cropped. Lenin’s idea that electricity and the new government would unite is given a Utopian workout, depicting the whole country (and the European Eastern Bloc) united by electric light. It’s no more convincing than our own Disney-fied Carousel of Progress propaganda.