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[WHITE PROPAGANDA] Chto obeshchali i chto dali narodu bol’sheviki [i.e. What Bolsheviks Promised to People and What They Did Give]

Item #1715

Odessa: Odesskoe otdelenie Otdela Propagandy, [1919-1920]. 73x46 cm. Turkish post stamp mounted on face side – it passed a post office on May 11, 1920. Tears of the edges, small piece from the top is missing not affecting the image. Otherwise good condition. Unrestored.

Extremely rare Civil war print.
The White Armies never controlled information and propaganda on their territories to the degree achieved gradually by the Bolsheviks. Initially, they didn’t even realize its significance. This poster is one piece of the propaganda spread by Osvag i.e. the Information Bureau of the Department of Propaganda of the General Command of the Armed Forces of South Russia. Its headquarters was located in Rostov, and smaller divisions turned up in areas under White control around the Black Sea, including Crimea, the Don, Kuban and Terek-Dagestan regions. Exposing Bolshevik’s mendacity, this poster stated that Odessa residents hadn’t received bread, peace or liberty – three laconic promises of Bolsheviks in 1917. Three pictures showed what people faced instead: bloodbath, starvation and military regime.

Most likely, this poster was carried away from Odessa during mass evacuation of city residents in early 1920. Odessa was one of the largest cities of the former Russian Empire and its crucial Black Sea port. Local newspapers of those days were full of all sorts of announcements for recruiting volunteer units to protect the city from the Reds. When the impossibility of keeping the city from the Reds became apparent, mass evacuation of Odessa residents began on January 22, 1920. The campaign was complicated by winter weather and sea ice. Those refugees who managed to load onto English ships left the city by 25 January and headed to Constantinople.

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