Depicting Communism for Children: Soviet Era Picture Books, 1920s–1930s

At the core of my investigation is the process of amalgamation of text and image within the boundaries of the illustrated book for young Soviet readers. As a part of the general desire to translate Communism into idioms and images accessible to children, books visualized ideological norms and goals in a way that guaranteed easy legibility and direct appeal, without sacrificing the political appeal of the message. Illustrated books presented the propagandistic content as a simple narrative or verse, while also casting it in images. A vehicle of ideology, an object of affection, and a product of labor, the illustrated book for the young Soviet reader became an important cultural phenomenon, despite its perceived simplicity and often a minimal set of technical devices.