Corrupt Petliura Ukraine Russian Propaganda Poster

Vintage Soviet Government propaganda lithographic poster titled with Ukrainian text that reads “Corrupt Petliura has sold Ukraine to the Polish landowners. Landowners burned and plundered Ukraine. Death to landowners and Petlyurovites.”   Originally issued  April 1920  following the Treaty of Warsaw (also the Polish-Ukrainian Agreement). The agreement was a military-economical alliance between the Second Polish Republic, represented by Jozef Pilsudski, and the Ukrainian People’s Republic, represented by Symon Petliura, against Bolshevik Russia. The artwork features Jozef Pilsudski running away with a sack of goods. Good condition. Artist unknown.

The Bolshevik Era (1917-1921) was a life and death struggle for the Bolsheviks and their ideology. The propaganda poster was everywhere, as the Bolsheviks struggled to win the Civil War against the Whites and fought the Poles over control of the Ukraine and parts of modern day Belarus. The early Soviet poster – an incredible 3600 designs – was remarkable for its revolutionary fervor and biting wit. Powerful visual symbols were invented, like the red star and hammer and sickle.