Soviet poster issued in Uzbekistan, 1920.
From the Wikipedia article, "He who does not work, neither shall he eat," which I'm reading this morning because Wikipedia linked to it under "See also" at the bottom of its article "No such thing as a free lunch," which, you can see in the previous post, came up in the context of trying to understand the Russian word "khalyava."
I started this new post to show you that excellent propaganda artwork, and let me quote a bit from the "He who does not work" entry:
He who does not work, neither shall he eat is an aphorism from the New Testament traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle, later cited by John Smith in the early 1600s colony of Jamestown, Virginia, and by the communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin during the early 1900s Russian Revolution....
Joseph Stalin had quoted Vladimir Lenin during the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 declaring: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat."... Criticizing Stalin, Leon Trotsky wrote that: "The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced with a new one: who does not obey shall not eat."
Wikipedia next directs me to "Critique of work," and here, I'll just quote Nietzsche:
Behind the glorification of 'work' and the tireless talk of the 'blessings of work' I find the same thought as behind the praise of impersonal activity for the public benefit: the fear of everything individual. At bottom, one now feels when confronted with work—and what is invariably meant is relentless industry from early till late—that such work is the best police, that it keeps everybody in harness and powerfully obstructs the development of reason, of covetousness, of the desire for independence. For it uses up a tremendous amount of nervous energy and takes it away from reflection, brooding, dreaming, worry, love, and hatred; it always sets a small goal before one's eyes and permits easy and regular satisfactions. In that way a society in which the members continually work hard will have more security: and security is now adored as the supreme goddess.
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67 comments:
"He who doesn't work, doesn't eat.”
You should be more like Boxer, comrade.
This bromide disguised as an aphorism is very far from The Little Red Hen, which superficially shares some characteristics with it.
Those Soviet posters are indeed fabu artistically- me and the arty fartsy kids discussed our guilt of appreciating them and Leni’s aesthetic sense…
…bit don’t get too worked up over the message. In a society that values smoking weed all day nobody eats…
Per other posts:
Anti-Nazi propaganda is literally being recycled by Greta Thunberg and anti-Israel groups:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda
https://www.dw.com/en/how-the-nazis-used-poster-art-as-propaganda/a-55751640
Anti-German WW2 propaganda might be converted into modern White privilege DEI posters....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-German_sentiment
What's old is new. Tribalism is tribalism.
These Paul-quoters need to keep his definition of work from other sections he wrote in mind. Abraham having sex with Hagar, his wife’s handmade? That’s work, says the Apostle. In fact, that was about the worst work ever done and its repercussions resonate every day in Palestine.
Looks to me like the emaciated, barely clothed worker is handing food to the fat bearded apparatchik while the other guy is signaling touchdown.
I've got dozens of Soviet propaganda posters. Some of them are really great. Here's one of my favorites.
https://stratonaut.shop/products/kitchen-slavery-poster
"He who doesn't work, doesn't eat.”
I can’t figure out if this biblical quote (btw) is disinformation, misinformation or malinformation.
Or, stochastic terrorism.
Criticizing Stalin, Leon Trotsky wrote that: "The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced with a new one: who does not obey shall not eat."
Leon finds out the hard way that economic freedom is indeed indivisible from political freedom.
Now: He who doesn't work becomes overweight.
Somehow, no one ever thinks to ask what work the guy handing out the flapjacks does. I want that guy's job.
Karl Marx "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
Joseph Stalin “From each according to ability” with “To each according to work” in the 1936 Soviet Constitution.
If you ever make it to Budapest, Hungary (and I highly recommend a visit), there is an outdoor museum called Memento Park which contains many statues and other propaganda from the time when the Soviets controlled Hungary. There is even a small souvenir shop where you can buy your very own relic of Soviet communism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_Park
If they worked, they got toaster waffles.
"Root hog, or die.” A. Lincoln.
And then came the American Revolution that amazed the Europeans that thought being a Lord and Lady by inheritance and title of nobility was work. The peasant farmers and tradesmen responding in a minute at Lexington and Concord were the armed militia who enforced that scripture. And through Valley Forge starvation and many slaughters they still followed Washington until the British Empire withdrew its Armies and Navy 8 years later.
Also, is the bad guy who gets no flapjacks wearing a yarmulke? Or am I being paranoid?
…it looks more like focaccia or a white pizza…
Bernie: He who doesn't work and bitches about those who do, (a) gets elected, (b) eats really well, and (c) owns a bunch of houses, including a lake house.
David McCullough: "I think that much of the joy of life can come, and should come, from work."
