Saturday, September 29, 2012

Don't Walk on Fish! Soviet Safety Posters

"I was drunk at work."
From the looks of it, not just him, but the whole frat house! 
A little known method, pioneered by Soviet physicians, for treating bloody noses. 

"Don't walk on fish!"
I can't add anything to that. 
The somewhat harsh, Soviet version of "stripper working the pole." 

This worker is testing which has greater force: freight train cars, or his skull. 

Poster for the latest Soviet superhero film.
This one features Shadow man, who haunts steel mills and uses a cross of karate and disco moves
to neutralize his enemies. 

I thought Comrade Roskolnikov was trying to kill me. 

Poster for a lost Alfred Hitchcock classic in which the MacGuffin is a vengeful wrench.
Hitch's first draft actually used the word "wench" --
but a secretary added an "r" and the Master of Suspense just went with it. 

Doesn't he look like he should be singing a Cole Porter song? 

Is it my imagination or does this worker falling to his death bear some resemblance to Comrade Lenin? 

The End. 

See all the posters here.

Thanks to Mary Skinner for sharing these.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2012 at 6:29 PM

    Those are great. I have always been a fan of Warsaw Pact era artwork but I've never seen these.

    Here are some links to Polish poster sites showing posters made in the PRL era:

    General Site: http://www.prl.cba.pl/plakaty3.html

    Good one for the present US Election cycle!: http://www.prl.cba.pl/max/plakaty/murzyni.jpg (this one looks like it was made by the US Democratic Party recently. Amazing how history repeats.)

    And finally the 1953 Polish Film Chronicle short "So That's America". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMtb3csJVVY

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2012 at 6:42 PM

    Here is one more good Polish poster promoting beer as a giver of strength, quite at odds with other Polish (and USSR ) posters related to beer and alcohol in general. It seems this poster was too successful. http://www.prl.cba.pl/max/plakaty/piwo.jpg

    Here is a PRL work safety poster: http://www.prl.cba.pl/max/plakaty/palce.jpg

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  3. Mr. Jan PeczkisSeptember 29, 2012 at 7:59 PM

    I read Russian. These safety posters are hilarious, but also common sense. They say such things as "Look where you are going", "Look at your feet as you proceed", "Affix yourself as you work", and "Don't stand below the tower."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sue Knight's BlogSeptember 30, 2012 at 2:21 AM

    Amazing,and rather gruesome. I like your captions Danusha. I have always thought it would be both unwise and unkind to walk on fish.

    The only Soviet poster I can remember is one that was apparently published during the war. I'm not sure what the picture was, but this was the caption:

    WHAT IS AN ARYAN?

    HE IS TALL, BLONDE AND HANDSOME - LIKE GOEBBELS.

    I doubt the guy who wrote it would have survived Stalin's endless purges. Totalitarian dictators don't like us to notice things like that. We are to love Big Brother, not announce that he is neither big nor brotherly.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Liron RubinSeptember 30, 2012 at 6:56 AM

    "The somewhat harsh, Soviet version of "stripper working the pole."

    :)


    ReplyDelete
  6. HannaOctober 5, 2012 at 6:22 PM

    Dear Goska, this is not meant to be a post-but I have found an interesting article concerning Jewish-Polish relations in this magazine here (membership is free,of course): http://www.ebookgigs.eu/czasopisma/spol-inf/3529-uwazam-rze-382012.html
    Page 72
    Have a nice day :-)

    ReplyDelete

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