this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Doesn't have to be explicitly Marxist of course. I love the WW2 USSR posters and art myself.

EDIT: Is there a site that archives art like that (posters, magazines, zines etc.)?

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Renau's el futuro trabajador del comunismo, his stuff in general is pretty neat;

[–] TheRedWedge@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Aside from the very cool stuff already posted, the Mansu Hill Grand Monument in the DPRK is amazing. It's so huge it's hard to do it justice with photos. Fitting for one of the greatest acts of resistance in human history.

I also really like the style of Vietnamese posters. They look so happy and hopeful.

[–] Cowbee@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The last two are my favourite from this list, the cranes and trees on the last one are lovely

[–] Cowbee@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 day ago

I love them too! The second to last shows incredible heroism from women, the last shows how humanity is a part of nature and must be an active participant in nature, protecting it while using it to provide for us all, rather than seeing us as outside of nature.

[–] big_spoon@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 day ago

everyone loves christmas...and jucika!

[–] videogame@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Same i love soviet realism.

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I like this one, "As it was, as it is, as it will be", a Soviet poster from 1922:

It really succinctly captures the progressive historical project of communism, that even that early in the USSR's life they were absolutely clear in their plan to advance science, industry and the quality of life of the workers and peasants and confident that they could achieve it.

I also really like these postcards from 1959, showing traditional dress from various SSRs:

Edit: The pictures came out a different orientation than in the preview! On the ~~top~~ left are Belarussian, Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani peoples, on the ~~bottom~~ right are Turkmen, Tajik, Ukrainian and Uzbek peoples. I love how it shows the celebration of the various nations of the USSR and their differences, in such a commonplace way (a set of postcards) that it's clear it was not some kind of controversial or artificial statement.

But my absolute favorite is this one:

"Through Worlds and Centuries"

[–] TheRedWedge@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Those postcards are amazing. I've always loved the artworks that cherish the Soviet Union's cultural diversity.

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 days ago

On the top are Belarussian, Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani peoples, on the bottom are Turkmen, Tajik, Ukrainian and Uzbek peoples.

No Moldova...sadge 😢 No, but these are awesome, thank you for sharing comrade!

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Statues count as art, right?

[–] Marat@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Of course, although im more partial to The Motherland Calls

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 days ago

It's good but not my favorite. Of course i can appreciate the ideological symbolism there, but stylistically i prefer something that is a bit different from the classical western European aesthetic style, a style which you can very clearly see in the Родина-мать statue, whereas i feel like other Soviet works of art tried to develop a distinct socialist style.

[–] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I also really like how the socialist realism style looks in murals, mosaics and reliefs.

Just a few random examples, not necessarily my favorites

As for poster art, there's just too much to choose from, but here are a few i found recently:

I like the internationalism in this one

This one just encapsulates optimism for the future

And i appreciate how this one highlights industry and agriculture

And really we should also not forget to mention music as another form of socialist art, but again, way too much to choose from there, best left to a separate post.

[–] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I like the internationalism in this one

Setting this as my profile banner as we speak.

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Nice. It's called "Fighting for Peace", created for International Workers' Day in 1950 by a Romanian artist. (I just felt i had to represent socialist Romania; it produced some great art - including film and music btw - during the socialist period and i sometimes feel like we are a bit under-appreciated among the socialist bloc.)

[–] Objection@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

One time a friend posted a really expensive house they were gawking at so I edited this soldier into it

[–] Marat@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 2 days ago

Honestly this (and the other piece of art showing a soldier in the white palace) really encapsulates that feeling of awe at the wealth of the rich. Not like an appreciative awe, or even envious, but simply shock at the opulence that is inconceivable to a lot of people. I remember feeling this even when I walked onto my university campus for the first time, although obviously it's not as evil as aristicrats, just the shock that such a thing actually exists (as someone who went to very badly underfunded schools as a kid)

[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Yup i love this one too, the storming of the winter palace is my favorite art.

[–] qba@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

One of my all-time favorite works is "It Has Come to Pass" by Sergei Lukin. Imagine contemplating the opulence of the palace, knowing how the peasantry lived outside. Knowing that the revolution had triumphed and that it was time to build a future for everyone.

Some honorable mentions:

There's a user named Fan Wennan who does concept art. It's truly amazing:

"China: 2098"

Edit: some places where you can find socialist/communist/propaganda art:

[–] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 2 days ago

Thanks for the resources!

[–] Marat@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 2 days ago

I'm biased because i prefer this type of art but "beat the whites with a red wedge" I'd my personal favorite

I think i like it so much because it has an..."意境深远" or resonant quality to it. Meaning that, at least in my experience, it conveys a lot of emotion and meaning through its abstractness without the viewer being able to explicitly state what exactly is causing that. I'm a very "Daoist" person when it comes to art so that's probably why i like it so much

[–] funky_tomatoe@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The mosaic panel "Blacksmiths of the present" on the wall at the entrance of the Institute of Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 days ago

That goes hard! Hopefully it survives this conflict without being disfigured or torn down by the Nazi regime like they've done to so many other Soviet era art pieces.

[–] Loki@lemmygrad.ml 12 points 2 days ago

I forgot their username but they post on Twitter a lot of dope post capitalist art like this:

[–] ivy@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Hope this fits. I like quiet and hopeful soviet art. Young family moved in to a new home, have their whole life ahead of them. “Lyrical housewarming”, Yuri Pimenov 1965

[–] ivy@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 2 days ago

Also this "Women workers, take your rifle"

And

[–] znsh@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 2 days ago

This fits perfectly, what a lovely piece of art <3

[–] Dickensen@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 2 days ago

Frida Kahlo

[–] ghost_of_faso3@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 days ago

The mural for the battle of cable street