Modern day neuroscience has changed informed these insights and identified the responsible brain chemicals produced by these actions outlined by Friedrich Nietzsche.
For it uses up a tremendous amount of nervous energy and takes it away from reflection, brooding, dreaming, worry, love, and hatred; it always sets a small goal before one's eyes and permits easy and regular satisfactions. In that way a society in which the members continually work hard will have more security: and security is now adored as the supreme goddess.
Bernie: "Useless grifting loafers of the world, unite!"
I took a look at David McCullough's work history. Not surprised he felt this way. Let's just say he never seems to have worked a deli counter, loaded trucks, filled out ledger sheets for hours, etc. -- And good for him!
In the early years, artists of many talents contributed their skills to the glory of the Soviet revolution.
Until they were arrested and shot.
Work to death & be starved, if you are not favored by the Party.
tanstaafl
robother said...
"Somehow, no one ever thinks to ask what work the guy handing out the flapjacks does. I want that guy's job."
Apparatchik. He gets an extra flapjack. The Nomenklatura get caviar.
Jordan Peterson collects Soviet propaganda posters. I recently watched a documentary on You Tube about the "rise" of Dr. Peterson (while I was ironing) and though I had heard him mention and write about his collection before, it was interesting to see some of it.
MarcusB. THEOLDMAN
I visited a store in Krakow that used Soviet graphics and language on tshirts, hats etc. only they used it to make fun of the shoddiness of communist products. I bought a hat that says in Polish, Badly Made.
"He who doesn't work, doesn't eat.”
The context of that quote in Paul's case is that some believers in the Thessalonian church felt that they should be supported by other believers because they were spending all of their time in prayer. I don't think Paul needed divine revelation to figure out where that was going to lead.
The following verses are:
"11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good."
2 Thessalonians chapter 3
Work for that potato, comrade!
I agree with robother — the figure in black appears to be wearing a yarmulke. We may be seeing some of that Soviet antisemitism they were so famous for back in the day. I also pretty much agree with another robother observation about the guy in the suit. How does he get fed? Does he skim a few pancakes off the top? Is that where Joe Biden gets it?
Whichever group produced that art was an ominous group of memesters!!!
The poster looks like the waffle party from Severance (an outstanding Apple TV drama where a company implants a chip in workers' brains that separates their work memories from their out-of-office memories, essentially creating two different personas, one of which is always at work. I highly recommend it).
According to the bible the first thing God did after creating the person (Heb. adam) was to place him in the garden and put him to work Gen 2:15.
"He who does not work, neither shall he eat,"
Ask Bernie Sanders how not working turned out for him at the commune.
One of the reasons we mid-western hippies didn't like the east/west coast counterparts was the bastards were lazy.
"No Work, No eat" goes back to the New Testament... long long before the Commies came.
One interpretation of “He who does not work, neither shall he eat” is that welfare mothers and their children should starve, and the physically handicapped and mentally ill should be left to die. In America we chose to go in a dfferent direction. Canada under Justin Trudeau, in pushing euthanasia, seems to be headed towards the Soviet model.
James Brown would like a word:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuezjCY22nA
Love me some Soviet pancakes.
No butter or syrup, of course...
The "free lunch" and "work or do not eat" phrases have little to do with each other, other than both involving food. "There is no such thing as a free lunch" points out that no matter what something costs to you, or in this case does not cost, the thing does cost something to someone and someone is paying for it. It could be just as easily "there is no such thing as a free car wash" or "there is no such thing as a free phone."
Can anyone translate the caption or identify its language? The script isn't Russian or Arabic, so...what is it?
"He who doesn't dance, doesn't eat"
Leo Sayer
“ Blogger robother said...
Somehow, no one ever thinks to ask what work the guy handing out the flapjacks does. I want that guy's job.”
Those leftists who advocate communism and socialism picture that job will be reserved for themselves. They think they’ll be the ones calling the shots and who gets shot. They are truly the Useful Idiots of the Revolution.
Big Ignorant Mike:
"I agree with robother — the figure in black appears to be wearing a yarmulke. We may be seeing some of that Soviet antisemitism they were so famous for back in the day."
12/14/23, 10:21 AM
The figure in black is wearing tubeteika.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubeteika
Man on the right is Uzbek farmer (with a hoe over his shoulder). The man on the Left is Russian proletarian (with hammer resting on anvil and RSFSR acronym). Uzbek farmer passes a stack of flatbreads to Russian proletarian. The man in black suite in the middle grasping for bread maybe a religious cleric or member of "intelligentsia". No bread for him. All three have typical Uzbek skullcaps on their heads (Tubiteyka) available on Amazon.
