Propaganda in the Metro

Who says you can never go back home again, even if that home represented repression and persistent propaganda.

Two phrases you don't expect to read when walking around the city of Moscow:


"Stalin reared us on loyalty to the people. He inspired us to labour and heroism."


"For the Motherland! For Stalin!"


Yes, these slogans can be found today in the Kurskaya Metro station. There are numerous artistic depictions of the sickle and hammer, Lenin, Soviet stars, and the like throughout the stations. One could dismiss the Stalin slogans as going along with the other Soviet-era slogans. There is a lengthy quote by Lenin in another station.


However, following Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin for his murderous purges and cult of personality and began what became known as the de-Stalinization movement.  The slogans were painstakingly removed in the late 1950s along with other pro-Stalin propaganda.


The station lobby got an extensive renovation between 2008 and 2009. When it was restored, so were the slogans. There is also two large swords in the lobby that represent the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. On the swords had been the name of the modern-day Russian city of Volgograd, but it was changed back to its wartime name of Stalingrad.


I'll give the the designers some credit.What wasn't restored was a statue of Stalin that had been at the station.

This is an excellent example of the political void in Moscow and the Russian Federation. There are still many people who look fondly back on Stalin's leadership because he created a powerful country, beat the Nazis, and developed the A-bomb. But the prices was millions of deaths. Today the people want democracy but not the kind that Boris Yeltsin had provided in the 1990s. It was a disaster. Today, the government of Medvedev and Putin continues to become more authoritative and corrupt. Yet the people accept limited freedoms to avoid a return to the 1990s. 


I'll let you draw your own conclusion as to what this renovation (and restoration) symbolizes.


In an "un-related" story, 3.5 tons of human bones were found at the Pacific port of Vladivostok. There are at least 495 skeletons, who had been victims of Stalin's purges.  


Another example of  propaganda in the Metro: 

The mural shown in the photo below was painted in the Kiev Ring Metro station in 1951. Obviously it is still there as this is my picture. Look carefully at the top left banner. That is an image of Lenin, who represents the power and security of the state.

It is called “The People’s Procession,” a large mural at the Kiev Ring station, is an excellent example of how the government provided abundance, happiness, and state-sponsored security in the form of decor. The mural, which is located at the end of the platform, depicts the Ukrainian people in folk costumes celebrating underneath a banner of Lenin. Old and young men and women are represented, demonstrating unity, and food and flowers representing plenty are seen.