Description
"Poet: Suslov, V. “The Fighting Pencil” group, 1960
Look! This is the method of a conveyer belt,
But it seems to resemble more of a red tape,
And if we want to be more precise and less cautious,
We can call the method what it is—just VICIOUS.
In the upper-right corner of the poster there is an excerpt from the mouthpiece of the Communist Party—the daily newspaper Pravda, which tells that:
“In 1959 the employees of Saratov Sovnarkhoz* have sent to lower levels 73 thousand orders, instructions, directions, memoranda and letters and other ‘official papers.’ And is there a need to speak about Sovnarkhoz’s correspondence with enterprises, if the heads of the departments still communicate mainly in writing? Addiction to correspondence, faith in the power of a written document resulted in serious omissions in the work of Saratov Sovnarkhoz.”
* Sovnarkhoz stands for Council for People's Economy, which were the regional agencies managing the economy. They were introduced by Khrushchev, who in the hope of reducing the power of overcentralized ministerial bureaucracies, decentralized decision-making to the regional level. After Khrushchev's removal, the ministerial system of managing the economy was restored."
Rights
Source: Holzer, M., Illiash, I., Gabrielian, V., & Kuznestsova, L. (2010). Red Tape from Red Square:Bureaucratic Commentary in Soviet Graphic Satirical Art. Poughkeepsie, NY: NetPublications
Identifier
Art, Satire, The Fighting Pencil, Cartoons, Economy, Khrushchev, Ministerial, Sovnarkhoz