Vanguard Studies of Soviet Russia Epigraph

Vanguard Studies of Soviet Russia Epigraph

This epigraph accompanied each edition of The Vanguard Studies of Soviet Russia. Presumably composed by Davis, it is particularly curious for its poetic sincerity in contrast to the relatively dry texts on such subjects as Soviet economic organization. In its carefully structured line breaks it brackets the periods of turmoil and the struggle for freedom, narrowing towards the ultimate symbol – the common people. It functions to bind the series’ quest for facts with a cultural picture of what it means to be Russian in the Soviet era. Several words jump out as characteristic of the leftist media’s cultural portrayal of the Soviet Union. Brotherhood is of course a founding idea, but this equality is characterized by the “sincere” populous.

In this exhibit, this epigraph is used to capture the tone of leftist writing about Russia, after a decade of vibrant communist publications. Such a dedication, and the way it characterizes the Russian populous, I will argue, are products of the cultural aesthetic presented during the years immediately following the Revolution.