40 Soviet Propaganda… Carpets

Soviet Propaganda… Carpets

Posted on November 22, 2006 by team

soviet carpets

Do you use carpets in your home?

Want to see how carpets looked in Soviet homes? Here they are, right from the Soviet Museum:

soviet carpets

This is Lenin. The most popular hero of Soviet propaganda carpets.

soviet carpets

Here he comes again.

soviet carpets

And even again! The slogan on this carpet is: “Lenin is dead but his business lives!”

soviet carpets

This Lenin lacks some details but it’s definetely Lenin again.

soviet carpets

And again Lenin is in the middle and different happy workers of Soviet Russia surround him.

soviet carpets

That is Fidel from Cuba. He was a big friend of Soviet people.

soviet carpets

This is Yuri Gagarin, the first Russian spaceman, as it has been said, the first man that flew to space.

soviet carpets

This is Budenniy, Russia military leader from the dawn of Soviet state, back to 1917.

soviet carpets

This guy is Trotsky, he was also in the Revolution but after he quarelled with Stalin and ran to London where he was killed by KGB agent with a hammer.



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40 responses to “Soviet Propaganda… Carpets”

  1. peacenik says:

    Hmm… By the time propaganda made it to carpets Trotsky’s very name was an anathema, nevermind the image or ideology. The carpet depicts Kalinin, in the 30s the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet that is a nominal President of the Soviet Union.

  2. peacenik says:

    “Trotsky ran to London” is also a good one. After his deportation to Turkey he was denied visa in nearly every country he applied to. So, after short and restricted stays in Norway and France he ended up in Mexico where he indeed was eventually murdered.

  3. Juan De Majana says:

    Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) was in Mexico when he was attack with an ice axe by KGB agent, he died the next day in hospital.

  4. Chris says:

    Wasn’t it an icepick, not a hammer?

  5. …he ended up in Mexico where he indeed was eventually murdered.

    With an icepick…after having a fling with Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera’s wife. Lovely neighbourhood to die in, though. 😉

  6. mike says:

    and wasn’t it an ice axe? in mexico? and he lived till the next day to!

  7. Bert says:

    Trotsky’s biography “My Life” is a must read. Say what you will about the guy, he knew what he wanted and he knew how to get it. Peacenik forgot about his stay in Constantinopel 🙂 He was also not murdered by a hammer, but (famously) by an icepick.

  8. Wasn’t Trotsky killed with an icepick in Mexico City?

  9. Dude – if you can get ahold of these carpets you can sell them on eBay. Let me know! Entrepreneurial opportunity for you!

  10. peacenik says:

    I did not. I mentioned it in general form as “Turkey” precisely because I know that Prinkipo island where he was kept is not exactly Constantinopol. Otherwise I agree with you. In addition to “My life” I would also recommed Isaac Deutscher trilogy and Jean van Heijenoort (Trotsky’s bodyguard/secretary) memoire “With Trotsky in exile: from Prinkipo to Coyoacan”.

  11. peacenik says:

    Back to carpets. As much as I can see most of them are the products of Turkmenistan, not of Russia proper.

  12. Ronin says:

    1. Trotsky = Kalinin
    2. hammer = ice-axe

  13. peacenik says:

    @Ronin: neat! (but what to do with “London”? ;-))
    @Acts_of_Atrocity: Very well put. I thought “London” smacked of Litvinenko story spin, but was not sure. You nailed it.

  14. Ronin says:

    2 peacenik :
    uuups! May by it’s typical mexican’s city-name ? 🙂


  15. Xavi says:

    Englishrussia.com readers know how much critic I am to what nowadays is going on in Russia, but I am not less critic to untruthfulness. I understand that the main purpose of this website is to have fun and I could accept a “certain degree of lack of accuracy”, but I think we have to demand this website to improve quality of information published:

    Trotsky was killed with an ice axe in his residence in Mexico by a compatriot of mine: Ramon Mercader. He was a catalan communist who after fighting in Spanish Civil War joined NKVD (KGB) during Stalin’s regime.

    Something curious: his mom was also a soviet agent and also attempted to kill Trotsky before his son succeeded. Before his death, Trotsky tried to defend himself biting Mercader and asked his guards to do not kill him. Finally, Mercader was judged and spent close to 20 years in prison. After being released by Mexican authorities, he spent most of his life in between Russia and Cuba, working for KGB.

    Mercader was very loyal to his ideology and never betrayed his comrades: his dream was to go back to Catalonia to spend his last days there when democracy was recovered in Spain, but local communist leaders asked him to confess who ordered to kill Trotsky if he wanted to get their help to go back to Barcelona. He refused to do it so and died in Cuba.

    He was named ‘hero of the soviet union’ (soviet highest medal) and was buried with honors in Moscow.

    PS: No need of propaganda, anyone could guess that behind of what’s going on with Litvinenko (former KGB agent poisoned in London) are Russian secret services or other pro-kremlin forces like Ramzan Kadirov, who probably is behind the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaia.

