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[TRIUMPHS OF THE FIRST FIVE-YEAR PLAN IN TEXT AND PHOTOMONTAGE] Strana pobediteley: [Dostizheniya SSSR]: Dlya sredn. i starsh. vozrasta [i.e. Country of the Winners: [Achievements of the USSR]: For Middle and Senior Ages]

Ivanter, B.

Item #2741

Moscow: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo detskoy literatury, 1935. 115 pp.: ill. 26,9x20 cm. In original publisher’s cloth binding with gilt-lettered title on the front cover. Very good. Boards worn at the edges. Soviet library stamp of the Pedagogicical Institute's Library on the title-page and pp. 17, [116], inventory numbers on the front cover, title-page, and p. 17.

Scarce. First edition. Text in Russian. Design and illustrations by the Soviet artists Mikhail Seregin (1907-?) and N. Isaeva.
One of the most visually ambitious children’s books of the second Five-Year Plan and a celebratory compilation of short stories about the Soviet Union’s achievements issued by the Soviet children’s author Benjamin Ivanter (1904-1942) in 1935. The book was printed in two variants: a more expensive red cloth-bound edition with embossed decoration, and a simpler cardboard “children’s” edition. Our copy, the red cloth version, was designed as a gift edition intended for the emerging Soviet elite, high-ranking party officials, or as a prestigious award for “Stalinist Falcons” and shock workers.
The book was published in 1935 as a direct ideological companion to the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (1934), popularly known as the “Executed Congress” (as the majority of those elected at the Congress were arrested and executed during the Great Purge). It presents a celebratory overview of the achievements of the First Five-Year Plan, offering short essays devoted to key events, technological breakthroughs, and exemplary Soviet figures. Among the developments described are the record flights of the Soviet stratospheric balloons SSSR-1 and Osoaviakhim-1, the long-distance Karakum expedition, the recovery of the icebreaker Sadko after seventeen years on the seabed of the White Sea, the conquest of Peak Stalin (the highest mountain in the USSR) and the early completion of major industrial and infrastructural projects such as the White Sea–Baltic Canal, the Chelyuskin rescue operation, the Moscow Metro, the DneproGES hydroelectric station, and the Shatura power plant. The essays also highlight prominent figures associated with these projects (Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Lazar Kaganovich, Maxim Litvinov, and Kliment Voroshilov), presenting them as emblematic builders of the new socialist state. Alongside this celebratory narrative, the book reflects the political atmosphere of the period, featuring references to “saboteurs” and enemies of the state, including Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Engineer Khrennikov of the Uralmash plant.
The edition is noted for its sophisticated use of dynamic photomontage and Constructivist-inspired layout, likely influenced by the school of Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova. Its design combines bold typography with a cinematic sense of rhythm, using sharp diagonal compositions and overlapping photographic fragments to generate a strong impression of movement and collective energy. By juxtaposing heroic portraits of shock workers with monumental industrial imagery (such as the blast furnaces of Magnitogorsk and Soviet aircraft) the layout transforms technical and industrial achievements into a visually dramatic narrative of progress.
The author, Benjamin Ivanter (1904–1942), was a journalist, war correspondent, children’s writer, and editor of the influential magazine “Pioneer”. He played an important role in shaping Soviet children’s literature, giving approval to works such as Lev Kassil’s “The Black Book” and “Shvambrania” and bringing writers including Konstantin Paustovsky, Ruvim Frayerman, and others into the magazine’s circle. Under his editorship, “Pioneer” developed into the first “thick” literary journal for children in the USSR, combining fiction, reportage, and educational material. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Ivanter joined the people’s militia. He was killed in combat on the Kalinin Front in 1942.

Worldcat shows copies of the edition at the New York Public Library, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Price: $750.00

Status: On Hold