ROSTA / GPP : Pictorial Newsposter-Series of the Russian Avantgarde III , Moscow, 1921
The campaign at ROSTA ended at the beginning of 1921 with the departure of the director of the news agency Platon Kerzhentsev. Afterwards, it was continued for one more year with a stricter conception in didactical terms under the patronage of Glavpolitprosvet (GPP), a newly founded educational institution of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The hand-made propaganda picture prints were now outdated. Their woodcut-like rhetoric no longer met the more complex communication demands of the development years and the party also distanced itself more and more from the initiatives of the Futurist avant-garde. (Courtesy Gallery Thomas Flor, Berlin)
GPP 223 – 1, July 1921. There´s a fuel crisis in the R.S.F.S.R.
GPP 223 – 2, But rather than let the beastly cold bare its teeth and expose us to minus one hundred degrees
GPP 223 – 3, The C.L.D. has issued a decree
GPP 223 – 4, We may stock up on firewood independently
GPP 223 – 5, If it is cold in your home
GPP 223 – 6, Rush to a special committee at the GubLesKom
GPP 223 – 7, Don´t be late, submit your application No more than one month from his decree´s publication
GPP 223 – 8, Then, within a fortnight You will be assigned a wood-cutting site Where you can begin to hack wood with all your might
GPP 223 – 9, The wood-cutting sites are not meant for profiteering
GPP 223 – 10, They are intended to supply your home with heating
GPP 223 – 11,It´s you and your family who have all the chopping to do; Don´t hire a neighbor or someone else to do it for you
GPP 223 – 12, If both the cutting and hauling you did on your own This cartload of firewood is yours alone
GPP 223 – 13, But if the firewood you deliver To be floated to you via a river Or else brought home by railway- Then 10 % to the State you must pay
GPP 223 – 14,And if you entrust your load to the Forestry Board It will cost you still more- a full 50 % to reach your quota.
GPP 331 – 1, September 19 Coal is vital for us it is your salvation21)
GPP 331 – 2, Regarding coal mining, what´s our situation?
GPP 331 – 3, In May the state of affairs was already dire- At month´s end, 24 million poods were all we could acquire
GPP 331 – 4, In June, even worse it got 18 milllion was all we brought
GPP 331 – 5, But nothing could be as bad as July, When 10 million was all we mined
GPP 331 – 6, Now in August we predict About 12 million to extract
GPP 331 – 7, There is no way to mine more No workers are there to dig the ore
GPP 331 – 8, In Kronbachevsky region
GPP 331 – 9, Why from the mines have the workers dispersed, Leaving those quarries to get even worse?
GPP 331 – 10, Because there is no food to eat
GPP 331 – 11, No clothing to wear
GPP 331 – 12,Donbass has no money to spare
GPP 331 – 13, Comrade! Take your bread, when you are about to eat a slice Just think – maybe you can make a small sacrifice
GPP 331 – 14, Before even one kopeck is splurged Consider spending wisely, we urge
GPP 331 – 15, your boots – do you really need a new pair? Or can you get by with the slightest repair?
GPP 331 – 16,All and everything that we can retrieve Donbass will from us receive
GPP 352 – 1, September 19 Today with new means we fight against ruin.21)
GPP 352 – 2, Have these new measures justified themselves or not?
GPP 352 – 3 For trolleys – 2,000,000,000.
GPP 352 – 4, For patents from the 15th (of August) to the 10th of September – 100,000,00 rubles.
GPP 352 – 5, Rent for real estate – 250 million rubles.
GPP 352 – 6
GPP 352 – 7, From the post and telegraph – 1,000,000,000.
GPP 352 – 8, In total 4,300,000,000 rubles.
GPP 352 – 9, It´s clear that
GPP 352 – 10, before, we only squandered money on the economy.
GPP 352 – 11, But now it
GPP 352 – 12, should pay for itself.
