World War I propaganda poster The Russian Peace, circa 1918

World War I propaganda poster. The Russian Peace, circa 1918. During the final year of World War I, authorities in Italy and in other combatant countries were deeply alarmed by the Bolshevik Revolution and Russia's withdrawal from the war. They worried that defeatism would spread among their own war-weary populations, leading to a slackening of the war effort. The authorities responded both with repressive measures aimed at countering Red subversion and with propaganda urging their people to fight on to victory. Entitled La Pace Russa (The Russian peace), this poster refers to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the treaty signed on March 3, 1918, by the government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers. In exchange for peace, the Russians were forced to cede to Germany, Austria, and Turkey territories that had been part of the Russian Empire for centuries. The poster portrays a man tied to a plow, forced to furrow the soil filled with skulls. He is threatened by bayonets wielded by the German conquerors, whose faces and bodies are not shown. The choice for the Italian people, the poster clearly suggests, is between continuing the fight and accepting an intolerable state of forced servitude

1910-1919 Agency Agitprop Bayonet Bolshevik Bolshevism Brest-litovsk Canevari Hostage Plow Rosta Silvio Threat

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