Driving Ahead: American Perspectives on Soviet Workers

Driving Ahead: American Perspectives on Soviet Workers

The covers of American labor magazine paint a vivid picture of an evolving the leftist perspective on the Soviet Union. The 1919 cover of a pamphlet by Abner Woodruff depicts a single worker, symbolizing the mass of the proletariat, looming over a city. He is in the peak of fitness: young, muscular and handsome. In 1919, spread of communism was in its early stages, full of hope and vitality. In the 1929 cover of Labor Defender, a headline (slightly cut off in this image) reads "The Soviet Union drives ahead!" Again, the figure of the worker looms above us. But she is driving, rather than climbing. The symbol of the "advancing worker" remained powerful but evolved over the course of a decade. The contrast between the climb depicted in 1919 and the sedentary posture of 1929 is particularly striking.

Published by International Workers of the World
Distributed by New York University, Labor Arts Collection:
American Social History and Social Movements

http://www.laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=205
http://www.laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=174

1919, 1929

http://www.laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=205

New York University, Labor Arts Collection

Pamphlet Cover, Magazine Cover

English