Kriepcze – przywal mocniej

After 9 May 2022, one more option will appear on the global free market in myths and historical fairy tales. It will probably attract considerable interest among customers seeking eccentric narratives.

One must admit that Russia spared no expense in refreshing the fairy tale about the ultimate victory over evil. Productions this costly must pay for themselves and help divide public opinion effectively, and for a long time, into smaller pieces that are easier to manipulate. They must shake the entire market. Russia acts upon the Western worldview with the finesse of an icebreaker.

The 1944 poster presents the standard method: ‘hit harder / kriepcze udary’.

It is worth noting the poster from exactly twenty-five years ago, designed by Rostislav Shvedov of Kyiv for what was probably Poland’s first joint conference on art in Eastern Europe after the fall of totalitarianism, held in Łódź.

At the time, it seemed to us that only endless global liberal development and prosperity lay ahead. We were naive: liberalism has absolutely no idea how to deal with someone intent on enriching himself by ‘hitting harder’.

Shvedov’s poster is prophetic. Of course, at the end of the twentieth century no one was interested in conferences that did not concern economics and the economy. That, at least, has not changed, which is why the new version of the old Russian magic tale will gain many followers.

And the poster remains good. At the time, Ukrainians opened their eyes wide in astonishment: how could Lenin be combined with a swastika?