Text at the bottom of the poster is probably Farsi or some dialect thereof.
Can anyone translate the caption or identify its language? The script isn't Russian or Arabic, so...what is it?
The top script is Cyrillic which was used for Russian. However the letters do not correspond to "he who does not work does not eat" on the Russian poster from the 1920s. The initials are R.S.PH.S.R.
The bottom script is Arabic which was used for Uzbek 1900-1920 then a "modified" Arabic script for Uzbek 1920-1928. The script on the poster looks like traditional Arabic script to me. Not seeing any of the extra characters (which are necessary when Arabic script is adapted for languages that have phonemes not present in Arabic). I can sort of read it but not understand what it says.
As for the mysterious cap keep in mind what Muslim men sometimes wear. A taqyiah
"Love me some Soviet pancakes.
No butter or syrup, of course..."
Or pancakes.
So the poster looks like the farmer is directly giving bread to the blacksmith, bypassing the man in the middle who seems to want some bread as well. Also contrary to the clothes, or lack thereof, of the other two men, the man in the middle appears to be wearing a suit, (not very workmanlike) and possibly a kippah? Is this a Soviet poster railing against, "Jewish Bankers and Middlemen?"
In the former communist countries you were required to have a job. The flips sides were that the government had to provide you with a job, and it might be a really crummy job if the government didn't like you. It also meant that it was very difficult to get fired, so you didn't have to work very hard or very well. Promotions were also controlled by the government, so there was not much incentive to excel.
These days we have a bunch of people who think they should be compensated just for existing, forget about having a job.
"Can anyone translate the caption or identify its language?"
The caption at the top is Cyrillic, but the middle character is kind of confusing. Probably some form of the letter U. I'm guessing it has something to do with the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, though that doesn't account for all the letters.
The script below is probably Uzbek, which is a Turkic language which used Arabic script into the 1920s according to the Book of Knowledge (Wikipedia).
Big Mike:
One interpretation of “He who does not work, neither shall he eat” is that welfare mothers and their children should starve, and the physically handicapped and mentally ill should be left to die.
Funny. I just looked it up and it reads "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." Rather significant difference.
Some people... persons don't appreciate Marxist, communist, socialist economic models.
It's an anti-slavery poster to dissuade the green and a potshot at the dictatorial minority elite.
welfare mothers and their children should starve, and the physically handicapped and mentally ill should be left to die
The wages of social liberalism is the single mother solution.
Abortion and eugenics will relieve your "burdens".
Also, shared responsibility through progressive prices in the redistributive debt model.
Not only St. Paul said, "no work, no eat" but so did Captain John Smith. He said the same thing at Jamestown three hundred years ago or so...
What's that old joke...? A picture of Stalin with the caption something like 'Dark humor is like food, Comrade - not everyone gets it.'
РСФСРin English is RSFSR “ Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic”
OTOH, he who does not eat, does very little work, is demonstrable in a way the other formula isn't.
Marx speculated that in Communism, a man might fish in the morning and hunt in the afternoon. In reality of course there wasn't much fishing and hunting, and work often consisted of standing or sitting around.
That non-worker who deserves to be starved might be an Orthodox Jew, one who studies the Talmud as his life's work. The Soviets didn't consider that "work."
Punitive starvation was an accepted Soviet tactic. See the Ukrainian Holodomor.
If anyone wants to know a whole lot about The Islamic Discourse of Visual Propaganda in the Soviet East Between the Two World Wars (1918-1940) well there you go.
Thankfully we do not have to toil in the ignorance of 1903, when the question of work under socialism was still open
Precisely what makes a slave is that he is allowed no use of productive capital to make wealth on his own account. The only difference is that under socialism, I may not be compelled to labor (I don't even know as to that — socialists differ on the point), actually compelled, by the lash, or any other force than hunger. And the only other difference is that the slave was under the orders of one man, while the subject of socialism will be under the orders of a committee of ward heelers. You will say, the slave could not choose his master, but we shall elect the ward politician. So we do now. Will that help much? Suppose the man with a grievance didn't vote for him?
--Socialism; a speech delivered in Faneuil hall, February 7th, 1903, by Frederic J. Stimson
Now: "He who works pays for free stuff for those who don't".
The worker guy wins because he gets his shirt off and attracts all the girls. "Ve are lovink men with big food, is size that matters, size of food.
Simply amazing how many people raised a specter of anti-semitism. There is absolutely nothing anti-Semitic in this poster.
If you like your socialist realism created by an anti-communist, see The People's Cube.
Agree with Candide on this one.
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