Protiv klassa eksploatatorov / Proletarii vsekh stran soyedinyaites’ [Workers of the World, Unite Against the Class of Exploiters!], a poster by Dmitry Moor (Dmitry Orlov, 1883–1946, Meritorious Art Worker of the Russian Federation). Published by OGIZ-IZOGIZ, Moscow-Leningrad, 1931, 142.5 x 106 cm.

A striking, nearly monochromatic, large (“two sheets” format) poster, possibly intended for distribution both home and abroad — note the inclusion of an English-language slogan. As in many of Moor’s best works, the intense black color itself becomes the carrier of the message, underscoring the seriousness of the impending confrontation, while a few splashes of red offer the assurance in imminent victory, even if will not come easily.

The poster was exhibited several times trough 1930s, notably at the important 1934 Ten Years Without Lenin exhibition in Moscow. It is mentioned by Victoria Bonnell’s Iconography of Power in discussing the evolution of the way Capitalists were depicted in the Soviet propaganda, but the author is too interested in analyzing the impact of Soviet ideology on the methods of visual representation to notice the poster’s artistic merits.

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