Communist era slogans

Discussion in 'Culture' started by lilinka, Apr 11, 2008.

  1. lilinka

    lilinka Member

    Greetings everyone.

    This may sound like a strange request, but does anyone know/remember any of the most common slogans used before the Velvet Revolution...I was in Prague during the 70s and I remember people having to put up banners on apartment buildings etc., esp on political holidays.

    If you know any of them and could write them for me in Czech and English, I'd be very interested.

    Thanks. I am new to the site and delighted to know there is such a friendly community out there to talk to!
     
  2. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

    I remember:

    Se Sovětským svazem na věčné časy!
    With Soviet Union Forever!

    Dohnat a předehnat!
    To catch up and get ahead (of rotting capitalist countries)!

    Ani zrno nazmar!
    No grain to waste!

    Lenin žil, Lenin žije, Lenin bude žít!
    Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live!

    Vstanou nové bojovníci!
    New fighters will arise!

    :)

    Here is gallery of propaganda posters:
    http://posters.nce.buttobi.net/czech1.htm

    Enjoy :)
     
  3. kibicz

    kibicz Well-Known Member

    A bettter remember its revised versions:

    Se Sovětským svazem padla bída na zem!
    With Soviet Union misery fall upon land!

    3stádia komunismu:
    Dohnat, předehnat! Udržet krok. Neztratit stopu...
    3stages of communism:
    To catch up and get ahead! Keep up. Do not lose track..

    Vše co máme pro mír dáme! nikde po cestě nevytratit í...
    All we have for peace we give. - well this play on words works only in czech..

     
  4. Karel_lerak

    Karel_lerak Well-Known Member

    This is not czech but german one, but I cannot resist to place it here:

    Die FDJ-ler und Komsomolzen meistern gemeinsam die modernsten Waffensysteme zum militärischen Schutze des Friedens.

    The original I saw in yellow letters on a big red banner over the street in one East German city (if I correctly remember - in Dresden about the year 1970)

    Členové FDJ (německá mládežnická organizace) a komsomolci společně mistrovsky zvládají nejmodernější systémy zbraní k vojenské obraně míru.

    The members of FDJ (German communist youth organisation) and Komsomol (the Russian youth organisation) jointly cope masterly with the most up to date weapon systems for military defence of the peace.
     
  5. lilinka

    lilinka Member

    Thanks guys, very inspiring!

    :)
     
  6. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

  7. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

  8. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

  9. fabik317

    fabik317 Well-Known Member

    Plány revanšistů zhatí naši vepři boubelatí!
    Plans of the revanchists our plump pigs shall foil!

    Ráj socialistických vepřů.
    Socialist pig paradise.

    This is from a film about so-called "auxiliary technical batallions" - military forced-labour camps for the "politically unreliable" in the 50's in czechoslovakia, where a university-educated private is forced by the dim-witted officers to manage a pigsty, so he decides to "decorate" it in the then-desirable "political awareness" fashion.

    ----

    An internationally known one:

    Proletáři všech zemí, spojte se!
    Proletarians of all countries, unite!

    And a popular paraphrase from Cosy Dens:

    Proletáři všech zemí, vyližte si prdel!
    Proletarians of all countries, eat your arses out!
     
  10. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    Yep! Those are just a bit more ideological. :D I wasn't aware that so many of those anti-Japanese posters existed (not exactly a side of the U.S. that most Americans like to remember). Thanks for the link!
     
  11. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

    Well, it was war, after all.

    I think today's propaganda is much more sophisticated.
     
  12. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    Certainly, it was war, but that didn't mean that Americans needed to attack the Japanese culture/ethnicity, including Japanese-Americans.

    As for the sophistication of today's propaganda, I once attended a lecture by a former KGB general, Oleg Kalugin, in which he detailed many sophisticated propaganda methods he personally (and others) used during communism in the USSR. Of course, it was difficult to believe anything he said--after all, once a liar, always a liar.
     
  13. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    :) Now, now Sova, people can have experiences in life that lead to a "rebirth" and completely change their behaviors/way of living. :)
     
  14. eso

    eso Well-Known Member

    Well, if we talk about this. Americans actualy put their Japanese-American fellow citizens into internment camps :)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_A ... internment ;)
     
  15. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    @dzurisova: Yes, I know, but this guy was a liar by profession, a profession that he willingly chose. And I should add that he even had the nerve to brag about it, and that in front of a dozen or so former Soviet citizens, a few of which I thought for a moment might have needed to be physically restrained from jumping on the guy.

    @eso: Yes, that was my point. We didn't need to attack the Japanese culture, but we did anyway.
     
  16. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    @Sova, I know, I was simply being provoking and oppositional to your broad & stereotypical statement. :)

    It struck me as a statement that is funny and true in most cases, but in a political correct society, can leave much room for arguments. So I thought I'd play the devil's advocate and initiate one. :wink:
     

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