One of the iconic figures of Soviet propaganda was the колхозница (kolkhoznitsa, or “peasant woman”), who worked in the kolkhoz, or collective farms of the U.S.S.R.
The original poster showed a kolkhoznitsa determinedly making her way to the field, while a kulak, a drunkard, and a priest (all traditionally male figures) cling on to her and try to stop her. Notice the cartoonish elements of the trio as compared to the severe art style of the peasant woman. Victoria Bonnell of the University of California, Berkeley, elaborates:
The formidable peasant woman heroically resisting ‘class enemies’ in the countryside became a stock figure in visual propaganda of the early 1930s. Never before had the peasant woman been represented with this kind of perspectival distortion, which previously had been applied exclusively to the two unambiguous heroes of the revolution.
Bonnell’s article can be found here.
![Photo of Tito Romalio (ТИТО РОМАЛИО), a Brazilian-born actor in the U.S.S.R., who played supporting roles in films like 1967’s НАЧАЛЬНИК ЧУКОТКИ (“Chief Chukotky”). He is described by Pravda as a “famous black Soviet actor”, who enjoyed “the peak of his career during the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s”.
From Encarta Africana:
The Soviet authorities had many reasons for encouraging blacks to come to their country. They believed that blacks, as members of an oppressed social group, would be key participants in the Communist revolution that would topple colonial and capitalist regimes around the world… [B]y demonstrating the Soviet Union’s own racial tolerance and progressive thinking, Soviet leaders were enhancing their country’s appeal to liberal-minded white and black intellectuals around the world…
Tito Romalio was fatally stabbed on May of 2010. According to Pravda, investigators believe that his murder was a racially-motivated hate crime.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls1hcgTs0L1r36m0fo1_500.jpg)
