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A burlap surface with the text “Collectivization” and “1929” references Stalin’s forced collectivization of private farms. In 1929, land, livestock, equipment, and other farm assets became state property. The artwork also includes a black sickle smudged with red paint, alluding to the bloodshed caused by this forced collectivization. Those who resisted collectivization were forcibly resettled into exile settlements, sent to labor camps, or faced death sentences. The sickle’s left side is cut in such a way that the profile of Stalin is visible in the negative space on the burlap texture of the poster. Despite Stalin’s ambitious plan to raise agricultural production to create a more prosperous life for Soviet citizens, collectivization ended up damaging the very people whose lives it was supposed to improve.
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Alexander Vaganov, Collectivization 1929, 1988–1991
Stalin and Sergey Kirov are depicted on a chessboard.There is blood on the base of the Stalin chess piece.The Kirov chess piece is leaning over, with blood on its head, and four silhouettes of fallen chess pieces behind him are all stained with blood.Two dark chess pieces stand in the background in front of an outline of the red Kremlin wall. The Kremlin Games refers to Stalin’s alleged order to assassinate Leningrad Party leader Kirov in 1934. A former Bolshevik revolutionary during the Tsarist era, Kirov had been a close friend and ally of Stalin’s, acting as the more personable and charismatic face of the Communist Party elite. His leniency with party dissidents in 1934, as well as his rising popularity in Leningrad, a city that Stalin despised for its European attitudes, turned Kirov from a friend into a threat in Stalin’s eyes. Kirov’s death was the starting point of Stalin’s Great Purge; he used the murder as an excuse to thoroughly cleanse all Party officials whom he suspected of undermining his power. Alexei Rezaev,The Kremlin Games, 1990–1991
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Rezaev looks critically at the politically tumultuous period between Lenin’s death in January 1924 and the beginning of Stalin’s rule. In 1924, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin were the three men largely credited with orchestrating the Russian Revolution. Lenin initially held the reins of power, but after his death a power struggle ensued between Trotsky and Stalin, represented here by the entanglement of their snake tails. Trotsky, the more intellectual and charismatic of the two, seemed to be the likelier successor at the time. However, while Trotsky spent his time making crowd-rousing speeches, Stalin consolidated his position as the future leader of the Soviet Union, taking full advantage of his post as General Secretary to place his supporters into powerful offices. Stalin succeeded in framing his opponent and made sure that he was exiled, and later assassinated, in Mexico. Alexei Rezaev, Trotsky and Stalin, 1991–1992
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