Thursday 6 June 2013

Lenin and Dirigibles

Is this the most awesome early Soviet propaganda poster ever? It has everything - Lenin rising up from the masses, clearly gesticulating the young workers' republic's line of march. And demonstrating the fruits socialist industry unleashed, you have the immense modernity of the airship thrusting upwards into the orange dawn of the future. Dating from 1931, it reads "Let's build a fleet of airships in Lenin's name", or, "We will build Lenin's escadron [squadron] of airships", depending on who you believe. Whatever, I'm sure it sounds perfectly rousing in the original Russian. You can bet if Kim Jong-un floated about People's Korea in a jucheist airship he wouldn't have half the image problems. So don't let miserable revisionists tell you otherwise, socialism = Lenin plus dirigibles.

4 comments:

Howard Fuller said...

I can't imagine one strong enough to fly the Dear Larder in North Korea.

Yakoub said...

It's very steampunk!

Adam Marks said...

Maybe the oddest thing in history - if it wasn't for the Hindenberg disaster dirigibles may have a become commonplace form of transport. They are much more manouevrable than planes and have a much lower impact on the environment and, of course, helium is an entirely safe gas to use.

George Carty said...

I disagree that the Hindenburg disaster killed the airship -- even helium-filled airships are way too vulnerable to bad weather.

http://depletedcranium.com/why-heavy-lift-airships-are-not-going-to-happen/