  16. renton says:

    “Lenin is dead but his business lives!”

    there was no such thing as business in soviet russia 😉

    translation is more like a: “Lenin is dead but his work is still alive” work not as an occupation but as a product of his ‘hand’

  17. dRE says:

    Xavi: Please provide some factual evidence to prove that Politkovskaya was murdered by the Kremlin forces. And no more “theories” please, only facts!
    Because I can give many theories too, for example, that Politkovskaya was murdered by Boris Berezovsky, who’s willing to make a revolution (do you understand this word?) in Russia as he recently stated in his interview. For Berezovsky Anna’s death is an obvious advantage in convincing the West that Kremlin is too powerful and dangerous. Also, Berrezovsky is protected by the British government, so I can even say that Politkovskaya was murdered by the West. How about that?

    As for Litvinenko, I don’t know if he was indeed poisoned by Kremlin (no evidence to prove that), but he should’ve kept his mouth shut. What do you think, you can work for a Secret Service and then betray your country and tell your enemies all the secrets?? He must be one dumb s.o.b.

  18. Yuri says:

    Watch out for dirty shoes…. auch
    They were probably designed for walls not for floors 🙂

  19. Robert says:

    Yuri’s right. They’re tapestries, not rugs/carpets.

    After all, walking on Lenin’s head kinda isn’t exactly respectful is it?

  20. Robert says:

    More precisely they’re rugs.

    A carpet is a full length thing, covers most of the floor. A rug only covers a section of the floor and is an independant thing that you can move from place to place without disturbing as much of the room as if you were to move a carpet.

  21. Leo Petr says:

    I would translate “Lenin is dead but his business lives” as “Lenin died but his work lives on”.:P

  22. Rustam says:

    Firstly, the person depicted on last carpet is not Trotsky but Kalinin.
    Secondly Trotsky was killed in America, not London.

  23. Kulak says:

    I’ve been wondering why Russians have carpets on the walls at their homes but not on the floors. Everybody’s wearing slippers instead. Could somebody explain this?

  24. Lumpenhund says:

    why not, Kulak? Tapestries look nice, trampling them would be a shame! 😉

  25. Gerry says:

    Carpets as wall-hangings are an ancient Russki tradition. They also have ‘rugs’ on the floor. (In many places, ‘carpets’ and ‘rugs’ are interchangeable.) ‘carpet slippers’ are also a quite old tradition in a peasant country just full of mud, slush and mire. I recall ‘American’ descriptions of ‘carpet slippers’ being used there into the 1950s – same reason. Possible oriental connection also – China/Japan(?). G

  26. Gerry says:

    And Yes, it’s Kalinin, not Bronstien, depicted. Trotsky was exiled to Siberia, then Turkey (above commenter has the island correct), then (shortly) to Norway, then a suburb of Mexico City, always accompanied by his Cheka agent secretary (with the Frida Kahlo story being correct, above), then the Mexican Communist muralist, Orozco, organized an assassination squad attempt (possibly with Mercado’s mother’s help, a Comintern agent herself), which failed (though turning the interior walls Trotski’s house into ‘swiss cheese’ with automatic weapons). Wounded Trotsky’s young child, kidnapped and killed an American Trotskite gate guard, and generally screwed up the whole thing. (I mean, would you assign an ‘artist’ to carry out a killing???)

    Second, and successful attempt, was directly supervised by the Soviet ‘Organs’ (NYC, Mexico City) – mountainier ice axe to the head. 14 years in the Mexican slammer for young terrorist Mercado, released to the peoples republic of (east) germany, yeh went rossiya, probably died Castroite Cuba. Mother died Rossiya. Like “La Passionara”, lives wasted on some fool theory of Utopia on Earth. Serves them right. When you think of it, their lives killed them long before they actually died. G

  27. goya says:

    its been said, but check your facts

  28. Deep Freeze says:

    In Russia carpet walks on you~!

  29. pandem says:

    Don’t you know that everyone who ran from Russia hides in London???

  30. JunkWarrior says:

    Lenin ftw.

  31. Cigarettes says:

    Lenin will live forever.

  32. anaokulu says:

    Very nice great article thank you…

  33. promosyon says:

    English Russia » Soviet Propaganda… Carpetsvery nice good article. thank you.

  34. bliumkin says:

    budyonny, that schmuck.. somebody tell him there’s room for more rombs on his moustache.

  35. Mike Nardine says:

    I’m curious as to the use of these rugs during the soviet era. Were they machine made or did some devoted communist weave them at home? Were they actually used as rugs or tapestries in the home environment or were they only for state occasions? You have a great website. Mike Nardine

  36. George Semel says:

    I would bet you don’t know that Leon Trotsky granddaughter works for the CDC in Atlanta. Funny how a lot of the Kids and grand kids of the old founding Communists found their way to the United States. As for General Budyonny, have to admit the moustache is a bit of an eye catcher, you remember that, sort of like General George S. Patton’s Ivory Stocked Colt Peacemaker, you remember that sort of stuff. I would go riding with General Budyonny anytime. There is a breed of horse named after the Russian General is it not?

  37. Will says:

    Last carpet is KALININ, not Trotsky.

  38. Señor Perez says:

    he was murdered with an ICEPICK by a secret agent sent by Stalin, the name of the agent… Ramon mercader del rio.

    Stalin pretty much murdered anyone he dislike.

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