Has been kicked like a soccer ball

Has been kicked like a soccer ball

Poet: Smirnovski, S. “The Fighting Pencil” group, 1974

A client with a request came to the deputy head,
He was kicked in a moment somewhere to the left.
The client appeared in the sight of the aide,
And a kick to the right was immediately made.
But again he was told: "It is not our business!"
And the client was swiftly sent... straight to the gates.
There the watchman told him without sorrow,
That the game will resume at nine o'clock tomorrow.


The poster refers to the Russian colloquial expression “to kick a soccer ball,” which means to “get rid of a petitioner by telling him to apply elsewhere (R-E Dic6onary, 1987). The place in which the action is taking place is a warehouse, where a person is trying to get some entitled resources for his organization (may be also for individual use). Because of the command or centralized economy, wholesale trade was limited and almost all the resources in the country were distributed administratively—through warehouses owned and operated by various government agencies, most notably by the State Committee for Supplies. In a shortage economy, resources were scarce and organizations tended to stockpile resources in order to insure themselves from unexpected shortages. Thus, the portrayed encounter with red tape was especially characteristic for managers of non-defense industries, but also was pretty common in the everyday life of Soviet citizens, when they were trying to get goods and services to which they were entitled from the many agencies regulating their lves.

Kunnap, V.

1974

Rutgers

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

Rutgers

Rutgers

Medium: Poster

Russian

Artwork

Warehouse, Satire, Bureaucracy, Soviet Union, Fighting Pencil

Russia