ssian working class for it’s liberation is a political struggle, and it’s goal is the attainment of political liberty." (Pipes 45) Lenin used this form of propaganda, agitprop, to convey the need of a total reformation of Russia’s government. He knew that this form of propaganda would work best. "Propaganda of agitation, being the most visible and widespread attracts all the attention." (Ellul 71) In his agitative propaganda Lenin cited specific enemies, or scapegoats namely, The Mensheviks. Along with the Mensheviks, or "whites" as they were called, the soviets expressed outright hatred of the western world and it’s ways. Soviet propagandists created the idea that the western capitalist civilization was falling behind, as the superior socialists marched forward.Soviet artists and intellectuals were ordered to create propaganda material that portrayed this idea of a weak and inferior western world. The soviets official ideology was that they needed to gain complete control of all aspects of communication. Lenin embraced the idea of agitative propaganda that was introduced earlier by Georgi Plekhanov. Since the Soviet union was founded in 1920 there was an official department of agitprop. This department worked directly through schools, publications and the broadcast media. (Encyclopedia of propaganda 17) Part of Lenin’s strategy was keeping his ideas simple. Simple enough to be effective on a nation with widespread illiteracy. His slogan "Food, peace and land" appealed to the peasants. Lenin’s simple methods were very effective, "Nothing in the past could compare with the Communists’ propaganda effort to mobilize social energy..."(Von Laue 193)The poster art of the Lenin era usually were red color, red being widely accepted as the color of socialism. The poster artists, most notably D.S. Moor, often portrayed the simple idea of good versus evil. The good being the socialist peasants, and...
