Sunday, February 09, 2014

Overheard in the Office...

Bobbi is looking at socialist realism fabric patterns...
Me: "Once they've seen Moscow, how you gonna keep 'em down on the kolkhoz?"

RX: "I believe that's the Cheka's job."

10 comments:

bluesun said...

Soviet propaganda seems to consist mostly of "Tractors! Tractors everywhere!"

Ancient Woodsman said...

Other than the occasional hammer & sickle, it's difficult to tell the difference between those Soviet textile designs and many WPA/FAP art projects.

I'm sure that's purely coincidental, right?

Ed said...

I believe the answer to the question is either:
A. chains
-or-
B. armed guards

Old NFO said...

And they're pretty ruthless about it...

Reno Sepulveda said...

Some times you just have to admire the sheer balls those oldtime Bolshies had. Here's some moreSoviet propagandaexcept it was paid for with American tax dollars.

John Richardson said...

The fabric kinda reminds me of Hawaiian shirts with tractors replacing surf boards. The ones with planes and tanks (see Progress and Mechanizations) aren't that much different from some of the shirts with WWII planes on them.

Though I do realize that these Soviet citizens were more likely to Camp 210 in Siberia than Honolulu.

Unknown said...

Too bad these were made by Commies for nefarious reasons. If I could get past that, some of those patterns would actually be pretty cool.

Sure as hell they'd trump your average wannabe-hip semi-sprog's Che t-shirt.

Steve C said...

Some of them aren't bad. While I like to make fun of the USSR, I have to remember all the flag apparel that is popular in the US. Can you imagine the hoots a Hammer and Sickle bikini would get vs. a Stars and Stripes one? Of course, where would a Russian gal wear a bikini. Sochie is one of what they call a Summer resorts

NotClauswitz said...

They look like Hawaiian shirts from upsidedown commie ice-land with frozen beaches and no pineapples.

Lewis said...

Tractors only look ironic if you've never been a farmer, farming without tractors. Then, OMG TRACTORS!

I can't believe I just said something remotely positive about the Soviet Union.